A teenage girl - Annabella Tully - heads happily into a forest on a summer's day only to be stabbed and killed by an unknown assailant. The murder is unsolved after five years so her uncle and guardian, Arnold Tully, visits the office of J. Baxter, a private detective. When he gets there he meets J. Baxter's wife Jody and assumes she is the private eye before she can explain. She takes on the job anyway. Tully tells her that he is convinced that the killer is a local actor called Peter Ingram but there has been insufficient evidence to charge him - her task is to find fresh facts that will bring him to justice. When Jody meets Ingram he immediately makes a play for her and is an unnerving figure but is he also the killer? Jody makes good use of some apparently trivial details mainly related to the interest of Annabella and other characters in Shakespeare and amateur dramatics but her search leads her into danger.
Review
The final series of Thriller had been a little underwhelming so far with only Dial a Deadly Number and perhaps Kill Two Birds rising above the norm. This episode didn't mark a return to stronger form and for a while I considered it my least favourite Thriller but on later viewings its merits have been more apparent; it's still below par by the show's high standards but overall is a flawed but sometimes fascinating and thoughtful production.
The teaser is indicative of the ambivalence it produces. The murder of Annabella, in a very happy mood as she goes to meet her boyfriend, is both poignant but also rather disturbing. She is the youngest victim in the show and one wonders whether this was a good idea. She is not a child but the murder of a teenager is particularly unsettling.
Annabella was the adopted daughter of her unmarried uncle Arnold Tully. Five years later he has a devotion to her bordering on obsession. This obsession, with photographs of her around his house and her bedroom turned into a virtual shrine, suggests a questionable, maybe unhealthy level of involvement. Even the police speculated on whether he might have been her killer. On the other hand - and maybe more reasonably - this devotion might be seen as a response to a terrible tragedy. Loss can make people react in excessive ways - ways that may be misinterpreted by others but which have their own logic.
Annabella came into her uncle's care when her parents were killed in a car crash. This kind of scenario which results in a child coming into the custody of a relative is not uncommon in TV drama and is somewhat unlikely and rather cliched. Maybe this could have been avoided in the story by making him a married man and sharing the sense of loss and devotion with his wife, possibly in a similar way to the Cornfields in In the Steps of a Dead Man. The housekeeper character could have been transformed into his partner. Better still to have had him married and Annabella's natural father. Perhaps the background of deceased parents was done to heighten the sense of loss and tragedy but it seems unnecessary. It may in part have been a product of the tendency then to allocate far more leading roles to men than to women and it may have produced a different and more realistic angle to have had a female character (or a married couple) as the parental / guardian figure who employs Jody.
The attitude towards young women in the story can provoke concern. We are not sure for most of the story of the identity of Annabella's boyfriend but he is clearly a much older man and that always raises question marks. Immediately upon her arrival the young blonde Jody arouses interest from the men and it is a little uncomfortable to watch. Ingram, the chief suspect for Annabel's murder, seems especially predatory. This links to the generally unappealing character of almost all the men in the story. However more open-minded attitudes are also at work. Tully is prepared to accept a female private detective and treats Jody on her merits. He is the one man who doesn't seem to regard her in a sexual way, although once again he gets attached to her in a way that may indicate an undeclared attraction.
References to the stage, acting and Shakespeare are dominant and can become rather wearying. This is not criticism of these themes per se but just the way they are handled. Perhaps if there had been scenes - possibly flashbacks - of the characters including Annabella acting it would have been more effective. The final series saw some experiments in setting - Nightmare for a Nightingale is another example - and these are fairly interesting but not wholly successful.
A curious and not very satisfactory story element is the relationship between Jody and her estranged husband Johnny. There are some good serious points early on as they discuss their lives and potential future. However the injection later of rather weak comedy, notably when Johnny calls her from Italy and a bad line leads to him mishearing her, is ill-advised. The final "tag" scene between them is handled in a lightweight fashion and detracts from a good, if low-key, conclusion to the murder investigation. Tony Anholt is wasted as Johnny and his character could probably have been excised. The serious insights into their relationship are a valuable counterpoint to the atmosphere of loss and loneliness in the main story but the lighter moments really do jar and should have been removed.
The prospect of the pair forming a detective duo though could have had potential if Thriller has moved to another series or been used in a spin-off of some kind. The show had already had a husband-and-wife private detective pairing in K Is for Killing but that had been played in a very light-hearted way (too much so for many viewers if not myself) and maybe the Baxters could have been a more appealing alternative, playing their parts with a touch of humour and some good-natured rivalry while not detracting from the drama.
Much attention has been paid to limitations in the episode but there are real strengths. Tully is an interesting character. The scenes of him reflecting and talking with Jody are melancholy and very effective. Freddie Jones's performance in this challenging role is impressive but the director takes credit as well for the success of these scenes. Ingram initially appears an utterly dislikeable figure. The story very skilfully makes him seem to the obvious, untouchable killer. He protests his innocence but as his case shows a a person doesn't have to be charged, let alone convicted, for the public to decide he is guilty and the court of public opinion can be a harsh one. Jody's conflicting attitudes towards him are well displayed - to succeed in her detective role she does need to deal with him and she shows understandable unease but also fascination and a certain sympathy. Norman Rodway handles this disconcerting character well.
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| Jody tries to get to know chief suspect Peter Ingram |
The climax is well-done and involves not just one but two surprises. The final series largely avoided the dramatic climaxes of before and this is very subdued after at first seeming likely to flare into action. There is a poignancy to events with even a little sympathy for the killer who seems a crushed man. It is testimony to fine writing that the viewer can have these feelings.
Joanna Pettet gives a strong performance as Jody and will be the dominating memory for many viewers. She gives a genuinely affecting display, taking the lead more than in her previous appearance A Killer in Every Corner in which she was also in fine form and across her two appearances she is one of the best transatlantic guest stars She takes a good assertive part, showing how a woman can be a capable investigator. Her desire for independence is another a valuable feature. In other regards she has a fairly conventional role as a heroine who faces danger but doesn't flinch from her enquiries. It is a pity she was saddled with the comic scenes with Johnny and developing further the serious nature of that relationship would have drawn extra dimensions out of the character and the actress.
Overall the episode rewards repeated viewing and has some depth. It's certainly good to see a woman in a private detective role and she has an unusual task in being asked to prove the guilt of a suspect, contrasting well with the earlier The Next Scream You Hear in which the detective was asked to prove his client's innocence. Jody's behaviour also raises some questions as she deceives not just Tully but also the police about her identity, pretending to be a professional private detective when she is not. In a sense she is a fraud like Dave Adams two episodes earlier in Dial a Deadly Number in which he posed as a psychiatrist. However her behaviour - while unethical - is likely to pose much less concern as she wasn't trying to exploit Tully and had better motives, not just in trying to help him but also to prove that she actually had the skills to do the job; also to he credit she does eventually confess her deception to Tully. All these add-up to a thought-provoking and worthwhile outing even if isn't Thriller at its best.
Notes
This was the first Series 6 episode of Thriller broadcast by the ABC network in the USA on 16th September 1975, almost eight months before it first aired in the UK. ABC broadcasts were usually ahead of the UK (especially for Series 6) but this was the most advance screening. It's possible it was selected for an early screening while it was still summer in the USA.
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