Dial a Deadly Number - Series 6 Episode 4 (Saturday 1st May 1976)

The story...

Dave Adams is an American actor living in England. His career is going nowhere, he is broke and it looks like it might be time for him to return home. Then a telephone call changes matters dramatically. A distraught woman, Helen Curry, has misdialled, believing that she has got through to a psychiatrist. At first Dave tries to explain her mistake but she is too upset to listen. He then hits upon the illegal, immoral - but potentially very lucrative - plan of impersonating the psychiatrist.

Dave goes through with this con, to the disgust of his flatmate Tim. He goes to see Helen and even gives her sweeteners claiming that they are tranquilisers. Helen explains that she has terrible nightmares involving her killing a man. Dave thinks these are just neurotic ramblings and can't believe his luck. Meanwhile he starts an affair with Helen's attractive and far more confident and composed sister, Ann.

However things are not as simple as they seem. Dave discovers that a man sent to the Curry's house has been missing although his hat is still there and the grave of Helen's mother has been vandalised. He starts to worry that there is real danger and that he has waded in too deep...

Review

For the great majority of fans this is the one classic from the final series. I was aware of its reputation and came to it with high hopes but when I saw it I found it didn't live up that promise. That view was reinforced on subsequent occasions until I viewed it again very recently after a long gap and was very impressed. Certainly it now strikes me as well into the top half of Thriller episodes and while I don't think it will ever be one of my ultimate favourites it does show the series in fine form.

The story concept is certainly a very good one - a chancer getting caught out when he gambles on manipulating a disturbed person. Not only does it have great potential but also poetic justice. Gary Collins was back for the third of his appearances - curiously all as villains even though his American counterparts were usually employed as heroes or heroines. All three villains were excellent creations of different types. Yet again Gary gives a very fine performance. The notably distinctive angle here is that Dave Adams is not a murderer but a small-time con-man. He is a failed actor who is used to sponging off his flatmate Tim and a wealthy female friend - and maybe others as well. Whether he has any past background in crime is unclear - it is quite possible he has simply seized on what seems like a gilt-edged opportunity for someone on the brink of financial meltdown. It is difficult not to like Dave given his great charm, despite his appalling deception and exploitation of Helen. However he gets himself into dangerously deep waters.

The teaser cleverly creates confusion over whether the attack on Paul Kirby was real or imagined. Is Helen a killer or seriously disturbed - or both? There is no doubt that - whatever she has or has not done - she is desperately anxious and unhappy. Given this background alone Dave was taking a great risk getting involved with her. He should have realised that she needed professional help. However over-confidence is his hallmark and he believes he has everything in hand. Maybe due to his acting background he is able to carry off the impersonation of a psychiatrist and seems to revel in the act and his supposed ingenuity. Cynics might say this says a lot about the superficial nature of psychiatry and possibly the untrained Dave is no worse than a professional therapist. Dave's fees though are all too professional. He believes he is doing some good and maybe there is some truth in his claim. Helen gets a little benefit from having someone to talk to but her nightmares and hallucinations remain and it is evident she needs more help. All the while Tim becomes more and more disgusted - quite rightly - before eventually evicting him.

Dave can scarcely believe his luck when he embarks on a romance with Helen's attractive and confident sister Ann. Ann has none of the hang-ups and terrors of Helen and they seem to make a perfect pair. He is even able to contrive free lodging at the huge house. However it isn't long before he starts to realise that alarming things really are happening and he has overplayed his hand.

When the truth is revealed matters are turned on their head. While the twist may not be entirely unexpected it is still very skilfully done and the "justice" (if that was the motivation) meted out by the villain takes an unprecedented direction in the show - certainly one regular viewers would not have anticipated. The lines between villains and victims become very blurred here and nor is there a hero or heroine in the conventional sense; these nuances are very satisfying to the viewer.

Helen is upset that her sister Ann seems to have forgotten the anniversary of their mother's death

Gemma Jones takes the acting honours with a first-class performance as Helen but she is very supported by Linda Liles playing her sister Ann. Linda was returning after a fine and memorable part in Nurse Will Make It Better and the contrast between her upbeat character and the intensity and anguish of Helen (Gemma Jones) is very striking  The ancillary characters and supporting actors also do an impressive job. Tim provides the moral voice in essential contrast to Dave's amorality and while he disapproves of Dave's behaviour and ultimately tells him to leave he still comes to his aid when he can see he is in trouble. The one curiosity about Tim is his shirt slashed open to the navel. This makes him look like some ageing swinger when in fact he is a deeply serious and principled man. Cavan Kendall is very good in this part. 

Beth Morris acquits herself well as Sally, the sister of the missing Paul Kirby who desperately wants to find him. The private detective O'Hara is a decent man who is very straight with her when she goes to him for help, not wanting to disguise the fact that the chances of him having success when the police have drawn a blank are slim. He offers a striking chance to many other private eyes in Thriller who were either rather shady or very expensive. The trio of Tim, Sally and O'Hara are impressive examples of individuals who have a sense of principle or concern for others. Indeed a notable fact of the episode is that just about every character is able in some way to make a positive impression - Dave and Ann through their warmth and good humour, these three with their concern for others and even Helen because we can see the pain she is going through and the viewer cannot help to sympathise with her. It is evident she has had a troubled life and is deeply unhappy - indeed she doesn't seem to smile at all and ironically only the arrival of Dave as her supposed therapist seems to ease her mind in any way, Unfortunately for her she needed more than Dave to get better and it was an impersonation that he was to regret,

Another significant aspect of this story is the far more graphic approach to violence. Murders in Thriller commonly and somewhat incongruously occurred without blood but here it is very evident. The same applies to the knife injuries shown on screen. The blood-letting and violence though is still quite restrained - thankfully - compared to other productions but was another sign of the final series experimenting in style.

Once again a story featured a cellar full of disturbing secrets. The set is very similar in style to that in one of the first stories - Someone at the Top of the Stairs - albeit the house of the Curry sisters is rather more opulent while still suggesting a place of dark secrets and disturbing events. As in that episode there is a painting of a figure who continues to exert a powerful influence over those in the house, in this case the sisters' mother. This also echoes another painting in Killer with Two Faces where it was evident that the influence of a dead parent greatly troubled his son. All these things add up to a very appealing episode which showed that while Series 6 was far from the highpoint of Thriller it could still hit home.

Notes

Linda Liles rides a horse in this episode as she did in her previous appearance Nurse Will Make It Better.

This was the last new episode of Thriller to appear on the ABC network in the USA on 18th November 1975, over five months before it screened in the UK.