The American influence on Thriller

Although Thriller was a British TV series one of the most striking aspects is the strong American influence upon the show. indeed this was something that British viewers often remarked upon - e.g. "why is there always an American in the cast?" - sometimes with curiosity, sometimes with irritation. It might have been possible to have made the show without these influences but this would probably have been at the literal cost of sales to the USA. Thriller was sold to the ABC network in the USA and even with as significant a writer and creator as Brian Clemens the show - if it had been made at all - would have taken longer to reach the screen and would probably have been a lower-budget and short-lived series without the American sale.

Roles and casting

This is where the American influence is most obvious. The vast majority of Thriller episodes featured at least one American character, usually played by an American actor who was commonly playing the central part. In Series 1 this tendency was much less pronounced and around half the episodes had no American character or actor. Series 2 though had only one episode with no American character and even in that case - Sign It Death - the central figure of Tracy Conway (played by Francesca Annis) had something of a transatlantic accent, presumably explained by the character having worked in the Bahamas and for US employers. The opener to Series 3 - A Coffin for the Bride - had no American character but it was the last episode to do so. It's important to note though that even those episodes without American characters either included British actors with a profile in the USA or made references to events familiar to US viewers. For example Possession started with a news report about the inauguration of President Eisenhower in January 1953. The increased tendency though to include American characters may have been encouraged to increase the interest of US viewers.

Barbara Feldon - the first American guest actor seen in Thriller in Britain - in the episode Lady Killer 

It is important to note though that some of the American characters - including central ones - were played by British or European actors. The most striking example of this was Won't Write Home Mom - I'm Dead which featured numerous American roles, none of them played by American actors although two of them (Pamela Franklin and Christopher Malcolm) had been resident in the USA or Canada. 

A number of Canadian actors also played Americans - Cec Linder (Nurse Will Make It Better); Robert MacLeod (Night Is the Time for Killing); Bruce Boa (Good Salary); and Robert Beatty (Sleepwalker) among the most prominent. British and other non-American viewers may not have spotted the difference but one suspects those in the USA (and Canada!) would have done so. Linda Thorson was able to play her own nationality in Lady Killer but she was well-known in the USA via The Avengers. Otherwise Canadian actors always played Americans.

Canadian Robert MacLeod & the British Judy Gesson playing Americans in Night Is the Time for Killing

One presumes these British (and Canadian) actors took on American roles to provide an American dimension to their stories, especially those with no American in the cast. The quality of the accents employed by the Brits though was certainly variable and even the best would probably be unmasked by US viewers. What they made of this is unknown but presumably it was not considered a great problem as otherwise they would not have been used.

There are also some interesting patterns in the casting of American actors and characters. It is maybe not surprising that the US actors or characters would be broadly centre-stage, usually occupying the hero, heroine or villain role. That would generally be true of the major British actors as well. However a substantial majority of the US guests occupied heroic roles, with few villains. Indeed what is particularly noticeable is that the American performer was usually the heroine, and often a young, blonde, pretty one as well. This seems to happen too often to be simply coincidence. One can only speculate - maybe it was felt the American audience or network would not appreciate seeing their stars or characters - representatives in a sense - playing villainous roles. American characters also had a remarkable survival rate and again maybe it was felt that this would play better with their audiences. Sometimes American actors played supporting roles but often these were actors such as Ed Bishop (Nurse Will Make It Better) resident in the UK. Actors brought over to the UK were in starring roles and commonly present throughout the episode.

Language

Although casting was the most important influence, language saw more concessions to the US market. Even the mildest of expletives were avoided. Jefferies in The Eyes Have It (Series 1) uses the word "bloody" once but that was the only instance. Even mild blasphemies were avoided. A striking example is the substitution of the word "darn" for "damn". In the UK the word "darn" is almost unheard of but was regularly used in Thriller by British characters.  

In other instances other "Americanisms" were used by British characters. A good example was the use of the word "nut" for someone disturbed, as opposed to the British versions of "nutter" or "nutcase". Differences in language were sometimes referred to by characters such as Helen Cook in One Deadly Owner at first using the word "trunk" before explaining to her British boyfriend Peter that she was referring to the "boot" of her car.

Modesty

It is very striking to contemporary viewers that Thriller was extremely modest in its depiction of physical relationships and largely followed a restrictive version of morality. It is hard to be certain whether this was a totally independent decision by the British producers or reflected influence or even pressure from the USA. US programme makers have often faced greater restrictions in terms of the types of physical relationships they can show on mainstream TV. It does seem that US audiences are more conservative, or - perhaps more likely - the restrictive influence of conservative pressure groups is rather stronger than in the UK.

Whatever the reasons, even newly married couples were rarely shown sharing a bed in Thriller. The Drews in Murder in Mind are seen in bed together but there is no intimacy between them. Curiously one instance of younger characters sharing a bed concerns two women in In the Steps of a Dead Man, but they have a strictly platonic friendship.  In all instances married couples seen in their bedrooms are discreetly dressed in pyjamas or nightdresses. There are physically affectionate couples like the Nelsons in A Place to Die but their smooching is restricted to downstairs. No physical intimacy occurs in the bedroom - maybe that was deemed to be too suggestive.

Newly-weds but separate beds and modest nightwear for the Tanners in Lady Killer

There are a small number of unmarried couples who are physically intimate but this is not depicted or even strongly suggested on-screen except in one instance. There are some adulterers but many of these are villains. Indeed some villains are noted for their sexual aura or magnetism, perhaps embodying a common assumption that deviance and sexuality go hand-in-hand. Overall, marriage appears to be marked as the legitimate route for intimacy, and even then in a limited form. The one exception to these patterns occurs in Death in Deep Water from the final series in which Gilly is shown in bed and it is made clear that she and Gary have just been sleeping together. It is made obvious that they are a sexually intimate couple in ways that would not have occurred in earlier episodes but by this stage the show was coming to a close and so pushing the boundaries probably seemed risk-free.

Religion

Once again it can only be conjectured whether US influence affected Thriller's depiction of religion but it seems quite possible. Religious pressure groups are rather more powerful in the US than in Britain and this can encourage a determination not to offend them. This has already been considered in terms of language, with blasphemies avoided, but there may have been other effects.

It is striking how rarely religion crops up in Thriller. Only one story really explores religious themes to any extent (Once the Killing Starts). Clergymen are notable for their absence - indeed the one credited in Lady Killer appears only in long shot and has no lines. However there is a major role for a priest in Nurse Will Make It Better but he is an alcoholic and it is unclear whether he is still officially part of the priesthood. Death to Sister Mary might appear to be an exception but the convent it might appear to feature in the opening scene is only a set as part of a soap opera. The actors such as Penny Stacy might be playing religious figures but are not religious themselves.

Some of the supernatural episodes do have religious elements, especially those dealing with witches and Satanism. However in these it is very clear that Christianity is on the side of good and in Nurse Will Make It Better offers hope against evil forces.

Father Lyle may be dissolute but he offers the only hope of defeating the witch Bessie in Nurse Will Make It Better

It is possible that religion and religious references were largely eschewed to avoid possible conflicts with religious groups. Religion still holds the potential for controversy, with both pro- and anti-religious viewpoints at risk of causing unrest, or the attention given to some religions antagonising those who follow other faiths. Thriller probably chose the safest route in largely avoiding religious subject matter and characters, while expressing a mildly Christian viewpoint on the few occasions that they did emerge.

Other influences

In addition to the referencing of President Eisenhower in Possession mentioned earlier there were other references to the USA. For example Kiss Me and Die is centred around a villain who is fascinated with the American writer Edgar Allan Poe while the hero of the story Robert Stone wears a Davy Crockett outfit to the fancy dress party. Across the series there are frequent passing references by British characters to Americans, generally of a complimentary nature. For example in Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin Inspector Bruff refers to "our American friends" and in terms of security stresses their reliability.

Conclusions

While the emphasis has been on catering to the US market - particularly in terms of modesty - it would be wrong to think that such considerations only applied to the USA. Modesty and a broadly "safety-first" approach in terms of content in that era were wise strategies in any territory. If Thriller had shown more revealing bedroom and intimate scenes or included more graphic violence and "stronger" language it could have run into difficulties in terms of sales to broadcasters, scheduling or even cuts and censorship. Some broadcasters may not have wanted to take it at all or would have pushed it into later time slots or cut scenes. Sometimes it is much more straightforward for producers to avoid content that can raise concerns by broadcasters and viewers. Largely avoiding religious themes also made the show more marketable across countries with very different religious traditions or strengths of religious beliefs, It was of primary importance to satisfy the American market but doing so generally suited many other places as well.

It is perhaps tempting to see these American influences as borne out of expediency and to the (slight) detriment of the series as a whole, at least for British and non-American viewers. Certainly there were occasions when the inclusion of American characters or references was rather artificial or where imported guest actors didn't enhance the results on-screen. However even for British viewers this is an overstatement. The inclusion of American guests gave the show a different character to other series and viewers were able to see actors they either hadn't seen before or hadn't seen playing alongside British actors. It created a different dynamic on the show and fascinating results on-screen. For cast and crew it was also a rare opportunity for many of them to work with actors from the USA. The transatlantic aspects may not always have worked but on the whole they helped to make Thriller a very distinctive series.