UK Repeats of Thriller in the 1980s (1980-1984) - Overview

There had been an attempt to repeat Thriller in the summer of 1979, at least in the London region on Thames TV. On Monday 13th August 1979 a repeat of Murder in Mind was scheduled with Sleepwalker due to follow on 20th August. However industrial action led to ITV including Thames going off-air on Friday 10th August and so these repeats were cancelled and not rescheduled when service resumed in October 1979. Listings for both broadcasts refer to them being "ATV Productions" which suggests the original versions and not the new "movie" ones were due to air. It's not known if any other ITV regions had plans that summer or later that year to repeat the show.

Thriller did though get repeated - in its new ITC "movie" versions - by all ITV regions / channels in the early 1980s between September 1980 and June 1984. The first repeats came on Thursday 11th September 1980 at 11.05 pm when ATV and Grampian broadcast If It's a Man - Hang Up! and Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are respectively.  These repeats were hugely important, not just in giving 1970s viewers another chance to see the show but also in introducing it to a new audience including those who were too young to see it back in the 1970s. By the time of these 1980s repeats ownership or rental of video recorders was also growing which meant that some broadcasts were recorded and copies of these were then important not just for re-watching but also in circulating for many years among fans who hadn't seen them. 

The joint-first 1980s UK repeat of Thriller on Grampian TV, Thursday 11th September 1980

Trying to track down the repeats of Thriller in the 1980’s is not an easy business. They occurred over a four-year span under the guise of their ITC movie versions and every region could show them when they wanted so there was no network broadcast of the same episode at the same time as had occurred originally. Some had been renamed which meant that some of the 1970s fans might not have realised that specific episodes were being reshown. Screenings were billed in a variety of ways – usually (and most helpfully) as Thriller and the new movie title, occasionally just under the movie title and - worst of all for the researcher - simply as Thriller. The fact that the word "Thriller" can refer to a genre and not just Brian Clemens's specific show could also have caused confusion as broadcast of other films in the broad thriller genre could take place in late-night slots. The loss of the original peephole titles and theme music and their replacement by the often peculiar new titles could have also led viewers initially unsure of whether they were seeing the original show although if they watched beyond the new titles to see the episodes "proper" matters would become much clearer.

These regional repeats were shown in a very irregular manner, frequently changing days, broadcast times and then disappearing for weeks, months and, in the case of Ulster, for over eighteen months. While this is frustrating for the researcher it would have been far more frustrating to the viewers back then who recognised the show as Thriller, liked what they saw and had to endure all these uncertainties.

Various national and local newspapers plus the TV Times ITV listings magazine are the source of these findings and of course have their weaknesses. Sometimes listings are unclear, inconsistent or incomplete, particularly for the Scottish, Welsh and Irish channels. Episode titles are sometimes incorrect, usually in minor ways, e.g. “The Eyes Have It” billed as “Eyes Have It”, "Once the Killing Starts" as "Once the Killings Start" but occasionally more significantly, e.g. “The Savage Curse” transformed into “The Savage Search”.  

Synopses were brief - usually a sentence a two with no critical comment. These were broadly accurate but there were ones rather less so. Some gave away much of the plot or gave a misleading version of the story. Diane Cilento's witch in "Spell Of Evil" was sometimes referred to as a "beautiful girl" while "The Devil's Web" refers to "three beautiful sisters" which certainly seems rather generous to one of them. 

Granada listing in February 1984 for Terror from Within with a curious synopsis

Newspaper listings are always prone to alteration and undoubtedly this affected the Thriller repeats. A number of episodes are listed twice or even three times for the same channel. Each movie version could only be shown once so this would seem to be a clear case of the earlier listed transmission being dropped and replaced by either another movie version or a completely different programme. Different newspapers can corroborate or correct listings but sometimes they just add to the confusion so the researcher has to make a tentative conclusion. After all this time definitive answers on matters such as unscheduled repeats are unlikely to emerge. Viewers’ memories from almost forty years ago can be flaky and paperwork from the stations is likely to be long disappeared. For the sake of consistency and certainty only broadcasts listed by the newspapers or TV Times have been included. 

All channels broadcast a majority of the Thriller episodes. However in only four of them - ATV / Central, Southern / TVS, Westward / TSW and Channel – were all versions shown although it is very likely that Yorkshire also did so. The former case is maybe not surprising given that ATV originally produced the series. It is though possible that more versions were broadcast by those regions which appear to be short (in some instances well short) of a full set. Late schedule changes are always a possibility, especially with late-night TV and some of the "missing" episodes could have been aired in such a way. For example Granada broadcast  Someone at the Top of the Stairs on Granada as a late replacement for a feature film in May 1982. This was picked up in some regional listings but even later replacements after papers went to press may have occurred.

Granada listing from May 1982 for Someone at the Top of the Stairs, a late change of schedule

The channels on which Thriller repeats fared worst were Ulster, HTV (Wales and West) and STV. All of these except HTV West would have accommodated national programming which may have squeezed out Thriller. Listings for the two HTV channels can be complex with them sometimes sharing broadcasts and other times departing. It is possible more transmissions have slipped through the net in these regions.

The different versions also varied markedly in number of broadcasts. Nine episodes are known to have been repeated by all fifteen channels. By contrast Spell of Evil and Sleepwalker were the least aired, each with only nine known appearances. Indeed Sleepwalker wasn't repeated at all between December 1980 and September 1982. Quite why the inequalities exist isn’t certain. However one notable pattern is that versions titled later in the alphabet appeared less often. Channels often showed blocks of repeats in alphabetical runs and this counted against those later in the alphabet with the ‘S’ and ‘T’ movies faring worst. These alphabetical runs suggest the channels knew they had a set of Thrillers, ordered by title, and just picked them in that order on the whole. Variations from alphabetical sequence may have reflected availability - stations may not have had all forty-three movies available at any one time and therefore had to wait for other stations to pass on copies.

There were some other striking patterns in episode repeats. File It under Fear had all but one of its thirteen broadcasts between October 1981 and November 1982. Cry Terror! only appeared once after August 1982.  Terror from Within was aired by four stations on Friday 2^nd September 1983, all at the same time so the closest to “networking” of a movie version! The Next Victim, Possession and Someone at the Top of the Stairs were all late runners featuring four times in 1984.

Time slots for the movie versions were generally an ample 80-85 minutes. However there were a few shorter ones which must have been very tight such as that for If It’s a Man – Hang Up! on Ulster in October 1980. These broadcasts may have over-run or had only one advert break or none at all. However there were also some long slots of ninety minutes or even more including as long as 100 minutes for Look Back in Darkness on Tyne Tees! In these instances Thriller was commonly the final scheduled programme and the listed end time is either in error or omits a later programme.

Only three channels (Grampian, ATV and Ulster) showed the movies in 1980 with the first two showing the debut repeats simultaneously on Thursday 11^th September 1980. Ulster though soon dropped away with no repeats at all between October 1980 and July 1982. ATV and later Central continued to be the top region for repeats and was able to finish its set by March 1983. After its strong start Grampian fell away after mid-1981. Most of the other channels showed a fair number of episodes in 1981 but Yorkshire showed none and Westward only one although that may have been related to its impending changeover with TSW. However a switch of channel did not deter Southern which set the pace for its successor TVS to follow in 1982 and 1983. Southern / TVS was one of the top regions for Thriller repeats and rounded off its set in July 1983. Yorkshire was a slow burner with just nine episodes by the end of 1982. However its repeats then took off and by the end it was just one movie (Sleepwalker) short.  

1982 was the peak year for repeats followed by 1983 and then 1981. However most stations were still airing Thriller in 1984. Monday and Friday were by some distance the commonest days for broadcast with Thursday and Saturday some way behind. Sunday started quite well but was unused after October 1981. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were scarcely used which is unsurprising as they are common times for sports coverage. The show appeared throughout the year although transmissions unsurprisingly didn’t occur around Christmas with the closest being one broadcast on 22^nd December 1981. However the movie versions did feature on some Bank Holidays including a New Year’s Day repeat on Yorkshire in 1983.

There were some very late slots in 1984 with Saturday night repeats on Granada and LWT often beginning after midnight. Indeed the latest slot appears to have been for the last ever broadcast when LWT showed The Savage Curse at 12.30am on Saturday night 30^th June 1984 (strictly speaking Sunday 1st July but broadcasts just after midnight are conventionally listed as part of the previous evening's schedule). This presumably was the last date before the repeat rights ran out. Since that time only Bravo in 1996 has broadcast Thriller episodes in the UK and that transmission of The Savage Curse is likely to prove the last sighting of Thriller on terrestrial TV.

Details of repeats on each regional channel to follow...

Thriller ITC movie music

As well as producing new opening and closing titles, either by live action or animation, new opening and closing music was also chosen, replacing the original Thriller theme by Laurie Johnson (the incidental music by him heard within the episodes was unaffected). These sounds have attracted far less criticism than the visual titles and there is no doubt that much of the music selected is of high quality and often very memorable; all the same the loss of the original themes is lamented and even the best of the new music doesn't match-up with the remarkable soundscape Laurie Johnson tailor-made for the series. 

All the new music was sourced from music libraries such as KPM, Bruton and De Wolfe. Library music was composed for use in any sort of production to convey a particular mood or atmosphere rather than specifically composed for a particular show as had been the case with Laurie Johnson's pieces for Thriller. As such the music used can also be heard in many other TV and film productions, e.g. The Sweeney used library music throughout (except for its opening and closing titles which were composed by Harry South) and some of the Thriller movie title music such as "In Danger" by Brian Bennett (used on the movie for "Possession") was used in the earlier police show. The Australian prison soap Prisoner: Cell Block H also used library music for its all incidental sounds including many of the tracks used for the Thriller movie titles.

One of the library music albums that was the source of much music for the Thriller movie versions and many other shows

In my case I can credit the music used on the movie titles for inspiring my now long-standing interest in library music. Previously I'd always appreciated TV and film music but aside from those pieces which were known to be written by well-known TV and film composers such as Barry Gray and Laurie Johnson I hadn't given much thought to the origins of the music. If pushed I probably assumed that all the music heard in a show was written by the composer credited on-screen. Indeed some viewers may have assumed that Laurie Johnson wrote all the opening and closing music on the movie versions because no-one else was credited. Library music is designed to be anonymous and uncredited but that unfortunately means that viewers are commonly unaware of who wrote it. 

That changed when Thriller fans such as Mark McMillan started to identify the pieces used in the movies. Names of the composers and the track names were provided and it became far easier for fans to seek them out for further listening. Before the internet this was very difficult as library music albums were very hard to obtain but now many of the tracks heard in the movies and in other productions are available for official download or elsewhere on the internet and a small number can also be found on CD. Other fans and library music experts have identified other tracks used and most recently Martin Marshall in his excellent book A Thriller in Every Corner has produced the fullest guide to the music used with only a handful of tracks still unidentified.

The guide below lists the pieces (where known) that were used in the movie versions. These are listed under the movie titles with the ATV original title indicated in brackets where it was different. Martin's book gives a much fuller guide to the music used. Although these tracks have generally been heard in many other productions for me I always associate them with the Thriller movies in which they featured:

Anatomy of Terror (An Echo of Theresa)

Rescue by Johnny Pearson

Appointment with a Killer (A Midsummer Nightmare)

Opening titles: "Uneasy Atmosphere" (Keith Mansfield)

Closing titles: "Cape Kennedy" (David Francis)

The Carnation Killer (The Colour of Blood)

"The Plot" and "Darkside" by Brian Bennett; "Apocalypse" by Daryl Runswick

Color Him Dead (K Is for Killing)

"Nerve Centre" and "Deadly Enemy" by John Scott

Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are

"Figment's Park" by Simon Park; "String Explosion" (John Scott); "Destructive Powers" (David Fanshawe)

For the only time a fragment of the original Thriller opening theme can be heard at the end of the original teaser but this is almost certainly due to an editing error.

Cry Terror! (Kill Two Birds)

"Ice Floe" (Pierre Avray); "In Pursuit" (Steve Gray); "Industrial Time Bomb" (Nick Ingman)

Death in Deep Water

"Motor City" (Nick Ingman); "Getaway" (Brian Bennett)

Death in Small Doses (Ring Once for Death)

"City Limits" (Keith Mansfield); "Heavy Lead" (Dave Richmond)

The Death Policy (Lady Killer)

"Emergency" by Johnny Pearson

The Devil's Web (Nurse Will Make It Better)

"Fatal Error", "Research Establishment" and "Softly Softly" (all Keith Mansfield)

Dial a Deadly Number

Unknown track

The Double Kill

"Cold Sweat" by David Lindup; "Hair Razor" (Johnny Pearson)

The Eyes Have It

"Turmoil" (Johnny Pearson)

File It Under Fear

Unknown track

The Fear Is Spreading (The Crazy Kill) 

In Pursuit (Steve Gray)

I'm the Girl He Wants To Kill

"Cape Kennedy" (David Francis); "Sulle Rovine" (Complesso Fabor)

In the Steps of a Dead Man

"The Elements 4" (Eric Towren); "Destructive Powers" (David Fanshawe)

A Killer in Every Corner

"Industrial Time Bomb" (Nick Ingman); "Countdown" (Dave Richmond); "Minuet" (Luigi Boccherini)

Killer with Two Faces

"Motor City" (Nick Ingman); Startle (Brian Bennett)

The Killing Game (Where the Action Is)

"Matter of Urgency" (Keith Mansfield); "Nerve End" (Alan Parker)

Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill (A Coffin for the Bride)

"Surveillance" and "Prowler" (Brian Bennett tracks)

Look Back in Darkness (The Next Voice You See) 

"Motives 1" (Simon Park)

Melody of Hate (Nightmare for a Nightingale)

"Psychopath" (Dick Walter); "Experiment with Danger" (Jim Lawless); unknown atonal piano piece (end titles)

Mirror of Deception (Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin)

"Nightride" (Steve Gray); "Strident Theme" (Francis Monkman)

Murder in Mind

"String Explosion" (John Scott); "Experiment with Danger" (Jim Lawless)

Murder Motel

"Face of Danger" and "Face of Great Danger" (John Scott tracks)

Murder on the Midnight Express (Night Is the Time for Killing)

"Danger - Musicians at Work" (Syd Dale)

The Next Victim

"Hostile" and "Predator" (Johnny Pearson tracks)

Not Guilty (The Next Scream You Hear)

"Knife Fight" (Steve Gray); "Prowler" (Brian Bennett); "Uneasy Feeling" (Jack Trombey)

Once the Killing Starts

"Music 15b" (Don Harper); "Study in Evil" (Derrick Mason); unknown piece with bass guitar

One Deadly Owner

"Gear Shift" (Dave Richmond)

Only a Scream Away

"Rock a Bye Cradle" (Eric Smart); "Mask of Death" (Jack Trombey)

A Place To Die

"Montee Au Calvaire" (Vladimir Cosma)

 Possession

"In Danger" (Brian Bennett); "In Pursuit" (Steve Gray)

The Savage Curse (Kiss Me and Die)

"Lonely Stranger" (Laurie Johnson); "The Deep" (Otto Sieben and Sam Sklair); "Knife Fight" (Steve Gray - closing titles)

Screamer

"Hot Cargo" (Keith Mansfield); "Stress" (Francis Monkman)

Sign It Death

"F.B. Aie" (Vladimir Cosma)

Someone at the Top of the Stairs 

"Chemical Waste" (Nick Ingman)

Spell of Evil

"Gyrosonic" (Louis Brunelli)

Terror from Within (Won't Write Home Mom - I'm Dead)

"Startle 2" (Brian Bennett); Black Mist 1 (Alan Hawkshaw)

Track listing for "Drama Montage" by Brian Bennett including some of the tracks noted above

Addendum - library music in the ATV original episodes

While Laurie Johnson wrote all the incidental or "mood" music heard in the original episodes, a small number of mainly library tracks were also heard but only in very specific circumstances - when a character was listening to music playing on a radio, jukebox or stereo turntable. It was probably a good idea to use pieces by other composers to make clear the difference from his incidental music for the show.

A Coffin for the Bride

"Life of Leisure" and "Special Offer" (both Keith Mansfield)

Death To Sister Mary

Unknown rock instrumental playing at the party (also heard in The Double Kill).

The Double Kill

See above.

Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin

Unknown jaunty flute piece

Kill Two Birds

Unknown jaunty flute theme (also heard in Good Salary)

A Killer in Every Corner

"Classical Minuet" (David Snell)

Murder in Mind

"Concerto for Orchestra" (Bela Bartok conducted by George Solti)

The Next Voice You See

"Supercharger" (Alan Parker)

One Deadly Number

Unknown Tchaikovsky piece

Someone at the Top of the Stairs

"Friends and Neighbours" and "Scooter Girl" (both Alan Hawkshaw); "The Free Life" (James Clarke)

Thriller - the ITC Movie Versions

Thriller was made by ATV and the definitive versions are those that aired on British TV during its original run between 1973 and 1976, all but one featuring the famous fish-eye lens / peephole opening and closing credits and Laurie Johnson's exceptional theme music (the one exception being If It's a Man - Hang Up! but in that case the new titles and music were still produced by ATV including music by Laurie Johnson). However for many years starting in the late 1970s this was not the case. ITC - the wing of Lew Grade's ATV company that produced and marketed shows for the international market - reformatted the original ATV series. These new versions were preceded on-screen by the ITC logo / ident and strident start-up music, replacing the ATV ident and music seen on the original UK broadcasts. All bar one were given a generic "1974" copyright date irrespective of when they were produced (If It's a Man - Hang Up! was correctly dated as 1975):

ITC logo seen during the era of the Thriller TV Movies

Each episode was stripped of its official Thriller identity and turned into an ostensibly distinct TV movie whose official name was the on-screen title, e.g. "Possession" and not Thriller. Laurie Johnson's theme music and the fish-eye lens credits were dropped and replaced by new opening and closing titles tailor-made to the particular "movie". In some instances the original ATV episode title was replaced by a new one, e.g. Lady Killer became "The Death Policy". These strategies were seen as making the show more marketable than trying to sell the original series and it does seem that from a purely commercial viewpoint they were correct as these "new" movies were sold, broadcast and repeated many times all over the world over many years.

New on-screen title for "Possession" produced by Film-Rite

While there were occasional small differences in actual episode content (with some movies running slightly longer than the original versions) the movies were more clearly extended by the new opening and closing titles running far longer than the ATV originals. This was done so that they would better fit longer time slots. The closing titles made this extension most obvious (sometimes painfully so) by scrolling very slowly over the end artwork, freeze-frame or animation. In addition to further aid this extension they included much fuller crew credits than on the originals and this was useful in ascertaining in more detail who worked on the episodes.

The main talking point and controversy concerned the new titles for each episode / movie. It's fair to say that the visuals of the new titles are generally poorly-regarded, often bizarrely-done and in some cases amateurish, crass and tasteless. Some were more inventive, imaginative and impactful but even these still felt out of place with the episodes proper due to differences in production, lighting, picture quality and often it being obvious they were filmed in the USA rather than Britain where the episodes were set. In fairness the producers of the new titles had a very difficult task given that they couldn't use the original actors, production staff or settings and their budget seems to have been very limited. The music on these opening and closing titles (which will be covered separately) was often far better as it was sourced from library music companies such as KPM but even that didn't properly fit with the Laurie Johnson music on the episodes themselves.

For all their faults though, the ITC movie versions were a key part of many viewers' experience of the show. This was especially so for those who watched the show in the 1980s including the repeats on British TV between 1980 and 1984. These movie versions also then did important work as recordings of them from across the world circulated among fans and allowed them to see episodes they'd never seen before.

Production of the movie versions

Production of the new opening and closing titles was shared between two American companies: Film-Rite and Creative Productions; Dolphin Productions. These had quite distinct approaches. Film-Rite used newly-filmed sequences in the USA (although trying with varying degrees of success to seem like they were made in Britain like the rest of the episode). Although actors did feature on-screen to recreate or improvise upon events in the episodes proper, in almost all cases no faces were shown as this would have made it obvious the original actors were not being used. "Headless" figures were the norm although some heads were shown from behind where - rather like stand-ins - they could pass as the original characters. Often just hands or feet were shown while use of shadows / silhouettes was also sometimes used to disguise the lack of original actors and settings. In a few cases faces were seen, e.g. a photograph of an intended victim in "Mirror of Deception", but this was an improvisation / extension of events seen in the episode and reasonably plausible. The strategy could backfire though, e.g. the new titles for File It Under Fear showed the eyes / features of a voyeur which some viewers felt were too close to those of the actual killer in the whodunit that followed. Clips were sometimes used within these new titles and in a few cases dialogue from later in the episode was placed over the new sequences. While some of these clips were well-judged others gave a lot away such as showing killings within the action to follow. 

The end credits were usually accompanied by a montage of images supposedly linked to events in the story although these were often inaccurate and perhaps designed to be eye-catching rather than factually-correct. A few ended on a freeze-frame from the final scene with the credits scrolling over it. While the credits could certainly be useful in ascertaining the full crew there were frequent misspellings / typos of names:

End credit artwork for Someone at the Top of the Stairs, the image almost suggesting that Chrissie and Gillian are happily skipping away from the house!

Thirty of the movies had titles produced by Film-Rite. They are as follows with new titles in bold in brackets:

The Colour Of Blood (The Carnation Killer); Someone At the Top Of the Stairs; Possession; File It Under Fear; Ring Once For Death (Death In Small Doses); Once the Killing Starts; Kiss Me And Die (The Savage Curse*); Only a Scream Away; K Is For Killing (Color Him Dead); I'm the Girl He Wants To Kill; A Coffin For the Bride (Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill*); Death To Sister Mary (Murder Is a One Act Play); In the Steps Of a Dead Man; Come Out Come Out, Wherever You Are; The Next Scream You Hear (Not Guilty); Screamer; A Killer In Every Corner; Killer With Two Faces; Nurse Will Make It Better (The Devil's Web*); Where the Action Is (The Killing Game); The Double Kill; Won't Write Home Mom - I'm Dead (Terror From Within); Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin (Mirror Of Deception); The Next Victim; A Midsummer Nightmare (Appointment With a Killer); Sleepwalker; Nightmare For a Nightingale (Melody Of Hate); Dial a Deadly Number; Kill Two Birds (Cry Terror!); Death In Deep Water.

* These three are officially credited to "Visualscope" but the style is barely distinguishable from Film-Rite so it seems likely it is either an alternative name or division of Film-Rite.

Dolphin Productions took a rather different approach with animated titles, again very slow-paced with credits laid over them. Although their techniques were at one time quite technically impressive, by the 1980s this was less evident and to contemporary eyes they look very basic although occasionally quite effective. Some of the images in the animations were as fanciful as those used by Film-Rite in its end credit artworks as this Dolphin image from "Anatomy of Terror" (the particularly misleading new title for An Echo of Theresa) shows:

Other images were rather more conventional and used some interesting colours and effects as in this example from Spell of Evil:

While the use of animation rather than live action meant that Dolphin avoided the lurid scenes of some of the Film-Rite efforts it also meant that their titles generally seemed more pedestrian. A tendency to over-literal animation also led to some of their credits being hard to take seriously although a few of their sequences were pretty decent and would have been more effective without all the padding,

Dolphin produced the titles for the following thirteen episodes / "movies" - new titles where used in bold and brackets: 

An Echo of Theresa (Anatomy of Terror); Lady Killer (The Death Policy); The Eyes Have It; Murder In Mind; A Place To Die; Spell Of Evil; One Deadly Owner; Sign It Death; Night Is the Time For Killing (Murder On the Midnight Express); The Crazy Kill (Fear Is Spreading); If It's a Man - Hang-Up!; The Next Voice You See (Look Back In Darkness); Murder Motel.

It is unclear why two different companies produced titles, or why the numbers allocated are so dissmilar. Possibly ITC wanted to explore different styles. Another theory, backed by the argument that the earliest titles are the work of Dolphin, is that Dolphin withdrew from the process for some reason and Film-Rite took over. It's possible ITC felt the Film-Rite titles were more eye-catching on-screen (even if that were not always for the right reasons) and preferred to use their services.

Trailers

Trailers were produced for various of the "movies" and these can be found on the DVD sets and sometimes on the internet - ones for A Killer in Every Corner and The Next Victim can be seen on this video seven and a half minutes in (after the Dolphin movie titles to Murder Motel). All these are essentially composed of clips from the episodes in question and are generally effective in capturing the flavour of the production. Trailers for any film or programme have to strike a balance between enticing interest and giving away key developments. Most of these stay on the right side of the line but the one for Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are gives rather too much away while another for a whodunit actually shows one of the suspects launching an attack at the climax of the "movie". Some have inserts from the new movie titles, quite extensively so for Come Out. Those from Dolphin (The Death Policy and Spell of Evil) are presented simply in this form but all but one of those by Film-Rite are accompanied by rather over-the-top, horror-type voiceovers which, although quite entertaining, do somewhat detract from the subtle style of Thriller. The dramatic style is most notably unrepresentative for Terror from Within, which is one of the most low-key stories, and for which the supernatural elements are rather overplayed by the narrator.

The most curious trailer though is that for File It Under Fear. Although produced by Film-Rite this has no voiceover and the action shown is purely an extended sequence from their new filmed titles with no clips at all from the original show - hardly a representative guide to the episode. Maybe this was an experimental trailer, a sign that Film-Rite were not impressed with the original episode or particularly impressed by their new titles!

Usefully there are hidden boards present before each trailer (these can be found on the DVDs by rewinding from the start) which give precise dates on when the Film-Rite trailers were made, or at least completed. Unfortunately there are no boards for Dolphin which would have helped establish if they worked on the series before Film-Rite. These trailers were produced between 1978 and 1980, although others may have been produced at earlier or later dates. In date order the Film-Rite trailers were completed as follows:

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are (29.12.78); Dial a Deadly Number (30.1.79); In the Steps Of a Dead Man (7.2.79); Sleepwalker (29.6.79); Color Him Dead (5.7.79); Mirror Of Deception (11.12.79); Murder Is a One Act Play (9.1.80); Terror From Within (25.1.80); File It Under Fear (21.2.80); Cry Terror! (10.3.80)