Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin - Series 5 Episode 5, Saturday 10th May 1975 (ITC movie title "Mirror of Deception")

The story...

American student Helen Terek is sharing a flat with Wendy Phillips and Babs Bryant. Soon though Wendy is gone when she sees an advert for an exciting job involving travel, just getting in her application before Babs can do so. Helen isn’t too surprised that Wendy doesn’t get back in touch – she’s got used to the transitory nature of relationships with flatmates.

A couple of months later the same job advert turns up. Babs is excited to see it and with a shade of schadenfreude speculates that the job has reappeared because Wendy got fired. This time around Babs gets in her application and is successful. Soon after she moves out, Helen gets married to her English boyfriend Charley. The pair seem very happy although Helen is a little surprised not to have heard back from Babs. However she becomes much more worried when she sees the same job advert again; even worse when she visits the Embassy to get her passport changed and meets a member of staff called Babs – Babs Bryant – whose background is the same as her former flatmate. She starts to believe that something awful has happened to Babs and Wendy, her new husband unable to settle her mind…

Review

This episode doesn't quite live up to the great expectations of its excellent story idea. However it remains a valuable and thought-provoking effort.

It was the third and final of the espionage stories. Espionage was perhaps not the best material for Thriller and for me only Night is the Time for Killing ranks (just) above the average although all three were sound efforts and not far below the norm. As with the other two examples impersonation is the technique used by the villains. Once again their country of origin is never specified but it seems safe to assume that they represent the Eastern Bloc. A virtue of this vagueness is it allows for conjecture and avoids stories getting bogged down in Cold War propaganda. Carter and Gifford are intended to blend in as thoroughly English but are enemy agents. Carter though seems almost too English and has a rather odd, ultra-refined accent that could easily be that of a foreigner trying rather too hard to pass as a native.

The plan is an extraordinary one: to replace Britons with lookalikes who can then act as spies. Women with few friends and family are deliberately targeted. Quite why women are chosen is unclear. Maybe the instigators feel they are less likely to be suspected as spies but it was probably to satisfy the standard Thriller theme of "women in danger". Conversely though, it does mean that women get to break the stereotype by acting as assassins. The replacements take the same name and personal history as their victims, such as the Babs Bryant impersonator, but are not exact copies. It's a clever idea but does raise a few questions. Although these are women with few connections there might still be some, like Timothy Bryant, asking after them. There is no guarantee that the agents will get jobs with real spying potential. However, as Gifford notes, they have been told that any information is meaningful.

The brilliant teaser sets up this idea. We never see the replacement for the tall blonde but we do see those for Wendy, Babs and ultimately Helen. The scenes in which the women are disturbingly confronted by their replacements and then killed are very powerful, especially that of Babs in which Babs Two runs through her victim's whole personal history while Babs moves from excitement and astonishment through to horror. The nervousness of two of the female assassins - who had not killed before - are also very well depicted.

Gifford (Julian Glover) gives some advice to the woman about to "inherit" the role of "Babs Bryant" (Gillian Hawser)

There is an interesting contrast in attitudes between the two villains. Carter appears to find the whole business unpleasant but necessary. He regrets, "I wish they didn't have to be so young." He never lets slip his charming and dignified exterior. Gifford on the other hand seems to enjoy what he is doing - a delight that Carter finds sickening. Maybe Gifford has become hardened by violence and this is his way of coping. Perhaps he has managed to depersonalise the victims to avoid any pangs of conscience. In a very revealing exchange Carter protests, "They're human beings!" and Gifford retorts, "On the other side!" These may be ordinary young women to others but they are just members of the “enemy” to him and no pity should be extended. A parallel might be to contemporary terrorists with Gifford representing the attitude that anyone in the enemy country is a legitimate target. These tensions between the pair are excellently demonstrated. One annoying aspect though is how Gifford continually repeats Carter's remark about him being, "a pig". However as he points out to Carter maybe his brutality is very necessary and he does seem to play a key part in giving the assassins the resolve for their deadly tasks - Carter insists he could do such things if necessary but Gifford has his doubts.

Wendy and Babs are both vulnerable because of their isolation and quest for what seems a great opportunity. Like the shy and lonely Jenny in Lady Killer they are easy prey for deceivers. Helen's remark about departing flatmates being, "ships that pass in the night," reflects the fleeting and fragile nature of many apparently strong relationships when one person moves on to another job or partner. Helen though is rather more perceptive than her flatmates. She spots the warning signs as the advert reappears and realises their silence may well be involuntary. In true heroine style she picks up on danger signs despite the derision of her new husband Charley and sticks to her beliefs despite his opposition. The friction this causes between them is starky portrayed, and her independent sprit leads him to suspect the influence of "Women's Lib,", a topic never far from the surface in the minds of many 1970s male screen characters. .

Linking to chauvinistic male attitudes, Timothy Bryant (Babs' brother) initially invites hackles with his awful chat-up of Helen but once he appreciates she is unavailable he makes a very valuable contribution. He is wise enough to see there may be something strange going on and gives her much-needed support. His meeting with Carter is electrifying. Inspector Bruff offers a diplomatically sceptical perspective, in neat contrast to Charley, before being won around.

The final minutes are quite strong. There is a struggle which doesn't entirely work on screen but there are a couple of striking twists in terms of who will save the day. In this respect it's a little like the climax of If It's a Man - Hang Up! a few weeks earlier where there were a couple of very late surprises as regards who was the ultimate villain and who was the ultimate hero. Both conclusions are well done overall but perhaps a little rushed.

Although the story is generally a fascinating one it doesn’t best serve some of the characters and the performances. The central couple of Helen and Charley Masters are not particularly appealing on screen and this limits the scope of actors Kim Darby and Keith Barron. Helen spends almost all the episode in negative emotion mode, understandably very worried about the fate of her former flatmates or in conflict with her new husband who not only disbelieves her but is angered at her concerns. While these emotions are entirely justified given the story they do make her character rather dour. Worse is Charley who comes across for most of the action as selfish and unsympathetic. Although the pair get married within the episode their spells of happiness are brief and so the couple are rarely at ease. While the sceptical partner wasn’t unknown in Thriller (e.g. Bruce Nelson in A Place To Die) earlier examples came across as rather more supportive and less antagonistic. The hostile reaction of Charley might be quite realistic in terms of how many partners would respond but all the same it can be somewhat relentless for the viewer. Both actors give capable displays but would have benefitted from more light as well as shade in their characters.

Probably for most viewers the most memorable characters and performances will be by the villains. James Maxwell gives the best display as the enigmatic, ambivalent, even sympathetic Carter, contrasting well with Julian Glover who is typically strong in his role as the brutal Gifford. Martin Read is impressive in his cameo as Tim Bryant but again might have been better served by not having to spout the dreadful chat-up dialogue in his first lines. Helen’s unfortunate flatmates Wendy and Babs also run the emotional gamut from excitement and joy to bewilderment and ultimately horror and are well-performed by Janina Faye and Susan Dury respectively.

In general a little reworking, maybe broader characterisation and performances and more innovative direction might have turned an average episode into a fine one. The results remain though very entertaining by general TV standards.

Notes

Although over thirty actors appeared more than once in Thriller, Susan Dury (playing the real Babs Bryant) was the only one whose character was murdered on both occasions. She had previously appeared in Killer with Two Faces and it may not be coincidence that the director each time was John Scholz-Conway who may have felt she "died beautifully" in the earlier outing and cast her again for a similar role. James Greene also appeared in both these episodes, each time playing a policeman.

It seems odd that Inspector Bruff's detective colleague (seen with him at the US Embassy) is not credited even though he is prominent on screen and has a few lines of dialogue. At the same time an actor is credited as "Police Driver" even though he only appears briefly in the background and has no dialogue. it is possible the driver originally has more dialogue which was cut from the broadcast episode.

The ITC Movie version was named "Mirror of Deception". Opinions will vary but I prefer this more enigmatic title to the more attention-grabbing though less subtle original one. Generally I prefer the more intriguing titles such as Someone at the Top of the Stairs and An Echo of Theresa to the more graphic ones including words such as "Kill", "Death" and variations thereof which predominated. While such episode titles are certainly eye-catching they are perhaps "overkill" (pardon the pun) for a show already called Thriller. 

The opening titles for the movie also overlays dialogue from the original episode onto a new scene of a killing (a similar approach was taken in the "movie" version of Killer with Two Faces). There is a photograph of the intended victim (below - and not played by Susan Dury, just how the credits rolled at that point!), a rare case of a face being seen in a movie version but as this was an extrapolation of events in the episode (we know other victims were killed and replaced by agents) the depiction is plausible. The end credits play over a freeze-frame rather than an artistic montage as in most versions.

Night Is the Time for Killing - Series 4 Episode 3, Saturday 18th January 1975 (ITC movie title "Murder on the Midnight Express")

The story...

The action opens with an attempt to kill Ivan Malov, an Eastern European defector. It then switches to a young American woman, Helen Marlow. She is booked onto a luxury train journey to aid her recovery from a nervous breakdown following the death of her fiance. An Australian traveller, Bob, befriends her but it is tough going as she is still very depressed. Her distress becomes much worse when she seems to see a dead passenger. Bob and others assume she is hallucinating but she is quite convinced. However there are people on the train who are not what they seem, and who have murder on their mind...

Review

My first impressions of this episode were fairly lukewarm but it has grown on me and I would now consider it to be very good, albeit some way from the top rank.

The teaser of an attempted assassination and intelligence conference seems oddly disconnected from an anxious young woman boarding a train but later it makes sense. The choice of such a clearly English actress as Judy Geeson to play an American did not inspire early confidence. This is no criticism of Judy but rather a wish that either an American actress had been hired or - better still - the character rewritten as English. Either solution would have created a better result. As it transpired Judy does a very good job in a demanding role but I'd always prefer a character to be played by someone of that nationality.

The smoothie Bob (played by James Smillie), the only Australian character seen in the programme, is a little annoying at first with his rather obvious charming of Helen but when he moves into serious mode the results are much better. Helen's experience of loss and depression is very well depicted. Her struggle to be taken seriously as she starts to see very disturbing things is skilfully conveyed. This scenario occurred on a few occasions in Thriller, with Bob in the familiar intermediary "sceptical but open-minded" position, but it is neatly accomplished.

Bob tries to support a shaken Helen

Although these two might appear to be at the centre of the story there is no doubt that the dominant character and the chief reason for its appeal is that of Hillary Vance who is possibly the most entertaining figure seen in all of Thriller. He is brilliantly funny. Unlike Matthew Earp in his two episodes, Vance uses his wit against others. A remarkably cultured man, he is devastatingly sarcastic, turning particularly on the hapless waiter. Charles Gray is quite superb in this part and there is no doubt that it raises the episode above the ordinary. Again in a typical Thriller touch it is never quite clear what Vance does. Granted he is a diplomat - but where does he work, and why should he be so important to Malov - and to Malov's opponents? Vance never talks of anything political but of course that does not mean he has no such interests. As in all the espionage stories it is clear that the Eastern bloc are up to no good but the exact nature of their activities is unclear. Evidently they want to eliminate the defector Malov but why is never established.

The theme of impersonation was used in the other two espionage stories but this is the most elaborate of all. The physical and vocal impersonation of a key character is perfect and is effectively science fiction; it may be stretching credibility but it's important to make the story work.

The climax is a strong one and matters are rounded off with a great final line. In addition the episode provides an early sight of Duncan Preston - later a long-time Victoria Wood stalwart - in a straight role as part of a newly-wed couple with his wife played by Jacki Piper, another performer more associated with comedy but in no way out of place here. Overall a strong and often under-rated effort, and definitely for me the best of the three espionage tales

Notes

For the third time in the first four episodes of Series 4 a train is a key setting, although this story is set almost entirely "on board". Euston station is featured. Bob's leaping across the tracks at the climax may not have impressed safety experts! The TV Movie version was retitled "Murder on the Midnight Express" and the new titles were one of Dolphin's better efforts backed by an excellent strident piece by Syd Dale - "Danger - Musicians at Work".

Although Jim Smillie as Bob played the only overtly Australian character in Thriller other Australian actors did appear in the show including one in this episode - Alister Williamson as secret service agent Barkley - but he was playing an apparently British character. Reg Lye was another Australian actor to appear in Thriller (two episodes - Spell of Evil and Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin, playing a caretaker on both occasions) but no reference was made to his Australian background. Australian actors appearing in British shows in that era played apparently and sometimes overtly British characters quite frequently, something that meant they weren't restricted to just playing Australians.

An Echo of Theresa - Series 1, Episode 4, Saturday 5 May 1973 (ITC movie title: Anatomy of Terror)

The story....

Brad and Suzy Hunter are on holiday in London. Soon after they arrive Brad starts to behave strangely include some disturbing outbursts that greatly worry his wife. Reading The Times newspaper seems to trigger these events and at these points he also seems to believe he is an English "gentleman" called Charles Merrow who is married to someone called Theresa but he has no idea who these people are. The pair call in unconventional - but certainly talented - private detective Matthew Earp to try to find answers - it seems events from decades earlier on another continent offer the key but the danger to Brad and Suzy is very much in the present...

Brad (Paul Burke) confronted by Sagar (Larry Taylor)

Review

This had the honour of opening Thriller in the USA (indeed its first broadcast anywhere) on 15th January 1973. This was certainly not a random choice as it is one of the most transatlantic stories with plenty of nods to American and more generally international viewers. It is the only episode with two American guest stars with Paul Burke and Polly Bergen having joint-top billing but it also makes great use of central London locations most likely to be familiar to those outside the UK. The references to "the English gentleman" would also be very familiar to non-UK viewers as well as broader references to English and American "character" that were to recur throughout the series.

This was the second-ever episode I saw courtesy of it being on the first Thriller VHS tape I bought back in 1994. The first I saw was Someone at the Top of the Stairs and it's fair to say this outing always seemed an anti-climax compared to the great drama and boldness of that outing. That has largely been shared by other viewers with An Echo of Theresa striking most as an undoubtedly well-produced and cleverly-written story but one that doesn't really grip them. I will say though that watching it again for the first time in many years I was highly impressed and while it is best-remembered for introducing the memorable character of Matthew Earp it has plenty of other virtues and rather more to offer than initially seems and no worse for its emphasis on mystery and intrigue rather than high drama.

The first series is sometimes criticised as being rather slow and this episode certainly has faced that accusation. The story creates intrigue through Brad's peculiar and troubling - and in one case dangerous - behaviour and this takes up most of the first half. This can be heavy going, especially for the casual viewer, but not unlike other "slower" stories the relative lack of pace allows time to build the mystery. 

The second half sees the arrival of Matthew Earp and and there is a universal sense that the exceptional quality of that character makes a great impact. Earp is the only character to reappear in Thriller (in The Next Scream You Hear at the end of Series 3) and one can see why he deserved that honour. The character is superbly drawn but the performance by Dinsdale Landen is excellent. Earp is brilliantly witty but has a razor-sharp mind and physical prowess that ensures he must always be taken seriously. The private detective duo of the Buckleys in K Is for Killing also have immense wit and style but are played far more obviously for laughs, to the frustration of many viewers (although not myself). However there is no question that Earp, thanks to Landen's skill, stays on the right side of the dramatic fence.

The episode does become more gripping as it progresses, not just through Earp's arrival but also the emergence of the villains. As in the other two Thriller espionage stories ordinary people are unfortunate enough to be targeted by international agents. Their exact motives and missions are never truly explained and it is useful to have this enigma. 

Brad Hunter finds himself under interrogation by Charles Merrow (Basil Henson) and Bannerhein (Vernon Dobtcheff)

The climax sees more questions being answered. It offers a dramatic ending to a generally low-key outing and the final line is one of the best in the show's history. It is always good to end on a high note and while the episode is unlikely ever to come a major fan favourite it does deserve further appreciation.

Notes

This was one of the favourite stories of Brian Clemens and he chose it for the first video release. The ITC movie version of this episode had the curious title of "Anatomy of Terror". Intriguing and unnerving perhaps but "terror" seems to be overstating events in a tale far more about mystery; it is probably the only film or TV title containing the word "anatomy"!