Thriller (UK TV series)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Thriller | |
|---|---|
 UK opening titles |
|
| Genre | Anthology, Thriller |
| Creator(s) | Brian Clemens |
| Starring | Various |
| Country of origin | UK |
| No. of episodes | 43 |
| Production | |
| Running time | Various |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV |
| Original run | 14 April 1973 – 22 May 1976 |
Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The series was created by Brian Clemens, who also scripted the majority of the episodes and storylined every installment, and produced by John Sichel (the first 3 series), John Cooper (series 4) and Ian Fordyce (the final two series) for Associated TeleVision (ATV) at their Elstree studios north of London. It evolved from Clemens' previous work, in particular two films of a similar style, And Soon The Darkness (EMI-ABP 1970) and Blind Terror (aka See No Evil (Columbia 1971). The latter shared plot similarities with the Thriller episodes "The Eyes Have It" and "The Next Voice Your See". Original music, including the theme tune, was by Clemens' regular collaborator Laurie Johnson.
The stories are often set in the English home counties "stock-broker belt", but most episodes, especially from the second season onwards, feature at least one American character, mostly portrayed by an imported US guest star, to appeal to the American market. After originally being screened late night in the US under the ABC Mystery Movie billing from 1973, in 1978 some episodes were retitled for US syndication and all had additional opening sequences shot, with new titles and credits. Since these were made without the original cast they often feature menacing figures seen only from the neck down. The original replaced original UK and US title sequence featured a sequence of shots through a fisheye lens, bordered in bright red.
Following a worldwide audit in 2003/4, by the then licence holders Carlton, all the original UK PAL fisheye titled original 2" videotapes of "Thriller" were located and remastered onto modern digital tape by the British Film Institute. (One exception was the story "Nurse Will Make It Better" .. however this too exists in PAL/original format as a 1" dub from the original master tape. This version was repeat broadcast on the satellite channel Bravo in 1996).
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Season 1 (1973)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Lady Killer (US title: The Death Policy) |
14 April 1973 | Barbara Feldon, T. P. McKenna, Robert Powell, Linda Thorson, Mary Wimbush |
| Possession | 21 April 1973 | John Carson, James Cossins, Joanna Dunham, Jack Galloway |
| Someone at the Top of the Stairs | 28 April 1973 | Donna Mills, Peter Cellier, Judy Carne |
| An Echo of Theresa (US title: Anatomy of Terror) |
5 May 1973 | Dinsdale Landen, Polly Bergen |
| The Colour of Blood (US title: The Carnation Killer) |
12 May 1973 | Norman Eshley, Malcolm Terris |
| Murder in Mind | 19 May 1973 | Donald Gee, Richard Johnson, Zena Walker |
| A Place to Die | 26 May 1973 | Arnold Ridley, Harold Bennett, Georgine Anderson, Bryan Marshall |
| File It Under Fear | 2 June 1973 | Jan Francis, James Grout, John Le Mesurier, Maureen Lipman, Richard O'Callaghan |
| The Eyes Have It | 9 June 1973 | Sinéad Cusack, Dennis Waterman, Alun Armstrong, David Jackson, Leslie Schofield, Peter Vaughan |
| Spell of Evil | 16 June 1973 | Diane Cilento, Edward de Souza |
[edit] Season 2 (1974)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Only a Scream Away | 26 January 1974 | Hayley Mills, Jeremy Bulloch, David Warbeck |
| Once the Killing Starts | 2 February 1974 | Angharad Rees, Patrick O'Neal, Gerald Sim, Patricia Donahue, Michael Kitchen |
| Kiss Me and Die (US title: The Savage Curse) |
9 February 1974 | Jenny Agutter, Russell Hunter, Anton Diffring, George Chakiris, Stephen Greif |
| One Deadly Owner | 16 February 1974 | Donna Mills, Jeremy Brett, Laurence Payne |
| Ring Once for Death (US title: Death in Small Doses) |
23 February 1974 | Nyree Dawn Porter, Michael Jayston, Barry Nelson, Janet Key, Thorley Walters |
| K is for Killing (US title: Color Him Dead) |
2 March 1974 | Stephen Rea, Arthur White, Derek Francis, Gayle Hunnicutt, Christopher Cazenove |
| Sign it Death | 9 March 1974 | Patrick Allen, John Arnatt, Francesca Annis, Moira Redmond |
[edit] Season 3 (1974)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| A Coffin for the Bride (US title: Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill) |
1 June 1974 | Michael Jayston, Helen Mirren, Tony Steedman, Josephine Tewson |
| I'm the Girl He Wants to Kill | 8 June 1974 | Geoffrey Whitehead, Anthony Steel, Robert Lang, Tony Selby, Julie Sommars |
| Death to Sister Mary (US title: Murder is a One-Act Play) |
15 June 1974 | Jennie Linden, Robert Powell, Derek Fowlds, Windsor Davies, Leigh Lawson |
| In the Steps of a Dead Man | 22 June 1974 | John Nolan, Skye Aubrey, Richard Vernon, Christopher Benjamin, Faith Brook |
| Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are | 29 June 1974 | Lynda Day George, John Carson, Colette O'Neil, Peter Jeffrey, Molly Weir |
| The Next Scream You Hear (US title: Not Guilty) |
6 July 1974 | Richard Todd, Edward Hardwicke, Dinsdale Landen, Suzanne Neve |
[edit] Season 4 (1975)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Screamer | 4 January 1975 | Pamela Franklin, Jim Norton |
| Nurse Will Make It Better (US title: The Devil's Web, US video title: Night Nurse) |
11 January 1975 | Diana Dors, Michael Culver, Patrick Troughton, Ed Bishop, Cec Linder, Andrea Marcovicci |
| Night is the Time for Killing (US title: Murder on the Midnight Express) |
18 January 1975 | Judy Geeson, Charles Gray, Duncan Preston |
| Killer with Two Faces | 25 January 1975 | Donna Mills, Ian Hendry, Hazel McBride |
| A Killer in Every Corner | 1 February 1975 | Patrick Magee, Don Henderson, Petra Markham, Eric Flynn, Joanna Pettet, Max Wall |
| Where the Action Is (US title: The Killing Game) |
8 February 1975 | Ingrid Pitt, Trevor Baxter |
[edit] Season 5 (1975)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| If It's a Man, Hang Up | 12 April 1975 | Tom Conti, Gerald Harper, Carol Lynley, Michael Byrne, Sue Holderness |
| The Double Kill/Take | 19 April 1975 | Peter Bowles, James Villiers |
| Won't Write Home Mom - I'm Dead (US title: Terror from Within) |
26 April 1975 | Ian Bannen, Dallas Adams, Oliver Tobias, Suzanne Neve |
| The Crazy Kill (US title: Fear is Spreading) |
3 May 1975 | Denholm Elliott, Anthony Valentine, Mark Wing-Davey, Dennis Chinnery, David Horovitch |
| Good Salary, Prospects, Free Coffin (US title: Mirror of Deception) |
10 May 1975 | Julian Glover, Keith Barron, John Abineri, Karl Held, Kim Darby, Bruce Boa |
| The Next Voice You See (US title: Look Back in Darkness) |
17 May 1975 | Nigel Havers, Catherine Schell. Ian Redford, Ray Smith, Bradford Dillman |
| Murder Motel | 24 May 1975 | Ralph Bates, John Hallam, Adrian Shergold, Derek Francis, Gillian McCutcheon |
[edit] Season 6 (1976)
| Episode title | Original transmission | Notable cast |
|---|---|---|
| Sleepwalker | 10 April 1976 | Michael Kitchen, John Challis, Robert Beatty |
| The Next Victim | 17 April 1976 | T. P. McKenna, Ronald Lacey, Harold Bennett, Carroll Baker |
| Nightmare for a Nightingale (US title: Melody of Hate) |
24 April 1976 | Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Stephen Greif, Stuart Damon |
| Dial a Deadly Number | 1 May 1976 | Denholm Elliott, Anthony Valentine, Mark Wing-Davey, Dennis Chinnery, Gemma Jones, Beth Morris |
| Kill Two Birds (US title: Cry Terror!) |
8 May 1976 | Bob Hoskins, Susan Hampshire, David Daker, Stephen Yardley, Dudley Sutton, Gabrielle Drake |
| A Midsummer Nightmare (US title: Appointment with a Killer) |
15 May 1976 | Brian Blessed, Tony Anholt, Freddie Jones, Joanna Pettet |
| Death in Deep Water | 22 May 1976 | Ian Bannen, Bradford Dillman, Suzan Farmer |
[edit] DVD and Video release
United Kingdom
Two VHS videos (each containing two episodes) were released on video in the UK in 1993 by ITC entertainment: 'A Coffin for the Bride’/‘One Deadly Owner’ and ‘Someone at the Top of the Stairs’/‘An Echo of Theresa'. These have since been deleted.
Two further tapes were scheduled for 1994: ‘Screamer’/’Sign It Death’ and ‘Where the Action Is’/‘I'm the Girl He Wants to Kill’, but this release was cancelled.
A decade later in September 2004, Granada Ventures released the first ten episodes of Series One on DVD in a four-disc box set. This release has also since been deleted.
Then in July 2005, Networkvideo released all 43 episodes of the entire series in a mammoth remastered and restored 16-disc box set, complete with an array of extra features.
Amongst the most notable ‘extras’, include the supplementary episode ‘Who Killed Lamb?’ starring Stanley Baker. Although it had no connection with the series whatsoever, this 65 minute play (the standard length of a Thriller episode), produced by Yorkshire television, was shown at the end of season two and was billed and fully networked as an episode of Thriller - despite the fact that it lacked the show’s well known ‘peephole’ credit sequence.
Also included is an 11 minute interview with Brian Clemens.
Two of episodes, ‘If It's A Man - Hang Up’ and ‘Nurse Will Make It Better’ no longer exist in their original ATV format and so had to reconstructed from the ABC versions (broadcasted in United States) for the DVD release. This is despite the fact that the original ATV version of the latter was shown as recently in the United Kingdom as 1996. An experimental, extended version (75 minutes) of the former is included as an ‘extra’ - although this version is now believed to be the original broadcast, despite the fact that the sleeve notes states that it has never ever been broadcasted.
Unlike the Granada Ventures release the Networkvideo set doesn’t include English subtitles and is not region free.
United States
A great many episodes were released on video in the United States in 1986 and 1987. Unlike the United Kingdom VHS releases (which had two episodes per tape), these contain an episode per tape. Some of the tapes are ‘extended’ versions and include some 2 to 3 minutes of original scenes not included in the British versions.
The tapes that were released are as follows:
‘Anatomy Of Terror’ (‘An Echo Of Theresa’), ‘The Carnation Killer’ (‘The Colour Of Blood’), ‘One Deadly Owner’ (Extended Version), ‘I'm The Girl He Wants To Kill’ (Extended Version), ‘In The Steps Of A Deadman’ (Extended Version), ‘Screamer’ (Extended Version), ’The Devil's Web’ (‘Nurse Will Make It Better’ - Extended Version), ‘Murder On The Midnight Express’ (‘Night Is The Time For Killing’ - Extended Version), ’Killer With Two Faces’ (Extended Version), ‘A Killer In Every Corner (Extended Version)’, ‘If It's A Man - Hang Up!’, ‘Mirror Of Deception’ (‘Good Salary - Prospects - Free Coffin’), ‘Murder Motel, Cry Terror’ (‘Kill Two Birds’), ‘The Next Victim’ and ‘Death In Deep Water’.
These tapes have since been deleted.
A new (from Sep 2006) R1 DVD boxset was released by A&E containing the 10 stories of series 1, with further releases to follow if sales are sufficient to warrant them. The design of the packaging (similar to the now deleted Granada Ventures S1 set in the UK) highlights (somewhat inappropriately) the "horror" connotations of "Thriller". New and exclusive extra content on the A&E set includes interviews with Brian Clemens, John Cooper and the most prolific "Thriller" director Shaun O'Riordan, as well as individual introductions (by Clemens) for the 10 stories on the set.
