1 9 7 8 (UK)
26 x 30 minute episodes 1 9 8 0 (UK)
28 x 30 minute episodes
Armchair Thriller screened twice weekly in 1978 and 1980, with each story spread over four or six 30 minute episodes – Some were excellent, some were very average.
The series was mainly made by Thames TV, but Southern TV also got in on the act and made a couple of stories.
The title sequence was excellent and the theme was by Andy Mackay of Roxy Music and Rock Follies fame.
There were eleven stories in total;
Rachel in Danger
11-year old Rachel (Della Low) travels from Scotland to spend a summer with her father, whom she has not seen for many years. Arriving at Euston, she finds herself involved in a murder, with herself possibly the next victim.
It turns out that terrorists who are planning an assassination at a Royal garden party have killed Rachel’s long-absent father – but she didn’t recognise the body and mistakenly believes that he is the murderer.
Rachel
Della Low Peter
Neville Jason Wormald
David Cook Juan
Stephen Greif Aiyako
Eiko Nakamura Hassel
Struan Rodger Police Sergeant
George Waring Monica
Anna Fox
A Dog’s Ransom
Anonymous letters are straining the nerves of Edward and Gina Reynolds (Benjamin Whitrow and Zena Walker) – a quiet middle-class couple living in Chelsea – but they are unprepared for the nightmare that follows when Edward takes their poodle, Tina, for a walk and the dog is kidnapped.
Smart young copper Constable Clarence Duhamel (Brian Stirner) tries to help find the dog but runs foul of the CID. He is suspended from the police after accepting an alleged bribe from the bailed Kowajinski (Leon Eagles), and his girlfriend Marion (Susie Blake) is being targeted now too. After spotting Kowajinski spying on her flat, Clarence follows him to finally confront him.
Clarence attacks Kowajinski in a fit of rage, before he himself is attacked and hospitalised by a group of hooligans. With Kowajinski now dead, and the bribery charges dropped, Clarence is living with the Reynolds’ after being dumped by Marion. But, as police investigation into Kowajinski’s death increases, Clarence is their number one suspect.
Edward Reynolds
Benjamin Whitrow Gina Reynolds
Zena Walker Kowajinski
Leon Eagles Constable Clarence Duhamel
Brian Stirner Tom Choley
Paul Angelis Marion Dowell
Susie Blake
The Girl Who Walked Quickly
David Cooper (Denis Lawson), a brilliant and conscientious student disappears. He has been kidnapped by a political group who set about brainwashing him to perform their dirty work for them.
His girlfriend and tutor try to solve the mystery and the investigation turns into a manhunt.
The plot involves bombs around London, a terrorist group intent on overthrowing democracy, and a claustrophobic hero.
David Cooper
Denis Lawson Liz
Phyllida Nash Mrs Cooper
Margery Mason Mr Cooper
Derek Benfield Godolt
Clive Merrison Swift
Barry Stanton Everly
John Gregg Ruth Connors
Rowena Cooper Det. Sgt. Bowen
Colin McCormack The Girl
Anna Nicholas
Quiet as a Nun
Sister Miriam dies of starvation after locking herself in a tower at the Convent of the Blessed Eleanor. Jemima Shore (Maria Aitken), a former pupil at the convent school and now a television reporter, is asked to investigate by Mother Ancilla (Renée Asherson).
Jemima is surprised to discover that the death of the nun is connected with her own television programme. Meanwhile, tales begin to circulate about a ghostly Black Nun that haunts the hallways at night and seems to portend death.
The character of Jemima Shore reappeared in the 1983 series, Jemima Shore Investigates with Patricia Hodge in the title role.
Jemima Shore
Maria Aitken Sister Edward
Kate Binchy Tom Amyas MP
David Burke Joe
James Appleby Mother Ancilla
Renée Asherson Sister Elizabeth
Brenda Bruce Sister Lucy
Doran Godwin Dodo
Linda Slater Margaret
Sarah Webb Blanche
Michele Winstanley Tessa
Patsy Kensit Sister Clare
Margaret D’Arcy Alexander Skarbek
James Laurenson Beatrice O’Dowd
Mary Healey Sister Agnes
Susan Engel Sister Boniface
Sylvia Coleridge
The Limbo Connection
Film writer Mark Omney (James Bolam) drinks too much, has endless rows with his journalist wife Clare (Suzanne Bertish), and cannot make a living any more. Simply put, his life is falling apart.
Following a car crash, Clare goes missing. Mark tracks her down to Meadowbank Private Clinic but she disappears shortly thereafter, having supposedly discharged herself.
Mark is convinced she is being held against her will at the clinic and makes friends with Blanche (Beatrix Lehmann), an older woman who is both a drunk and a psychic.
Mark contacts the police but they are suspicious that since Mark had blacked out (from drinking) on the night of Clare’s disappearance, that he may possibly have killed her.
Joined by his old girlfriend, Annabelle (Rosalind Ayres), Mark begins to investigate for himself, learning that Clare has left a resignation letter with the newspaper where she works and that there was a connection between Clare’s final assignment and the Meadowbank Clinic.
Mark Omney
James Bolam Clare Omney
Suzanne Bertish Dr Walcott Brown
Michael Culver Blanche Terraine
Beatrix Lehmann Anabelle Fraser
Rosalind Ayres Colonel Forde
James Berwick Mrs Forde
Georgine Anderson Mr Carson Clark
Graham Rowe Mrs Carson Clark
Patricia Lawrence Melissa Carson Clark
Tricia George Julie Villiers
Isabelle Amyes George Beatty
Tony Mathews Soames
Vass Anderson Bill
Alan Ford Margaret
Yvonne Edgell Det. Inspector Tarrant
Christopher Benjamin Det. Constable Barnes
Sam Sewell Mr Dyer
Arthur Blake
The Victim
14-year old Sue Craig (Lorna Yabsley) is kidnapped and her industrialist father, Vincent (John Shrapnel), negotiates with the kidnapper. He ultimately refuses to pay the ransom and instead goes on the hunt for the kidnapper.
He attacks a disgruntled ex-employee named George Neecham (Bernard Kay), who he believes is responsible for his daughter’s kidnapping, while Sue slowly grows attached to her real jailers, especially young Frankie Martin (David Beckett). But Martin is a psychopathic killer . . .
Vincent Craig
John Shrapnel Steve Turner
Paul Jerricho Francis Durrant
Gerald Sim Frankie Martin
David Beckett Sue Craig
Lorna Yabsley Len Trace
Steve Morley Ellen Craig
Meg Ritchie Chief Supt. Lewis
Godfrey James Professor Manson
Edward Burnham Kate
Lyndsay Durant George Neecham
Bernard Kay Rodney Marsh
Alan Downer Zena Heathrop
Priscilla Morgan
Dead Man’s Kit
On shore-leave in Lisbon for the crew of HMS Diana, Master-at-Arms ‘Toby’ Toberman (Freddie Fletcher) discovers a foreign exchange officer losing heavily in a casino and having his losses paid for by a woman with a British passport in the name of ‘Z Summers’.
He makes an official complaint about the behaviour of an officer and the following day he is knocked unconscious and thrown overboard. When a verdict of accidental death is brought, CPO ‘Chalky’ White (Larry Lamb) accuses the Navy of a cover-up.
Chalky tries to find more information about the officer at the casino but draws a blank and discovers that the naval police are after him. Going on the run and determined to find the truth – he tracks down ‘Z Summers’, who is in fact WRNS officer Zoe Summers (“Little” Nell Campbell of Rocky Horror Picture Show fame). But after Wren Summers tries to run him down in a car, she is murdered in her flat.
Naval Intelligence finds Chalky and he agrees to co-operate with them when they explain that the mysterious events are due to their attempt to expose an espionage plot by the Russian state. The exchange officer at the casino was a Russian called Kobahl (Maurice Colbourne).
Toberman had written a letter exposing the truth, and posted it in Portugal. Kobahl discovers the letter and takes Toberman’s widow, Jean (Victoria Fairbrother) hostage, demanding free passage to a Russian warship berthed at Portsmouth.
Lieutenant Commander Kobahl
Maurice Colbourne Commander Lloyd
Philip Locke CPO ‘Chalky’ White
Larry Lamb Jean Toberman
Victoria Fairbrother Mrs Kobahl
Angela Morant Peters
Paul Kember Commander Maybury
Clive Merrison Dave
Robert Oates MAA ‘Toby’ Toberman
Freddie Fletcher Zoe Summers
Nell Campbell Stephanie
Cherie Lunghi Winterman
Richard Kane
Dying Day
Anthony Skipling (Ian McKellen) meets eccentric naturalist Foster (David Howey) on a train. Foster forgets one of his tape-recordings and leaves it behind but when Skipling plays it – amongst ambient barroom sounds – he hears the hushed tones of two men plotting to kill him on 28 February.
When he goes to the police, all the sounds are there except those of the two men.
Skipling turns to the Samaritans for help. He also turns to his ex-wife, Doris (Gwyneth Powell) but learns that she is now “married” to Mountjoy (Cyril Shaps) – an eccentric millionaire with a voice just like the one heard on the tape.
In his search for the truth, he is befriended by Susie (Kate Coleridge) who used to counsel him at the Samaritans when his wife left him.
28 February arrives and Skipling tries valiantly to behave as if everything is normal. But when confronted by Mountjoy on a railway platform he lashes out and accidentally knocks him into the path of an oncoming train.
Mr Skipling is sent to Broadmoor Prison for murder, while Doris, her chauffeur (actually Foster) and Susie celebrate the success of their plan. They have framed Mr Skipling and will inherit a vast fortune.
Antony Skipling
Ian McKellen Foster
David Howey 1st Interrogator
Maurice Kaufmann 2nd Interrogator
Prentis Hancock Roger
Anton Phillips Police Sergeant
Patrick Malahide Police Constable
Michael Troughton Susie
Kate Coleridge Sellars
Peter Childs Senior Samaritan
Joan Scott Doris
Gwyneth Powell Mountjoy
Cyril Shaps
Fear of God
Reporter Paul Marriott (Bryan Marshall) sees a girl fall past his window and rushes outside to find she is dead.
He discovers the girl – called Rosamund (Susan Sheridan) – had been squatting in his attic, and becomes suspicious when Special Branch turn up. He discovers the dead girl belonged to a sect called `The Regiment of God’.
Finding his flat bugged, and hearing of the cult’s use of sound as a weapon, Paul is drawn deeper into the mystery of Rosamund’s death.
Paul is assaulted by a mysterious noise in his flat, but manages to make a recording of it before finally passing out. He feels there’s a link to this and the “music room” of the Regiment of God mentioned in Ros’s diary – and also notices he’s being covertly followed by cult members.
He and Rosamund’s sister Nicola (Madeline Church) track down Rosamund’s boyfriend and they all travel to the cult’s HQ to try to find out the truth about her and the music room.
Paul Marriott
Bryan Marshall Cyril
Michael Watkins Trahearne
Alun Armstrong Francesca Thornton
Madeline Hinde Rosamund (voice)
Susan Sheridan John Aubrey
Peter Settelen Erica
Helen Cooper Maitland
Peter Cellier Larke
Chris Jenkinson Nicola Clay
Madeline Church Walters
Garrick Hagon Sandy
Kevin Costello Anvil
David Healy Vic
Roger Brierley Colonel Morgan
Michael Sheard
High Tide
After serving a four-year sentence for manslaughter, Peter Curtis (Ian McShane) sets off on a road trip to the South coast to buy a boat, accompanied by hitchhiker Celia (Wendy Morgan).
He notices a man following him and starts to discover the truth about what happened four years ago – a mystery which takes him to the coastal village of Leremouth.
The four episodes were later bundled together as a made-for-TV movie.
Peter Curtis
Ian McShane Matthews
Terence Rigby Celia
Wendy Morgan Maxwell
Malcolm Terris Miss Benson
Anna Fox Helen
Kika Markham Cyril
John Bird Fenton
Mike McKevitt
The Circe Complex
Jeweller Tom Foreman (Trevor Martin) has hidden £400,000-worth of jewellery from a robbery and is in prison serving a long sentence for the murder of a policeman. His wife, Val (Beth Morris), has a plan for aiding Tom’s escape.
In Prison, Tom’s health begins to deteriorate and he is diagnosed with a brain tumour. His prison psychiatrist Ollie Milton (Alan David) – who is also Val’s lover – kills him and tries to frame ex-con “Cat” Devlin (Michael Deeks) while he goes slowly mad trying to decipher the meaning behind Tom’s last words on the whereabouts of the loot . . .
Tom Foreman
Trevor Martin Val Foreman
Beth Morris “Cat” Devlin
Michael Deeks Ollie Milton
Alan David Detective Sgt Dave Bannister
James Hazeldine Prison Governor
Geoffrey Colville Miss Davis
Maggie Wilkinson Mr Evans
Eric Francis Dr Crampton
Gareth Forwood O’Brady
Derek Ware Connally
Tony Scannell Detective Inspector Sayers
Victor Winding Detective Sgt Rees
Neil Daglish
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