Frighteners, The

1 9 7 2 (UK)
13 x 25 minute episodes

This late-night anthology drama series from London Weekend Television presented 13 bizarre and dark stories of malice, manipulation, vengeance and people being generally nasty to each other.

The series starred a selection of great British actors including John Thaw, Ian Hendry, Ian Holm, Brian Glover, Geoffrey Bayldon, Robert Urquhart, Michael Craig, Victor Maddern, Jack Hedley, Tom Bell, Talfryn Thomas, Rudolph Walker, Warren Clarke, John Normington, Bryan Marshall, George Innes and David Healy.

Filmed on 16mm film, the 13 episodes were the product of 13 separate writers and 10 directors who showed ordinary people threatened by situations that suddenly slid startlingly and menacingly out of control, and dealt with themes such as mental illness, parental separation, housing lists, the aftereffects of colonialism and National Service.

Standout episodes include ‘The Manipulators’ (pictured) featuring a sinister covert surveillance operation conducted from above a butcher’s shop, ‘The Disappearing Man’ with Victor Maddern as an anonymous everyman who feels that nobody can see him and is driven to drastic action, and ‘Bed and Breakfast’ starring Ian Hendry and Wendy Gifford as a couple who arrive at a remote country house owned by a vulnerable elderly couple (John Welsh and Gabrielle Daye), place a sign outside indicating the house is a guesthouse and demand to be given a room for the night.

Episodes

The Classroom | Glad to Be of Help | Have a Nice Time at the Zoo, Darling | The Minder | The Night of the Stag | Old Comrades | The Manipulators | The Disappearing Man | Firing Squad | Miss Mouse | The Treat | Bed and Breakfast | You Remind Me of Someone

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