A strangled girl (Roberta Gibbs) is found lying in the mud of the ebbing River Thames at Barnes. Her name is Penelope Dyer; she is 23 years old and the only child of a barrister. The subsequent police investigation over the next four days unravels her complicated life.
Each hour-long episode examined a different aspect of Penelope’s life and the people who played an important role in her world, trying to discover which of them may have committed the murder. They included her psychiatrist, Dr Lewis-Clarke (Michael Turner), farmer Tom Crispin (Richard Heffer), the editor of a radical left-wing magazine (Don Hawkins), a fashionable MP (Barrie Ingham) and an army major (Charles Keating).
As Chief Superintendent Lane (Antony Brown) and his assistant Detective Sergeant Fishlock (Matthew Long) investigated, there was, of course, a well-laid trail of red herrings.
Stars included Gwen Cherrell and Alan MacNaughtan as Penelope’s parents, Evelyn and Arthur, and Sheila Ruskin and Bernice Stegers as her flatmates, Belinda and Imogen.
The intriguing whodunnit series from Thames Television aired on Wednesday nights in January and February 1976. None of the actors in the series knew the identity of the murderer while filming (apart, presumably, from the one who did it).
Det. Chief Supt. Lane
Antony Brown
Det. Sgt. Fishlock
Matthew Long Belinda
Sheila Ruskin Imogen
Bernice Stegers
Evelyn Dyer Gwen Cherrell Arthur Dyer
Alan MacNaughtan Judy
Wanda Ventham Sean McDermott
Prentis Hancock Major Nigel Priestman
Charles Keating Joe Finer
Don Hawkins Det. Chief Insp. Horsfall
Godfrey James Sir George Cartwright
Peter Vaughan Lady Cartwright
Isabel Dean Dr Lewis-Clarke
Michael Turner Robin Mortimer
Edward de Souza Winthrop
Michael Gough Tom Crispin
Richard Heffer WDC Hollis
Jean Leppard Alan Bedford MP
Barrie Ingham Elizabeth
Jan Harvey Mrs Turner
Lally Bowers Mrs Greaves
Patsy Smart Cooper
Jon Laurimore Crispin
John Paul Else
Sally Grace Jamie
James Woolley PC Driscoll
George Waring Chief Supt. McPherson
Don McKillop Det. Insp. Jackson
Barrie Cookson Captain
Christopher Whitehouse Franco
John Slavid Susie
Frances Tomelty Penelope Dyer
Roberta Gibbs
Episodes
The Discovery | The Party | The Affair | The Watcher | The Nightmare | The Reaper
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