Black Tower, The

1 9 8 5 (UK)
6 x 60 minute episodes

Recently promoted to Commander but frustrated with his career, Scotland Yard’s poetry-loving detective Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden returning to the role in his fourth outing) is invited to Dorset to visit Toynton Grange – a private care home for the disabled – by his old teacher, Father Baddeley (Maurice Denham), who is resident there.

Something happening at the Grange is making the Father uneasy, and Dalgliesh quickly finds himself investigating a series of mysterious deaths.

His enquires soon lead him to The Black Tower, a mysterious ruin in the grounds of Toynton Grange which harbours dark and important secrets.

Pauline Collins is superb as the boozy, emotional, loving/not-loving wife, Maggie Hewson.

The series was shot on location at Cromer Hall in Norfolk with one week of filming at Clavell Tower in Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset. Anglia Television created its most elaborate location sets for The Black Tower, constructing an adaptation of a ruined tower near Swanage, Dorset, for exterior shots, and built a 35-foot mock-up tower for interior scenes in the grounds of Cromer Hall.

The construction work was necessary because the original tower in Dorset did not have a staircase or floors, both of which were needed for the story. Also constructed were a pair of semi-detached Dorset cottages, made with wood frames and plastic mouldings (built in the woods at Cromer Hall).

Adam Dalgliesh
Roy Marsden
Wilfred Anstey
Martin Jarvis
Henry Carwardine
John Franklyn-Robbins
Dot Moxon
Carol Gillies
Dr Eric Hewson
Richard Heffer
Ursula Hollis
Harriet Bagnall
Maggie Hewson
Pauline Collins
Julius Court
Art Malik
Grace Willison
Rachel Kempson
Helen Rainer
Heather James
Dennis Lerner
Martyn Hesford
Jennie Pegram
Valerie Whittington
Albert Philby
Albie Woodington
Millicent Hammitt
Gillian Barge
Inspector Rouse
David Webb
Father Michael Baddeley
Maurice Denham