1 9 8 4 (UK)
13 x 70 minute episodes
This 1984 TV series co-produced with Fox was Hammer’s creative swan song, following on from their other successful anthology series’ Journey to the Unknown (1968) and Hammer House of Horror (1980).
The stories ranged from straight crime thrillers such as The Sweet Scent Of Death and the outstanding Czech Mate (a tale of paranoia in communist Prague starring Susan George) through to a convicted murderer haunting his own past in A Distant Scream, sixties rock stars hiding a ghastly secret in Black Carrion and the suspenseful In Possession and The Late Nancy Irving.
The episode most remembered by fans is Child’s Play in which Mike Preston (Nicholas Clay), his wife Ann (Mary Crosby) and daughter Sarah (Debbie Chasan) awake to find themselves trapped in their own home with all windows and doors sealed by impenetrable grey walls.
They desperately try to escape but everything fails. Meanwhile, the temperature is rising and then Ann notices a bizarre symbol all over the house and boiling green gunge begins to come down the chimney like lava.
Guest stars in the series included Peter Graves, David McCallum, Dean Stockwell, David Carradine, Stephanie Beacham, Hannah Gordon, Patrick Mower, George Sewell, Peter Wyngarde, Oliver Tobias, Burt Kwouk and Neil Morrissey.
The series aired in the US as Fox Mystery Theater.
Episodes
Mark of the Devil | Last Video and Testament | Czech Mate | A Distant Scream | The Late Nancy Irving | In Possession | Black Carrion | The Sweet Scent of Death | Paint Me a Murder | The Corvini Inheritance | And the Wall Came Tumbling Down | Child’s Play | Tennis Court
