Thriller (British TV series)

The series was created by Brian Clemens, who also scripted the majority of the episodes and story-lined every installment.[2] It was produced by John Sichel (the first 3 series), John Cooper (series 4) and Ian Fordyce (the final two series) for Associated Television (ATV) at their Elstree studios north of London.[4] The series evolved from Clemens' previous work, in particular two films in a similar style: And Soon the Darkness (1970) and Blind Terror (aka See No Evil, 1971); the latter shares plot similarities with the Thriller episodes The Eyes Have It and The Next Voice You See.[5][6] Original music, including the theme-tune, was supplied by Clemens' regular collaborator Laurie Johnson.[7]

The original UK title-sequence featured still-shots of locations in the story, devoid of people, shot through a fisheye lens, bordered in bright red and set to Johnson's eerie, discordant theme-music.[2] With an eye to the American re-broadcast market, most episodes, especially from the second season onwards, featured at least one American principal character, portrayed by an American actor.[8] After originally being screened late at night in the U.S. under the ABC Wide World of Entertainment billing from 1973, some episodes were retitled for U.S. syndication in 1978, and all had additional opening sequences shot with new titles and credits but without the original cast and, for this reason, often only featuring menacing figures seen from the neck down.[9][8] These title sequences were used in Britain when the series was repeated on regional ITV stations in the 1980s, and are also included as extras on the Complete Series box set. When the series was re-broadcast as part of The CBS Late Movie however, the original title-sequences and music were restored.

The stories were often set in the London commuter belt. A particular trademark of the series' storytelling was to hook the viewer with a simple yet totally baffling situation, of the kind seen in films such as Les Diaboliques (1955).[10] Come Out Come Out, Wherever You Are took place at a creaky country-house hotel: a female guest begins asking about her missing travelling-companion who the owner claims was not with her upon arrival the previous evening and whom none of the other guests initially recall seeing.[11] One episode, Screamer, concerns a rape-victim who murders her attacker, only to then see the man stalking her everywhere.[12] Perhaps the most ingenious episode is the Dial M for Murder style The Double Kill, in which a man hires a hitman to kill his wife, but makes a fatal error in his otherwise meticulous planning.[13]

Other memorable episodes include: Someone at the Top of the Stairs, one of a handful of forays into the supernatural, in which two female students move into a boarding-house and begin to notice that none of the other residents ever go out or receive any mail; and I'm The Girl He Wants to Kill, in which a witness to a murder finds herself trapped in a deserted office-block overnight with the killer, and is forced to play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with him to survive (there is barely any dialogue throughout its second half).[9][14] Brian Clemens' own favourite episode, A Coffin for the Bride (US: Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill), featured a performance from a young Helen Mirren.[15]

Following a worldwide audit during 2003-04 by the then copyright-holders Carlton, almost all the original UK PAL fisheye-titled 2" videotapes of Thriller were located and transferred onto modern digital tape by the British Film Institute, with subsequent restoration-work by BBC Resources. One exception was the story Nurse Will Make It Better; however, this too exists in PAL/original format on the later 1" videotape format as a dub from the original master-tape (this version was broadcast on the satellite-channel Bravo in 1996).

Dinsdale Landen is the only actor playing the same role, that of private investigator Matthew Earp, in two episodes: An Echo of Theresa and The Next Scream You Hear.

• Thriller on IMDb
• Thriller at the BFI's Screenonline
• Thriller at TV.com
• Thriller at epguides.com
• ShoutFactoryTV