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Stryker of The Yard
These were cinema second features made by Republic at Nettlefold Studios in 1953/4. The star was Clifford Evans who played Chief Inspector Robert Stryker, and his assistant was the genial George Woodbridge. Narrator was ex policeman Tom Fallon, who went on to be adviser on Dial 999. ITV bought the films and screened them in the 1960's.
My reviews of 3 The Case of Canary Jones, 8 The Case of The Black Falcon, 9 The Case of The Bogus Count
Details of the thirteen 35 minute stories:
1 The Case of The Studio Payroll (Cinema release date, with #2, Jan 18th 1954)- with Jack Watling and Susan Stephen. An unpremeditated crime on the part of a young man who takes £10,000.
2 The Case of Uncle Henry- with Elliot Makeham, Edwin Richfield and Desmond Llewelyn. The story of an old man whose good heart leads him to steal cash to help others.
3 The Case of Canary Jones- with Patricia Burke, Belinda Lee, Peter Hammond, and Bruce Seton. A nightclub singer is found dead in her apartment.
4 The Case of Gracie Budd- The sad tale of seventeen year old blonde and petite Gracie, a typical juvenile delinquent whose parents were killed in the war. With no loving hands to guide her, the lure of easy money leads her into bad company.
5 The Case of Soho Red- with Sebastian Cabot and Esma Cannon. Stryker investigates The Kataro Marriage Bureau in London. Kathy O'Hara, a lovely orphaned Irish girl, had answered one of their advertisements. The boss had embarked on an evil plan, after reading her letter which gave her complete financial details.
6 The Case of The Burnt Alibi- with Joss Ambler, John Chandos and Avis Scott. Written by Lester Powell. Directed by Arthur Crabtree. An explosion in a deserted barn- and Stryker finds the charred remains of an unidentified man.
7 The Case of the Two Brothers- (Cinema release, 1954 with #8 as 'Companions in Crime.') with Maurice Kaufmann and Kenneth Haigh. Also in cast- Gaylord Cavallaro, Ian Fleming, Jack Lambert, Fred Griffiths, Russell Napier, Billie Whitelaw, Christine Silver, Patrick Jordan, Gillian Lutyens, Cyril Chamberlain. Arnold helps his young brother to find a job with a haulage company. But John Kendall (KH) soon realises the company is just a cover for a more sinister business, and he is framed for the murder of his employer. Sentenced to prison for ten years, he escapes from a working party on the moors, determined to bring the killer to justice
8 The Case of The Black Falcon- with Tim Turner, Dorothy Alison, David Perrin, Guy Deghy, Elliot Makeham and Philo Hauser. A tale of smuggled diamonds.
9 The Case of the Bogus Count- with Elwyn Brooke-Jones, Harold Lang, Kenneth Haig and Anthony Newley as singer Gerry Barnes, who gets a job at a crooked night club. Stryker exposes a racket involving burglars.
10 The Case of The Express Delivery- with Sandra Dorne, a bad time girl who leads astray a once reliable mechanic Wally Ross.
11 The Case of Diamond Annie- with Hugh Moxey, and Marjorie Rhodes in the title role. Also with Vida Hope, Harold Lang and Peter Swanwick. Inspector Susan Bond starts work as a shoplifter in order to help Stryker catch Diamond Annie who runs a junk shop, where stolen goods are bought and sold
12 The Case of the Pearl Payroll- with Mary Merrall, Joan Newell and Russell Waters. Written by Lester Powell. Directed by Arthur Crabtree. Stryker chases a gang of bank robbers- and the final showdown comes in a lonely warehouse....
13 The Case of the Second Shot- with Irene Handl. To pay for his wife's medical treatment, Joe turns to crime.
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The Case of Canary Jones

My review will follow

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The Case of The Black Falcon
Interpol requests the help of Scotland Yard in tracing diamond smuggler Gustave Clement, who has eluded police after a chase.
A hulking man (Guy Deghy) approaches the owner of The Black Falcon boat, Philip Marsden (Tim Turner), who is short of money. That night Marsden makes for France leaving behind his worried wife Sheila and small son, who live near the River Thames.
At the rendezvous, a rowing boat brings Clement and his purse of diamonds to The Black Falcon. Having safely returned up the Thames, however, the crook does not hand the diamonds over to his boss, Sandford (Eliot Makeham). It's the double cross.
Inspector Stryker is pursuing his inquiries over the diamonds. Having interviewed Sandford in his wheelchair, he talks to Marsden, who does admit he had recently crossed the Channel. Yes, he had given a lift to someone, but he didn't know the man's identity. As he searches the boat, Stryker opens a cupboard, and out pops Clement's corpse! Marsden panics and runs away.
Stryker questions Mrs Marsden in her home. When he's gone, she takes some food to her husband who is hiding in a boatshed. Then she boards The Black Falcon and removes the purse of diamonds that Clement had secreted. Sandford's henchman however is watching her, and demands the diamonds. She runs off.
So the Marsden's son is taken captive, that's too much for Marsden and he fights with the crook boathooks flying everywhere, boats overturned. The struggle moves dangerously on to a bridge over a weir in the river. The watching Sandford shoots. But he hits his own man!
Stryker moves in to arrest Sandford, who neatly leaps from his wheelchair, out of his upper storey window. The story ends with some comedy from Sergeant Hawker (George Woodbridge) attempting to ride a very wobbly old bicycle
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The Case of the Bogus Count

My review will follow
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Fabian of the Yard (made in 1954 and 1955)
with Bruce Seton as "one of England's greatest detectives." Remarks one character of him: "I never saw such a single-minded man in all my days."

The Best Policy

The first British made story of this series starts at New York airport, with Harry and Brad booked on to Flight 920 to London. Harry however seems more interested in a posh lady and her poodle.
The sycophancy continues on the plane as Harry chats up the stewardess Susan, and even promises to remember her in his will. His mind wanders to the lady and the poodle. He tells Brad about how he first met her in Lucerne... Harry had been entrusted by a Viennese baron to bring his daughter Martha (Venetia Stevenson) to him. He'd not seen her for many years, but his interest in her seems to have revived now she is of age, and to inherit 8 million.
Harry finds her at the Hotel du Lac, and sort of kidnaps her, driving her back to her daddy. But she snatches the car keys and leaps out. Harry catches her and the two face a long trek through the snowy mountains. She is frightened, she says, though she never sounds it. Shelter is found in a well furnished but empty hut.
This not being the swinging sixties, all they do is reminisce over her past, Harry being remarkably perceptive when he tells her, "it doesn't sound like too happy a life," adding that he thinks her father "is a bad type."
Next day is her birthday. She isn't afraid now, help- I think she loves her kidnapper. She has the chance to get away when a visitor drops in, but she don't want to leave dear Harry. Must be mad. At least he realises he shouldn't have kidnapped her. But that realisation comes too late, for the Baron has found them. "You're very like your mother," he tells his surly child. But Harry springs one shock, he tells the baron he is going to marry Martha. There's a fight and the Baron is shot, accidentally. End of kidnap.
Back in Lucerne, Harry has renoucned the marriage idea. "I'm not the sort of man for you." At least he's honest.
But Harry gets a cheque for $50,000 from one Cyrus Proctor, for reasons I won't bother to explain. That money was used to set up Harry in legitimate business. "I've been honest ever since," he tells Brad. So that gives Harry the cred to enter Britain legit. Instead of being turned away as an undesirable

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Collectors Item
The late Earl of Barset has disposed of his available property to avoid inheritance tax, so his four heirs are left only a Ming jar each. One is for his son Mark, another for Arletta his 'companion,' a third for nephew Charles and the last for his granddaughter Diane (Eileen Moore). She's the only one who ever cared for the earl, according to the solicitor, and she is given an extra letter: "contact Harry Lime" it reads.
Harry meanwhile is elsewhere and rather puzzled why the earl hasn't mentioned a rare necklace in his will, that Harry had sold him. He wants to buy it back- it must be hidden in one of the jars since only three are known to exist. The fourth must be a fake, made to conceal the necklace.
Arlette is first to be asked. "Am I collector's item?" she enigmatically asks Harry, whose response is to kiss her. "You must go now," she warns, but hands him her front door key. But no jar.
Charles is broke and keen to sell however, but the new Earl of Barset, Mark, is keen on buying the rare Ming vases himself.
Arlette is found murdered, lying beside a smashed jar. It's actually Mark's jar which she had smashed in a rage. Arrest of new Lord Barset.
All this time Diane has been trying in vain to meet the elusive Mr Lime. As Brad watches in growing surprise, he offers her £216,000 17/- for the jar. "Sheer lunacy. It can't be worth that." Worse is to follow- Harry then smashes the jar! Even more shock horror. But then the reason for Harry's seeming madness- inside was the Collector's Item, the beautiful necklace. Whilst Brad continues his baffled look, Harry escorts Diane off to Paris.
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The Man Who Wouldn't Talk

A woman claiming to be Harry Lime's secretary cancels an appointment made to see Harry, so she can see him herself. However Jackie (Moira Redmond) is not actually Harry's proper secretary, she just wants to see the great man urgently. Any chance of £1,000 she asks. Inevitable really, she is an old friend of Harry's though he hardly recognises her, for he last knew her as a fourteen year old with glasses. He prefers the newer version.
Her father is an important Foreign Office offical in line for promotion. She explains she needs the money to find Martin, her fiance, whom her father has forbidden her to ever see again. Martin had been due to fly in to London from Zurich, but though she had waited for hours at the airport, he failed to come. "I nearly went out of my mind." Then she had received a note telling her to go to 23 Leyman Street Fulham. A man there had promised to tell her where Martin is, for £1,000.
Brad stumps up the cash. "Not tax deductible," he warns Harry. Jackie hands it to the man who is called Talbot. The information is not really value for money- Martin is in prison.
Jackie goes straight there, and meets the insalubrious character. He's not at all communicative. "Martin, say something." All he says is "I don't know you."
Next day, Harry accompanies Jackie to Leyman Street. They find Talbot, dead. He worked for detective Arthur Schillings (Rupert Davies), but according to his boss, he was earning extra cash on the side.
Harry consults yet another underworld pal, "you know who pulled the strings." Harry gets his £1,000 back and learns "Talbot was a rat who was killed by mistake." Anyway, "the deal's washed up." It is all to do with Jackie's dad and his work at the FO. Martin was a spy, so no wonder Jackie can never see him again.
This review from a 16mm film

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A Question of Libel
This is one of the better Third Man scripts, written by John Warwick.

On page 12 of Pride and County magazine is an article by the editor Gerald Black on the low moral fibre of England. To back up his point, in a village near Winchester, the editor alleges the following all live: 1) a blonde habitual shoplifer, 2) a titled lady who writes poison pen letters, and 3) a hotel keeper who has been embezzling hunt club funds. Though noone is named and the village not specified, Harry Lime, as owner of the magazine, is being sued for £100,000 each by the three people who feel they have been libelled.
The editor (Ralph Michael) insists what he has written is the truth, even though he cannot prove it. If Harry can prove it is true, he's in the clear, so he takes Brad to the village of Highfield to visit the owner of the inn George Freeman (Sydney Tafler). The lawyer acting for him, Diana Barrett (Barbara Shelley) is chatted up by Harry in his inimitably awful manner. As is another of her clients Miss Wyvern (Nyree Dawn Porter), an actress. Lady Millicent Bridges (Athene Seyler) is the other member of the trio sueing Harry. She takes in every stray dog in the district ("a handful of trouble" she confides to Mr Lime), and even apologies for her part in the libel action. But she does deny the charge of writing poison pen letters.
All three seem to have lost something as a result of this article: Freeman the local council election, Miss Wyvern a good acting chance and Lady Millicent the opportunity to open her house to the public.
Black asks Harry to meet him urgently, but before this can take place he is pushed out of the window (Black that is, not unfortunately, Harry). Worse is to come, when Brad's investigations only show that nothing in the editor's article was true.
So Harry calls a meeting of the three and their lawyer. He hands them each a special edition of Pride and County. Is it a retraction? Not so, there's a revealing account of a libel suit fraud! The clever Mr Lime has worked out that Gerald Black had written the original article in collusion with the three, so they could sue poor Harry. Freeman is the brains behind the scheme but when he had "found his conscience," Black had needed to be silenced. Case closed.
Magnaminously Harry dates Diana Barrett.

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Portrait of Harry Lime

A collector has died at the age of 95. He had purchased a painting back in 1903 from Renoir himself, Dejeuner Dans La Foret. "I want that painting," Meyrick (Bernard Lee) informs Harry Lime, who agrees to try and buy it for him from the executors.
"That's the only millionaire I don't like," notes Brad of the scheming Meyrick. As Brad distastefully suffers French cuisine and other abominations of the land, Harry is enjoying the local pleasures with an artist, Veronique (Delphi Lawrence). Oh, and he does buy that Renoir, for $600,000 too.
"That's very good," he says of the picture she has been sketching of the lugubrious Brad. It's Brad's, and he takes it back to the hotel, leaving Harry to chat with "talented, beautiful" Veronique in her studio.
When he rejoins Brad, he gets the bad news, the Renoir has been stolen. Not insured either.
Veronique is now painting Harry's portrait. "This painting is you," declares Brad, rather untruthfully I felt, for it bears only a passing resemblance to the attractive but wooden features of Mr Lime.
However she is actually painting two pictures of the great Harry (as if one weren't enough!), the second is for Meyrick. Behind one is hidden the stolen Renoir.
The police seem no nearer to recovering Harry's property. Brad is questioned by the French police chief, who sourly comments that Brad isn't like Harry Lime who enjoys "the wines, womens and chantings." This is a rather well acted scene, if awfully hackneyed, by Jonathan Harris with George Pravda.
Back to London, where Harry has to advise Meyrick the Renoir is still missing. "There's something wrong, Brad," Harry confides later to Brad, for Meyrick seeks hardly concerned about the theft. Or was Harry talking about the actual picture of himself, which is such a poor likeness? However Brad seems to have taken an inexplicable liking to it, and hangs it in his office admiringly. It takes all sorts.
But the picture has to be taken down again, as Veronique requests it is loaned for an exhibition of her talent, sponsored by Meyrick. At the gallery there's a fight and Harry is shot, or rather a bullet hits him in his portrait. You see, Harry has been cleverer than I and has worked out what has been going on, and has retrieved his picture, plus of course that Renoir hidden in the back. Not that Harry seems that concerned, he's busy kissing Veronique

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Crisis in Crocodiles
"My zip is stuck- would you like to help me?" That's the greeting Brad gets from model Arlette as he enters Mr Lime's office. "I shall dine alone tonight, monsieur," she adds. Brad makes no response.
Harry is told he's inherited 20% of Australian Enterprises from the late Julian Roper of Sydney. 18 years ago, this Australian had been daft enough to save Harry's life, but why has he left part of his business to Mr Lime? His two children inherit 40% each.
Down under, Julie (Jill Ireland) and Bill (John Meillon) are running the crocodile skin business. Their only rival is one Rankin (John Barrie), who winds Harry up the wrong way: "get out of Australia- now," he orders Harry, though for what reasons is not clear.
Harry doesn't seem that popular with Bill either: "lay off" my sister he warns Harry. Harry's not that popular with me either, though I wasn't the one shooting at Harry, because I wouldn't have missed. Who tried to shoot him? "Do you really think I want to see you dead?" asks Julia, very unconvincingly.
A phone call tips them off that Rankin has planted a fire bomb in their office. "There's a great deal more to this than you think," Harry tells Bill and Julia. So the wise Harry amazingly agrees to Bill taking the ticking bomb (!) and planting it in Rankin's warehouse. "This is extremely unwise," warns Brad, rather unnecessarily. But it's part of Harry's master plan. He tails Bill, defuses the bomb, and exposes Rankin, who had been attempting to get Bill caught placing the bomb. In fact Rankin's warehouse is full of waste products for he's all but bankrupt. So Julia and Bill have a nice monopoly in crocodile skins. For me, it's perhaps a pity that bomb didn't detonate
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71 House of Bon Bons

A Swiss sweet factory unexpectedly makes a profit of over 76,000 dollars. The trouble is, Harry had only bought it for the sake of an old friend Heinrich Miren (an effusive Martin Miller) as a "dud," a loss maker.
So it's to Zurich for Harry and Brad to inspect the factory, the House of Bons Bons. They meet a happy staff: "your ugly duckling investment turned out to be a beautiful swan," the poetic Miren confides to Harry.
But what is the secret of their success? It's all down to sales manager Leon Kruger. "We never appointed him," says Brad. So how did he get the job there? Harry questions the chief accountant Blodin (Paul Whitsun-Jones) who is feigning illness to avoid meeting Harry. He's got some secret to hide, but Harry will never learn it now, as Blodin is stabbed to death. The reason: a lot of smuggled goods are found in his room.
Returning to the factory, Brad and Harry find nothing suspicious in a search, except their rather awful tasting chocs. But the truth slowly dawns on Harry, with the emphasis on the Slowly. When he's realised how smuggled goods are being taken from the place, a giant eight foot man (on stilts) attacks him. He's easily foiled (it's unclear how such an ungainly person could possibly hope to succeed) and it's left to Harry to explain that the chocs had been wrapped in "solid gold foil," a neat smuggling racket.

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The Trial of Harry Lime
Justice has at last caught up with Harry Lime for he's in the dock at the Central Criminal Court, charged with income tax evasion to the tune of £800,000. His plea is not guilty.
His alleged partner in crime is Theodore Ratteau (Esmond Knight) of International Nitrates, his third wife Madga (Margit Saad) had begged Harry to help her dying husband, even though they were sworn enemies. The wheelchair-bound Ratteau had entrusted Harry with a valuable collection of diamonds, which he wanted to return to his old prospecting partner Jack Tanner. Some suggestion that the ruthless Ratteau might have diddled him. Jack is now dead, so his son Michael (Peter Reynolds) is to be the beneficiary of Theodore's generosity. He runs a theatrical shop in the Charing Cross Road, and Harry hands him the diamonds, which Michael suspects are fakes. They are not, insists Harry, they must be worth a million!
Inspector Brace (Duncan Lamont) questions Harry about the diamonds now that Ratteau has died. Tanner is dead too, stabbed in the back. Missing are the diamonds, of course. Further probing uncovers the surprising news that this Michael Tanner was unrelated to Jack Tanner.
It seems a clear case of Ratteau trying to avoid inheritance tax, and Harry has colluded with him. But Harry, out on bail, accuses Magda of lying at the trial. She is alone in her house and admits sacking her loyal chauffeur, Charles Martin, who she says, had been insolent.
Harry plays a hunch, "a long shot," and Martin is arrested trying to get out of the country with his red headed girl friend Corinne, and the diamonds.
Thus the case against Harry collapses. Politely, the judge asks Harry why he really gave Michael the diamonds. Harry explains they were actually fakes he had made up, as he had never really trusted Ratteau. But he promises he will return the real diamonds to the undeserving Magda
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Members Only (a 2 part tale)

The exclusive Palm Bay Club is run by the countess (Margaretta Scott) and is so exclusive no outsiders even know who are the members, who live their lives in solitary exclusion from the world.
Paul Clark wants to buy a beach on the island where the club is situated. His nephew James, sent to negotiate the deal, has failed to report back, so Harry Lime is engaged.
He and Brad book into the only hotel on the isle, run by Mr Parker- "I don't trust that man," Brad observes to his boss. Brad also dislikes his room as there's a lizard there, and he is unimpressed by Parker's explanation that it's there to eat mosquitoes.
Only other guest is Sara (Betta St John) who is up to something, though the biggest mystery is why this last story of the series was extended to fifty minutes, since the storyline is so thin it could have filled just one programme length. But it does mean Harry has bags of time to dance with Sara, and kiss her.
Harry and Brad are vetted for membership at Palm Bay. Some 'friends' from the old days are members. But Harry turns down their offer. He and Brad are locked in. End of Part One.

Part two: "this is ridiculous Mr Lime, and I refuse to remain here for the rest of our lives." For all members of the club are millionaire crooks, hiding from the law. "Some kind of accident" awaits Harry and Brad, though Aldrina (Nadja Regin), only daughter of a crook to be born in the place, is making eyes at Harry. She explains that James had tried to escape and was executed.
"There's always a way out of every place," Harry confidently asserts, and he promises to take her with them. She shows how to switch off the electrified fence that guards the grounds of the club. Off that night creep Harry, Brad and Aldrina, unaware that the countess has got wind of their escape, and has ordered the current to be switched on again as they climb the fencing. But her plan mysteriously fails, and she ends up electrocuted herself. The other crooks emerge from their lair to try and prevent the three escaping, but they run straight into the arms of the FBI, guided by Sara.
There's a frosty moment as Sara and Aldrina vie for Harry. Myself, I really had been hoping that as it was the final throes of this abysmal series, they'd have allowed Harry to have been frazzled on that fence

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Zero One
Starring Nigel Patrick as Alan Garnett, head of airport security. Bill Smith played Garnett's assistant, Jimmy Delaney. Katya Douglas was Maya his secretary- originally her name had been going to be Sari.
Garnett's car: Daimler 3251HP
The series was based on reminiscences of Donald Fish, a security officer at BOAC. Shooting commenced on November 13th 1961 at MGM Boreham Wood Studios. The official blurb described this BBC series thus: "Activities of International Airline Crime Detection." Anyway, arguably this the BBC's best effort to imitate ITV! By recruiting ITC personnel such as Aida Young, perhaps that is not surprising! However, in 1961 commercial TV had moved to the hour long format, in effect making this 1962 made series obsolete. Despite this, some early episodes screened starting October 3rd 1962 reached the national Top 10 in the TAM ratings. So why did it end up as 'competition' for Coronation Street, not a recipe for success? Its ignominy was complete when it extraordinarily was shown for a short period in the Children's slot at 5.25pm on Saturdays. The final stories were only first screened in summer 1965. Sad that such an ambitious series has been so seriously neglected. Critics at the time were uncompromisingly scathing: wrote one, "uninspired acting, drab situations, no laughs or excitement... how MGM and the BBC could have got this thing on to tv is a puzzle."

26 stories have appeared on 2 dvd reissues, unfortunately (for some of us) only with a German soundtrack.
These German language episodes in Volume 1 are: 2 Glidepath 3 The Liar 4 The Contender 7 Fly Away Peter 9 The Marriage Broker 10 Gunpoint to Shannon 11 Million Dollar Lift 13 Deadly Angels 14 Everybody's Uncle 15 The Good Old Days 22 The Creators 31 The Switch 39 Excess Baggage.
Volume 2 contains: 6 The Bovard Affair, 8 Return Trip, 16 The Man Who Waited, 17 Danger on Cloud Seven, 18 Downdraft, 21 And Maya makes Three, 27 Key Witness, 28 Hurricane, 32 Triple Cross, 33 Delayed Reaction, 35 A Case of Charity, 36 And One To Go, 38 The Body
My brief reviews
These are 5 episodes (in English!) that I have- 8 Return Trip 13 Deadly Angels 18 Downdraft 23 Ghost Strip 38 The Body
Picture: from a film print of #18

#1 Stoneface (Oct 3rd 1962, 9.30pm)- the first of this series to be screened was given this contemporary report:
"Peter Elkinson (Michael Goodliffe) seems to be going insane, and he is brought up before the Board for a series of tests to indicate whether he is fit to fly. His wife Sarah (Brenda Bruce) whose unhappy lot it has been during the past eighteen years always to sit and wait hopefully for the return of her airline pilot husband, is proved to be the cause of all the trouble. As Alan Garnett discovers, because she would prefer her man to be grounded and so remain at home. This shies away from the direct sensational approach, and concentrates more on personalities. The acting, photography and general presentation were good, but I doubt whether it's powerful or original enough to lure viewers from the show on the other channel" (This was The ill-fated Bulldog Breed)

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Zero One- some brief reviews

2 Glidepath -General Keen (Andrew Faulds) is planning to overthrow the President of Lapata by nobbling his plane which is flying to London. Unfortunately security in the shape of Sharif (Edwin Richfield) and Jimmy, fail to spot mechanics changing the pressure in one of the tyres. Even though Keen is arrested when the air compressor explodes at the airport, he is confident the plane will never be able to land. Police Chief Karri (Joseph Furst) can't persuade him to help, though the villain's sidekick Prof Damah eventually does. Garnett makes emergency preparations, Masra the asisstant pilot cracks up, but Cpt Cargan (George Baker) bravely lands the aircraft on one wheel

3 The Liar - The young wife of teacher David Clandon (Robert Flemying) dies on board an Atlantic night flight. Another passenger, Mrs Pendenny (Margaret Rutherford) informs Garnett in no uncertain terms that Clandon murdered her. Her friends at a house for retired ladies tell him that she is well known for her tall stories. But the newspapers publish her accusations and Clandon gets some nasty ribbing from his pupils, "Old Clandon is a Murderer." Garnett takes the old lady on board the plane to reconstruct what she says she witnessed, and it is she who has to do the confessing... at first

4 The Contender - Paddy Farrell (Kieron Moore) is flying by BOAC from LA to London with his girlfriend Miriam to compete in a World Championship title fight. When an explosive device is found on the plane, Garnett gives Farrell protection from all the numerous suspicious characters on board, including an uncredited Anthony Booth. Garnett chats up Jill (Delphi Lawrence), a journalist on the Empire magazine. At a stopover, Garnett phones Maya to ask her to check out the passengers. But Shaffer has pointed a gun at the boxer, and taken him out of the airport. Luckily Jill has spotted him and warns Garnett. By way of thanks, Farrell grants her an interview. But Maya has tipped Garnett off that Jill is a phoney, so her pen with a poisoned tip never harms Farrell, since Garnett intervenes. Later, Maya visits her boss in hospital, while Farrell's fight is screened on tv

6 The Bovard Affair - Francie (Virginia Maskell) causes an Amalgamated World Freight van to get a puncture- it is carrying an Impressionist painting worth £300,000 by Paul Bovard. It is bound for the Wentworth Museum in New York, and Garnett personally escorts it there. However a crook (Eric Pohlmann) has already switched the painting. Noyes (Wensley Pithey) of the art gallery declares it a fake. So Garnett investigates, starting with the driver of the van (Harry Locke). He recognises Francie, girl friend of John Cameron, a penniless artist (Richard Pasco). Her face is also on advertising hoardings as The Sunglow Girl, so Garnett easily traces her. She runs away from an art class and dashes off with Cameron to Paris, with another forgery. But they are stopped at the airport, and a simple ruse by Garnett elicits a confession. But Garnett does purchase one of Cameron's paintings

7 Fly Away Peter- Passengers emerging off the Chicago flight include unaccompanied young Peter Firth, but nobody is here to greet him. After explaining to him the rules of cricket, Garnett takes him to his mother, Eileen (Lana Morris), who has remarried. Unwelcome, Peter runs away, reaching London Zoo, before jumping an airport bus. It's dark now, as he chats with a passenger from Chicago (Francis Matthews, uncredited), before stupidly running on to the runway. Jimmy Delaney saves him from himself, and then happily accepted by his mother, Garnett treats them to a cricket match at Lords

9 The Marriage Broker - Tina (Andree Melly) has flown in to Athens to meet her fiance George Kadopolis, but though George turns up to meet her, the man she is expecting to marry, the man whose picture she had been sent, is actually his brother Pedros. Garnett has to sort it all out with Mama Kadopolis a formidable opponent. Miss Smith (Lois Maxwell) is introduced to the real George and soon they are hitting it off. But Mama's approval, or lack of it, is the key problem. Finally the worm turns, and George puts his foot down and it ends happily if not as expected

10 Gunpoint to Shannon - Garnett just happens to be on a flight where I Am Being Kidnapped is scrawled on the toilet mirror, He has to work out who wrote it. Perhaps young Michael with his stepmother, or the flighty Jinx travelling with Rikki 'Sugarboy' Jourdan, or is it Mowbray the Australian prankster (Charles Tingwell)? Or Zapotsky and Hafner from Berlin, or any of the others? Garnett gets Jinx to feign drunkenness and when the plane lands Garnett arrests Mario. This his companion Mrs Glomy (Bessie Love) finds hilarious, though the ending isn't quite so amusing for her

11 Million Dollar Lift- Vance has been released from the US State Pen, met by his pal Ziggy in a flash auto. Destination England, where Garnett recognises him and details Jimmy to tail him. He meets Miss Kelly a teacher (Jane Hylton), and Jimmy overhears plans for a robbery, the prize, a million! He joins the gang. In a Rolls, they drive to the airport dressed as pilots and board a Pan Am plane. Hijack. Jimmy attempts to prevent it, but is knocked out. When the crooks land, it's straight into the arms of the law. Note Vance and Ziggy return in The Body

14 Everybody's Uncle- Valentina flies into Rome with her baby, but runs away when a man attacks her. Later in hospital she dies. She leaves behind a broken doll, which leads Garnett to an adoption racket run by nice Uncle George (Joseph Tomelty) who runs a children's home. Jimmy poses with a fake wife seeking to adopt, they hand George the cash and he is arrested

15 The Good Old Days - A suspicious character on a flight attempts to jump out of the door. He's a juggler. Once landed, Bill Delaney questions him, then visits his digs, where a crowd of minor theatricals live, landlady Miss Clara Daly, once "the most amazing act." They are dominated by the raucous voice of a rotund opera singer, all unemployed, refusing to bow the knee to the new televisual menace. Maurice (Miles Malleson) says he knows nothing of any £10,000 flight insurance fraud. Garnett poses as an escapologist in order to stay at the digs, and in the cellar he gets Maurice a little tiddly, revealing quite a bit. Before them all, being urged to show his act to them, Garnett produces a suitcase containing the tools of his trade. He handcuffs Maurice to Nero, The Strongest Man Since Samson, then spirits away the key. Bill shows up with the police, and Clara amazingly shows up from inside Garnett's case

16 The Man Who Waited- Jimmy Delaney follows Brodick (Eddie Byrne) from Miami Airport to Lisbon, on to Rome, Cairo, and finally Gaboro, a small airport. Here, it is Jimmy that the local official (Warren Mitchell) wants to arrest, leaving Brodick, a known professional assassin, the opportunity to work out the lie of the land. Jimmy is vouched for, and meets the local sheik (James Villeirs), Garnett joining them, flying out with Langford (Alan Gifford) and his wife (Zena Walker). Arriving at Gaboro airport, Brodick fires his long distance rifle at Langford. But Brodick is arrested, and Langford unscathed

17 Danger on Cloud Seven- Howard K Hodgson of New York shoots himself in his office. Jimmy Delaney and Baker of NY Air Security question his widow. He had been on an air trip organised by The Count (Ferdy Mayne), so Garnett joins the next chartered flight of The Count's, talking to passengers who include actor Steve Hunt (Paul Carpenter), Hope (Adrienne Corri), and McHale (Howard Marion-Crawford), and among others the uncredited Arthur Lowe. Garnett suffers poisoning, Hope kindly helps him recover. After a sword fight, Garnett exposes the Count's racket

18 Downdraft (a rough synopsis) Dunk's small Selkirk Airways plane crashes into the sea, but he is rescued. Garnett is in Vancouver to decide if the firm deserve being awarded a licence, so he questions the employees of the business, but Jo (Jeannie Carson) has briefed them well. She puts Garnett up for the night and takes him country dancing where he pushes Dunk into a pool of mud. Next morning, she takes him up to show him the route of the plane that crashed, and they put up in a remote shack, where he pretends to make love to her. The jealous Dunk interrupts their fun, and Garnett finally elicits the truth

21 And Maya makes Three - Why has Air India hostess Veena Singh been murdered in her Calcutta hotel room? Garnett's secretary Maya volunteers to act as decoy, and to his and Jimmy's amusement takes a crash course in being a stewardess. But she gets her own back by spilling coffee in Jimmy's lap. On her first flight, passengers include Hanwell (Jack Watling) and Mrs Sykes (Nora Nicholson), but when you see Paul Stassino is the co-pilot, you surely need look no further. Maya checks into her hotel, closely watched by Garnett. Naturally all three of the above act suspiciously, but only one tries to strangle Maya

22 The Creators- Film starlet Didi (Nadja Regin) is introduced to us in a bath of frothy bubbles. Her scene is interrupted by a phone call warning she won't make 25. Jimmy has the pleasurable task of visiting her on the film set of Castle in the Clouds. The director (Alan Tilvern) doesn't impress him, even if she does. It seems like some publicity stunt, but she goes to impress Garnett, and he agrees to accompany her on the eve of her 25th birthday on the flight to Vienna. On the way over, while worry is driving her to drink, he reads the script. They reach Vienna safely, but Garnett has worked out the significance of the number 25, and joins the group on the set , and watches for an awfully long time. The scene with the cocktail mixer sees Garnett spring into action, dramatically stopping shooting and chucking the mixer to the man out to destroy her (Peter Dyneley). Note- this was the nineteenth in the series to be filmed

27 Key Witness - Antonio Sporinza (David Bauer) has been flown to England as a key witness. But as his daughter Angela returns from school, she is kidnapped, and Sporinza sees her being taken on to another plane. The flight is delayed. A plane spotter (Pip Rolls) confirms that the girl is on the Glasgow flight, so Garnett, posing as a photographer's model, leaps on board to rescue Angela

28 Hurricane - Jimmy Delaney has to cut short his holiday on a tropical isle when Hurricane Hilda strikes. At Carriacou Airport, there is panic to board the sole plane, Taggart (Gordon Tanner) tries bribing Jimmy, and many other passengers assail him. The plane is made as light as possible by removing all the seats, then comes the choice of who can join the flight, Taggart's method is to use a gun. Finally the plane takes off and Jimmy, presumably the hurricane has suddenly ceased, resumes his holiday with more than a passing ressemblance to John 'Danger Man' Drake

31 The Switch- Alex (William Lucas) has nicked the Goriot diamond in Paris and has smuggled it into London, unfortunately accidentally leaving it in Garnett's office! One of his gang, Jenkins (Alfred Burke) fails to retrieve it, so Alex phones Garnett who is at home in bed. His doctor has told him to take it easy as his blood pressure is too high. Alex asks Garnett to go to a dance studio with his coat. Dora, Alex's girl friend teaches Garnett to do the cha-cha, before running off with his coat. But though they thought it was, the diamond isn't in there. Jenkins returns the coat, then leads Garnett a merry dance as he tries to shake him off tailing him- all the clambering can't be good for Garnett's heart. Luckily when Garnett catches up with the gang, Jimmy shows up to prevent his boss' demise. The final scene has the doctor declaring Garnett's blood pressure is, incredibly, back to normal!

32 Triple Cross - Three wise oriental sheiks arrive at London Airport, where they are shadowed by two villains Hakim (Ferdy Mayne) and Suleman Bay (Warren Mitchell). They book into a swish country hotel, and a fortune in jewellery is stashed in the safe. Posing as tv engineers, the two baddies nick the gems. In Garnett's office they are apprehended and the property returned to Sheik Abdul Pasha. But Garnett, with a touch of humour, has a job sorting out just who does own them

33 Delayed Reaction - Big Ben is chiming 5pm as a man falls from a fourth storey window, down on to a pavement. An opportunist thief steals the dead man's briefcase, but is arrested. In the case is evidence that a passenger on the plane to Athens has been poisoned, but which one of the eight on board? Garnett despatches Jimmy Delaney to Brussels Airport to liaise with agent Andre Bouchard. Miss Baker the stewardess introduces Jimmy to the possible victims: Mrs Andrews, Mrs Gates (Sarah Lawson), Saunders (Nigel Green), Mr and Mrs Williams, Rev Salomon, Betty, and Muller. Numerous red herrings distract Jimmy who finally gets to the poor poisoned one. A doctor treats her, while Jimmy tricks the poisoner (Geoffrey Keen) into a confession

35 A Case of Charity- On a flight, a girl passenger bursts into tears, it's a diversion worked by gentleman confidence trickster Frank Littlefield (Cecil Parker). When one of the notes from a stolen airport payroll is changed in Rome, Garnett meets up with Gassini of Rome Air Security and they hatch a plan to use Frank to entrap the boss behind the payroll theft (Francis de Wolff). Once more the girl is in tears, since her dad has apparently died...

36 And One To Go - In Paris, HP Finch (Charles Lloyd Pack) loses at lot in a fixed game of cards, and shoots the dealer dead, or so he believes. He flees on the flight to London, on which Garnett is also travelling. The passenger next to him goes down with smallpox, and everyone has to be inoculated. But Finch panics, as does Mrs Marian Dorlian (Moira Redmond) and both run away. Garnett finds her at home, and diplomatically keeps the secret of her illicit weekend from her husband (Patrick Holt). He catches up with Finch at the airport, and sorts out his problem also

39 Excess Baggage- With his four wives, a sheik arrives at London Airport. One named Anees hides in a supply room. Having got her description and photo, Jimmy Delaney, with a little help from Maya, traces Nadja (Petra Davies), who tries unsuccessfully tries to fool the sheik into believing she is the missing wife. Jimmy discovers Anees hiding in Nadja's flat. Rasool, the sheik's right hand man, attempts to push her from an upper window, but Jimmy saves her. With a new assistant, the sheik departs with three wives. He gives the now liberated Anees, dressed in a beatnik style jumper, a ticket to Hollywood

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Return Trip

Garnett is in Detroit being interviewed on tv. On his trip back, he sits next to a nervous woman, who claims she has lost her memory. So he drops her off at Chicago, where she disappears.
We see her changing her appearance, donning dark glasses, and flying back to Detroit. She checks into a hotel, and makes for room 127, to shoot Harry, her husband. Then she returns to Chicago, dressing as herself once more, and is found wandering in a car park, apparently still uncertain who she is. In fact she is Margo Jennings (Patricia Neal).
Garnett escorts her to hospital, where she recovers. She tries phoning her husband to assure him all is all right, but is shocked to learn the bad news. Captain Tyler (Lionel Murton) says Harry is "very dead," suicide. She refuses to accept this.
But Garnett "smells something fishy," and of course he's right. We see her in the arms of Mike (Bill Nagy). "I killed him... I did it for us," she admits to him.
But by an oversight, she has left some evidence, her plane ticket, in room 127 and she persuades Mike to retrieve it. However he is arrested, a fall guy for her. But Garnett is able to break her alibi.
Some American/English language humor from elevator boy Jerome 'Dukie,' which Garnett reciprocates at the end

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Deadly Angels
A beautiful fairy doll. It's dismembered to reveal its contents. Ah Chen of International Air Security in Hong Kong is then killed, resulting in Garnett flying in to continue the investigation into dope smuggling. Chen's junior Jerry Wang tells how Chen had befriended and helped him, taking him from the orphanage where he had grown up. Garnett visits this Mission of Light and Hope, run by Rev Judd BPeteer Maddern) and assisted by Len Fu (Jacqui Chan). The money to run the mission is obtained from pedalling toys across the world that they make there. Garnett is impressed with Judd's kindness towards his ch rackets when arg t , for the wire that makes up the halo of a fairy, is identical to the piece of wire clutched in Chen's dying hand.
The bank account of Judd is inspected: "not exactly a fortune," notes the manager. But hold on, there's just been a deposit of $15,000. When Judd is asked to explain he is unconcerned: "suspicion is your business, mine is faith."
The next export consignment of dolls is opened by customs. Every doll is smashed. Nothing. Garnett checks on a second crate, and with Judd and Len Fu watching, he smashes a doll. Len Fu protests, and with reason, for "your angel dolls," he advises the shocked Judd, "have been carrying heroin." It was Len Fu, and she rants against his other worldliness. Her mute accomplice is in the wings, and she spurs him on to finish Garnett off ("if you love me, kill him"). It is Judd who ends the violence. Len Fu runs off, but in her haste, is run over by Jerry's car.
At the airport, Judd bids Garnett farewell. Garnett generously donates the $15,000 to pay for all those dolls he had smashed.

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Ghost Strip

200 miles from nowhere is a remote African landing strip. A forced landing here finds noone manning the place. Jimmy Delaney phones Garnett from Nairobi about the mystery and he's asked to investigate.
The only two workers at the strip are Renston and Smith, "decent chaps" according to local police chief Rogers (Maurice Hedley). But where have they got to? "This place gives me the willies," declares pilot 1, whilst the other (John Bonney) observes "the tea was still hot," just like the Marie Celeste. Yet tea had been laid for three, so who else had been there? The only other plane there has broken down, and in it Jimmy finds bars of gold, stolen in a recent robbery. That night Ahmed who is guarding the plane has his neck broken. Rogers decides to fly off for reinforcements, leaving Jimmy and the gold as "bait." In the dark bushes Jimmy crouches, and finds the bodies of Renston and Smith. Amidst the croaking of frogs and the sounds of African night life, he waits. Then gunshots- Jimmy has to shoot a dangerous looking snake. That noise drives off the killer.
But he emerges next morning with a gun pointed at Jimmy, who is ordered to repair the stricken plane. But his gun has no cartridges and so the thief and murderer is caught. "Good show," exclaims the returning Rogers.

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The Body
Two New York villains take the frozen corpse of hoodlum Happy Jack and ship him air freight to London. However the declare the body as that of Sir Philip Humbolt, who disappeared into obscurity ten years ago. The pair are Archie Vance (Hugh McDermott) and "his number one playmate" Ziggy. Air security chief Alan Garnett is an old acquaintance of Vance (see #11) who declares "I'm a reformed man." Garnett is not going to believe that! What Archie hasn't explained is that he's working for a relation of Sir Philip called Cecil (Jeremy Lloyd), who has traced his uncle, now living happily in a doss house. Cecil will inherit the unspent fortune "when the old man kicks off," but that event needs hastening. However they don't want to get into any murder rap, so this is their plan....
Step One- Collect Happy Hack's coffin from the airport. However Garnett doesn't trust that "warped, bent, calculating mind" of Archie's and traces Cecil to his home.
Step Two- Poison the real Sir Philip, just to knock him out, not to kill him. There's a nice moment as the incompetent Ziggy wonders if he's drinking the doped drink instead of Sir Philip.
Step Three- Archie poses as a doctor, and takes Sir Philip away to a 'hospital.'
Step Four- switch bodies and get Bronson, Sir Philip's solicitor, to identify the body. "RIP," sighs the solicitor. "Alleluia," responds Archie.
But Garnett has been watching proceedings and the bodies have not quite been swapped back when the police break in. "Archie, haven't you got a body too many?" quips Garnett, as Happy Jack lies frozen on the floor. Archie shakes Garnett's hand as he is taken off to jail.
This is a tongue-in-cheek tale that ends with Sir Philip sitting up in his coffin, very much alive, but a little mystified

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The New Adventures of Martin Kane
starring William Gargan
1

There had been several American series about Martin Kane, but this is the seriously forgotten British series starring the creator of the role.
A pilot was made at Rotherhithe Studios in July 1956, and with the series approved, shooting at Elstree Studios commenced about February 1957, lasting 19 weeks. 39 stories were made in total.
Some location shooting was done, including an episode with scenes shot in Paris with Gargan and Betty McDowall (possibly #3 Passport Ring Story). It was stated that this series was "made on location in all the countries of Western Europe," but although this was one of the first British dramas to use extensive location shooting, I can't believe it was that far ranging.
Martin Kane was screened in USA from the middle of April 1957. The series was also sold to Spain, dubbed in Spanish.
Quite why it was largely disappeared from view is a mystery that only Kane himself might have been able to solve. True, this was really British ABC's first effort to make their own filmed series, but it's more viewable than the earlier American made stories, and has its own charm, especially in Brian Reece as Inspector Page, who stiff upper lippedly attempts to rein in Gargan's enthusastic American methods.
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Missing Daughter

In Monaco, American Jim Wilson and his daughter Lorraine (Kay Callard) are holidaying, but she disappears from their hotel room.
Ex-colonel in the US Air Force, Martin Kane, who has been in London for five years, is asked to investigate since Lorraine had had a breakdown when her fiance had died two months ago. In Monte Carlo she had fallen for an artist James Richards (Martin Benson), fast, unstable, selfish. The Lucinda is his boat and according to Lloyd's register, it is docked a few miles offshore near the Thames estuary.
So Kane takes a launch to this boat, and learns that Lorraine is on board, here of her own free will. Inspector Hedley of the Yard (John Warwick) tells Kane that Richards is a known diamond smuggler, usually employing an innocent dupe as a courier, yes that's Lorraine. When she comes ashore she is put under surveillance. She calls at a shop, emerging with a box of paints, then goes on to Kane's office where she has a heart to heart with her father, which amounts to "dad, I'm going to marry him."
Kane opens the paint box, the tubes of paint are systematically squeezed, but no diamonds are revealed. The box is in bits so a replica is given to Lorraine, but when she presents this to Richards he is not at all pleased.
He has to risk the trip ashore to retrieve the original box. Up a fire escape, Richards climbs into Kane's flat, and despite the fact that police are watching the place, after a fight he succeeds in running off with the remains of the box.
That sets off a long police chase, with Richards making for his launch at Tower Bridge. Cleverly eluding the cops, he reaches it and sets course for the safety of the three mile limit. But police give chase and by Rotherhithe they are closing, so Richards leaps ashore, still clutching his box, and is pursued round the docks until cornered, "you can stop running, Mr Richards."
Louise is now safe home. Those diamonds are discovered in the lid of the paint box, you'd have thought Kane would have had the brains to think of that one!

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Kidnap Story aka The Boxer
Joey Reardon (Lee Patterson) is in London for a big boxing match. But his wife Helen (Lisa Gastoni) is kidnapped. She'll come to no harm as long as he throws the fight. "Kidnapping is almost unheard of in England," Kane informs us, but this is a rare case. Wisely Reardon informs the US Embassy and they point him in Martin Kane's direction. In turn, he does call in Scotland Yard, Supt Page, who promises absolute secrecy.
Reardon's boxing contacts are checked out and his phone tapped. "It takes time to trace a call," (unlike these days) and preparations are made to do this as efficiently as possible. At 4pm a call comes through, the message repeating the same instructions to Reardon. This call is traced to a phone booth, but of course it is long deserted. No clues can be found at all.
Dominic, his manager, realises he is in no condition to fight properly.
Mrs Reardon is still a prisoner, the boss of the gang is Anders (Leonard Sachs), who is placing bets on the match all over the continent. His ally Hollis (Kenneth Griffith) is getting jumpy and allows her to phone her husband to tell him she's OK.
This call is taped, and a strange background noise is picked up, a kind of whining. Analysing it, Kane surmises it is a jet engine. The most likely address is Stanley Aircraft Works so police swoop on the area, sealing off a street.
The boss is caught as he attempts to sneak away, his voice bretraying the fact that he had made one of the phone calls. Hollis tries to get away using Mrs Reardon as a hostage, but Kane sneaks up on him, and in order to get away has to let her go. After a chase Hollis too is arrested.
At the fight, Joey delivers a KO in the second round
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Railroad Story
script by Brian Clemens (as Tony O'Grady).
The title is not very appropriate, since the story is about a swindle involving hospital drugs.

Ray Dilling (Walter Gotell), a director of Anglo Canadian Chemicals sabotages his own firm by replacing a batch of drugs with a lethal chemical.
Another director, Bill Wright Jr, calls in Martin Kane who tries "a long shot," bugging the factory.
Playing over the tapes, Kane hears a voice which Wright identifies as Dilling's, directing an employee to doctor Assignment K7. At the rail depot, Supt Page catches the gang of three tampering with K7 and they are arrested.
A ten year old girl is the latest victim of being given the wrong drug, and proof has to be found to convict Dilling.
So Kane joins the firm and in a rehearsed scene is questioned by Supt Page over a crime. Dilling kindly gives Kane a false alibi, in return for which Kane is asked to deliver a package to Paris. It contains banknotes. Kane delivers it to M Bouzanne who is a legitimate stockbroker.
Gilling's plan becomes evident. He's out to create a scandal to force the company shares down, so he can buy them cheaply. But with the little girl set to recover, it looks as though shares won't be falling.
Another tape reveals Dilling has become desperate. He is going to the hospital to kill the girl! Supt Page and Kane arrive just as he's about to inject her. Dilling runs off, there's a chase through the streets and on to Tower Bridge, where Dilling is cornered. "Case all wrapped up"

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32 Race to the Finish

A lesson on the evils of gambling.
The Sport of Kings... and Crooks, like Brandon Hall (Peter Illing) and Max Laymer (John Harvey). One of their sucker clients is John Parker (Gaylord Cavallaro), a US businessman who starts betting beyond his means. £200 on Lillywhite. "He's almost at rock bottom," so Laymer helps him on his way. He provides a hot tip for Parker, Saucy Sue, but Parker just hasn't enough cash. Why not 'borrow' it from his firm? When the sure snip fails to come in, John is easy blackmail material.
His boss but also his friend, Forrester, suspecting embezzlement, calls in Martin Kane, who having questioned some touts, has picked up on Parker's heavy betting habit. But Mrs Parker (Ann Sears) knows nothing of her husband's dilemma. Checking on Parker's business contacts, it seems the Ashton Machinery Company are still awaiting goods ordered through Parker.
Reluctantly, Forrester accepts Kane's report and they agree to call in the discreet aid of Supt Page. Parker is arrested and does confess, for he had wanted to break from Hall and Laymer. To redeem himself, Parker agrees to play along in an entrapment.
At the race course, Page and Kane watch as Parker makes a rendezvous with the crooks, passing them the £1,000 blackmail money that will allegedly free Parker. Of course they demand more, but Supt Page swoops. However Hall draws a gun and takes Parker hostage. The crooks get away but the tick tack men relay a message that they have made for the Owners' Parking Lot. Here, amid the shooting, Parker grabs Laymer and Kane jumps on Hall from behind. Thanks to his valuable assistance, "the future didn't look too dark" for John Parker

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INSPECTOR MORLEY (LATE OF SCOTLAND YARD) INVESTIGATES
(Many thanks to Jean- Michel for his painstaking research into this series which was definitely shown on American television. However the series was never screened on British tv.)
Produced in 1952 by Ambassador Film Productions Ltd.
Shot at Bushey Film Studios. Producer: Gilbert Church. Director of all episodes: Victor M Gover. Screenplays: John Gilling. Director of photography: S.D. Onions. Art director: Don Chaffey. Editor: Helen Wiggins. Special music composed by W.L. Trytel. Assistant Director: John Workman. MKP: Harry Webber. Continuity: Gladys Reeve. Sound recordist: Peter Birch (GVI Recording).

Picture: Frank Hawkins was a semi regular as Inspector Cranshaw, here seen in the last story.

Surviving stories (if you have #4, #6,#8, #11, I'll be glad to swap):
1 Scarlet Letter
2 The Case of the Green Eye
3 The Case of the Wise Monkeys
5 The Red Flame
7 Murder at Scotland Yard
9 Reilly at Bay
10 Dark Passage
12 Death at the Festival (cinema release as Murder at the Grange)
13 Showdown
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Details of the 13 stories made:
Notes: The 3 first episodes were released as a feature, KING OF THE UNDERWORLD, released in 1952. Episodes 7, 8 and 9 released as the feature MURDER AT SCOTLAND YARD in 1954. Episode 13 released as a featurette (BBC tv screened it this century, Talking Pictures TV first showed it in 2016).
1 SCARLET LETTER
The title of this first episode is according to an old US television magazine.
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter (Morley's secretary)
Len Sharp.......................... Mr. Mullins
John Morley, late of Scotland Yard, is approached by a married woman who is being blackmailed by a crook for compromising letters (this society woman has committed an indiscretion). Morley soon discovers that the extortionist is Terence Reilly, homicidal King of the Underworld, and his arch enemy.

2 The Case OF THE GREEN EYE
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Ingeborg Wells.................. Marie Stewart, alias Joyce Winters, alias Coleen Fenton
David Davies..................... George
Anne Valerie (Valery).......... Susan
A woman is kidnapped to obtain a valuable emerald as a ransom. Of course, Terence Reilly is the real culprit, helped by his accomplice Marie who was the maid of the victim. Spike, a member of the gang, tries to blackmail Reilly but is killed by the arch-criminal. Inspector Morley witnessed the murder. Disguised with a beard he infiltrates the gang and unmasks the woman's husband as one of Reilly's accomplices.

3 The Case OF THE WISE MONKEYS
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Frank Hawkins................... Insp. Cranshaw
An old scientist visits Morley and tells him that his young assistant has disappeared. Reilly murders the scientist to secure his secret formula, for sale it to foreign powers. Eileen Trotter, Morley's secretary, is kidnapped but Morley saves her from an acid bath in the nick of time. But Reilly escapes the police... (note: in the "feature" version, this is immediately followed by a conclusion where Morley tells us that Reilly was finally seized and hanged for his crimes.)

4 SILENT WITNESS
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Tom Macaulay................... Insp. Grant
Clifford Buckton
Hilda Barry
Erik Chitty

5 THE RED FLAME
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Tom Macaulay................... Insp. Grant
Dorothy Bramhall.............. Maria Flame
Arthur Howard.............. Theatrical Costumier
A gang of car thieves is at large in London; during their latest raid, a young motor mechanic was critically injured, prompting police to step up efforts to apprehend them. Head of the gang is Maria Flame, alias The Red Flame, a former pickpocket's assistant whom Terence Reilly had helped to transform into a major-league criminal. Following his escape from prison one week earlier, Reilly is hiding out with Maria, blackmailing her to give him £10,000 in exchange for not exposing her to the police. Morley – who has already identified one of the car thieves as Phelps, a known associate of Riley's from the 'Green Eye' case – responds to an enigmatic classified advert placed by Maria, offering 'profit' to a 'young man in search of adventure.' He goes to meet her disguised with a false beard as a Frenchman named Pierre. She offers him £1000 to kill Reilly, but the latter subsequently sneaks back into Maria's flat, leading to a struggle at the end of which both Reilly and Flame are arrested.

6 ROUGH JUSTICE
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Rita Birkett....................... Pauline

7 MURDER AT SCOTLAND YARD
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Tom Macaulay................... Insp. Grant
Michael Moore................. Fred Carstairs
Dorothy Bramhall............. Maria Flame
T. Nichols......................... policeman
Verne Morgan
Cyril Conway
Terence Reilly, gang leader, determines to liquidate his arch enemies, Fred Carstairs of the Yard and Inspector Morley, private investigator, both of whom are hot on his trail. Reilly conceives the idea of anonymously presenting them both with a radio set which will explode and kill them. His plan works so far as Carstairs is concerned, but misfires in the Case of Morley. The shop where the sets were purchased is located, and after a number of exciting adventures Reilly and his accomplice Maria Flame are tracked down and arrested.

8 FALSE ALIBI
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Dorothy Bramhall.............. Mrs Lester (Maria Flame's sister)
Joss Ambler...................... Lester
Patrick Boxill.................... Spud
Louise Grainger................ Miss Wilson
Brenda Bauell.................. secretary
David Davies.................... George
Reilly escapes whilst awaiting trial on a capital charge. Morley and a man named Foxley are the prosecution's chief witnesses. Morley is warned by Inspector Grant of the Yard of his danger, as loyal associates of Reilly are seeking to eliminate the witnesses and Foxley has disappeared. Morley investigates, but Foxley is murdered. Reilly's accomplice who committed the crime is caught, but Reilly is still at large, and in another of his many disguises is now engaged in diamond robberies.

9 REILLY AT BAY
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Tom Macaulay................... Insp. Grant
Roger Delgado.................. George Grayson
Judith Nelmes.................. Mrs. Foxley
Scott Harold..................... Mr. Foxley
Humphrey Kent............... Major Fry
Rita Birkett...................... Pauline
T. Nichols........................ policeman
Stewart Yantan............... Pat Campbell
William Nicke................ policeman
Hugh Gort...................... policeman
Roy Russell

10 DARK PASSAGE
Tod Slaughter....................Terence Reilly / Patrick Reilly (his brother)
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Frank Hawkins................... Inspector Cranshaw
Dorothy Primrose.............. Mrs. Hawkins
Andrew Laurence.............. Penshaw
Ian Fleming....................... police doctor
Carl Lacey......................... Mr. Hawkins
Charles Leno..................... Crossley
Joanna Black..................... waitress
Jill Dunkley....................... telephonist
Walter Horsbrugh............. Brent
Ian Sadler......................... Brown
Jack Midwinter................. policeman

11 MURDER IN THE STRAND
Tod Slaughter.................... Reilly (Terence or Patrick ?)
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Frank Hawkins................... Inspector Cranshaw
Amy Dalby......................... Amelia
Dagmar Wynter................. Angela
Jack Newmark................... Glyn
Sidney Hunt ...................... police clerk
Dennis Cowles.................. Dr. Penn
Cara Stevens..................... secretary
Isobel George................... hairdresser

12 MURDER AT THE GRANGE (shot as DEATH AT THE FESTIVAL)
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Frank Hawkins................... Insp Cranshaw
Grace Denbigh-Russell...... Cynthia Quelch
Margaret Boyd.................. Agatha Quelch
Tod Slaughter................... Patrick Reilly, posing as Clarence Beacham, a butler
Peter Forbes-Robertson... young clerk
George Bishop.................. senior clerk
Pat Neal............................ maid
John Sanger...................... policeman
Ned Lynch........................ sergeant
Pamela Harrington........... Agatha at 19
Tony Spear....................... Richard Parker
John Miller...................... manservant
Note: when they decided to release this short theatrically, in re-making the new credits (after the change of title) they simply forgot to mention Tod Slaughter, the star of the series! The first five names are the only ones credited in this version. The others came from personal seach at the Film Archives of BFI, like most of the credits mentioned for the series.
An involved story of mysterious murders in Victorian family and two elderly spinster sisters, the only remaining members. The murders are thought to be committed by rejected suitor, full of hatred and revenge. Detective Inspector Morley is called to The Grange by Cynthia Quelch who is fearful that she is the next member of the family on the murderer's list. Her sister Agatha, supposedly confined to a wheel chair, is filled with insane hatred for the world, and particularly her family who were responsible for the broken love affair of her youth. When Cynthia is killed, Morley with the help of Scotland Yard's Inspector Cranshaw, finds incriminating evidence damning Agatha who with the help of her manservant has contrived to satisfy her revenge.

13 SHOWDOWN
Tod Slaughter.................... Reilly
Patrick Barr....................... Inspector John Morley
Tucker McGuire................. Eileen Trotter
Frank Hawkins................... Inspector Cranshaw
Many thanks to Jean-Claude Michel for this section. Thanks are also due to Robert J. Kiss for the information about the American broadcast of the series.
To Inspector Morley

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Scarlet Letter
Terence Reilly, currently a Hatton Garden diamond merchant, is "tall, sinister looking, frightening charm." He is blackmailing Lady Sylvia Gray, to hand him the Gray Diamond, in return for her compromising letters. Her only recourse is suicide, but she is rescued from Boulter's Lock.
A few years ago she'd consulted Inspector Morley but fear of scandal forced her not to press charges.That decision was a huge disappointment to Morley who had been trying to catch this master criminal for years, ever since he'd killed a fellow police officer.
Mullins is another crook, acting as a go-between, arranging a deal whereby his boss Alec Trent will buy all the blackmail material for his own criminal purposes. Morley poses as Trent to arrange a face to face meeting with his nemesis.
1 Hatfield Gardens Clapham Park is the empty property where it comes to pass. Morley pins Reilly down but the latter has been shrewd enough not to bring any of the letters with him, so Morley leaves him bound and gagged and taken the keys to Reilly's safe, with no lack of scruple that previously he had shown. However a puncture then a traffic jam delay him and Reilly, who had wriggled free, thwarts Morley's plan, "one of us is just a little smarter than the other." Now it's Morley's turn to be trussed up, "then I'm going to kill you."
Rescue comes in the form of Eileen, Morley's secretary. Posing as an American, name of Trent, she buys those blackmail letters in a nice exchange in which Reilly admires her charms and even decides that in future he might call himself 'Miss Reilly.' Too late Reilly realises he's been tricked, she's paid with counterfeit money! But Reilly has been cunning himself, only handing her duplicates. Morley has freed himself and he snatches the real letters and departs with this promise to Reilly, "I'll follow you to hell," since he can't prosecute him as yet because of the danger of scandal.
Uncredited speaking parts: Lady Sylvia Gray (Katherine Black), Sir Donald Gray, a boy playing football who finds Reilly
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The Green Eye
In her flash sports car CGG240 Susan is held at gunpoint.
Blandford her uncle receives a kidnap note demanding the Green Eye emerald valued at £10,000 for her safe return. He consults Inspector Morley, who advises ignoring the threat for the time being, "she's of more value to them alive than dead."
Marie Stewart, the Blandford maid, she's a convicted criminal associated with Reilly- Morley is quickly on to that! Eileen Trotter is deputed by Morley to watch Reilly's Hatton Garden office, while Morley blames Blandford, who has gone against his advice and handed over the emerald. However Susan has not been released.
In fact she cannot be released since old lag Spike, in a fit of drunkenness has told Susan that Reilly is her kidnapper. Reilly orders Spike to dispose of her. But in one of those improbable coincidences, Morley happens to have seen Spike in the street and "curiosity" makes him follow the crook to the house where his boss George is holding Susan. Spike is paid off and of course spends his ill gotten gains in a pub. He staggers to Reilly's office to demand the Green Eye, the pair fight and Spike is stabbed to death.
A man called Archie, Morley with a thick beard, approaches Reilly offering to bump Morley off as well as the girl. In fact the simple plot becomes more elaborate as the inspector uses his chance to expose the mastermind behind the kidnap. He kindly explains to the gang the errors they always make, "simple deduction" solved this case. It's a neatly done finish though regrettably Reilly must have penetrated Morley's disguise and "the old fox got away again."
Uncredited speaking parts: Blandford, Spike Mulligan

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The Case of the Wise Monkeys

Scene 1 shows Inspector Morley waiting with Inspector Cranshaw. The former relates how this case had begun.
Scientist John Harrison had approached him two weeks ago. His new discovery is XYQ, but he is worried as his assistant Paul Roger has disappeared, and so have elements of his formula.
Morley's secretary Eileen Trotter had found out that a typewritten note from the crooks was executed on a Derwent Portable Mk II. Now crooked diamond merchant Terence Reilly had purchased such a machine, though when she asks him, he denies it.
Reilly is up to his old tricks, strangling Harrison in order to search his home for the rest of the formula.
Eileen is in danger too. Walking along a street to work, Reilly kidnaps her, bundling her away in his car.
A stranger calls at Reilly's office, pretty obvious it's Morley with a moustache and beard and glasses, but Reilly is slow on the uptake. The stranger wants to buy a diamond, and admires the ring Reilly is wearing. Now its shape matches exactly the indentation in the dead professor's neck. Too late Reilly works out who this stranger is.
In a typical Tod Slaughter scene, with several wonderfully corny lines, the crook attempts to make a deal with Morley, "clever Morley, but not quite clever enough." Eileen Trotter is offered in exchange for the damning evidence of the ring that Morley has got. No, responds the inspector. "Then Miss Trotter will trot no more."
Roger has approached Reilly, £5,000 for the formula. Morley chases him across a bombsite but loses him when Roger grabs a car. Morley hails a taxi, but it's too late.
That brings us back to the opening scene. Hoping for Eileen's release, and for news that Roger's car is spotted. It is, and Roger is tailed to a warehouse.
In another typical Slaughter scene showing him at his nasty best, Reilly has concocted a bath of nitric acid for Eileen's benefit. When Roger joins Reilly at the warehouse, the Yard swoop and Roger is under arrest. Reilly however, tips the bath over to cut off pursuit, and exits a free man. But Inspector Cranshaw doesn't seem bothered, "Reilly won't get far."

For the ending of the tv story- Reilly remains a free man.

The feature length film has one final scene to round it off. Reilly is caught and on the prison notice board, a note as to his time of execution is posted.
Inspector Morley concludes with a mini sermon.
Uncredited speaking parts: John Harrison, the scientist, The assistant in the typewriter shop, Paul Roger

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The Red Flame
A string of cars have been stolen, the latest being KUC450 from the Circle Car Mart, Western Avenue, where a mechanic is coshed, winding up in hospital. Is there any connection with the fact that Terence Reilly had escaped prison the week previously? "The heat's on."
Reilly is hiding out at the flat of his prodigy Maria Flame, she who had been taught all she knows about crime from the master, "your beauty finished the job." So she owes him one, £10,000 to be more precise to help him. She's got the cash, from the proceeds of all these car robberies, for it is she who is the brains behind this gang. However she is reluctant to hand him all that cash. "Oh frailty, thy name is woman," laments Reilly. "Oh shut up" is her more unpoetic response.
Inspector Morley recognises one of the car thieves as Phelps, an associate of Reilly on the Green Eye case. According to Inspector Grant of the Yard, Reilly has been seen in Paris, but Morley is convinced that this proves he's still in London.
The car of a Dr Simpson is stolen, a note warns him off telling the police. But he does consult Morley, who smells the exclusive Parisian perfume on the notepaper.
Morley buys a beard from a theatrical costumier, then makes his way to Maria Flame's flat. She has been advertising for someone in search of adventure. After Maria meets the bearded Pierre, it transpires the job, for £1,000, is to kill "someone who has been annoying me." You can guess who.
Phelps is assigned to tail Pierre, just to make sure he doesn't renege on the deal. But Morley outwits him and has him arrested.
The final drama. In the best Tod Slaughter manner, Reilly ascends the fire escape to Maria's flat. "You shall pay for this," her double cross that is. Enter Pierre with a gun. A struggle, as Maria watches on. Then the police burst in and arrest Reilly
Uncredited speaking parts: A thief called Phelps. A garage mechanic. A police constable. A radio announcer. A theatrical costumier (Arthur Howard). Dr Simpson
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Murder at Scotland Yard
Reilly has escaped from prison! He's somewhere in Soho.
At Scotland Yard, Inspector Carstairs stupidly opens a package, a radio "from an old admirer." The tension builds well, for we can guess, even if Carstairs can't, what's going to occur.
"Get the doctor!" Too late. "Murder by radio," gloats Reilly, and a double one too he hopes, for Inspector Morley has been sent an identical present.
His secretary, Miss Eileen Trotter unpacks it, but since it needs a plug- stupid mistake by Reilly- she cannot switch it on. A kind window cleaner does the job for her, "there we are." But by now Miss Trotter has left the office to meet her boss at Piccadilly Circus.
He has been with Inspector Grant at the Yard sifting through the rubble in the late Carstairs' office. A photo of Maria Flame is mysteriously intact, "slippery as an eel." The radio is traced to a "store" in Wood Green run by Miss Elaine Wilson.
The window cleaner is plugging in the radio when Morley returns, he switches off the sweet music in a haste, then defuses the bomb.
Miss Trotter has been delegated to watch the radio shop, but she is kidnapped. Reilly devises another fiendish plot to dispose of his enemy. "I'm going to settle with that gentleman once for all. It's either Morley or me."
The pair meet face to face in the radio shop. They fight but Morley is shot by Reilly's accomplice and dragged away into a car thence to Reilly's hideout. Here, Miss Trotter has managed to get away, "stand still Reilly," she shouts, and so Reilly and Maria Flame are recaptured

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Reilly at Bay
Terence Reilly is finally behind bars- again! But Eileen is sure she has recently seen him in Trafalgar Square!
She informs her boss, Morley, who has just interrupted an intruder in his office. He is arrested. Neither Morley nor Inspector Grant believe that Eileen could have seen Reilly, but just to make sure, Grant checks with the prison governor, "of course he hasn't escaped!"
It is clear that Reilly's gang are intent on silencing all witnesses who will be testifying against Reilly at his trial. Albert Foxley is one, but he has disappeared. According to his wife, he went off in a blue car with a stranger. In fact his corpse is found dumped in Reily's own car! Inspector Grant tracks down the blue car, it had been stolen from a Major Fry, in whose garage Morley discovers a clue, an unusual comb. The major doesn't recognise it, and Eileen traces this to a woman she sees with Reilly himself. She follows the girl, Pauline.
Grant questions Mrs Foxley about her husband's extra cash he had earned. In a flashback we see how she learned he was being blackmailed into working for the gang. Mrs Foxley is given protection.
Eileen's vision of Reilly is explained. She takes Patrick, Reilly's brother, to meet Morley. "Terence was "always the black sheep."

Cars: RWL729 Inspector Morley. KUU7 Pauline. BUL909 taxi

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Dark Passage
John Hawkins phones Inspector Morley for help, but is shot dead immediately, another caught by blackmail, "typical Reilly victims."
With Insp Cranshaw, Morley visits Hawkins' address in Kilburn. Blackmail letters are found before they are interrupted by a woman in tears, she's Mrs Hawkins, "I never liked Reilly," she tells them.
Terence Reilly is still in jail, awaiting trial. But his brother Patrick is behind this, "I got it all figured out," the killer informs Reilly, he will pin the murder on to Roland Brown, who had been convicted of a jewel robbery four years ago and was released last month. Terence corresponds with his brother via coded letters.
Morley poses as Hawkins, and says he cannot pay the blackmail demand. Mrs Hawkins is advertising for a maid, and Eileen is persuaded to apply. She witneses Mrs Hawkins leave the house in a car driven by a man. Their destination turns out to be Patrick Reilly's house.
Morley interviews Brown, who now works at a garage.
Cranshaw learns that Mrs Hawkins had recently split with her late husband. He also speaks with Reilly in jail, who is too much on his guard to reveal anything incriminating.
Morley talks with the widow about her relationship with Reilly, but they are interrupted by the killer, who conveniently reveals the whole plot. He is about to bump off Morley, but the police arrive, not as late as they usually are, in time to round the gang up

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Death at the Festival (Murder at The Grange)
Phone call for Morley from a Miss Cynthia Quelch of The Grange, Princes Risborough. In his Morris Minor, the detective drives down from London, to discuss Miss Quelch's problem. Before Morley even talks to her he knows what it is, for the door is opened by the butler none other than Morley's old nemesis Reilly, last seen running a marriage bureau.
He ushers Morley in, Cynthia explains her invalid sister Agatha is her worry. The events go back fifty years to when a Richard Parker had wanted to marry her, but their father had not consented because Richard's father was in prison. Parker had sworn revenge on the Quelch family, ten years later Mr Quelch had died in mysterious circumstances. A long gap before last year, at the Festival of Britain (hence the original title of the story), their only brother Roger had died. Find Parker, Cynthia begs. Morley's initial advice is sack Clarence the butler, alias Reilly. But that is impossible, according to Agatha, so just what is he up to here?
Inspector Cranshaw learns from the American police that Parker had died in 1910, the valet and chief suspect was never traced. Now Patrick Reilly was known to be in the USA about then.
To protect the two surviving sisters, Morley stays at The Grange. He discovers love letters from Parker to Agatha. "It must be Reilly," he decides. But when Cynthia takes her afternoon rest, she is strangled in her locked room. How did the killer get in? Cynthia's cup of milk is still warm, suggesting she had only just died.
Inspector Cranshaw warns, "keep an eye on the butler." A smart piece of detective work proves just how Cynthia was murdered, and evidence helpfully points the police to the actual killer.
The evil exposed, a dagger is improbably drawn, but it's not long before arrests are made. But can anything be proved against Reilly? The detectives end by mulling over the case
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Showdown
In jail, Terence Reilly is awaiting sentence. Brother Patrick is being taken away by train to prison. But he jumps off and escapes.
An anonymous call tips off where Patrick is hiding out. Secretary Eileen takes this call for Morley, and as her boss is out, she goes alone to the address, and finds herself at a seance. A voice materialises, that of Cynthia Quelch (see #12). However as an antagonistic spirit prevents her from saying more, the lights are switched out. The inevitable follows, screams and death! The medium has been strangled with a stocking.
Inspector Cranshaw questions the three others at the session, Mrs Corbett, Mr Earle and Mr Blair. It turns out that the dead woman was sister to John Fraser, whom Reilly had earlier murdered. Morley soon discovers a hidden mike, and works out that the maid had voiced Cynthia. The maid has now flown!
Mrs Corbett is also strangled with a stocking- it's a type sold at the market stall run by Blair. The missing maid shows up at Mrs Corbett's flat and reveals the truth. Then in walks Blair. Where's Reilly? He's gone to the docks to board a ship. He is re-arrested.
Morley addresses the camera to finish with a moral. The story meanders, with the search for Reilly peripheral. Tod Slaughter himself is hardly seen, and the door is left open whether the evil brothers will ever elude justice yet again. But the series never did do well enough to make that possibility come to fruition

Other speaking parts: Warder. Guard on train. Mme Defargot. Her maid. Mrs Corbett. Leslie Earle. Quentin Blair. Sergeant. Police doctor. Landlady. Photographer
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Crime Club
Towers of London started at the end of June 1959 on this proposed series of one-off stories that hoped to repeat the success of Towers' earlier successful radio series of this name.

The first of the series to be made was Invitation to Murder.
The director was Robert Lynn, the writer Joel Murcott. Robert Beatty starred as Michael Steel, Ernest Thesiger as Sadouris Andrade, Lisa Daniely as Joan, and Douglas Wilmer as Insp Marquand. Others in the cast were Catherine Feller, John Howlett, Bud Knapp, Denis Shaw, Guy Kingsley Poynter, Keith Pyott, Tony Thawnton and Olga Dickie. A bed ridden eccentric leaves his money to the last beneficiary to survive him: one of his two grand-daughters, or his lawyer, his secretary or his nurse. A private eye (Robert Beatty) vies with the police to solve the crimes. This story was not well received by St John Roberts, who wrote after seeing it, "a very heavy handed drama which was supposed to look like one of those creepy French thrillers... We had a millionaire who proposes to leave a will naming five beneficiaries. Each is to receive a hundred dollars a week, though the bulk of the estate would go to to the remaining survivor... the drama was laid on so heavily with a trowel that if it was meant to be taken seriously, I apologise for laughing though I feel I can be excused for smiling at dialogue like this. Millionaire to inquisitive private eye: 'The last time we met you cost me a couple of oil wells.' 'Well, well...' It is obvious that the play was written for the title because the simplest thing the millionaire to do- if he felt so passionately about his youngest daughter- was to leave all the cash to her anyway and save himself the trouble of going to such lengths to eliminate the others."
The first story in production had been planned as
You'll Never See Me Again.
Script: Cornell Woolrich, adapted for TV by Joel Murcott. Director: Ted Post.
My review: Jim Mason (Ben Gazzara) is an architect, his work affected as Molly his wife has left him for mother. But when he phones her there, he's told she hasn't been there. Worried, Jim consults Inspector Stillman (a laid back Leo Genn). His wife's last words, he says, were the ominous, you'll never see me again.
In his sports car EXL367, Jim drives with his friend Bob to Danby Warwickshire, where her family live- he's never met Molly's mother or her stepfather Joe. "I don't understand," snaps Jim at them, when they claim his wife had written several times saying she was unhappy.
Inspector Stillman becomes suspicious when all of Molly's possessions that Jim said she had packed and taken with her are found in their St Albans' home. Jim's on the point of being arrested, so he locks the police in his cellar and drives off fast. He's chased - by the usual police car XPC898- and avoids a road block, then he learns Molly had boarded the bus for Warwickshire, she must have gone to her parents.
His architectural skills prove useful in locating a dummy wall in the house, the inspector steps in to complete the demolition of the wall, and sure enough there is a corpse. However it is not Molly's! "She must be with them," surmises Jim, but where are her parents? In fact they have gone south to Jim's home where Joe is digging up the cellar to plant Molly's corpse there. It's a bit of a cheat, since we had seen the bottom half of the murderer- and it was certainly not Joe's shape! Police arrive in time to stop the frame-up. The first body was that of Molly's real mother, as the whole evil plan is exposed in this neat little thriller
As far as I can ascertain these two films were all that were made in this Crime Club series, and rather improbably they were screened in the 'Summer Armchair Theatre' slot in August 1959. Presumably the project was abandoned. In 1963 ABC did repeat the films under the banner 'Crime Club.'
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