There are certain definite TV memories I have from the early-70s - one of the most tantalizing was the peak-time Saturday night series THRILLER. The dvd god has released the whole run in a multi-disc set. Somehow even I have baulked at the £90-ish boxset but have started renting them from Amazon. It is really great watching them again - as usual with the 70s there was hardly any location filming it's all shot in the studio on videotape. It's a shock to see this style now as one is so used to full location series - I CLAUDIUS and ROCK FOLLIES were shot similarly.

The first three episodes, all written by Brian Clemens, set the general template for the THRILLER pattern. Invariably they are women in peril stories, the first two are newly-wed wives in danger from their husbands while the third pits two young women against an ominous evil. The first and third feature minor-league US actresses in the leads and it's surprising - even with my renowned knowledge of performers - how few of the major supporting players are unknown to me. Of course American actors and actresses were needed to sell the show in the States but surely even back then Barbara Feldon and Alexandra Hay were hardly names!

The fun aspect of watching this is seeing established actors in earlier roles - certainly the case with the first episode LADY KILLER which replays one of the classic thriller plots of plain-Jane girl (Feldon) being swept off her feet up to the altar by charming but secretive Robert Powell - looking about 12. Of course it's all a plan to bump her off so he and his real wife - AVENGERS' own Linda Thorson - can claim the insurance. The second called POSSESSION stars 60s tv actress Joanna Dunham and John Carson (b-movie James Mason) as newlyweds buying a house he has always liked in a small village. Imagine their surprise when a dead body is found buried in their cellar from 20 years ago. It turns out to be a woman whose disappearance was never explained. The husband suddenly starts taking on strange threatening traits and the wife deduces he is possessed by the murderer of the woman. The reveal is a little less paranormal.

The third one I actually remembered watching!
SOMEONE AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS has two young women - US import Donna Mills and 60s TV star Judy Carne - find a room for rent in a house that anyone with half an eye could tell was a bit on the gloomy side. The neighbours are a rather creepy ex-army colonel, a husband, wife and son who are all rather creepy, a young Irish bloke a bit on the rather creepy side and the landlady whose polished exterior barely hides the fact that she's rather creepy. Mills starts to suspect something is up when she finds HELP ME written on the inside of a cupboard and slowly she suspects there is an evil presence in the house. Could it possibly be the man who lives in the room at the top of the stairs?

Hampered slightly by some strange playing styles it still is good to watch - if only for the wardrobe! Judy Carne in particular has a nice line in frocks including a darling dark chocolate dress with orange piping and small buttons. There is a spooky downbeat ending, something which was to become de rigeur in the later tv series of the same ilk HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR. Now why do I clearly remember the shot of Mills finding Judy Carne's body in an upright trunk? It must have really freaked me at the time I guess!

The real hoot is attached to the end of each episode - these are the credits used for when ITC showed them in the US. They are jaw-droppingly bad! They sometimes use elements from the standard small intro scene - usually the murder that sets the plot in motion - and then embellished it with unlook-a-like actors, cheesy state-of-the-art video graphics and the naffest "Behind yooooooou" music - absolutely hysterical!