'Tom Nolan' ( Sam Kydd ), a small-time private eye, is hired by 'Mrs.Arnoldson' ( Ursula Howells ) to spy on her husband ( Griffith Jones ). He is seeing the lovely 'Angela Cunliffe' ( Nike Arrighi ) whom he plans on running off with to the Bahamas. Nolan becomes suspicious of Mrs.Arnoldson; something about her face strikes him as familiar. While taking photos of her at her country home, he is spotted by the Arnoldsons' chauffeur ( Duncan Lamont ), who gives chase and tries to shoot him. Fortunately for Nolan, two joggers happen to be passing, and he is able to make it back to his car. Terrified, Nolan calls on McGill for help. He refuses to disclose why he is running, he just wants Mac to help him flee the country. Mac returns from the bank ( where he had just cashed one of Nolan's cheques ) only to find the chauffeur in wait for him. Nolan is murdered, a crime for which McGill is framed...
Donald Jonson's ( who also wrote 'The Girl Who Never Was' ) plot has more holes than a colander. Why does the chauffeur allow Nolan to escape so easily? He looks the type to shoot joggers. Nolan's terror is hard to fathom. You would think that he has just uncovered a 'Watergate' type conspiracy, but no, its just a couple of middle-aged robbers hiding out in a country house where the garden is full of peacocks. In the original series' outline, Mac's first name was given as 'John' - it was never used. In most episodes this was not a problem but here it is. The police issuing radio warnings about a murder suspect whose full name they do not know is unintentionally comical.
The Arnoldsons pulled off an airport robbery and faked their own deaths. Mr.Arnoldson had sensibly undergone plastic surgery but his wife refused it ( which is how Nolan was able to recognise her ) because she liked the way she looked? Vain woman! You do not hire a gumshoe if you are meant to be officially deceased.
Sam Kydd and Ursula Howells are credited as guest stars, even though the former is only on screen for the first ten minutes, and the latter gets bumped off twenty minutes after that. Kydd was, of course, a familiar figure in British films and television series. When this was made, he was starring as 'Orlando' in the I.T.V. children's' series of the name. Howells went on to co-star with Patrick Cargill in the sitcom 'Father Dear Father'. Also on view is a very young Trevor Peacock ( 'Jim' from 'The Vicar Of Dibley' ) as a 'lodger'. Denise Buckley and Nike Arrighi both appeared in episodes of 'The Prisoner'. If the taxi driver looks familiar, that's because he is played by Harold Goodwin, who was 'Foley' in 'The Girl Who Never Was'. Duncan Lamont, who plays the 'chauffeur', was one of the surly villagers in 'All That Glitters'.
It is hard to imagine the Arnoldsons committing a daring robbery. They look as if they would be more at home sipping gin and tonic in the lounge of a Royal British Legion.
So yes, this is nonsense, but watchable. Charles Crichton pulls off an impressive climax in the Arnoldsons' house, with Mac creeping around in the dark, gun in hand. Very Hitchcockian scene, spoilt slightly by Albert Elms' intrusive incidental music.
Donald Jonson's ( who also wrote 'The Girl Who Never Was' ) plot has more holes than a colander. Why does the chauffeur allow Nolan to escape so easily? He looks the type to shoot joggers. Nolan's terror is hard to fathom. You would think that he has just uncovered a 'Watergate' type conspiracy, but no, its just a couple of middle-aged robbers hiding out in a country house where the garden is full of peacocks. In the original series' outline, Mac's first name was given as 'John' - it was never used. In most episodes this was not a problem but here it is. The police issuing radio warnings about a murder suspect whose full name they do not know is unintentionally comical.
The Arnoldsons pulled off an airport robbery and faked their own deaths. Mr.Arnoldson had sensibly undergone plastic surgery but his wife refused it ( which is how Nolan was able to recognise her ) because she liked the way she looked? Vain woman! You do not hire a gumshoe if you are meant to be officially deceased.
Sam Kydd and Ursula Howells are credited as guest stars, even though the former is only on screen for the first ten minutes, and the latter gets bumped off twenty minutes after that. Kydd was, of course, a familiar figure in British films and television series. When this was made, he was starring as 'Orlando' in the I.T.V. children's' series of the name. Howells went on to co-star with Patrick Cargill in the sitcom 'Father Dear Father'. Also on view is a very young Trevor Peacock ( 'Jim' from 'The Vicar Of Dibley' ) as a 'lodger'. Denise Buckley and Nike Arrighi both appeared in episodes of 'The Prisoner'. If the taxi driver looks familiar, that's because he is played by Harold Goodwin, who was 'Foley' in 'The Girl Who Never Was'. Duncan Lamont, who plays the 'chauffeur', was one of the surly villagers in 'All That Glitters'.
It is hard to imagine the Arnoldsons committing a daring robbery. They look as if they would be more at home sipping gin and tonic in the lounge of a Royal British Legion.
So yes, this is nonsense, but watchable. Charles Crichton pulls off an impressive climax in the Arnoldsons' house, with Mac creeping around in the dark, gun in hand. Very Hitchcockian scene, spoilt slightly by Albert Elms' intrusive incidental music.