"Thriller" Good Salary, Prospects, Free Coffin (1975)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

John Scholz-Conway

Writer:

Brian Clemens (writer)

TV Series:

"Thriller" (1973)

Original Air Date:

10 May 1975 (Season 5, Episode 5)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

Cast

James Maxwell	...	Carter
Kim Darby	...	Helen
Keith Barron	...	Charley Masters
Julian Glover	...	Gifford
Susan Dury	...	Babs Bryant
Gillian Hawser	...	Babs Two
John Abineri	...	Insp. Buff
Bruce Boa	...	Hanley
Janina Faye	...	Wendy Phillips
Martin Read	...	Timothy Bryant
Reg Lye	...	Caretaker
Peter Hill	...	Filing Clerk
Julie Crosthwaite	...	Tall Blonde
Karl Held	...	Security Guard
Norman Chancer	...	Police Driver

Also Known As:

"Thriller": Mirror of Deception (#5.5) (USA)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Associated Television (ATV)

A worthy prospect

A middle-ranking outing of Brian Clemens's "Thriller" series. While not one of the best it is still very effective.

An excellent teaser leads into a young woman (Babs) spotting a great job opportunity, involving lots of travel, in a newspaper. To her consternation her flatmate has already found the job and snapped it up. Nothing more is heard for some time until the same advert reappears. Babs and her other flatmate Helen assume that their friend got fired, which they regard with a little glee. This time Babs has an unobstructed run and gets the job. She also doesn't make contact later and Helen is a little worried when she visits the employer's office and finds it empty. Her worries multiply considerably when she visits the American Embassy to change her passport details and finds a woman there answering to exactly the same description as Babs. Helen's new husband Charley believes it to be just coincidence but Helen disagrees and starts to investigate.

This is one of "Thriller"'s espionage episodes. The "employers", if that's quite the right word for them, are certainly not what they seem. The two men fronting this organisation, Carter and Gifford, are a curious pairing. Carter is a genteel man who seems to find his organisation's activities ghastly if necessary. His colleague Gifford is the man who does the dirty work, and seems to delight in doing so. There is a clear tension between the two that works extremely well. Both characters are highly memorable. One irritating aspect though is Gifford repeatedly using the word "pig" after Carter describes him as one.

There are other good supporting characters. Babs's brother, a journalist, briefly but powerfully appears inquiring into her disappearance. After a rather cringe-worthy entrance in which he tries to chat up Helen, who he assumes is single, he gets down to business. It is soon apparent that he knows rather more about Carter than the latter would like and there is a great scene in which the two, and Gifford, meet. Hanley is the head of security at the embassy who is a disconcerting and rather enigmatic figure.

Julian Glover (Gifford) and James Maxwell (Carter) are both fine, helped of course by great writing. Other performances are quite good without anyone being truly memorable. Kim Darby is not the most magnetic of "Thriller" heroines as Helen Masters but she still performs soundly. Keith Barron, who plays Charley, is of course a very familiar TV face and voice. The writing and direction are up to the usual standards with the murder scenes especially chilling.

The story is engaging but certainly picks up momentum towards the end. The climax is generally impressive with a number of twists, let down a little by one inadvertently amusing sequence and an ending that isn't as polished as it could be. On the whole though a strong piece of television.