Interesting that this episode has the title of The Devil's web when in fact it was broadcast in Britain under the title of Nurse Will Make It Better which is an ironic title because nurse will make it anything but better . Americans don't do irony and this has syndicated for America written all over it . When ITC held the rights for the Thriller series they redid the title sequence to make it look like the episodes were one off TVMs and this episode has a very OTT title sequence of Satanists complete with American accents building a bonfire chanting " Black of night and moon return spirit enter and fire burn " which is completely ridiculous and OTT
The story itself is obviously made with an American audience in mind since it revolves around an American family - the Harrows - headed by Edgar Harrow an American diplomat living in the rural countryside . His eldest daughter Charley is crippled in a horse riding accident and a live in nurse arrives Bessy Morne and right away Bessy seems to have an agenda . You can never trust these affable caretakers
This is an unrepentant supernatural story with zero ambiguity . Bessy is the devil incarnate . The premise isn't necessarily bad and even though you have to suspend any disbelief there's something not quite right about the episode which is difficult to put your finger on . I think my own problem with it is that it's probably not stylised enough almost as though the producers are scared of making it an out and out horror tale . For a series of anthology tales an episode like this tends to jar with the rest of the show and might have worked much better in the later HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR . The climax also suffers from being shot in a studio on videotape which is a poor medium for the type of ending seen here . I also found a lack of explanation frustrating . What for example was Bessy's reasons for picking the Harrow family ?
You get the feeling that the cast are taking the parts on to merely have some fun and let their creative hair down . Amazing to think that twenty years earlier Diana Dors was being touted as the British Marilyn Monroe . Not to be disingenuous Dors was a very versatile actress and here she camps it up with a broad acting performance complete with West Country accent , and has there ever been a role for a woman with a broad West Country accent where she wasn't a witch ? Patrick Troughton will of course be forever remembered as playing the second incarnation of The Doctor but he was also an accomplished character actor and here he plays a drunken priest similar to his show stopping role in THE OMEN . The final scene of good versus will split opinion but I thought it as totally ridiculous as Dors and Troughton had a contest to see who could over act the most whilst spouting delightfully dreadful dialogue but credit to both of them for managing to keep a straight face
The story itself is obviously made with an American audience in mind since it revolves around an American family - the Harrows - headed by Edgar Harrow an American diplomat living in the rural countryside . His eldest daughter Charley is crippled in a horse riding accident and a live in nurse arrives Bessy Morne and right away Bessy seems to have an agenda . You can never trust these affable caretakers
This is an unrepentant supernatural story with zero ambiguity . Bessy is the devil incarnate . The premise isn't necessarily bad and even though you have to suspend any disbelief there's something not quite right about the episode which is difficult to put your finger on . I think my own problem with it is that it's probably not stylised enough almost as though the producers are scared of making it an out and out horror tale . For a series of anthology tales an episode like this tends to jar with the rest of the show and might have worked much better in the later HAMMER HOUSE OF HORROR . The climax also suffers from being shot in a studio on videotape which is a poor medium for the type of ending seen here . I also found a lack of explanation frustrating . What for example was Bessy's reasons for picking the Harrow family ?
You get the feeling that the cast are taking the parts on to merely have some fun and let their creative hair down . Amazing to think that twenty years earlier Diana Dors was being touted as the British Marilyn Monroe . Not to be disingenuous Dors was a very versatile actress and here she camps it up with a broad acting performance complete with West Country accent , and has there ever been a role for a woman with a broad West Country accent where she wasn't a witch ? Patrick Troughton will of course be forever remembered as playing the second incarnation of The Doctor but he was also an accomplished character actor and here he plays a drunken priest similar to his show stopping role in THE OMEN . The final scene of good versus will split opinion but I thought it as totally ridiculous as Dors and Troughton had a contest to see who could over act the most whilst spouting delightfully dreadful dialogue but credit to both of them for managing to keep a straight face