User Reviews

Episode 26, "The Talking Head," was also the last, and the series went out on a high note. A clean shaven Hugh Griffith pops up as Dr. Ivy, ecstatic over the recent purchase of a stamp from more than 700 BC; he also tells his friend Colonel March of a patient, Harold Hartley (Hugh Williams), who has survived a murder attempt by a 12 year old boy, Andrew Barton (Peter Asher). Hartley is a close family friend who has always treated Andrew like his own son, and is now engaged to the boy's mother Phyllis (Helen Christie), since the untimely death of her scientist husband John in a plane crash. A frantic call from Phyllis reveals that Hartley has met with another 'accident,' falling down the stairs, so Colonel March journeys to the Barton home, where the housekeeper, Mrs. Wrigley (Mary Clare), eyes him with suspicion. When questioned, Andrew reveals that he tried to kill Hartley because his father asked him to, and, incredibly, the bust of John Barton actually does speak to the lad, preparing him to use poison for the next murder attempt. It's up to Inspector Ames (Ewan Roberts) to ascertain whether Barton is really dead, or else Colonel March may have to arrest a ghost! One of the best scripts of the entire series, a shame since this was the finale (lucky this show has survived, like THE VEIL, from 1958). Billed in the opening credits with Karloff and Roberts, Hugh Williams had previously worked with Karloff's former comrade in terror, Bela Lugosi, playing a Scotland Yard man in 1939's "The Dark Eyes of London." Peter Asher did fewer than a dozen parts as a child actor, while his younger sister Jane continued her acting career well into the 70s (as a child, she was in Hammer's 1955 "The Quatermass Xperiment," while later appearing with Vincent Price in 1964's "The Masque of the Red Death"). By 1964, Peter Asher had turned his attention to pop music, as half of the harmony duo Peter and Gordon (Gordon Waller), whose earliest hits were supplied by Jane's then-boyfriend, Paul McCartney, who lived at the Asher home in London for a time. By decade's end, Asher had turned to producing artists for The Beatles' Apple label in London before relocating to the US (James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt being the most successful).

Colonel March investigates when Dr Ivy tells him that a 12 year old boy, distraught over his father's death. A renowned scientist is trying to kill his stepfather to be.

Andrew Barton hears the voice of his late father when he visits the bust in his study. The voice tells Andrew to kill Harold Hartley the family friend who is engaged to his mother.

Hartley has already been injured from an earlier attempt but is surprisingly forgiving towards Andrew.

Colonel March acts rather cold regarding his feelings towards children. It is all a facade.

Once Colonel March hears the voice ordering Andrew to make another attempt on Harold's life. It becomes clear just who the culprit might be even though the motive might not be.

An enjoyable enough episode with Colonel March once again displaying his cunning to reveal the culprit.

I realise that I've been watching these out of sequence, and that this was actually the final episode that was made, well all you can say is that they ended on a high, and what a shame that they didn't return for more.

A very simple premise, a twelve year old boy hears the voice of his dead father, and that voice tells him to commit a heinous crime, one of murder.

I've not seen them all, but of those I have watched, this has been my favourite this far, I loved the story, love how wonderfully twisted and macabre it is, the idea of manipulating someone innocent to commit a crime, that's fiendishly clever.

There is a germ of an idea here that could be used to make a modern day mystery or thriller.

This was very, very good. 8/10.