Main cast: Anna Calder-Marshall (Janet), Gary Raymond (Martin), Paul Hawkins (David), Pauline Delany (Sister), Philip Latham (Hargreaves), Jenny Laird (Mrs Roberts), William Moore (Mr Roberts), Jeremy Longhurst (Dr Cummings), Brenda Cowling (Nurse Davies), and Mike Savage (Police Constable Jenkins)
Director: Alan Gibson
Janet, her husband Martin, and their son David are driving through the countryside, when it begins to rain heavily and Martin almost knocks down a man in yellow raincoat who suddenly walks out from the thickets. Naturally, this quiet, stiff fellow must be in need of a ride! Of course Martin stops the car to gives him one, and the man’s gibberish conversations for some reason doesn’t raise any alarm. Boy, are they shocked – shocked! – when this fellow quickly attacks Martin and the car tips over as a result!
When Janet comes to, she is at the hospital. Her husband Martin is safe, but he apparently sustained an injury in the throat that causes him to make the same gibberish sounds as the lunatic hitchhiker. She is also asked to identify the corpse of the hitchhiker – apparently he died in the altercation with Martin – and hmm, that dead thing looks a lot like Martin. Well, nothing to be concerned about! Boy, is she shocked – shocked! – when Martin starts acting all weird and violent once he’s at home.
Frankly, it’s hard to be sympathetic towards a protagonist like Janet considering that she is both as stupid as a baked potato and as passive as a beached whale. She knows something is wrong, but she always just remain silent, given this blank, terrified stare at the camera, only to then shriek when she is in danger. Repeat and rinse. The entire episode is designed around stupid people doing stupid things because they have no survival instinct and they also are unable to actually seek help for some reason. The child actor is annoying, Anna Calder-Marshall is apparently paid to basically alternate between giving blank stares and squealing in a histrionic manner (well, here are The Two Faces of Evil alright), and there is no cute eye candy to reduce the tedium.
To think, all this could have been avoided if these morons had used their brains a bit before picking up creepy strangers.
