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ACTION
TV ONLINE EPISODE GUIDE
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Publicity : A Game Of Murder - A new Francis Durbridge serial in six parts: Francis Durbridge has been called the creator of the television thriller serial. Such is his reputation that in the many countries where recordings of his BBC Television serials are shown, they are automatically assured of a vast viewing audience. When the six episodes of The Scarf were screened on six successive nights in Germany, so many people stayed home to watch that one incensed cinema manager tried to sabotage the serial by taking a full-page advertisement in a local newspaper and revealing the climax to the story. The effect was not quite what he had in mind; riot police had to be called out to control an angry crowd intent on wrecking both cinema and manager. A new Durbridge serial, then, is something of an event. The story of this latest one for BBC-2? Let's just say that when once-famous athlete Bob Kerry is found dead on a golf course, his son Jack refuses to accept the coroner's verdict of death by misadventure. As a Detective Inspector on leave he is able to devote his time to following up his suspicions, and in the process he discovers the secrets of his father's private life - discoveries which guarantee six suspenseful Saturdays as A Game Of Murder is played out to its last startling twist. Says Alan Bromley, producing his tenth Francis Durbridge serial for BBC Television: "This is Durbridge at his best. I think it will have the same impact as Melissa". And there could be no stronger recommendation than that. (Radio Times, February 24, 1966). Notes : The series was designed by Roy Oxley. Episodes were originally transmitted 8:15pm to 8:40pm on BBC 2.
Synopsis
: Jack
Kerry arranges to see Rupert Delaney, the man apparently
responsible for his father's death. He hurries to
Delaney's flat, only to find him murdered.
Synopsis : Jack Kerr receives a mysterious telephone call which enables him to catch up with Rupert Delaney's mistress, Cathy White. Cathy tells Jack she knows why his father was murdered.
Synopsis : Jack learns that the unidentified Mel Harris is behind the killings and the call-girl organisation run by Delaney. Returning from a false rendezvous in a pub, Jack finds Mrs Lincoln, his ex-housekeeper, dead in his flat.
Synopsis : The evidence involving Mr and Mrs Bannister is still only circumstantial. Jack finds Cathy White with a gun at Doreen Osborne's flat. There is a struggle and Cathy is shot.
Synopsis : Charles Bannister tells Jack that in spite of the precautions which have been taken both he and the unknown Mel Harris know the whereabouts of Cathy White.
The series was devised, created and written by Francis Durbridge and produced and directed by Alan Bromly |
 Another highly-popular entry in the successful run of Francis Durbridge thrillers, A Game Of Murder concerned itself with the suspicious death of Bob Kerry (Anthony Sagar), a once-famous athlete in peak condition who was found dead on a golf course. The coroner records a verdict of death by misadventure, but Kerry's son Jack (Gerald Harper), a Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, is determined to seek out the true nature of events which lead up to his death.  Taking a period of extended leave, he sets about conducting his investigations. His contacts lead him to believe that a local "businessman", Rupert Delaney (Murray Hayne), is responsible for his father's death and, later, when he receives a message from the man himself claiming responsibility, he rushes to the man's apartment to confront him. However, upon arrival he finds that Delaney has been murdered. In pursuit of the truth, he seeks out Delaney's mistress, Cathy White (June Barry), from whom he later receives a mysterious telephone call intimating that she knows why Bob Kerry was murdered. He is told that Mel Harris murdered his father, and that his death was linked to the call-girl organisation run by Delaney in London's Soho district. His pursuit of the truth and evidence which confirms these links sees the body count rise to the tune of one an episode, reaching its climax with the customarily unexpected Durbridge twist at the death. The pace of this production in particular is marked by the fact that the storyline positively "belts" along. As with the Paul Temple radio plays, the ability to successful utilise a cliff-hanger ending was turned to superb advantage in this serial in particular, which involved the famously-cited "Don't Answer That Telephone" climax to one episode. Gerald Harper, well-known to audiences as Adam Adamant, played the leading role, supported by Conrad Phillips, David Burke, Christopher Wray, June Barry, Peter Copley and Dorothy White. The series was produced and directed by experienced Durbridge hand, Alan Bromly. The programme was successfully exported to Europe and Australia, but never commercially exploited. Text ©Matthew Lee, 2007. |