The Desperate People - vintage TV review

The Desperate People, first screened by the BBC in 1963, is said to be the earliest of the Francis Durbridge TV serials to survive in its complete form. There's always, of course, the hope that long-lost episodes will eventually come to light, but in the meantime I'm very glad to have the chance to watch this show, which I'd never come across before.

As usual, there are some very capable actors in the cast. Denis Quilley plays the successful photographer Larry Martin, while Nigel Hawthorne is entertainingly cast as an out-and-out villain whose methods are much less subtle than those he demonstrated years later as Sir Humphrey Appleby in that wonderful comedy Yes, Minister. Renny Lister (wife of Kenneth Cope, who died recently) is Larry's secretary and potential love interest, while Stanley Meadows and June Ellis, who also had major roles in subsequent Francis Durbridge serials, also contribute to the cliffhanger-heavy excitement.

The first episode in particular is full of plot twists. Larry is visited by his brother Phil, who is about to set off for Dublin. Phil tells Larry about the death of a colleague and his plan to visit the widow, and shows Larr a photo of the couple. But instead, Phil heads for a hotel, where (despite his lack of interest in poetry) he takes a remarkable interest in a book of poems by Hilaire Belloc. Phil is found dead in his hotel room and the inquest verdict is suicide, but Larry isn't satisfied and visits the hotel, encountering several people who act suspiciously. A colleague of Phil's is then shot from a passing car. In a delirious state he makes an enigmatic remark about a photograph. And then Larry receives a photograph of his brother, which should be in a display case outside his studio. Instead, it's been replaced by the photo of the mysterious couple that Phil showed him. 

And all that is in the first twenty-five minutes! Francis Durbridge was an absolute master of the art of mystification, and he does manage to explain everything by the end of episode six. Yes, you have to suspend your disbelief, but this is very agreeable escapist viewing. And with none of the padding that disfigures so many big-budget TV serials of the present day.