The Black Torment

"Sir Richard" (John Turner) returns to his country estate with his new bride "Elizabeth" (Heather Sears) only to find himself immersed in rumours that he has been back for a while and that he might be responsible for some local murders (and for ordering a saddle with his late wife's name on it!). What now ensues is a brain teaser - how can he have been in two places at once? Perfectly sane and eminent people are claiming to have seen him in places where both he and his wife know he wasn't. What's occurring? His right hand man "Seymour" (Peter Arne) and his sister-in-law "Diane" (Ann Lynn) can shed little light on this - is he just going mad? Robert-Hartford Davis does redeem this to a certain extent in the last ten minutes, but otherwise it really doesn't create much menace. Like the best episodes of "Scooby-Do", you just know there is a sensible solution for the seemingly imponderable - and unfortunately, there are so few cast members here as to make the deduction fairly straightforward. The score tries far too hard to compensate for the lack of tension generated by the mediocre acting, and although the production itself looks ok - plenty of decent costumes and sets, the whole thing is just a bit flat. Just think of it as Hammer-lite!