User Reviews

In this day and age of "connect the dots" plots and one dimensional characterisation, it is amazing to view "Thriller" and find that it barely put a foot wrong through 6 series. This episode from series 5 is no exception. Nowadays crank phone calls seem to be all part of daily life but in 1975 they were sufficiently unusual to be very, very scary. As was often the case, because "Thriller" was trying to appeal to the American market, they often used popular U.S. stars of the day and Carol Linley made a beautiful and stylish model, Suzy Martin, who lives alone in London with her dog Toby.

Scatterbrained model, Suzy is being harassed by crank calls (of the heavy breathing variety). After a while the caller communicates - only to tell her that she is "mine alone"!!! Her manager (Gerald Harper) is beaten as he tries to leave her unit - by someone with silky, longish hair. You guessed it!! - everyone in the show has long silky hair, even the girls!!! - except the two policemen. Yes, Suzy has done the sensible thing and called "the fuzz" - they both seem normal enough or do they??? When they make a follow up call the next day, ditzy Suzy can't even remember why she called them - oh yes!, that's right, the crank calls that have been scaring her half to death!!

Seriously though, this is an excellent episode of "Thriller" - one of the young policemen has a real crush on Suzy and persuades her that if she will only follow his instructions - cutting all her friends from her life and even putting her little dog in a kennel - the suspect will be caught. Don't do it Suzy!!! But Suzy has now fallen for Henry (David Gwillim), who wants to be called Hal and has a horrible scar across his cheek that he doesn't want to talk about. She blithely follows him to a creepy farm house. But wait!! there's more!! - an odd caretaker, who has made a shrine to Suzy in his room. Played by John Cater, who played Starr in "The Duchess of Duke Street" - remember him, he was the doorman with the little Jack Russell terrier named Fred.

As one of the other reviewers said, you will absolutely never guess the killer - you will even be guessing right to the end!!!

Highly, Highly Recommended.

This is worth watching for all the plot twists that tumble over you in the last few minutes.

There is a clever red herring at around the 10-minute mark, when we hear the telephone voice of the mystery criminal. We recognise which character it is at once because the actor became famous subsequently, which made his distinctive voice so obvious.

But has the director asked this actor to record the speech to direct our attention mischievously away from the real villain?

Here we have an excellent plot, a great cast, competent filming and just a hint of creepiness. Lovely Suzy Martin is terrorised by a telephone perve. Just the sort of incident the Telecommunications Act 2003 was meant to address. It didn't, and it has been misused by police and courts ever since. However, that's another freedom rant altogether.

The plot follows the gorgeous Suzy through a series of incidents, culminating in a set piece encounter with several suspects, and of course that swine Clements leads us astray again and again. The climax is well done and we are left with the feeling that, once again, Thriller has lived up to its name.

Tom Conti portrays a well-mannered Sicilian with suave aplomb.

Gerald Harpers character Greg Miles is delightfully over the top.

My request for help in regard to the car used by Constable Venner may appear trite but, as a long standing owner and player of the excellent Network box set, every time I watch 'If it's a man, hang up' I try to identify the obvious BL ADO 18 derivative. Help!