21 February 1978 (1978-02-21)– 30 December 1981 (1981-12-30)
Armchair Thriller is a British television drama series broadcast on ITV in 1978 and 1980 in two seasons. Taking the form of a sequence of unconnected serials, scripts for Armchair Thriller were adaptations of published novels and stories. Although not strictly a horror series, it did sometimes include supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was mainly produced by Thames Television, but it included two serials from Southern Television. The format was of 25-minute episodes broadcast twice-weekly, usually on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8 pm and 9 pm.
The opening titles consisted of a shadow-figure walking to an armchair and then sitting down, accompanied by music composed by Andy Mackay of pop group Roxy Music. Some trailers for the series showed the same armchair soaked in blood and a screaming, maniacal face; these received criticism from those who considered them too horrific for pre-watershed viewing. For Armchair Thriller broadcasts Thames Television changed the station ident it used; normally it showed a London landscape in daytime, but here it was the same view as though seen at night. Ratings reached more than 17 million viewers during the broadcast of the first episode of "The Limbo Connection" in May 1978.[1]
The first series included an adaptation of Antonia Fraser's 1977 novel Quiet as a Nun. This introduced to television the character of Jemima Shore—who was later spun off into her own ITV series—and starred Maria Aitken. "Quiet as a Nun" features a cliffhanger sequence where the 'Black Nun' appeared. Other actors to appear included Ian McKellen and Denis Lawson.[2]
"The Chelsea Murders" was originally made as a 6-episode story for Armchair Thriller, but was unscreened in this form. The story was eventually broadcast over 20 months later than originally intended, but as a cut down feature-length (104 mins.) standalone programme, and not under the Armchair Thriller umbrella title.
Home release
The ten Thames-produced serials were released by Network in 2008, both as separate stories and as a box-set, with the untransmitted six-part version of "The Chelsea Murders" also included. The Southern Television-produced "Dead Man's Kit" and "High Tide" were released separately, in 2009 and 2010 respectively, by Simply Home Entertainment.
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