Anyone remember "Thriller" - scary ITV series from the 1970s?

[BasilRathbon 10]

The missus and I have recently been enjoying a DVD box set of a TV series called "Thriller" that ran in the early 1970s on ITV. It ran for 4 series and each show was a 65 minute long drama, with a different cast each week and plots that were full of suspense and occasional supernatural themes. It also featured lots of well known actors such as Robert Powell, Helen Mirren and Diana Dors. Although low budget, with occasional wobbly sets and dubious landscapes, the series was almost always terrifically professional and had an art for pacing and atmosphere that most of today's shows cannot match.

 

However, of the 43 episode box set we've now seen all but the last 8 and could do with some recommendations for a DVD set in a similar vein.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_(UK_TV_series)

 

Do you remember this series? Do you have any suggestions as to anything else in that genre?

Edited July 29, 2009 by BasilRathbon

[top4718 838]

I remember this series although I was only about 7 at the time.

 

The intro and music in particular was very eerie.

 

I remember well an episode featuring Diana Dors as a witch, she was killed in the end by ex-Doctor Who star Patrick Troughton.

[melthebell 862]

never seen it but it sounds very much in a similer mould to

 

tales of the unexpected

the twighlight zone

the outer limits

hammer house of horror (series) - think thats its name

[EdnaKrabappe 14]

Was this the same programme I remember as Armchair Thriller... that was well scary!!!! Hammer house of horrors more or less the same and Tales of the unexpected...

 

I remember an armchair thriller i think with a doll that had vampire teeth and the little girl kept saying it was but her parents didn't believe her... then she came in to a dinner party covered in blood... think like Chucky. Am I right or was that one of the others?

 

Also HHof H children of the full moon and the house that bled to death two of the scariest things i have ever seen and the reason i don't watch horror films now!

[AndyLonsdale 10]

One was of the stories about a russian submarine and a radioactive crew member, somewhere in scotland?

 

I knid of remember a programme like that from when i was a kid, My dad watched it with me..... proper **** me up , that did

[BasilRathbon 10]

Was this the same programme I remember as Armchair Thriller... that was well scary!!!! Hammer house of horrors more or less the same and Tales of the unexpected...

 

I remember an armchair thriller i think with a doll that had vampire teeth and the little girl kept saying it was but her parents didn't believe her... then she came in to a dinner party covered in blood... think like Chucky. Am I right or was that one of the others?

 

Also HHof H children of the full moon and the house that bled to death two of the scariest things i have ever seen and the reason i don't watch horror films now!

 

 

not quite. I believe Armchair Thriller was in a similar vein but was a serial where each story was told over 4 or 5 episodes whereas each Thriller episode was a self contained story.

 

We've done the Hammer House of Horror boxset too, as well as the extemely rare Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense (which I'm hoping to sell soon as it goes for a good price on Ebay).

 

Not sure about Tales Of The Unexpected; didn't see it first time round and always thought it went ofr quirky rather than scary.

 

The chap who wrote most of the Thriller stories - Brian Clemens - went on to write The Avengers; again I've heard of it but not seen it but I believe that was a straight crime drama rather than anything sinister.

[mickc 10]

The thriller series nearly always had a token american girl confused by our strange british ways. usually met a sticky end.

[teddie 10]

This has brought back some memories. I still remember the one with Diana Dors in, she was sitting in a rocking chair, smoking a pipe and cackling, scared the shinno out of me.

[BasilRathbon 10]

Was this the same programme I remember as Armchair Thriller... that was well scary!!!! Hammer house of horrors more or less the same and Tales of the unexpected...

 

I remember an armchair thriller i think with a doll that had vampire teeth and the little girl kept saying it was but her parents didn't believe her... then she came in to a dinner party covered in blood... think like Chucky. Am I right or was that one of the others?

 

I don't recall that one - might it have been this one from the long forgotten 1977 series "The Supernatural"?

http://www.tv.com/the-supernatural-1977/viktoria/episode/318428/summary.html

 

There are plenty of useful online resources for finding scary British TV horror series from the 1970s and 1980s but it seems all too few of them are available on DVD.

 

See how many of these you remember!

http://www.ghoststoryforchristmas.co.uk/index2.asp

[Saffy 10]

Was it Armchair Thriller that had the programme about the rats?

[Ray Bentos 10]

Remember it well. Think it was 9pm - 10pm on Saturday night on ITV & sometimes clashed with MOTD.

 

I recall one episode which featured some guest house named WOODHEATH MOTEL. After all the deadly commotions that went the name sign lights of the place outside read DEATH MOTEL as some of the lights had gone out right at the end. Scareee!!!

[JP1867 10]

Sorry to go a little astray but does anyone know of bleep and booster?