UK, 25 December 1972
89m 23s
videotape, colour, 4:3
mono, English
Reviewed at The EOFFTV Review
A British horror television film directed by Peter Sasdy from a script by Nigel Kneale.
Plot Summary
A team of scientists move into an old house to continue their search for a new recording medium. Before long, they’re being haunted by strange sounds in one of the basement rooms and the lead scientist believes that a material in the stones that make up the house are acting as the very recording medium they’re seeking. But what tragedy happened in the basement room and why are some of the researchers more susceptible to seeing and hearing it than others?
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Peter Sasdy
© BBC 1972
BBC
Producer: Innes Lloyd
[Written] By: Nigel Kneale
Script Editor: Louis Marks
Lighting: Robert Wright
Videotape Editor: Geoff Higgs
Sound: Tony Millier
Special Sound Effects: Desmond Briscoe, BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Costumes: Odette Barrow
Make-up: Maureen Winslade
Visual Effects Designer: Peter Day
Designer: Richard Henry
Graphics: Bernard Lodge
Cast
Michael Bryant (Peter)
Jane Asher (Jill)
Iain Cuthbertson (Robinson)
Michael Bates (Eddie)
Reginald Marsh (Crawshaw)
Tom Chadbon (Hargrave)
John Forgeham (Maudsley)
Philip Trewinnard (Stewart)
James Cosmo (Dow)
Neil Wilson (sergeant)
Christopher Banks (vicar)
Michael Graham Cox (Alan)
Hilda Fenemore (bar helper)
Peggy Marshall (bar lady)
Alternative Titles
Breakthrough – working title
References
Periodicals
- Monster! no.33 (Spring 2018) pp.90-82
- – illustrated article (Channel of darkness: Doctor Who & the BBC’s gothic horrors of the 1970s by Stephen Jilks); 333-347 – illustrated note (Monster! #33 movie checklist by Steve Fenton and Tim Paxton)
- Shivers no.41 (May 1997) pp.22-24 – review (by James Abery)
- Sight and Sound vol.11 no.11 (November 2001) p.65 – DVD review (by Geoffrey Macnab)
- Starburst no.278 (October 2001) p.65 – DVD review (DVD File by Ian Atkins)
- Time Screen no.7 (revised) p.27 – note
Books
- The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction (3rd edition) pp.670 -671 – credits, review, synopsis
- Into the Unknown: The Fantastic Life of Nigel Kneale by Andy Murray pp.114-117
