Lady
Killer
(ITC Movie title "The Death Policy")
Original UK transmission: 14th April 1973
Original US transmission: 18th January1973
WRITTEN BY: Brian Clemens
DIRECTED BY: Bill Hays
PRODUCED BY: John Sichel
MAIN CAST: Robert Powell (Paul Tanner), Barbara Feldon (Jenny
Frifth), Linda Thorson (Toni Tanner), T P McKenna (Jack
Hardisty), Mary Wimbush (Mrs Bradley), John Boswall (Old Man),
Ivor Roberts (Doctor)
Teaser
Sequence
The camera pans across the
shoreline of an English holiday resort, where at a hotel
reception desk an attractive young girl is asking whether there
is any mail for her. The clerk replies that there isn't, as
nearby a man listens in on the conversation; the eavesdropper
goes to her room and, letting himself in, goes through some
personal belongings where he finds her passport. He then returns
to reception and telephones an unknown party with the message
"She's the one, no doubt about it...better still she gets
hardly any mail...yes, I'm about to fall desperately in love with
Jenny Frifth - single, dress size 12, shoe size 8 from
Indiana." Hanging up, he reflects to himself, "a lonely
girl..."
Plot
Summary
Handsome but ruthless
confidence trickster Paul Tanner has no trouble winning over the
shy Jenny Frifth when he singles her out in a quiet country
hotel. Within days the two are married and move to an isolated
house along a remote stretch of coast line, where Tanner - in
fact already married - hatches a plot with his real wife to
murder Jenny and claim the insurance money. Just as the plan is
ready to go into action however, the new bride casually drops a
bombshell and the stakes change drastically. With his madly
jealous wife on one side and the increasingly inquisitive Jenny
on the other, the devious Tanner must walk a fine line to milk
the most out of the situation...
Comments
This classy start to the series proved a real showcase for the
acting abilities of Robert Powell who turns in a brilliant
performance as the utterly ruthless Tanner, alternating
effortlessly between icy cold villain and boyish charmer. The
script is one of the best, full of subtle plot twists and the
kind of shock ending that would become a staple of the series.
Barbara Feldon plays the part of his unsuspecting victim with a
credible sense of innocence. Powell would return to the series in
Season Three with Death To Sister Mary.
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