The Next
Voice You See
(ITC Movie title "Look Back In Darkness")
Original UK transmission: 17th May 1975
Original US transmission: 27th May 1975
WRITTEN BY: Terence Feely based on a story by Brian
Clemens
DIRECTED BY: Robert Tronson
PRODUCED BY: Ian Fordyce
MAIN CAST: Bradford Dillman (Stan Kay), Catherine Schell
(Julie), Geoffrey Chater (Sir Peter Hastings), Ray Smith (Ben
Tamplin), Terence Sewards (Alan Richards), Nigel Havers (Ludovic
Bates), Rachel Davies (Nancy), Neil Hallett (John Pelham), John
Oxley (Robert Carroll), Annette Lynton (Claudia Hastings), Ian
Redford (James Townsend), Roger Mutton (Jeremy), Peter Geddis
(Jameson), Holly Palance (Susie Kay), John Forbes-Robertson (Dr
Mace), Robert Lankesheer (Foster)
Teaser
Sequence
The camera pans down the
length of a London bank, where a car pulls up and a confident
looking man and his wife step out and enter. Inside, the teller
welcomes the man as "Mr Kay" and asks for him to
autograph a record sleeve for his son who "very much likes
jazz piano". Kay happily obliges, but when he turns to leave
he and his wife find themselves face to face with a hooded
bandit. The figure instructs the customers to stand aside while
an employee fills a bag with large bundles of cash; however the
teller becomes enraged and tries to disarm the bandit. When Kay's
wife screams, the bandit panics and shoots her at point blank
range with his shotgun. Lunging at her murderer, Kay is also shot
at close range and falls to the floor in agony, his dark glasses
shattered and spotted with blood.
Plot
Summary
Returning to England for the
first time in ten years to perform at an elite social gathering,
American jazz pianist Stan Kay is horrified when in mid-recital
he hears the voice of the robber who had blinded him and killed
his wife in London bank a decade earlier. Disorientated and
panicked, Kay feigns his way through the number before relating
the incident to his tour manager Julie. Somewhat taken aback,
Julie agrees to help identify who had spoken earlier, but it
seems that no-one can recall the interruption. When Kay again
hears the voice for a fleeting moment he becomes desperate to
find the owner but, unfortunately, his nemesis quickly becomes
aware of the impending threat and prepares to act. Unable to
leave the party, both men soon become locked in a deadly game of
cat and mouse, with the unknown figure battling wits with the
blind yet unexpectedly resourceful Kay.
Comments
Another episode based around the theme of blindness, already so
effectively utilised in Season One's The Eyes Have It (and earlier still in the
Clemens-scripted feature film Blind Terror ). This
offering is totally different yet no less successful, with an
almost irresistable central premise. Bradford Dillman (who would
return in Death In Deep Water ) is excellent as the initially
self-assured Kay, who gradually disintegrates as the threat
encroaches and he becomes desperate to find his tormentor. The
threat of the unknown man is well handled, with shots of his
shoes only being shown for most of the episode (a technique
previously used to good effect in Season Three's "I'm The
Girl He Wants To Kill" as well as Blind Terror.)
Geoffrey Chater had previously appeared in "The
Colour Of Blood". Definately not to be missed.
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