One Deadly
Owner
(ITC Movie title "One Deadly Owner")
Original UK transmission: 16th February 1974
Original US transmission: 6th November 1973
WRITTEN BY: Brian Clemens
DIRECTED BY: Ian Fordyce
PRODUCED BY: John Sichel
MAIN CAST: Donna Mills (Helen Cook), Jeremy Brett (Peter
Tower), Robert Morris (Freddy Green), Laurence Payne (John
Jacey), Eric Lander (Hans), Michael Beint (Hawkins)
Teaser
Sequence
The camera pans across a
stretch of grassland and then closes in on a dark forest in the
foreground. Under the cover of darkness, a white Rolls Royce
pulls to a halt and a black-gloved figure steps out. The figure
slowly opens the boot, and an expensive earring drops unnoticed
as a woman's body is lifted out and dragged a short distance
away. Then, silently, the unknown figure gets back into the car,
reverses and disappears into the night.
NOTE: This sequence was not included in the "movie" version of the episode (released on video by ITC).
Plot
Summary
Rising model Helen Cook finds
herself so infatuated with a pre-loved white Rolls Royce in a
showroom window that she spends her entire life's savings in
buying it. She quickly finds, however, that the car has a mind of
it's own and is apparently possessed by an unknown entity.
Despite the scepticism shown by her photographer Peter, Helen
begins to investigate the background of the former owner and
finds that the woman disappeared just before the car was sold.
Determined to find the answers, Helen allows the car to lead her
to the heart of the mystery, with shocking consequences.
Comments
This story of a possessed Rolls Royce harks back to the Out
Of The Unknown episode "The Chopper" where Patrick
Troughton had come into ownership of a "haunted"
motorcycle. Though it's now impossible to compare the two (the
latter no longer existing), this atmospheric tale still fares
quite well. A very youthful looking Jeremy Brett seems to play
his supporting role with a little too much vigour though, and
Donna Mills while an attractive presence is a fairly bland
actress. The eerie opening teaser sequence where the original
deed is committed (thus setting up the entire story) was
inexplicably dropped from the movie version. Worth seeing if
you've got a spare hour to kill.
An original TV Times interview with Donna Mills
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