BROADCAST: In six parts 02-18 May 1978
STARRING: James Bolam (Mark Omney), Rosalind Ayres (Annabelle Fraser), Micheal Culver (Dr Walcott Brown), Beatrix Leahmann (Blanche Terraine), Suzanne Bertish (Clare Omney), James Berwick (Colonel Forde), Georgine Anderson (Mrs Forde), Patricia Lawrence (Mrs Carson Clark), Graham Rowe (Mr Carson Clark), Tricia George (Melissa Carson Clark), Isabelle Amyes (Julie Villiers), Tony Mathews (George Beatty), Vass Anderson (Soames), Harold Goodwin (Kibble), Alan Ford (Bill), Yvonne Edgell (Margaret), Anton Phillips (Barman), William Moore (Landlord), Christopher Benjamin (Det. Inspector Tarrant), Sam Sewell (Det. Constable Barnes), Peter Welch (Mechanic), Aimée Delamain (Mrs Franklyn), Arthur Blake (Mr Dyer
WRITER: Phili[p Mackie (from the novel by Derry Quinn)
DIRECTOR: Robert Tronson
Armchair Thriller: The Limbo Connection Review
Mark Omney awakens one morning after a heavy drinking session, with no recollection of his actions over the past 12 hours. Sobering up, he learns that his wife, Claire has had a car accident, landing her Mini in a ditch.
Two passers by have taken Claire to the nearby Meadowbank Clinic. Despite the fact that their specialism seems to be in elderly patients, they agree to take Claire into their care but are unable to contact Mark, who is out on another bender.
Mark had been due to meet Claire at a cottage they own near the clinic, but when he arrives belatedly the next day there is no sign of his wife. The staff at the Meadowbank say she has discharged herself and a confused Mark decamps to a nearby pub for a Bloody Mary, where he encounters Blanche, a local eccentric claiming to have psychic powers.
With no sign of Claire, the police suspect that Mark might have murdered his wife in a drunken fit of anger and his vague recollection of his recent movements does very little to dispel the theory, but it does transpire that he spent the evening before Claire’s disappearance with old-flame Annabelle.
With Annabelle the only real guide Mark has to his movements, he needs all the help she can give to untangle a puzzle which is getting more and more unlikely and bizarre, not least when Claire’s car is sighted travelling along the local roads and the true nature of the Meadowbank Clinic’s work is revealed…
I don’t wish to elaborate any further as far as a synopsis goes, simply to avoid spoiling the experience of watching The Limbo Connection, an entertaining rollercoaster of a serial with plenty to keep fans of the creepy stuff entertained along the way, along with a plethora of great character actors sprinkled throughout the cast.
Indeed, there’s British-Gothic touches aplenty throughout The Limbo Connection: Strange goings-on in an isolated manor house, a potential mad doctor, a sinister manservant, shady villagers in potential collusion, a nocturnal search around a dark, creepy abandoned house, the digging up of a freshly laid grave at night (accompanied by mandatory hooting owl), an undertaker who seems to have something to hide, and the aforementioned talk of clairvoyance and mediums.
Director Robert Tronson had previously contributed three episodes to Thriller (1973-76), and he brings much of that show’s atmospheric flavour to The Limbo Connection, as indeed does Denis King’s incidental score, which seems to have been taking plenty of tips from the Laurie Johnson school of creepy flutes.
Even if its spookier tropes are given a more rational explanation by the time things wind up (as with previous sterling entry Quiet As A Nun), that doesn’t detract from the superbly mounted set pieces to be found in The Limbo Connection’s six episodes. That made it two bona fide classics in a row for Armchair Thriller and yet, despite the show’s immediate success (this tale reached around 17 million viewers), a second series would not appear until January of 1980 (see footnote).
Armchair Thriller’s next batch of tales would have a lot to live up to, but personnel moves in the background would have a marked impact on the second run…
TRIVIA POINTS: A former screenwriter himself, Derry Quinn published three novels, two of which were adapted for Armchair Thriller – Fear Of God would follow in series two.
The original novel of The Limbo Connection was still fairly hot-off-the-presses when it was adapted for Armchair Thriller, having only been published the previous year.
Rosalind Ayres would later portray the Bride Of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester in the film depicting the last days of director James Whale, Gods And Monsters (1998).
FOOTNOTE: It’s worth noting that Armchair Thriller may have returned with its second series sooner, were it not for the ITV strike of 1979 which took the channel off-screen for 11 weeks.
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Read our Armchair Thriller Episode Guide: 1978-81 Anthology Series
