Having just returned from South America, Peter Warmington unexpectedly bumps into an old acquaintance, Juan, and invites him back to his flat. Juan however is not what he seems and kills Peter in order to steal his identity in a terrorist assassination plot. However, unknown to Juan, Peter had invited his estranged daughter Rachel down, from Scotland, for a visit. Now he must convince both the child and the police that he is Peter if his plans are ever going to come to pass...

Rachel in Danger (1978), directed by Waris Hussein and written by John Bowen, is another four part drama from the Armchair Theatre series. Here we have quite a claustrophobic story, with much of it happening in Peter's flat.

Plausibility is stretched at times, especially when it comes to Juan (played by Stephen Greif) taking Peter's identity. Although Rachel has not seen her father, you would have thought that he would have sent the odd photograph. That’s not to say that Juan does not take steps to disguise himself to the point of wearing Peter's specs and ruffling his hair a bit - not the most convincing transformation for the audience, but I guess that if we can swallow the whole Clark Kent/Superman thing then this is not such a stretch of the imagination.

So as not to insult any one race, or sex, the terrorists are an eclectic bunch, which reflects the growing radicalism in Europe at the time with the IRA, Baader-Meinhoff Group and the Red Army Faction all being active, The play was produced only a year after the so called German Autumn - a year of bloodshed and assignations that culminated in the death of many prominent figures. That the play and its themes were contemporary cannot be denied, the clever trick was to show it through the eyes of a little girl, the ultimate innocent.

Apart from a relatively early scene, where Rachel finds the dead body of her father, Hussein does not let us into Rachel’s private world. Della Low plays her part very dead pan, which initially appears to be an actress out of her depth. It is only at the end of the story that you realise that Hussein has produced a misdirection, which makes the ending all the more shocking and surprising. Some of the best scenes are played between Greif and Low as he tries to explain to the child why he feels the need to commit acts of murder.

Audio is mono, but clear, and the 4:3 picture is better than you’d expect for a show this old. There are no extras. As ever, the memorable title music by Andy Mackay, of Roxy Music, never fails to create a shiver of anticipation in people of a certain age.

7

Charles Packer