DVD
The Nightmare Man

Starring: James Warwick, Celia Imrie and Maurice Roëves
BBC DVD
RRP: £12.99
BBCDVD 1454
Certificate: PG
Available 04 April 2005


Two passengers arrive, by ferry, on the remote Scottish island of Inverdee, shortly afterwards the body of a woman is found horribly dismembered and it looks as if the island is playing host to a deranged killer. As fog cuts off the island from any chance of external help the islanders must battle the killer alone...

The Nightmare Man was originally transmitted in May 1981. Dramatised by Robert Holmes, from the David Wiltshire novel Child of Vodyanoi and directed by Douglas Camfield, both better known for their work on Doctor Who, it drew good reviews and audience figures. Location filming took place in January with Cornwall standing in for Scotland. Although the show was successful, it was never repeated on terrestrial television and for a long time, as it consisted of only four half hourly episodes, it looked unlikely that the BBC would consider it for a DVD release.

The cast are uniformly excellent in their roles, especially Celia Imrie, who appears in one of her first TV roles. There are some things, which in our PC world, may strike the viewer as odd. The two main police men, played by Maurice Roëves and James Cosmo, habitually drink on the job - to the point you wonder if they are likely to remain sober enough to catch the killer. James Warwick plays the main protagonist, local dentist Michael Gaffikin, who is both the love interest of Imrie's character, but also helps hunt down the killer, which may be a side line of most dentists that I was previously unaware of.

There are no real special effects, apart from seeing the victims from the killer's point of view, and the Vodyanoi craft itself. However, this turns out to be a good thing as it is usually small budget effects which tend to date shows this old.

The narrative remains engagingly tense even after all this time. There are some things which spoil the overall atmosphere. For the first three episodes the identity of the killer is only hinted at. The film which is developed from the killing of the ornithologist remains indistinct enough to leave the audience with the impression that the killer could be either man or monster. It is the last episode, when the killer is caught, that really lets it down as the reveal is done in broad daylight on a golf course. This gives the ending a very amateurish feel and goes some way to spoiling the overall enjoyment or an otherwise excellent series.

The disc is of the vanilla variety, having no extras, though given the age of the program this is not at all unexpected. It comes with the usual chapter and scene selection as well as subtitles. The audio is mono but works well and remains clear throughout. The print shows signs of artefact but has had little in the way of restoration work done, so the overall impression is of a very soft picture. The picture quality also suffers as the original was shot on video tape and not the usual film stock.

Overall, apart from some minor quibbles, The Nightmare Man, remains good solid science fiction/horror television drama, which due to an excellent cast still remains as watchable today as it did in 1981.

Charles Packer

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