The Lesser of Two - Episode 7, Tuesday 16th February 1971

The story... 

A man called Harry climbs through the window into a flat. However Harry is no typical intruder because the flat is his home – or was his home. Harry has just been released from prison after serving a nine-year sentence for killing a child – a crime of which he proclaims his innocence. Harry wants to return to family life but his wife Margaret definitely does not want him back. She and their adult son Terry have tried to rebuild their lives after Harry’s conviction and now she fears his return will bring them crashing back down.

Margaret urges him to go as soon as possible before Terry and the neighbours see him. However that plan is to no avail as her friend Betty does see him and soon word is round the community. Margaret’s unhappiness at Harry’s return is mild compared to Terry who is seething when he hears the news – he particularly resents his father and blames him for his lack of progress in life. The neighbourhood shares Terry’s hostility and soon there is a campaign to get Harry out and - while they try peaceful means - a brick through the window shows that violence is on the agenda as well. Harry needs to get out quickly before they go much further…

Terry and his mother at odds after his father's unexpected and unwelcome return home

Review

Shadows of Fear was not a typical “thriller” or suspense series and nowhere is this more evident than in this story. The series tried to generate suspense out of everyday situations in more realistic scenarios than usually found in the genre. The subject matter here of a man returning from prison and trying to restart his family life and return to the community – especially after being convicted of a very serious crime – could easily be the subject of a “Play for Today”, “Armchair Theatre” or some other socially realistic “kitchen-sink” drama and the episode certainly does consider those issues. Maybe this is why it has left some viewers who prefer more “traditional” thrillers underwhelmed. However there certainly is considerable menace, fear and suspense here and throughout a feeling that something terrible is going to happen – the only questions seem to be “how” and “when”. For me it is an episode that works supremely well as a thriller built around a social issue.

Harry is a convicted killer but the nature of the crime for which he was convicted is only briefly mentioned. He insists his innocence but is he telling the truth? There are plenty of genuinely guilty people who falsely protest their innocence and the bigger their crime the harder it is for them to ever admit doing it. However the justice system is not perfect and genuinely innocent individuals are sometimes wrongly convicted, finding their justified claims of innocence ignored. In this case we never know whether he committed the crime or not. Harry seems a genuine, heartfelt man who just wants a fresh start but that doesn’t mean he was innocent of the crime. He has served his sentence and is legally entitled to start again but - as he finds - that is easier said than done. The court of public opinion can be a very harsh, unforgiving one. Harry may have served nine years in prison but that is likely to be a life sentence is terms of public condemnation.

Harry checks the broken window but worse is to follow

One can understand the predicament of Harry’s dispirited wife Margaret and why she wants him out of her life. The family of a convicted criminal – especially someone convicted of a terrible, notorious crime – often find themselves considered guilty by association. While Harry was in prison there was a chance of her getting some sort of acceptance and normality but now it seems shattered. It’s never clear whether she believes her husband’s claims of innocence. If she thinks him guilty one can understand her determination not to have him back. However even if she thinks him innocent - or at least a genuinely changed man - she feels she can never have a normal life while he is with them. The same is true of their son Terry but his attitude is deeply hostile rather than crestfallen like his mother. He feels his mother will lack the resilience to make Harry leave but maybe the wider community will play its hand and get rid of him.

We see the court of public opinion most definitely move into action as the episode progresses. Margaret’s friend Betty cuts her off and she is one of many – as long as Harry is around Margaret is also condemned. Some of those rejecting her and joining the protests may themselves be in fear that they too will be condemned if they don’t conform. All this helps to bring about a change in Margaret’s attitude and she quietly rallies behind her beleaguered husband, feeling that he is being persecuted. However all this may be too late as danger moves even closer.

The final stages are powerful, poignant and ultimately moving. At the end a mournful flute piece plays and then segues into the end titles which unusually mix credits with apparently random pictures of members of the public – perhaps the sort of apparently ordinary people who might have joined the campaign against Harry. As the music fades away these images are accompanied by mumbling voices, the sounds of a siren and what seems like a prison door repeatedly slamming. These are novel and very memorable titles superbly rounding off a brutal conclusion.

For me this is an exceptional episode which lasts long in the memory. It is excellently written, directed and performed with very fine performances by Godfrey Quigley as Harry and Margery Mason as Margaret while Geoffrey Hughes brings a brooding intensity to the role of Terry. It may not be the easiest watch for some viewers and may be something that needs to be revisited to really appreciate it but it certainly does provoke the mind and show how well suspense can be generated out of such a story. 

Notes

This was the only one of the full-length Shadows of Fear episodes to be first broadcast in a late slot after News at Ten - a documentary about the River Thames occupied its standard 9.00-10,00 pm slot. It's not certain why this occurred - it's possible the documentary was always planned for that slot - but it seems likeliest that this was considered a more sensitive episode due to the references to Harry having been in prison for killing a child, even though the story doesn't focus on that event. This may also explain why John Kershaw was billed under the pseudonym "Hugh D'Allenger" (actually his other first names) although there might be some other explanation.

TV Times listing showing the later broadcast time

Actress Margery Mason died in 2014 at the remarkable age of one hundred, the longest-lived performer in the series. Elizabeth Sellars who featured in Repent at Leisure almost matched that feat, dying at the age of ninety-eight in 2019.

Margaret speaks to a policeman at the door who is heard but not seen - he is not credited.