S01 Episode 1
Man From the South
A young American sailor on shore leave in the West Indies is tempted by a crazy bet. To win a new Jaguar, all he need do is to make his cigarette-lighter light ten times without any failures. In return, he has to stake one of his fingers. But what is the truth about Carlos, the high-rolling old man who has proposed the bet?
Sat, 24 Mar 1979
S01 Episode 2
Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat
Bixby is a New York dentist. Once a month, for many years, his wife goes to Baltimore by train to visit her aunt. She does not tell Bixby about her affair with the Colonel, a single man with a big house near Baltimore, who is the real reason for all these visits. One Christmas, Mrs Bixby gets a parting gift from the Colonel - a splendid mink coat. So that she can explain the coat to her husband, she devises a complicated scheme which depends on pawning the coat and then 'finding' the pawn ticket... but the best laid plans o' mice and men gang aft agley.
Sat, 31 Mar 1979
S01 Episode 3
William and Mary
William Pearl, a philosophy don at an Oxford college, dies of cancer, and his widow, Mary, gets a letter from him. William tells her about his colleague John Landy's scheme for keeping William's brain alive after his death. He also advises Mary not to smoke, not to drink, not to use lipstick, and not to buy a television - and William had spent the long years of their life together disapproving of what Mary wanted to do. Mary calls John Landy and goes to visit what is left of William. She decides to take him home - she has her own ideas about their future relationship.
Sat, 7 Apr 1979
S01 Episode 4
Lamb to the Slaughter
An enraged detective's wife kills her husband by smashing in his skull with a heavy blunt instrument - but no murder weapon can be found, and the police are baffled. The answer to the riddle lies under the detectives' noses - or, rather, it did...
Sat, 14 Apr 1979
S01 Episode 5
The Landlady
Billy Weaver, a seventeen-year-old Londoner, arrives in Bath late at night to take up a new job. He finds a room for the night at a bed-and-breakfast house run by a sweet old woman. As he signs the guest book, Billy feels sure he recognizes the names of the two previous guests. Where on earth can he have heard them before? As he drinks a cup of tea with a curiously bitter-almond flavour, the owner of the boarding house is telling Billy she is an amateur taxidermist...
Sat, 21 Apr 1979
S01 Episode 6
Neck
Unworldly art collector Basil Turton inherits his father's publishing empire (and his title) and marries Natalia, an East European with a decidedly Machiavellian streak. Six years on, the new Lady Turton is not just wearing the trousers but also being far from discreet about her lovers. Sir Basil's butler, Jelks, strongly disapproves of it all. Then Lady Turton gets her head stuck in a valuable work of art...
Sat, 28 Apr 1979
S01 Episode 7
Edward the Conqueror
An elderly couple, Edward and Louisa, find their life invaded by a stray cat. The cat's knowledgeable response to Louisa's piano playing, and the pattern of warts on its face, convince her that pussy is a reincarnation of Franz Liszt, the composer. Liszt, the cat, does not trouble to conceal his dislike for Edward, who is becoming dangerously jealous...
Sat, 5 May 1979
S01 Episode 8
A Dip in the Pool
William Botibol, an American passenger on a British cruise ship, is anxious to win the rich sweepstake for predicting the distance the ship will travel in twenty-four hours - and William realizes that if the captain were to need to go back to pick up a man overboard, then his own ticket should win. So long as someone sees him go over the side, there can be no real problem...
Sat, 12 May 1979
S01 Episode 9
The Way Up to Heaven
An elderly American couple, the Fosters, are planning a six-week trip to Paris to visit their grandchildren. Foster gets left behind, and his wife writes to him every week... on her return home, she does not seem very surprised to find that the lift in their house is stuck between two floors.
Sat, 19 May 1979
