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Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense, aired in the United States as Fox Mystery Theater, is a British mystery anthology television series produced in Britain in 1984 by Hammer Film Productions. Though similar in format to the 1980 series Hammer House of Horror, the Mystery and Suspense series had feature-length episodes, usually running around 70 minutes without commercials.
Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense | |
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Genre | Mystery |
Starring | various |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of series | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Producers | Hammer Film Productions 20th Century Fox Television |
Running time | 70 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | ITV |
Release | 5 September 17 December 1984 | –
The series was a co-production by Hammer Film Productions with 20th Century Fox Television (as was the 1968 anthology series Journey to the Unknown). It was first aired in the UK by ITV in 1984, though it was shown in different timeslots (and a different running order) throughout the various ITV regions.[citation needed] The Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense series was the last production undertaken by the Hammer film company.[1]
Episodes
editTwo of the episodes, "A Distant Scream" and "In Possession", were remakes of stories that had been made for the fourth season of the BBC anthology series Out of the Unknown, originally titled "The Last Witness" and "The Uninvited". The master videotapes for both of the original teleplays were wiped by the corporation during the 1970s and no copies are known to exist, leaving only still photographs, a short video clip of "The Last Witness" and a complete audio recording of "The Uninvited" surviving. "A Distant Scream" and "In Possession" are effectively the only way these two stories can be viewed in a full audio-visual format.
Production
editThe series was a joint production between Hammer Film Productions and 20th Century Fox Television which came about due to the strength of Hammer's name and Fox feeling the company's reputation and legacy would guarantee the series a place in primetime viewing. The series was shot on location in England. Roy Skeggs had wanted the series to keep the hour-long format of their previous series Hammer House of Horror, but Fox on the suggestion of their marketing and sales division felt that 13 feature length episodes would be more fitting with the Hammer name. Skeggs attempted to salvage some remaining scripts from Hammer House of Horror for usage in the series, but due to the series highlighting mystery and thriller genres over the horror stories from their last series, it was felt none of the leftover scripts would be suitable for usage without removing their intrinsic qualities forcing the producers to start from scratch. In order to achieve international appeal, the series always included at least one American actor per episode. The series didn't attract major attention from television markets in either the United States or the United Kingdom and while Fox had an option for 26 additional episodes, none were ultimately made.[2]
Home media
editThe series was released as a six-DVD set in the UK in 2005,[3] but is currently out of print. In Germany, a four-DVD set was released in March 2018 under the title Vorsicht, Hochspannung!, which has 11 "main feature" episodes with a choice of either dubbed German language audio or the original English language audio, along with 2 "bonus episodes" with just the original English language audio.
References
edit- ^ O'Connor, Ashling (8 February 2000). "House of horror has risen from its grave". Financial Times. ProQuest 248842108.
- ^ Gagne, Paul R. (May 1984). "Children of the Corn". Cinefantastique. Fourth Castle Micromedia. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
- ^ "Friday Review: THE MUST LIST". The Guardian. 11 February 2005. ProQuest 246292551.
External links
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