AGATHA CHRISTIE HOUR, THE: IN A GLASS DARKLY (TV)
Summary
One in this limited series of ten mystery dramas adapted from the works of Agatha Christie. In this episode, young Neil Carslake brings his university friend Matthew Armitage to his family home to attend his sister Sylvia's engagement party. As Matthew dresses for the event, he is shocked to see a man with a scar strangling a young woman reflected in the mirror before him, though it seems to have been a vision or dream. At the party, Matthew is alarmed when he meets Sylvia and her fiancé, Charles Crawley, and recognizes them as the pair in the mirror. Later, he goes for a walk with Sylvia, and she tells him about her upcoming marriage plans. He urges her not to marry him and confesses about the vision, saying he did not see the man's face, but recognized the distinctive scar. She seems to doubt him, though, and he departs. Some time later, during the war, Matthew writes to his mother and then is overjoyed to be reunited with Neil in their bunker. His old friend tells him that Sylvia did not marry Charles after all, reflecting sadly upon their happy times at the family home before the war. Neil is later killed in battle, and Matthew gently breaks the news to Sylvia while home on leave and tries to comfort her.
Back at the front, Matthew is injured while assisting one of his men, and Sylvia hurries to his bedside. She mentions that Charles too was killed two years earlier, and tells Matthew that she broke off the engagement not because of his vision but because she was in love with him, not Charles. Matthew recovers from his injuries, though he is left with a scar very like Charles', and he proposes to Sylvia, who happily accepts. Four years later, Sylvia's other brother Alan questions her about her lack of children, urging the couple to visit him in London, as Matthew never leaves the farm on which they live. Alan hints that Sylvia is growing bored and restless with her sedentary life, and Matthew broods over having to leave university because of the war, saying that he has lost his "sense of fun." Seeing how much he is still traumatized by the war, Sylvia suggests throwing a party for their anniversary to cheer him up. At the soirée, Sylvia's friend Charlotte introduces her to her handsome brother Derek, who tells her that he is studying psychiatry in Vienna. Matthew becomes jealous and loudly berates his wife for flirting with Derek, though he soon apologizes.
As Matthew descends further into anguish, Sylvia spends time with Derek, who confesses that he is falling for her, though she quickly refuses him. Sylvia receives a secret letter and Matthew confronts her angrily, suspecting that it is from her lover. He rants that his vision from long ago was correct and that Sylvia would have driven Charles to harm her with her flirtatious nature, and she flees in distress, saying in a letter than she is going to "the only person who loves her." Matthew tracks her down and furiously begins to strangle her, but then catches sight of himself in the mirror and realizes that he was always the scarred man from the vision. He breaks down and apologizes, and Sylvia tells him that the letter was from Alan, not Derek, and that she still loves him despite everything. He notes that his scar is the mirror image of Charles' and that he should have known all along, then realizing that the "guns in his head" have finally stopped. The two decide to begin their life together anew and are now perhaps ready to have children. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ITV
- DATE: September 14, 1982
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:25997
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: ITV - TV series, 1982
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- John Frankau … Executive Producer
- Pat Sandys … Producer
- Desmond Davis … Director
- Agatha Christie … Writer
- William Corlett … Dramatized by
- Harry Rabinowitz … Music by
- Nicholas Clay … Cast, Matthew Armitage
- Emma Piper … Cast, Sylvia Carslake
- Shaun Scott … Cast, Neil Carslake
- Johnathon Morris … Cast, Alan Carslake
- Paul Williamson … Cast, Mr. Carslake
- Elspet Gray … Cast, Mrs. Carslake
- Nicholas LeProvost … Cast, Derek Wainwright
- Marjorie Bland … Cast, Charlotte Hardy
- David Cook … Cast, Captain Montjoy
- John Golightly … Cast, Commanding Officer
- John Wheatley … Cast, Barton
- Brian Anthony … Cast, Charles Crawley
- Kenneth Midwood … Cast, Mr. Hobbs
- Valerie Lush … Cast, Mrs. Hobbs
- Eileen Davies … Cast, The Nurse
- Elizabeth Benson … Cast, Mrs. Armitage
- Sarah-Jane Bickerton … Cast, Lucy Jerrard