Apr 25, 2025
Shades of Darkness: The Demon Lover (2.1, Granada, 1986)
"Letters, dropped in at doors of deserted houses, do not fly or walk to tables in halls; they do not sit on the dust of empty tables with the air of certainty that they will be found. Who in London knew that I meant to call at the house today?"
#shades of darkness#the demon lover#single play#horror tv#elizabeth bowen#derek mahon#peter hammond#dorothy tutin#robert hardy#adrienne corri#amanda waring#gerrard mcarthur#hugh grant#arabella weir#helen lindsay#miranda richardson#warren saire#paul hawkins#angela thorne#john fortune#peter graves#it's a little frustrating that there's so little info out there about this series; sources disagree whether it was shown as one series in#83 or if the final two were a follow up in 86 (or 85 or 87). I've gone with 86 as it fits best with Hugh Grant's career trajectory (he only#has one credit pre 1985‚ an Oxford uni production). also I'd been led to believe the last two stories were feature length; this runs to the#same length more or less as the previous episodes. whatever‚ enough. at the moment the very final episode (an adaptation of Agatha Christie#tale The Last Seance; the Christie connection might explain its absence online) is unavailable to me so this is it for SoD. it's a very#fine closing ep too. Hammond delivers one of the most stylishly shot episodes in the entire series‚ definitely pushing further into the#horror themes than several others. it's a sad and gradual tale but the execution is really quite impressive‚ with as good a realisation of#a blitz era London as you're likely to find in tv from this era. yes‚ Hugh Grant is here‚ which will likely be the main point of interest#for some; but this is very much Tutin's play and she's very very good in a delicately unsteady kind of way. good stuff.