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Hammer House of Horror: Witching Time (1.1, ITC, 1980)

"The usual method of trial, it seems, was by water - even though trial by ordeal had been illegal for centuries. But the Witchfinders claimed that Satan's disciples did not deserve fair trials."

"So they drowned them?"

"Only the innocent ones."

"And the others they burned alive?"

"Not always alive. Sometimes they strangled them first, with a rope."

"I suppose they thought that was being merciful."

"No doubt."

#Hammer house of horror #hammer horror #Witching time #1980 #horror tv #ITC #classic tv #jon finch #patricia quinn #Prunella gee #ian mcculloch #Lennard Pearce #Margaret Anderson #Anthony Read #Don leaver #I have been a fan of hammer horror films almost as long as I've been a fan of classic brit TV so it's kind of ridiculous that I've got to #This point in life without ever seeing a second of Hammer's 1980 anthology series. Popular opinion on the show varies wildly from seminal #Example of small screen horror with some iconic moments to the last death rattle of a studio who had fallen so far as to be almost beyond #Parody. I'm ever of an open mind when it comes to brit horror tho and with Network having lovingly cleaned the eps up for a blu ray release #(not to mention a fortuitously timed boxset sale from Network) I figured it was finally time to invest. The boys done good again and this #Is a worthy follower in the footsteps of their previous blu ray upgrades (I will never not be impressed by just how good they got the #Professionals looking). As to this series opener? Well its unmistakably late 70s gloss; a lot more seedy and sleazy than the horror #Anthologies of yore (poor Prunella Gee spends a large percentage of her screentime in some skimpy underwear long after the point of it #Being at all reasonable). Finch is a horror movie composer (I see what you did there hammer..) who is being menaced by a witch from the #1600s and... That's about it. It's fine but plot and script are undeniably slight. Quinn and Gee give it their all and suffer much #Indignity with stoic professionalism. Len Pearce (near unrecognisable from his most familiar role as Delboy's Grandad) steals it away with #A brief turn as a priest who knows everything there is to know about witchcraft. His part could have stood being expanded and the ep would #Have been better for it. Not bad but sadly nothing special; but then this isn't one of the stories I'd heard whispered about on old TV and #Horror forums so there is hope yet for the rest of the series

#don leaver

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