BBC Appointment With Fear

Appointment With Fear/The Man In Black.
BBC Radio Series between 1943 & 1955.

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Series 1	Series 2	Series 3	Series 4	Series 5	Series 6
Series 7	Series 8	Series 9	M.I.B	Series 10	Return of TMIB

Introduction

In 1943 a regular series of Mystery and Suspense plays started to be broadcast on the BBC. American writer John Dickson Carr contributed mostly original radio plays along with a few adaptations of classic short stories. In fact, many of his plays had been produced on the C.B.S radio series Suspense in the USA during 1942. For example, the debut episode of AWF - Cabin B-13 had been broadcast in the US 6 months before. In addition to sharing a number of Dickson Carr stories with the US series, AWF also shared the theme music and the character of the story-teller/narrator, The Man In Black. Played throughout by the silky voiced Valentine Dyall, excepting the 2nd series where his father Franklin Dyall took the part. Later series were characterised by more adaptations of classics, along with original stories by a number of new writers. Dickson Carr's contribution to the series, dropped away after 1945.

Val Gielgud and Martin C. Webster were the early producers, and they made sure that the productions had quality casts. Film actors such as Constance Cummings, Eric Portmann, Linden Travers and well known radio names like Laidman Browne, Grizelda Hervey, Marjorie Westbury are just a few who graced the series.

In 1949, The Man In Black was given his own, very similar series. This time, John Keir Cross contributed one original story, and adapted a number of all time classics.

After a lengthy break, a final Appointment With Fear series featuring all Dickson Carr stories was broadcast in 1955. 10/1 & 10/3 had been broadcast in the US in the 1948 C.B.S series Cabin-B13, the others were new to radio.

The title Appointment With Fear seems to have been revived in a series of plays in the 1970s and more memorably, The Man In Black was reborn in the form of actor Edward de Souza, in Fear on 4** from the late 1980s and into the 1990s.

**Episodes from the series that were broadcast on BBC World Service went out under the banner title of The Man In Black for obvious reasons.

Episode Log.

Series 1
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
1/1	Cabin B-13	11/9/43	John Dickson Carr
1/2	The Pit and the Pendulum	18/9/43	Edgar Allan Poe	John Dickson Carr
1/3	Into Thin Air	21/9/43	John Dickson Carr
1/4	The Body Snatchers	30/9/43	John Dickson Carr
1/5	The Customers Like Murder	7/10/43	John Dickson Carr
1/6	Will You Make a Bet With Death?	14/10/43	John Dickson Carr
1/7	The Devil's Saint	21/10/43	John Dickson Carr
1/8	Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble	28/10/43	John Dickson Carr
1/9	The Phantom Archer	4/11/43	John Dickson Carr
1/10	The Man Who Died Twice	11/11/43	John Dickson Carr
1/11	Menace In Wax	18/11/43	John Dickson Carr
		Top

Series 2
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
2/1	Vex Not His Ghost	6/1/44	John Dickson Carr
2/2	The Tell Tale Heart	13/1/44	Edgar Allan Poe	John Dickson Carr
2/3	The Room of the Suicides	20/1/44	John Dickson Carr
2/4	The Sire de Maletroit's Door	27/1/44	Robert Louis Stevenson	John Dickson Carr
2/5	Dragon in the Pool	3/2/44	John Dickson Carr
2/6	The Man Who Was Afraid of Dentists	10/2/44	John Dickson Carr
		Top

Series 3
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
3/1	The Speaking Clock	13/4/44	John Dickson Carr
3/2	Death Flies Blind	20/4/44	John Dickson Carr
3/3	A Watcher by the Dead	27/4/44	Ambrose Bierce	John Dickson Carr
3/4	The Pit and the Pendulum	4/5/44	Edgar Allan Poe	John Dickson Carr
3/5	Vampire Tower	11/5/44	John Dickson Carr
3/6	The Clock Strikes Eight	18/5/44	John Dickson Carr
		Top

Series 4
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
4/1	I Never Suspected	5/10/44	John Dickson Carr
4/2	The Devil's Manuscript	12/10/44	John Dickson Carr
4/3	Death Has Four Faces	19/10/44	John Dickson Carr
4/4	The Purple Wig	26/10/44	G.K Chesterton	John Dickson Carr
4/5	He Who Whispers	2/11/44	John Dickson Carr
4/6	The Curse of the Bronze Lamp**	9/11/44	John Dickson Carr
4/7	The Great Cipher	16/11/44	Melville Davisson Post	John Dickson Carr
4/8	Vex Not His Ghost	30/11/44	John Dickson Carr
4/9	The Curse of the Bronze Lamp**	7/12/44	John Dickson Carr
4/10	The Gong Cried Murder	14/12/44	John Dickson Carr
4/11	Lair of the Devil Fish	21/12/44	John Dickson Carr
4/12	The Oath of Rolling Thunder	28/12/44	John Dickson Carr
	**probably delayed till 7/12/44	Top

Series 5
Episode	Title	Date	Writer
5/1	Into Thin Air	11/9/45	John Dickson Carr
5/2	Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble	18/9/45	John Dickson Carr
5/3	The Man Who Died Twice	25/9/45	John Dickson Carr
5/4	The Clock Strikes Eight	2/10/45	John Dickson Carr
5/5	Cabin B13	9/10/45	John Dickson Carr
5/6	Will You Make a Bet With Death?	16/10/45	John Dickson Carr
	See Notes on Series 6.	Top

Series 6
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
6/1**	He Wasn't Superstitious	23/10/45**	Ambrose Bierce	John Dickson Carr
6/2	The Man With Two Heads	6/11/45	John Dickson Carr
6/3	The Case of the Five Canaries	13/11/45	John Dickson Carr
6/4	And The Deep Shuddered	20/11/45	Monckton Hoffe
6/5	The Case	27/11/45	John Slater & Roy Plomley
6/6	Death at Midnight	4/12/45	Robert Barr
Notes:	Producer for series 5 & 6: Martin C. Webster. Radio Times bills Series 5 as a "request series" & 6 as being separate series, despite following on directly.	Top	**Also billed on 30/10/45 therefore appears to have been delayed by a week.

Series 7
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
7/1	The Nutcracker Suite	26/3/46	(play by) E. Crowshay-Williams	J. Leslie Dodd
7/2	Black Mamba	2/4/46	Hugh Barnes & A.R Ramsden
7/3	The Cask of Amontillado	9/4/46	Edgar Allan Poe	Laidman Browne
7/4	A Watcher by the Dead	16/4/46	Ambrose Bierce	John Dickson Carr
7/5	The Man Who Knew How	23/4/46	Dorothy L. Sayers	Ronald Cunliffe
7/6	Dead Mans Teeth	30/4/46	Richard Fisher	Charles Hatton
7/7	Experiment With Death	7/5/46	Harry Bunton
7/8	Death Takes a Honeymoon	14/5/46	Mileson Horton & W.L Catchpole
7/9	Renovations at Merrets**	21/5/46	Honore de Balzac	Rankine Good
7/10	The Monkey's Paw	28/5/46	W.W Jacobs	Louis N. Parker
7/11	Cottage For Sale	4/6/46	T.J Waldron
7/12	A Mind in Shadow	11/6/46	Kenneth Morgan
Note:	**La Grande Breteche	Top

Series 8
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
8/1	Mrs. Amworth	25/2/47	E.F Benson	?
8/2	Sink Or Swim Together	4/3/47	?	?
8/3	The Last Pilgrimage	11/3/47	T.J Waldron
8/4	The Bell Room	25/3/47	Edgar Allan Poe	Lester Powell
8/5	The Diary of William Carpenter	1/4/47	John Atkins	Patric Dickinson
8/6	The Treasures	8/4/47	Gilbert Frankau	Charles Hatton
8/7	The Hands of Nekamen	22/4/47	Kathleen Hyatt	Lester Powell
8/8	All Cats May Snarl	29/4/47	J. Vernon Basley
	Producer: Martin C. Webster	Top

Series 9
Episode	Title	Date	Writer
9/1	The Clock Strikes Eight	14/1/48	John Dickson Carr
Note:	Producer: Martin C. Webster	Top

	The Man In Black
Episode	Title	Date	Writer	adapter
mib/1	Markheim	31/1/49	Robert Louis Stevenson	John Keir Cross
mib/2	Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You, My Lad	7/2/49	M. R James	John Keir Cross
mib/3	The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot	14/2/49	Ambrose Bierce	John Keir Cross
mib/4	Our Feathered Friends Thus I Refute Beelzy	21/2/49	Philip MacDonald John Collier	John Keir Cross
mib/5	The Judge's House	28/2/49	Bram Stoker	John Keir Cross
mib/6	The Yellow Wallpaper	7/3/49	Charlotte Parkins Gilman	John Keir Cross
mib/7	The Beast With Five Fingers	14/3/49	W.F Harvey	John Keir Cross
mib/8	The Little House	21/3/49	John Keir Cross
Notes:	Producers: 1,2,3,4,7 Martin C. Webster & David H.Godfrey	Top	Producers: 5, David H. Godfrey 6, Martin C. Webster 8, Cleland Finn

Series 10
Episode	Title	Date	Writer
10/1	The Man Who Couldn't Be Photographed	26/7/55	John Dickson Carr
10/2	White Tiger Passage	2/8/55	John Dickson Carr
10/3	The Dead Man's Knock	9/8/55	John Dickson Carr
10/4	The Sleuth of Seven Dials	16/8/55	John Dickson Carr
10/5	The Villa of the Damned	23/8/55	John Dickson Carr
10/6	Till the Great Armados Come	30/8/55	John Dickson Carr
Note:	Producer: David H. Godfrey	Top

Notes:
The early series were broadcast on the Home Service, From 1945 all episodes went out on the Light Programme.
Series 8: The Radio Times was not published for 8/1 & 8/2. Hence the lack of writer credits.

**Special Thanks to Ian Beard for his contribution to the log, especially to the writer/adapter & producer credits.**

REFERENCE:
'The Door to Doom and Other Detections" by John Dickson Carr edited by Douglas G. Greene published by the Hamish Hamilton Ltd 1981.
The bibliography proved very helpful with regard to the first series, and to some writer credits for S2 & 4.

The Return of the Man In Black. Broadcast by Radio 4 as two Archive Hour specials on October 24 & 31 1998. The documentaries were presented by Ramsay Campbell, and covered the history of fear & suspense on BBC radio. During the programmes, 2 complete episodes were presented:
The Pit and the Pendulum (from Appointment With Fear) and The Beast With Five Fingers (from Fear On 4). also featured:

Episode 1.
Stuart Hibbert talking about A. J. Alan.
A. J. Alan reading Wattie.
Valentine Dyall on Appointment With Fear.
Sir John Martin Harvey in The Bell's (1933) based on a Henry Irving play.
recordings of John Dickson Carr, Algernon Blackwood. An excerpt from Blackwood's The Woman's Ghost Story (August 1947).
Val Gielgud rehearsing Belle Chrystal & Laidman Browne in a scene from Cabin B13.
excerpts from the Appointment With Fear episodes:
The Clock Strikes Eight &The Speaking Clock.

Episode 2.
Beowulf, Dracula, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Price of Fear, Fear on 4, The Woman In Black.
and the voices of Dennis Wheatley, Kim Newman, Clive Barker, Stephen King, Vincent Price, Martin Jenkins, Edward de Suza & Susan Hill.
excerpts from the Fear On 4 episodes:
The Monkey's Paw & A Day At the Dentist's.

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