Publisher's Synopsis
All ten episodes of the early 1980s BBC drama series based on the short stories of crime writer Agatha Christie. In 'Magnolia Blossom', Theodora Darrell (Ciaran Madden) is set to elope to South Africa with her lover - and business associate of her husband - Vincent Easton (Ralph Bates). But when she learns that her uncaring husband Richard (Jeremy Clyde) is facing financial ruin, old loyalties resurface and she returns home. In 'The Case of the Discontented Soldier' the recently retired Major John Wilbraham (William Gaunt), bored with civilian life, answers an advertisement placed by a Mr Parker Pyne (Maurice Denham) promising an adventure. Before long he finds himself rescuing Freda Clegg (Patricia Garwood) from two burly attackers and embarking on a daring adventure to find treasure in the wilds of Africa. In 'The Girl in the Train', dissolute playboy George Rowland (Osmund Bullock), disowned for the seventh time by his wealthy uncle, is on the train to London when a beautiful girl bursts into his compartment frantically begging to be hidden, gives George a mysterious parcel and disappears. But who is the girl in the train, and will George ever see her again? In 'The Fourth Man', a canon, a lawyer and a psychiatrist find themselves together on a train bound for Newcastle. There is a fourth man in the compartment, who apparently pays no attention to the animated conversation of his fellow travellers. But might they have something to learn from this mysterious stranger? In 'Jane in Search of a Job', Jane Cleveland (Elizabeth Garvie) lands a job as double for the Grand Duchess of Ostrova during the latter's state visit to England. But events become complicated when an attempt is feared on the Duchess's life and Jane finds herself framed for theft. Can she clear her name and find out who is trying to kill the Duchess? In 'The Manhood of Edward Robinson', mousy clerk Edward Robinson (Nicholas Farrell), who is engaged to the dominating, penny-pinching Maud (Ann Thornton), wins a substantial sum of money in a magazine competition and blows it on a sports car, which he drives to Brighton. On the way he meets Lady Noreen (Cherie Lunghi), a glamorous jewel thief who involves him in a plot to steal a valuable necklace. In 'The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife' Maria Packington (Gwen Watford) is dismayed that her husband George (Peter Jones) has been paying more attention to his young secretary than to her. When she answers an newspaper advertisement , she soon finds herself swept off her feet by the handsome Claude Luttrell (Rupert Frazer). 'In a Glass Darkly' stars Nicholas Clay as Matthew Armitage, a weekend house guest at an engagement party. While there, he is alarmed by a vision he sees in his mirror of a man with a scarred neck strangling Sylvia (Emma Piper), the daughter of the house. He tells Sylvia of his premonition, and she breaks off the engagement - but is that really all there is to it? In 'The Mystery of the Blue Jar', trainee solicitor Jack Hartingdon (Robin Kermode) hears a woman's voice crying for help while playing golf. When local resident Felise (Isabelle Spade) claims that she too has heard the voice and seen the ghost of a murdered woman holding a blue jar, Jack's friend Dr Lavington (Michael Aldridge) arranges a seance in Felise's cottage. But is there really a ghost - or is Jack the victim of a cunning trick? In 'The Red Signal', Dermot West (Richard Morant) is invited to dinner at the home of Jack and Claire Trent (Christopher Cazenove and Joanna David) along with his famous psychiatrist uncle, Sir Alington West (Badel). When the doctor is mysteriously killed following a conversation about supernatural forces and premonitions, Dermot finds himself a prime suspect along with his best friend's wife, Claire, with whom he is secretly in love.
