3. RUDE AWAKENING
Estate agent Norman Shenley goes into the office one morning and is met by a man who wishes for him to take a look at a property. The property is called Lower Moat Manor, and the man gives him the keys and a map to get there.
When he gets there, he is greeted by a huge manor house in a terrible state of disrepair. He enters, and while standing by the dumb waiter he hears a disembodied voice calling to him.
Disembodied voice: You really shouldn't have killed her.
Norman: Killed who?
Disembodied voice: Your wife.
It goes on to tell him that he killed his wife on friday the thirteenth - today!
Suddenly, the dumb waiter descends and delivers a package - his wife! He squats over the body in surprise. When he stands up, suits of armour start to move and surround him. He then wakes up.
He finds himself in bed struggling with his wife. His wife accuses him of trying to kill her and then blaming it on a nightmare. He decides to go into the office early that morning.
When he gets to the office he finds that his secretary, Lolly, with whom he is having an affair, is dressed differently - as a punk. Norman tells Lolly of the bad nightmare he had and how he found his wife dead. He speaks of Lower Moat Manor. She suggests that he tries to find the place again. Strangely, he finds that he still has the map in his pocket even though it was a dream.
Norman can find no sign of the manor, so he makes a call to Lolly from a public telephone box. While there he looks at his map and sees the words "Why did you do it?" written on it. Then he gets a telephone call saying "you shouldn't have killed her Mr. Shenley". Smoke starts to fill up the cubicle, and then Lolly appears from nowhere. Then he hears the alarm and wakes up.
He goes into work and this time Lolly is dressed as a schoolgirl. Is Norman inside yet another nightmare?
Where does the nightmare end and reality begin?..
Starring:
Denholm Elliot
James Lawrenson
Pat Heywood
Guest Stars:
Lucy Gutteridge
Eleanor Summerfield
Screenplay by:
Gerald Savory
Directed by:
Peter Sasdy