12. THE TWO FACES OF EVIL
Martin and Janet and their son David are driving to their holiday destination. The weather deteriorates and eventually there is a torrential downpour. A man in a yellow raincoat steps out into the road and is nearly run over by Martin.
Martin decides to give the man a lift. After driving for a short time, the hitch-hiker attacks Martin by plunging a long dirty fingernail into his neck. The car crashes and overturns.
Janet wakes up in hospital and finds her son David totally untouched by the accident. Janet is told that her husband, on the other hand, has received some bad injuries. He had to have an emergency operation on his throat and will remain mute for a number of days.
The police arrive at the hospital to interview Janet. Apparently there was a tremendous struggle between Martin and the hitch-hiker. A body was found some distance from the car and taken to the hospital's mortuary. As a formality she is asked to identify the dead body.
She looks at the body, its face is identical to that of her husband. She tells the police that the right hand of the hitch-hiker possessed a long fingernail. They explain that the right hand was severed in the crash and probably taken away by a wild animal.
Janet packs all the remnants of the struggle into plastic bags and leaves the hospital with her son. She drives to the holiday cottage, piles the blooded remains of their luggage into a mound and burns them.
When Martin is well enough to leave the hospital, he is taken to the cottage in an ambulance. Still unable to talk, Janet gives him a small bell to use if he should need anything.
That night, exhausted and weak, Martin retires to bed. Janet soon follows him, and when cuddling up to him notices that on his right hand is a long dirty fingernail. Who is the person lying next to her, Martin or a doppelganger?...
Starring:
Anna Calder-Marshall
Gary Raymond
Guest Stars:
Pauline Delany
Philip Latham
Jenny Laird
Screenplay by:
Ranald Graham
Directed by:
Alan Gibson