THE NIGHTMARE MAN
1981

• Episode 1
• Episode 2
• Episode 3
• Episode 4
• Overview

EPISODE 1

The villagers on a small Scottish island are quietly going about their business when the local dentist discovers a dismembered body on the golf course. Whilst the police make house to house calls to indentify the dead woman, the dentist and doctor make some alarming discoveries about the killer.

THE NIGHTMARE MAN sets up a place and time quite nicely with very little running time thanks to a good script and a great cast. Unfortunately, what could have been a nice, mysterious build up is undermined by the point of view, red-filtered shots immediately showing the killer as something either animalistic or otherworldly. These shots are supposed to ramp up a bit of tension, but they actually do the opposite taking away from the slow burn of the mystery.

Fortunately, there is more than enough going on elsewhere to make up for that. The cast do a fine job of bringing life to their characters, making them likeable, rounded people with very little screen time, drawing the audience into their world and therefore the plot.

The cliffhanger gives us a glimpse of the killer, but that glimpse is enough to spoil the mystery even more, rather than enhance it.

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EPISODE 2

The murder has become murders and there are more mysteries to be added to the case. For one, an advanced craft has been found on the beach, a craft that weighs close to nothing. Furthermore, the killer appears to be only part human and to be radioactive. Then there is the small matter of a parachutist.

The rate of discoveries has increased in this second episode and the characters are theorising all kind of things about the killer, including aliens, though it seems more and more obvious what is going on and yet nobody seems to have picked up on that theory.

Now that the plot is in full swing, the characters are less rounded and more obvious. The most obvious of these is Colonel Howard who clearly knows more than he is telling. How he hasn't been placed in protective custody so far is anyone's guess, but then the local officers seem to think that swigging whisky whilst on duty is not only permissible, but a duty

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EPISODE 3

The fog is going to lift in the morning, so the islanders only have to last one more night before assistance comes. Someone, though, seems interested in the craft retrieved from the beach and Fiona has developed the photographs that might reveal the killer.

Colonel Howard is revealed as being in league with the mysterious parachutist and that is enough to make everything clear, to the audience at least. The photographs are supposed to be misleading enough to keep the killer's identity a secret, but surely everyone has worked out the whole plot by the this point.

Unfortunately, the number of attacks by the killer has increased and the depictions of those seriously undermine the believability of the whole thing.

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EPISODE 4

Colonel Howard finally steps out of the shadows to declare martial law. His troops land shortly afterwards, but why was it necessary to cut the telephone wires to the mainland and what is his connection with the killer and the craft?

This final episode is a big disappointment after all the atmospheric scene setting. The truth about the killer and the craft is delivered to those who haven't already guessed it in a clumsy info dump whilst nothing else actually happens. The military appear and run around a bit, but don't do anything. The final confrontation with the killer is a complete and utter let down, leaving the whole thing rather flat and anticlimactic.

There is also much made about how treacherous the rocks around the island are and how difficult it will be for the military to land and then they are shown coming in on the least treacherous beach one could imagine.

And then there is the matter of the killer, finally revealed for what it is and, whilst the explanation might be effective enough, the visuals fall far short of anything even remotely scary.

That's a shame because a lot of what went before and the performances of the cast throughout deserved a whole lot better.

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OVERVIEW

A small Scottish island is terrorised by a killer capable of ripping people apart with his bare hands. When an apparently alien craft is discovered and the killer turns out to be radioactive, it becomes more likely that the killer is, in fact, an alien. The local police are unable to contain the situation and the military response is somewhat unorthodox.

As much a cold war thriller as alien invasion story, THE NIGHTMARE MAN was adapted from a novel by regular DOCTOR WHO contributor Robert Holmes, though this is not up to his usual standard of work. The scene setting involving the small island, the characters and the threat are quite well done thanks to a good cast who make the most of their roles, but the resolution especially is rather undercooked and disappointing.

It is the relationships between the characters that is the heart of the show and they are all given some fun dialogue that they manage to make seem very real and unforced. As the show progresses, however, and the plot starts to take over it becomes much less about them and that element is lost.

The killer, when it is finally shown, is so underwhelming as to ruin the whole thing.

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