Thriller: One Deadly Owner

A haunted car. What a twentieth century variation on the staple of ghost stories, the haunted this, that, and the other. The use of the plot device gives this episode a lift to a more established folklore milieu from its otherwise completely 1970s setting. The use of a car also has the advantage over other haunted items, because having wheels the car can seem to develop its own sentience and move on its own. A further classy touch is given by the fact that the car isn't just any old car but a Rolls. Ironic that the one in this episode was bought for seven grand which seems nothing for a car now, and I see that a 1970s Rolls can be got for two grand now. How the mighty are fallen! - however I'm sure maintaining an elderly luxury car is never cheap. Personally I prefer the MGB GT which also features in this episode, but not in the characteristic 1970s orange colour scheme.
I started watching this show while cooking - of course I was listening, not watching, and I was very surprised to find that it does not star Peter Wynegard. I was sure he played the male lead, and I was even more surprised to find I didn't recognise the actor at all. I was yet more surprised to find that the actor was Jeremy Brett, who I felt I should have recognised from Sherlock Holmes. He both sounded and looked different. I have done some poking around on the internet and found that by the time Brett made Sherlock Holmes he was already mentally and physically ill and in fact his Wikipedia page comments on his changing appearance. I didn't realise he suffered from bipolar disorder, requiring inpatient treatment several times before his death. My surprises hadn't ended, though, because I discovered he had relationships with both men and women. I would tend to put the fact I mistook his speaking for Peter Wynegard, down to a similarity of theatrical enunciation taught before this show was made. Of course part of the reason he isn't recognisable is the quite different look from Holmes, who I'm sure would never have been seen dead with an open shirt.

Visually this episode doesn't go wrong anywhere, this is despite the fact that most of it was very obviously made in a studio. Those of us who remember the seventies will find many details nostalgic. I particularly like the decoration of the flat, and the wonderfully tacky restaurant they eat at. Foreign food, probably.
Unusually for me I don't really have a criticism of this one. The plot has a wonderful twist at the end, which I won't spoil. My only wonder is that this episode doesn't get a better rating on the internet, appreciation hovering around 60 to 70%. Perhaps it's me and my liking for weird stuff...