The Nightmare Man

Oh dear. Some of the best talent in British TV made this serial, and so I can only assume that they were working under incredible time pressure, and had to settle for first takes of many scenes.

There ARE some frightening scenes in this Highland mystery (mostly when the "monster" attacks and we see it from his point of view), but I'm afraid that I found most of the story unintentionally funny ! Such as the moment when the hero discovers a dismembered corpse on a golf course: Oh look, there's a hand ... oh, and there's another hand over there ... hmm this is a bit puzzling ...

For many years fans of British cult TV shows campaigned to have this serial released on VHS or DVD, but the BBC always said no. Now I think I understand why !

Nobody does spooky, mysterious 'out in the boonies' drama as well as the British... and the late 70s to mid eighties was a great time for them, too, Armchair Thriller, Chiller, Tales Of The Unexpected, The Agatha Christie Hour and many more besides!

Unfortunately this one isn't one of them. The 'style over substance' approach, which can often work well in these types of programs, falls flat here.

Most irritating is the screen play, which is constantly forcing silly ideas into our heads... "What if the mysterious thing killing the sheep is a monster from outer space?" There are ludicrous attempts to shower the viewer with suggestions of what's going on through the screenplay which makes the entire relationships between the characters a little forced.

When the military enter the scene, they seem to embrace the locals and tell them everything that's going on. Soldiers running over a heath comes off as silly and time-wasting.

James Warwick does a wonderful job of staring off into the middle distance and getting annoyed over nothing... Celia Imrie has the best eye makeup artist in entertainment and provides an insane amount of 'Doctor Who assistant' style exposition along the way..

There are a few vague similarities to other TV programs of that time, especially from children's TV like 'Timeslip', 'Ace Of Wands' or 'Children Of The Stones', etc. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this was originally intended for kids and spruced up a bit for adults in a production meeting.

It has a small amount of nostalgic value but ultimately this is silly and forgettable.

The Nightmare Man is a fine drama, one which benefits from the involvement of two of Doctor Who's finest, writer Robert Holmes, and producer Douglas Camfield.

It's quite slow to start, but truly picks up the pace in parts three and four, the first two are more atmospheric, and pretty dialogue heavy.

Very well acted, Celia Imrie, James Warwick and Jonathan Newth all stand out.

When you watch this for the first time, you may be surprised that Part four is the finale, just as it seems to open up, it concludes.

It feels like Dr Who at times, the format, and story telling. 7/10

It really does feel like a Doctor Who story, this being helped by having one of the Doctor's best directors and writers on board. The lurking monster, isolated community, strange killings and impending doom are all textbook Doctor Who.

The Nightmare Man is more adult than Doctor Who. Not just because there's a mention of cannabis, a hint of blood and the sight of the ever-glorious Celia Imrie in a low-cut dress. There's a real claustrophobia to it. The fog rolls in, and the gloomy little island really is cut off. Actually, when the fog lifts (very abruptly, at the start of part four), the island doesn't look nearly as barren and miserable as we've been lead to believe. It's all very well constructed: lots of brief mentions of bogs, cliffs, isolated crofts. We feel like we are at the end of the world, and there's a genuine mystery about what might be impinging upon it.

Celia Imrie is, of course, magnificent. One of the strengths of the production is that her character is essential to the story. She's a cartographer, and raised on the island, so her knowledge of the area is vital to the investigation. She is not sidelined as could so easily have happened. Maurice Roeves and Jonathan Newth as The Inspector and The Colonel are perfectly decent, and James Cosmo utterly believable and likable as the occasionally Gaelic-speaking Sergeant.

Occasional glimpses of the monster are very carefully done, although the gasping growl and red point-of-view are a bit OTT. At the end, when we finally see the killer, it's maybe on screen for a bit too long. More could have been left to the imagination, but that's only a minor gripe.

The only significant grumble about the production is the final episode. I had expected it to be 6 episodes, not 4. Lots of time is spent standing around talking int he final episode. The production slows down enormously as we get caught up in info-dumping. When the monster makes its final attack, I couldn't help but feel it was all over a bit quickly, and there's a very rushed and perfunctory feel.

That said, the production keeps up the suspense nicely for quite a long time. The viewer is never really sure what the killer may be, and there's a wonderfully claustrophobic, foggy, damp sense of doom throughout. And Celia Imrie.