Dr Carmichael tells John Parker that his wife Ethel will need special care because she has a serious heart condition. However John is having an affair with a young woman called Julie and sees Ethel's condition as an opportunity to get rid of her and inherit her wealth. He doesn't want to risk resorting to conventional murder so hatches upon the unusual plan of trying to scare her to death.,,,
Without question the most unusual episode of Shadows of Fear and one with a peculiar background. The previous episode "Come Into my Parlour" had aired as far back as March 1971. It's unclear when this one was produced but it does seem to have been long after its predecessors. This episode was written for a half-hour slot (around twenty-five minutes of screen-time) but with its Edwardian period setting - very well recreated on-screen - and extensive (and skilful) use of incidental music it's a striking contrast from the more austere look of its counterparts. The story editor was now George Markstein rather than John Kershaw. - the former was a very experienced story editor who had worked on shows such as The Prisoner and (another Thames show) Callan so he may have been brought-in to revamp the show although John Kershaw was by this working on Public Eye so may have been unavailable. Although background to this episode and the future direction of the show is lacking the reduced running-time, new story editor and look of this episode do suggest that this was a de facto pilot for a relaunch, perhaps with a looser focus on the original darker style. This episode - whatever its merits - is one that really would fit better in a new or different anthology (in many ways akin to an episode of Tales of the Unexpected) or just as a standalone production.
That is not to deny that this certainly does have some good use of suspense and it does play on some everyday fears and issues. Various Shadows of Fear explored plots by a spouse (usually the husband) to kill their partner and issues of infidelity and doubts about one's spouse are not uncommon. However these links are not really strong enough to make it a comfortable fit with the rest of the series.
Leaving that aside though it is a very engaging story although the premise of trying to scare someone to death is rather far-fetched and helps to make this what might seem a "quirky" or "offbeat" tale rather than a darkly-serious one. It also manages to provide not just one but two twists at the end. These are common in the thriller genre and are well-done here but again they were rare in Shadows of Fear which relied more closely on suspense rather than surprise.
As it transpired there were no more Shadows of Fear episodes in any format. Whether this new style didn't meet audience expectations or the producers felt it wasn't right or just wanted to do other things isn't known. It's even possible that the very successful arrival a few months later of ATV's Thriller series put paid to plans of a new series simply because it was felt Thriller had cornered the market as it were. While this last instalment was not the best it was still good viewing. It was a shame the series did not continue although it would have been even better had it retained the exceptional style of the first ten episodes.