Gazette: Stranger (ITV 11 Oct 1968, with Hilda Barry)

In Stranger Sue just happens to be on the scene when a young woman, DIane Leighton, is found dead from an overdose inside the house of elderly Mrs Ackroyd. The girl didn’t know anyone in the village and there is no apparent reason why the girl should have chosen Mrs Ackroyd’s cottage to commit suicide in other than the fact that Mrs Ackroyd always left her front door unlocked.

The girl’s name turns out to be Diane Leighton and it is believed she came from a well to do family. Brenda Lawrence as Judith Brooks, a close friend of Diane Leighton.

Walters knows this could be a big story for the Gazette, one which they could sell on to the big London dailies. They need to get the story and all the facts together quickly, trying to keep one step ahead of both the police and rival reporters.

There is a real air of mystery about the story, shades of Francis Durbridge at times with it’s strange phone calls, visits to fortune tellers late at night. When the true facts of the story come to light it turns out that Diane Leighton was not who she said she was and was really the daughter of a humble estate worker and was unable to tell her fiance the truth about her background.

Gerald Harper isn’t in this episode. Anthony May as Tommy Learoyd, a wannabe journalist who passes on some important information to Bill.

production details
UK / ITV – Yorkshire / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Friday 11 October 1968 at 9.00pm

Writer: Robert Barr / Director: Christopher Hodson

Series: Gazette Episode 11 (of 13)

cast
Jon Laurimore as Walters
Michael Blackham as Bill Spence
Gillian Wray as Sue Jackson
David Robinson as Ted Woodward
Hilda Barry as Mrs Ackroyd
Robin Ford as Mr Miller
Brenda Lawrence as Judith Brooks
Anthony May as Tommy Learoyd
Arthur Hewlitt as Dr Davies
Pamela Ann Davy as Mrs Hoodinut
Ingrid Sylvester as Diane Leighton
Geoffrey Hooper as Inspector Chubb
Simon Spedding as Constable
Jeffrey Gerald as Young Man