Killer Waiting (ITV 17 Feb 1984, John Thaw)

In Killer Waiting retired army officer Major Peter Hastings is now an author living in the country. Hastings is more than a little disturbed when he gets a phone call letting it be known that he will be killed on Monday.

The threat is linked to the time that Hastings was stationed in Northern Ireland and a girl called Rose O’Malley with whom he was involved.

Hastings thinks the caller is just a crank but then his dog is shot dead and his girlfriend receives a note warning her to think twice about him. Saturday evening bullets are then fired through Hasting’s window.

Very quickly we learn that an Irishman, possibly O’Malley’s father, has hired a hit man to kill Hastings on the tenth anniversary of Rose’s death and that before he kills him he has to make Hasting’s suffer. There is a twist in this tale that you definitely won’t see coming.

This was the first of a short run of three individual dramas that went out under the title Killer, as befitting a John Thaw drama Killer Waiting was given a TV Times cover and three page interview with Thaw himself. Most of the interview focused on his career and his still being identified with Jack Regan from The Sweeney.

classic quote
“Next Monday I’m going to kill you.”

production details
UK / ITV – Yorkshire / 1×50 minute episode / Broadcast Friday 17 February 1984 at 9.00pm

Writer: Eric Wendell / Production Design: Richard Jarvis / Music: David Lawson / Director: Michael Ferguson

Series: Killer Episode 1 (of 3)

cast
John Thaw as Peter Hastings
Diane Keen as Kate Greenwood
Tom Harrison as Sam
Stafford Gordon as Fuller
Beth Haynes as Shelagh
Ian Bleasdale as O’Malley
Benjamin Barker as Jody
Brett Sinclair as Gregson
Lainey Walker as Rose
David Beale as Birdwatcher
Harry Goodier as Franklyn
Danny McCarthy as Postman
Gerry Cowan as Policeman
Christopher Quinn as Oilman