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COLONEL MARCH OF SCOTLAND YARD: DEATH AND THE OTHER MONKEY (TV)

Summary

One in this British detective series starring Boris Karloff as a cerebral Scotland Yard sleuth. Colonel March is visited by Guy Wallingford, a young assistant working for Nobel Prize-winning biologist Sir George Watkins, who reports that his colleagues have stolen a monkey he was using as a test subject and put another one in its place in order to confound his research. Guy shows Colonel March the test monkeys, all rhesus macaques from India, and Colonel March meets Clarence Bartow and Nell Lawrence, other research assistants. They insist that they have not tampered with Guy’s experiments, but Guy doesn’t believe them, believing that they were jealous of his successful research. He grows paranoid that Colonel March is also after his research and storms out. Colonel March meets Sir George and discusses the situation with him. Sir George believes that Guy is suffering from stress in the wake of Clarence and Nell getting engaged the previous week, leading to his behavior. Nell suggests that Guy should receive psychiatric help, although Colonel March is convinced that the monkey was exchanged, and is curious to discover why it was done. Several days later, Inspector Ames informs Colonel March that Guy has just been found dead, apparently via suicide. They inspect his room, and Inspector Ames details how his suicide method appeared to be asphyxiation via gas. Colonel March notices a report on Guy’s desk detailing his research into cancer treatments using biotic waste. Colonel March suspects that Guy was murdered, and visits Sir George to discuss the matter further. Sir George relates that Guy recently discovered that his theory about waste matter was proven incorrect, which may have affected him mentally. They note that Guy’s greatest desire was to prove this theory, which would have been an achievement similar to Sir George’s in the field of medicine. Colonel March determines that the monkeys have been switched again, confirming his suspicion that Guy was murdered. He visits Guy’s room again, where he runs into Clarence. He claims he is looking for letters Nell may have secretly sent to Guy based on suspicions that she may have been seeing him. Colonel March believes him and inquires about the origins of the latest batch of monkeys. Clarence reveals that one of them died on board the ship before it reached England. Colonel March asks Inspector Ames to inspect the ship which bore the monkeys. He then gathers Sir George, Nell, and Clarence in Guy’s room to expound about the circumstances of the murder. Inspector Ames arrives with the cook on board the ship transporting the monkeys. Colonel March explains that the gas leak occurred while Guy was sedated, and that one of the macaques was the one to have activated the gas. He demonstrates his theory by having one of the macaques climb in through the window from the bottom story and spring a gas leak. Colonel March further explains that one of the monkeys being transported was the cook’s pet, and was trained to obey orders and had a penchant for unexpectedly turning on the gas in the ship’s galley. The murderer knew about the monkey’s training and hoped to use it to kill Guy in order to prevent him from coming forward with his discovery and steal the credit. Colonel March names Sir George as the murderer, and Inspector Ames arrests him as he instructs Clarence and Nell to finish Guy’s experiment. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: ITV
  • DATE: June 27, 1956
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:26:03
  • COLOR/B&W: B&W
  • CATALOG ID: B:51258
  • GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
  • SERIES RUN: N/A
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Bernard Knowles … Director
  • Leslie Slote … Writer
  • Carter Dickson … Based on the novel "The Department of Queer Complaints" by
  • Edwin Astley … Music by
  • Boris Karloff … Cast, Colonel March
  • Ewan Roberts … Cast, Inspector Ames
  • Percy Marmont … Cast, Sir George Watkins
  • Ann Gudrun … Cast, Nell
  • Victor Platt … Cast, Clarence
  • Richard Burrell … Cast, Guy
  • John Schlesinger … Cast, Dutch Cook