NIGEL KNEALE'S BEASTS - THE DUMMY (1976)

DIRECTED by Don Leaver

SCREENPLAY by Nigel Kneale

STARRING - Bernard Horsfall as Clyde Boyd,  Clive Swift as Bunny Nettleton,  Glyn Houston as Sidney Stewart,  Thorley Walters as Sir Ramsey,  Patricia Haynes as Sheila Boyd,  Simon Oates as Peter Wager,  Ian Thompson as Mike Hickey,  Lillias Walker as Joan Eastgate, Michael Sheard as Police Sergeant.

PLOT - Clyde Boyd is a horror movie actor, the man inside the monster suit playing "The Dummy" in a successful series of horror films.

Things aren't going well for Clyde though - his wife has left him for his co-star taking his little daughter with her. Clyde has begun drinking heavily and is rapidly descending into alcoholism, depression and madness.

The only thing he has left in his life is his role as the monstrous Dummy. That role is about to consume him entirely and woe betide anyone who stands in his way...

PERFORMANCES - The Dummy - the series's final episode - has a larger than usual cast for this show and once again the overall quality is pretty good.

Seeing as this tale revolves around the making of a Hammer style British horror movie it's only fitting that a bunch of familiar genre faces crop up in this episode - most notedly is Hammer regular Thorley Walters playing a senile old ham actor called Sir Ramsey.

We also get future Mr Bronson from Grange Hill/ Adolf Hitler from Indiana Jones/multiple classic Doctor Who guest star Michael Sheard playing a police sergeant. Clive Swift (who appeared in a couple of the Ghost Story For Christmas episodes) also shows up playing "Bunny" Nettleton - the concerned friend/film producer who tries to stand by his stricken lead actor.

The main plaudits this episode though must go to Bernard Horsfall (another classic Doctor Who alumni) in the role of tragic actor Clyde Boyd.

Unlike most male protagonists in this series - Clyde ISN'T a total dick, in fact you get the impression that once upon a time he was probably quite a nice chap. However nowadays poor old Clyde is a bit of a mess. His wife has ran off with his co-star - the slimy womanising Peter (brilliantly played by Simon Oates). Peter is a complete sleazebag - at one point he says he's into "womens liberation" but only in the sense of "liberating them from their pathetic husbands", obviously this has completely broken Clyde and he's now a pitifully broken wreck of a man.

Horsfall has some lovely scenes with Clive Swift where he brokenly confides in his best friend about just how lousy he's feeling (both about the poor state of his marriage and how he feels his acting career has stagnated due to only being famous for being the man inside the cheesy monster suit). He's actually quite harrowing to watch in these scenes - you definitely feel sorry for the poor bloke.

Bunny, in a misjudged attempt to make Clyde feel better about his lot in life, tells him that he's a REAL star - it's solely down to him that the Dummy has become such an iconic horror character because Clyde brings so much of himself into the role - in short Clyde IS the Dummy.

This admittedly well intentioned act completely backfires though. Clyde - emboldened by Bunny's little pep talk dons the Dummy suit one last time - his mind has totally snapped (he now believes himself to actually BE the monster), and poor deluded, insane Clyde goes on a murderous rampage.

Horsfall is utterly brilliant in these scenes (once he's finally out of the monster suit - the scenes where he's in the ropey old monster costume smashing the shit out of everything are unintentionally hilarious), the final moment where he strangles Peter to death with his bare hands is utterly chilling - it's the completely insane look on Clyde's face which sells it. A great intense piece of acting from Horsfall.

SFX - The monster suit that Clyde wears is probably the cheesiest looking "man in a suit" rubber monster that I've seen in anything...EVER.

I mean - WHAT IS IT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE ? It looks like some kind of zombified dinosaur/rubber chicken hybrid. BUT... considering it's supposed to be a cheap special effect in a B-movie, it at least looks authentic to what it's supposed to represent.

However - the problem comes when Clyde suits up and goes on his murderous rampage. Which leads us neatly to...

... VIOLENCE - Clyde's killspree starts well enough when he grabs a supporting actor by the throat and breaks his neck. After that though...well, things start to get more than a little bit silly.

Gasp in horror as the hideous Dummy KICKS A TEA TROLLEY (and scares the shit out of the obligatory "comedy" tea lady).

Scream in fear as the deranged Dummy SMASHES A PLYWOOD DOOR !!!

Tremble as the terrifying Dummy KICKS OVER A CHAIR !!!

Yes, it's all a very British and very restrained murderous rampage, and seeing poor old Bernard Horsfall aimlessly stomping around in a monster costume that he clearly can't see out of is extremely funny. It totally derails the horror of the story but it's all good cheesy fun.

Thankfully Clyde gets rid of the rubber fright suit for his final act of revenge on the wife stealing Peter, and the scene is all the more chilling for it.

RATING - I had a lot of fun with this one, it's silly and the "monster" looks ridiculous (but then it's supposed to...I think...) but it's saved by some fine performances and still manages to retain a dark underbelly that hides behind the schlock and cheese.

I actually preferred this one to some of the more self consciously serious or "worthy" episodes and that's why I'm giving it 4 and a half rubber suit rampages out of 5.

A good fun way for Beasts to end it's run.