The series:  'Whodunnit?' was a game show in which four celebrity panellists were shown a television play in which
a murder is committed, and must identify the killer from the clues that are presented on screen. The show followed
a set format, with the murder being carried out prior to the titles, then the host introduces the panellists and explains
the background to the crime. More of the teleplay is show before the action returns to the studio, where the cast of
the play have been assembled and the panellists get to ask them questions and select a scene to view again. The
panellists are then asked who they thought was the killer, before the culprit is revealed. It ran for 49 episodes on ITV1
from 15 August 1972 and 26 June 1978. Edward Woodward was the host for the first series, but Jon Pertwee took on
this role for the remainder of the show, although he also appeared as a panellist in the second episode of series one.
'Whodunnit?' had a similar format to an ITV show in the 1990s called 'Cluedo', which was based on the boardgame,
although the earlier show was much more humourous and basically done for laughs. Many well-known British actors
of the time appeared on 'Whodunnit?', including Patrick Mower, Frank Windsor, Harry H. Corbett, Richard O'Sullivan,
Conrad Phillips, Wendy Craig and Honor Blackman.

The episode:  'A Date with Death' is the 10th episode of the sixth series (although its title is listed as 'A Dead Cert'
on many websites), and was broadcast on 12 June 1978. The episode is set in the Little Hampton Hall charm school,
where the wife of the headmaster, Mr Ide, has been murdered. There are a number of suspects, including three pupils,
three female staff members and Mr Ide himself (who has already been married 10 times). it turns out that the recently-
hired housekeeper is an undercover detective from the serious crimes squad (played by Paul Darrow of Blake's 7 fame
in drag), who takes over the investigation from the local police constable. The names of the characters provide a clue
to the identity of the killer, but have the panellists been observant enough to pick up the clues?

Who connections:  Many actors who were associated with Doctor Who appeared in 'Whodunnit?', either as one of the
guest actors or a panellist. Russell Hunter (Uvanov in The Robots of Death), Sheila Hancock (Helen A in The Happiness
Patrol), Rodney Bewes (Stien in Resurrection of the Daleks) and Stratford Johns (Monarch in Four to Doomsday) were
panellists at various times, while William Russell (Ian Chesterton), Richard Davies (Burton in Delta and the Bannermen),
Glyn Owen (Rohm-Dutt in The Power of Kroll) and Kevin Stoney (Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion) were in the teleplays.

Video clip:    The killer is revealed      15.6mb
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