The
lowdown: The eternal war between good and evil comes to
a mansion in the English countryside, in 'Nurse Will
Make It Better', an episode
of the British drama series 'Thiller'. In this instance, evil takes the
form of Diana Dors, who
plays the role of
Bessy Morne (who it transpires is the devil in human form), while Patrick
Troughton represents the
forces of good as Brother
Lyall, a priest who is losing his faith and has taken to drinking and lives
in a squalid flat after
his previous encounter with
the devil.
The story opens with Brother
Lyall having a nightmare, and then cuts to a woman thrusts a burning branch
into her
husband's face. The scene
then shifts to the country house of Edgar Harrow, an American diplomat
who lives with his
three daughters, Ruth, Charley
and Susy. Charley falls off a horse and breaks her back, and doctors advise
that she
will never walk again. Edgar
hires a nurse to look after her, but Charley is a difficult patient, and
sends every nurse
away. Enter Bessy Morne,
who appears just as the previous nurse is leaving, and claims to have been
sent from the
agency. She uses dark powers
to heal Charley, who surprises her family by walking unaided. The family
is grateful to
Bessy, and Edgar tells her
that she can with the family as long as she likes. Bessy then turns her
attention to Edgar's
youngest daughter, 16-year-old
Susy, who quickly falls under her influence...
Edgar's security agent, Carson,
has his suspicions and his investigations reveal that Bessy is not all
that she appears.
There is no birth certificate
for Bessy, and the only records that exist are for a woman who was born
centuries earlier.
Bessy kills Carson after
he opens a mysterious box in her room. Ruth then takes up the investigation,
and meets the
woman of burning stick fame,
Mrs Fuller, who was previously cared for by nurse Bessy. Ruth then has
a car accident
and is brought home in shock,
and Bessy offers to use her dark powers again, but Ruth has been faking
her condition
and gets boyfriend Simon
to bring in Lyall, the only surviving member of the Brotherhood of Charity.
Lyall overcomes
his personal and spiritual
demons to confront Bessy, and although she is defeated, the victory comes
at a cost.
'Nurse Will Make It Better'
was the second episode of the fourth season, and was first broadcast on
11 January 1975.
In addition to Patrick Troughton,
it also featured Wendy Williams (familiar to Doctor Who fans as Vira from
'The Ark in
Space'). A total of 43 episodes
of 'Thriller' were made by ATV and broadcast on ITV1 between 14 March 1973
and 22
May 1976. The show was screened
in the US as part of ABC's 'Wide World of Mystery' series. Later seasons
had an
American guest actor of
the week, in order to make the show more appealing to US viewers.
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