What happens
Alex Martin and her husband Gerald have settled into a quiet cottage in the English countryside, Philomel Cottage, after a whirlwind romance. Alex begins to notice unsettling details about Gerald, including an odd entry in his diary and a sudden suspicion that his past holds darker secrets. As an uneasy evening approaches, she searches his belongings and begins to fear for her safety. This episode of Suspense, part of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, was broadcast on October 7, 1943, starring Geraldine Fitzgerald and Orson Welles. The story is adapted from a short story by Agatha Christie.
A remote country cottage in England, Philomel Cottage, during the early 1940s.
Characters: Alex Martin, Gerald Martin, Dick, George, Mrs. Lanes, Laboucher
Listen for: Pay attention to the telephone call and the diary entry, which shift Alex's suspicions about Gerald.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.