What happens
Joe Charles, a professional man in Los Angeles, and his wife Ellie drive home from a movie in the San Fernando Valley. On the way they hear a radio report of Lewis Mattrick, a fugitive wanted for a murdered family in New Hampshire, who has been spotted in the city. Shortly after, a gunman hidden in their back seat forces them to drive him onward, and Joe must find a way to keep his wife and their children safe. The story is an episode of the radio series Suspense, first broadcast on February 22, 1951, and the lead actors are not named in the transcript.
Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, including Beverly Hills, Cold Water Canyon, Ventura Boulevard, and the Charles family home.
Characters: Joe Charles, Ellie Charles, Lewis Mattrick, Mike Kennedy, Bill, Miranda, Annie, Bud
Listen for: Listen for the radio news report that identifies the fugitive, and for how Joe signals his predicament to Officer Mike Kennedy without alerting the gunman.
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.