What happens
In London in 1888, the Avenger, a murderer who has killed several young women, is the subject of rumour across the city. Ellen Bunting and her husband Robert, who run a boarding house, take in a quiet, religious lodger named Mr. Sleuth. Ellen grows uneasy as she notices odd details about him: the narrow bag, his turning of the pictures to the wall, and his strange remarks about women and evil. Her stepdaughter Daisy is due home soon, and Ellen begins to fear for her safety. This is the first program of a proposed series, Suspense, broadcast on CBS in 1940, with Herbert Marshall narrating and starring under Alfred Hitchcock's direction.
London, 1888, in the squalid White Chapel district
Characters: Ellen Bunting, Robert Bunting, Mr. Sleuth, Daisy, Mr. Cannot
Listen for: Ellen's growing suspicion of Mr. Sleuth, especially the narrow bag and the turned pictures, and the courtroom testimony about a tall, gaunt man with a small narrow bag
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.