This offbeat thriller written by the provocative British satirist Dennis Potter (Pennies from Heaven) draws irony from the theory on which it is based that all of Britain's important spies and traitors have emerged from its upper classes. Donald Pleasence lends his strangely reptilian presence to the lead role of Caven-
dish, an eccentric writer of Tolkien-like tales who privately nourishes an extremism in the defense of Right that goes beyond Toryism to a world of sleazy fantasy. Into his manor on the Isle of Wight, where he resides with his wife, daughter and manservant (“the last of a dying breed”), comes a menacing figure from the real world (Tom Conti) who wants to interview Cavendish for an academic thesis. The tale of intrigue and treason which ensues has been likened by N.Y. Times television critic John J. O'Conner to “a John le Carré thriller as arranged by Harold Pinter.”