Spider’s Web (1982) – reviewed by George

In this Agatha Christie adaptation, a diplomat, his second wife, and his daughter from his first marriage are the central figures in a web of lies, that just gets stickier and stickier.
Henry Hailsham-Brown (Jonathan Newth) is heading out from his country home to a fairly close small airfield to conduct a secret meeting with a foreign minister. After the initial meeting Henry will bring the man back to his place for rest, a late dinner, and more talk. He explains carefully to his wife Clarissa (Penelope Keith) that he and his guest will arrive late so that she can get their other guests out of the way, either in bed there or on their way home.
The three guests who must be kept out of the loop are currently at the nearby golf course. They are Sir Rowland Delahaye (Robert Flyming), Hugo Birch (Thorley Walters), and Jeremy Warrender (David Yellan). The child Pippa (Holly Aird) pops in and out, and is completely loved by Clarissa; apparently she does not enjoy such a happy relationship with her biological mother. So Clarissa is successfully juggling everybody’s whereabouts, including those of the servants, Elgin the butler (David Crosse) and Miss Peake the gardener (Elizabeth Spriggs), and feels certain that all is under control.
Until Henry’s first wife’s new husband arrives. Oliver Costello (Brian Protheroe) is after something valuable, but what? Is he there to steal something from the desk? He certainly hangs around it a lot. At any rate he is threatening to help his wife (who really, I don’t think, cares) get Pippa back. So Clarissa’s handiwork is unraveling – this character is not leaving.
And lo and behold, someone kills Oliver and leaves his body in front of that desk he was so interested in. Well, this is impossible. Clarissa calls the men at the golf club and has them hurry back to help her dispose of the body – just until the next day. Some of the secret must be told to keep them silent about all this, but now Inspector Lord (John Barcroft) and Constable Jones (Mark Draper) show up answering a call to the police, and the lies, already being told to the three guests and the servants, now must be amplified to keep the police from being suspicious and from hanging about. And then the body is found!
I felt that some possible humor was being overlooked, but the suspense of watching someone who has to lie about all kinds of things in the face of a real danger of being accused of murder certainly made up for that.
Music composed by Norman Kay, Directed by Basil Coleman.
Since this is based on a play by Agatha Christie and no writing credit is given, perhaps the script for the play was actually used.