'
Unnatural Causes' was a seven episode ITV series broadcast in 1986 that featured stories of unusual deaths written by such luminaries as
Nigel Kneale,
Beryl Bainbridge,
Lynda La Plante and in this case '
Sapphire and Steel' creator
Peter J Hammond whose, 'Lost Property', is the only episode of the series with a supernatural element.
Anne Forrest (Miranda Richardson) along with her husband John (John Duttine), is living in an old school where she has partially reverted to a fantasy innocence, playing at being a teacher, retreating from ast and her present. John, on the verge of leaving, is a tightly wound ball of frustration unable to understand why his wife is behaving as she is and into this volatile situation appears a young girl, Marian Price (Louise Hellicar), an ex pupil at the school who claims a deep affection for the previous headmistress and for her own schooldesk.
Director Alan Dossor keeps everything tight and claustrophobic meaning the tension in Anne and John's relationship fills the screen and P. J. Hammond's slow moving script gives plenty of room for the two leads to explore their characters. The conclusion manages to be both predicable and surprising and also satisfyingly enigmatic grown out of seeds sewn earlier in the episode but leaving us with plenty of questions relating to the events and the nature of, at least one of, the characters.
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