This was the third and (thankfully) final installment in the TV mini series Killer from 1984, and after having gone through the absurdity of the first and the sleaziness of the second, here we have just plain dull and as such it is the worst of the lot. The story begins with businessman Bill Routledge (Edward Woodward) planning to begin production on a major satellite project for his company, along with his underling Hugh Dexter (David Sibley), who he has poached from an American Consortium. It's clear from the off that Routledge is a cold man and not to be messed with in his ambitions, but that doesn't mean he isn't adept at giving out to charity - as long as it involves his daughter Celia (Caroline Bliss). As it turns out, she is the Rag Queen in the student Rag Week fundraiser (yes, I had to check to make sure I heard that right, though it would of been a darn sight funnier if it had been Drag Queen!). Celia gets "kidnapped" by a group of students, where money is then raised for charity to release her. Routledge pays up £3,000 but as it turns out, after being snatched and taken to the student lodge, Celia is later found gone from her room and a message is phoned through to one of Routledge's contacts in Madrid telling him he has received a mysterious message. The phone call simply says "Stop production or your daughter dies."
This leaves a host of speculation. Daughter Celia is seen in a cell guarded by (apparently) Spanish guards, but is it a ruse by her to get money out of daddy or to teach him a lesson? She certainly has a problematic relationship with him, blaming him for his ill treatment of her mother Dorothy (Wanda Ventham). Or could it be her stepmother and Routledge's 2nd wife Joan (Kate Harper)? Could she of kidnapped her to have Routledge all to herself, jealous of his affection for Celia? Ironically when the police come to inform him that his ex wife Dorothy has received a message Celia has been kidnapped, it is Joan who is seemingly more concerned about Celia's welfare. Routledge, however, is determined that nothing is going to stop him in his ambitions to set up his satellite company. Then there is the American Consortium, led by Paul Maxwell, who are still rankled by him poaching their man Hugh Dexter and now put in an offer to buy him out with Dexter part of the deal. Could they of kidnapped her to force him into selling? Routledge thinks so, but it makes you wonder why the message would say "cease production" if that was the case. Then there are the outside bids, such as Celia's boyfriend in a possible joint scam, or even Hugh Dexter himself in a possible plot to usurp both Routledge and the Americans for his own ends.
Sadly it rarely gives any clear answers and you are left just as much in the dark by the end as it follows along the trend of the other two installments for peculiar endings, or just plain weird scripts! And like the other two, this features a utterly unlikable lead character. Woodward is always compelling, but he is just too cold and self centred to warm to, and I found my sympathies more with his wives Dorothy and Joan. While Wanda Ventham doesn't get much to do as the worried and baffled mother, it is Kate Harper who attracts the most attention as Routledge's current wife Joan. She seems to be the only one who has real concerns about her step daughter Celia and what may happen to her, and you cannot help but feel for her trapped in a marriage with such a cold, distant man like Routledge. Paul Maxwell isn't bad either as the Head of the American Consortium, but Caroline Bliss is less effective as the abducted daughter Celia, looking like a 1980's model (though you still fear what may happen to her). In the end, without giving away what happens, this meanders off to being much ado about nothing and leaves you asking more questions than gaining answers. This is a strange mini series in all, understandably forgotten now, and hindered by unlikable lead characters and very strange scripts. My overwhelming feeling when watching them was of a weird and depressing series which proved a waste of both it's star talents and of the viewers time and energy watching it. Certainly it is one series I would not wish to sit through again. A disappointment.
