Today’s UWTV entry comes from a member of the Weird British TV Memories group on Facebook, James Fish, who recalls a strange production on TV back in the 80s about three people trapped in an apartment, possibly in purgatory.
Over to James…
“I have a vivid memory from something fairly unnerving I saw some time during the 80’s in the UK with my family.
It starts off with a guy alone in an apartment. He is soon joined by 2 women and all 3 have no memory of how they got there. As they try and work it out, they get flashbacks of horrible deaths. The insinuation is that they are all dead.
I recall my mum explaining this next part to me because I was too young to understand. One of the women and the guy are gay. The other woman is straight. The gay woman takes a shine to the straight woman and the straight woman takes a shine to the gay man.
It’s obvious that none of them can be happy together because of this dynamic. Moving closer into despair, they all decide to leave the apartment but they emerge into what seems like an endless expanse of pitch dark corridors. They speculate that if they leave, they may wander round for ever and never find their way back. That’s where it ends.
So, does this ring any bells for anyone? I’m erring on the side of it being an episode of Tales of the Unexpected or Play for Today but I’ve looked through episode guides for them and cannot find anything even close. Thanks.”
Does anyone else recall this, or can anyone help James identify and locate this production? If so, please leave a comment below or email us!
07/11/23 – An update to this entry; it seems like this UWTV memory may have been identified!
It seems likely to be the TV movie Vicious Circle from 1985, which was adapted from Jean-Paul Sartre’s play Huis Clos, known in most English-speaking countries under the title No Exit.
Vicious Circle – IMDb entry
No Exit – Wikipedia entry
As of the present moment, the film seems elusive, but we at UWTV are on the search for a copy; if you can help us locate it, please get in touch with us via email, Twitter or the comments below!
James is satisfied that this is the production he recalls; so big thanks to Twitter users The Earlham Review and Ian Winterton, and our followers Kevin Lyons and A Smith who commented below, for suggesting Vicious Circle!
In the meantime, we’d like to say a huge thank you to Feedspot, who have featured this blog in their list of Top 25 British TV Blogs on the web! Huge thanks to all at Feedspot, and to all our followers and contributors – we couldn’t have got this far without you!
Unidentified Weird TV 
Could it be Vicious Circle (BBC One, 28 April 1985), based on Sartre’s Huis clos? It starred Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau and Cheri Lunghi.
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Could it be Vicious Circle (BBC One, 28 April 1985) based on Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre? Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau and Cheri Lunghi were the three trapped people.
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Sounds like 1985’s Vicious Circle (Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau, Cherie Lunghi)
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Apologies if this turns up more than once – I tried answering on my phone last night, but it seems not to have taken. Anyway, it could be Vicious Circle, an adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Huis clos – broadcast on BBC One on 28 April 1985 with Omar Sharif, Jeanne Moreau and Cherie Lunghi as the three trapped people.
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