Written by John Tulley
Directed by Eric Hills
Allen Meredith (John Carson) invites his boss Jack Gregory (Jack Hedley) to his home in order to explain about his latest invention. It’s a device that will allow minds to be swopped between bodies and Meredith and his wife Ann (Alethea Charlton) plan to put it to good use.
Ann drugs Gregory and then Meredith and Gregory swop bodies. Once Meredith is in the body of Jack Gregory he plans to transfer a large sum of money from Gregory’s company (to recompense him for all the work he considers he’s been underpaid for). But Meredith finds Gregory’s world is more complicated than he’d bargained for.
And Ann, who’s left at home with the personality of Jack Gregory in the body of her husband, finds that to be an intriguing combination ….
This Body Is Mine is a neat tale that boasts an impressive core cast. It”s difficult to imagine three better players than John Carson, Jack Hedley and Alethea Charlton – and they certainly help to sell the story. In the hands of lesser actors it possibly could have fallen a little flat, but not here.
Hedley manages to capture the indecision of someone trapped in a strange body and unsure quite how to proceed whilst Carson projects the bluff bravado of Jack Gregory perfectly. He might be in someone else’s body, but he plans to enjoy himself, which includes availing himself of Ann Meredith.
I’ve always tended to picture Alethea Charlton with grimy characters (possibly due to her two Doctor Who appearances in An Unearthly Child and The Time Meddler) but here she’s much more upwardly mobile and Ann is the character who’s responsible for the outcome of the story. She respects, rather than loves, her husband but she quickly comes to love Jack Gregory when he’s in the body of her husband. And as might be expected, this isn’t going to end well for everyone.
Next up – Deathday
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