Nightfall

, one of the most disturbing radio series ever produced, was launched in 1980 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The show ignited complaints from many listeners that it was too frightening, prompting some stations to drop the series from their programming. Nevertheless, Nightfall spanned 99 episodes (plus 2 re-broadcasts of BBC productions) over the course of 3 years, disrupting the sleep of as many listeners as dared tune in.

Sources used to create my own log and double-check titles, dates and cast members: The Nightfall Project, Digital Deli Too, and Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Plot summaries for some of the episodes I have not listened to were collected from RadioGOLDINdex.

Currently this archive contains 101 plotlines and 126 reviews

Webmaster Recommends:

After Sunset

Fifty years after a small town suffers a grisly series of murders, the killings begin again, leading some of the town's elderly to suspect the return of an entity as ancient as it is evil.

All-Nighter

An aspiring actress, who works at a laundry mat until she gets her "big break", discovers a small piece of human skin in one of her machines. Then she finds a body in the dryer. She enlists her best friend to stay up all night with her to find out what's going on.

Angel of Death

During the First World War, a woman is haunted by the mournful cries of her brother - killed on the Western Front - supposedly coming from the attic of her family home.

Angel's Kiss

A man meets a woman in a night club and gets lucky - or does he?

Appetite of Mr Lucraft, The

In Victorian England, a man's voracious appetite leads him to some very interesting people.

Assassin Game

In a world controlled by rival corporations, university students are tested for their potential cunning as future executives via the 'Assassin Game', where they engage in mock hits exacted against fellow students. However, when one student rejects a job offer from a major company that doesn't take no for an answer, the 'game' gets more than a little out of hand...

Baby Doll

A husband makes a gift to his wife of an antique doll, which she receives as a sick joke, since they are childless. But her initial anger soon turns to a fanatical maternal obsession that threatens to destroy them both.

Beauty's Beast

Unable to buy off the attentions of a suitor to his beautiful daughter, a wealthy industrialist researcher subjects him to a bizarre comeuppance by making him the subject of a deadly new serum he has invented.

Beyond the Law

When his partners start being murdered, a real estate developer decides to retaliate against the Tenant's Association that he blames for their deaths. --- radioGOLDINdex

Blood Countess, The

A nauseatingly gruesome recounting of the efforts of the notorious Elisabeth de Bathory to entice her husband back from the dead through a series of abominations perpetrated against young female virgins.

A somewhat true story, based on the legend of Countess Elizabeth Bathory.

Body Snatcher, The

A classic story of a young medical student who suddenly finds himself dealing with grave robbers and worse.

A version was also produced for Suspense.

Book of Hell, The

A publisher receives a manuscript by a dead author which claims to be an accurate account of the horrors of the underworld. Sensationalistic trash, except that for some reason the pages will not copy, and things start going very wrong for anyone who reads the thing.

Breaking Point

What do you get when you throw together a circus owner, his showgirl girlfriend, and a strongman? It all adds up to murder... most foul.

Brides of Olivera, The

A woman becomes convinced a fortune teller is an infamous serial killer who uses his psychic powers to destroy his victims.

Buried Alive

A sleazy hypnotist fakes his own death for the insurance money. He awakens in his coffin with an oxygen tank and an intercom, and waits for his wife and assistant to dig him up. Unfortunately, the two "rescuers" are having an affair and decide to leave him entombed.

But, Oh What Happened to Hutchings?

England, in the 19th century, is the setting for this episode. Times are hard, and making ends meet is extremely difficult. Grave robbing, therefore, is a lucrative business in an otherwise sterile job market. Why wait for the bodies to drop over of natural causes, though, when you can speed up the process a bit?

Carmilla

Set in Germany's Black Forest. A wealthy man and his daughter receive a mysterious house guest who has a secret life, one which threatens to destroy anyone who encounters her. --- radioGOLDINdex

Cemetery Stop

A recently widowed bus driver is haunted by a strange woman who everyday insists on getting off at a lonely stop outside of a Toronto cemetery.

Child's Play

A couple move into the wife's childhood home, in spite of the memories of her parents, who were murdered there in their bed when she was a little girl. Bad idea.

Chrysalids, The

In an irradiated post-Holocaust future, Mankind is rebuilding civilization, but he still harbors the same old evils of prejudice, intolerance, and fanaticism, now directed toward anyone unfortunate enough to have been born with any variation on the established physical norm.

Not really a part of Nightfall, but often included in Nightfall broadcast logs.

Club of Dead Men, The

A Canadian student at Cambridge, obsessed by a desire to see ghosts, determines to spend the night in a room once used for meetings by members of the Everlasting Club. This eighteenth-century gentlemen's club expected members to attend its annual meetings, with no exceptions granted to the deceased... --- radioGoLDINdex

Contract, The

A young man find himself on hard times, or so it seems. He is indebted to a man he met in prison. He just can't seem to get the money, so things look bleak for the man. Luckily, his wife is sympathetic, and rich. She can bail him out. Unfortunately, what she mistakenly believes is a heavy gambling debt is actually a contract to have her killed.

Cruel Husband, The

Its a tale of infidelity, and of revenge. A Count discovers his wife's infidelity and takes steps to see that it doesn't happen again.

Daddy's Girl

A man on vacation in the West Indies gets more than he bargains for when he gets on the wrong side of a young girl who is a practitioner of black magic. Can he escape and tell the authorities of the strange deaths that have occurred on the island before it's too late?

Dark Side of the Mind

A dentist begins to realize that a long lost friend's strange behavior may coincide with the recent string of child murders. --- radioGOLDINdex

Deadly Developments

A stolen camera has the ability to render anyone who is photographed by it dead.

Debt, The

A fraternity initiation ritual goes too far, and the young man being initiated is killed. And that's the end of that. Or is it...

Dentist, The

A newlywed wife accepts a job as an assistant in the office of a genteel dentist who often treats the poor for free. However, she soon suspects something is wrong when the patients are seen leaving in a disassociated stupor.

Devil's Backbone, The

Three treasure seekers looking for Spanish gold from a sunken galleon off the Nova Scotia coast are frustrated in their quest by a strange creature which has set up house in the wreck.

Fall of Moondust, A

A Re-broadcast of a BBC production about a cruise liner which falls victim to a sinkhole as it skims over the dust seas of the Moon. Story by Arthur C. Clarke.

Not really a part of Nightfall, but often included in Nightfall broadcast logs. See also "The Map Makers" and "Death Wish" (X Minus One), "Space Wreck" (2000 Plus), and "Survival" (BBC).

Fatal Eggs, The

Set in communist Russia, a scientist discovers a compound, which when injected into chicken eggs, produces giant chickens. Only the government gets hold of the compound and accidentally injects it into snake eggs, with really fun results.

Footsteps

After narrowly missing being killed by a truck, an ad executive becomes obsessed with the sound of footsteps following him wherever he goes.

From My Appointed Place Below

Set in old Scotland. A young man delivers his rent to the local laird, but the latter dies before a receipt can be written, and the money disappears. Desperate, the young man turns to an enigmatic stranger for help.

"Wandering Willie's Tale" from the novel Redgauntlet, 1824.

Future Fear

After getting his television repaired, a man is horrified to behold broadcasts from the future, a future in which his wayward criminal son will become the new Hitler.

Gerald

A small town minister is drawn into the search for someone who tortures and kills animals. When his own dog and then his son's best friend Ricky are killed, he can't understand why his son Gerald seems to be so unaffected by the loss.

Glaze of Perfect Beauty, A

An obsessive potter accidentally knocks his assistant into the kiln and finds that human ash makes the best glazes. However, the quality of the person is key to the quality of the glaze. He seeks perfection of his art at any price.

See also "The Potters of Firsk" (Dimension X)

Glimpse of Eternity, A

A university professor researching longevity reluctantly agrees to try out his experimental formula on a willing friend, who soon afterward starts undergoing an extraordinary and disturbing metamorphosis.

Guest-of-Honor

Lady Neville is old and has one last wish - to throw the grandest, most outrageous party in the history of London. To make it so, she invites the most infamous guest of all—the Grim Reaper.

Hands Off

A chemical designed to trigger aggression accidentally spills in the laboratory, getting on the hands of its inventors. The scent causes everyone and everything they encounter to react with murderous hatred.

Harris and the Mare

A man's innocent view of the general goodness of mankind is shattered by his wife's murder.

Hit, The

Two bumbling, bickering hitmen head for a job; one of them is in for a surprise.

How Did You Get My Name?

A man returns from four years in a European mental institution to stay with a friend in Toronto . The phone rings, and it's a man asking strange questions. And the man already knows his name. Things spiral downhill from there.

Hypnotized

A woman under hypnotic regression begins recollections of a very disturbing previous incarnation, in which she has some attachment to the Devil...

In the Eye of the Beholder

When an ill-tempered old farmer refuses to have surgery for his cataracts, a mysterious young man shows up to help him, and the farmer's past comes back to haunt him.

In the Name of the Father

A grieving writer, wanting peace, goes to a small, remote fishing village. There she discovers the town's dark secret.

Jogger, The

A former high-school football star who is in decline and well past his "glory days" is haunted by a mysterious jogger, whom he feels he must catch at all costs.

Last Visit

A couple on vacation in Newfoundland are waylaid by heavy fog in a remote area where they keep running into the same local yokel, although in different guises. More than a little creeped out, they try to walk out of town, but that seems to be impossible....

Late Special

Blinded and injured in a car accident in the middle of a blizzard, Claire tries to find help in an abandoned train station. An old steam train pulls in, and a man from the train offers her help "for a price".

Lazarus Rising

A reporter becomes entangled in a web of revenge and sorcery when he arrives in a small country town to investigate the incredible report of a man who apparently rose from the dead.

Lifeline

A man loses more than the lines in his palms as the result of burns in an apartment fire.

Love and the Lonely One

Two medical students pull a prank involving a cadaver of an old woman. The next day, one of the students is pursued by a beautiful young woman who dresses, decorates, and acts like it's sixty years earlier. And she won't let him go.

Maid's Bell, The

A maidservant takes a job with a kind but sad mistress who suffers from a weak heart, a cruel and tyrannical husband, and the presence of a deceased former maid who refuses to leave the house.

Mindrift

A government agent lands in New Your City on a mission to do... something. He knows only that he is programmed to carry out the mission, whatever it might be.

Mr Agostino

A story which is scary by virtue of the fact that it actually could happen. Carole is plagued by a mysterious man who keeps calling and asking for Mr Agostino. Its just a wrong number. Right?

Mkara

Charles Woodley flees to the highlands of Ethiopia to escape a curse that has been laid upon him for killing a sacred bull elephant—a curse which would cause him to die horribly, trampled beneath the feet of the God of All Elephants, if he were to stay in Tanganyika. There are no elephants in the Ethiopian highlands...

Another version was produced for Beyond Midnight (as "Impala").

Monkey's Paw, The

The classic tale of a talisman in the form of a shrunken monkey's hand which holds the power to make wishes come true, but not in the way the wisher might expect...

Versions of this story were produced for Beyond Midnight, Favorite Story, Mysterious Circumstances (BBC), and Fear on Four (BBC).

Monkey's Raincoat, The

A satirical vision of the future of American politics, as a freshly inaugurated President must prove his caliber (pun intended) by eliminating several assassins on his way to the White House.

No Admittance, No Exit

A female mechanic has her hands injured in a car engine. Frantic, the service station owner and a professor of history take her into the Future Clinic, the new hospital in town. Only it's not like any they've ever seen. --- radioGOLDINdex

No Quarter

What happens when video games take over your life?

Old Post Road, The

A couple late for a dinner engagement take a shortcut down a deserted road where they encounter a series of increasingly bizarre paranormal events.

On Christmas Day in the Morning

A mailman is found dead by the side of the road on Christmas morning, the victim of a hit and run. The mayor's wild son is suspected of being the driver. A retired judge joins the sheriff and the mayor in investigating the crime, which leads them to the house of an old woman in the middle of nowhere.

Porch Light, The

A couple rent a remote house in the country unaware that it had been the site of a brutal murder spree twenty years earlier. A nocturnal visitor appears on their porch who can illuminate them in a most poignant way.

Private Collection

Young women are disappearing in the middle of downtown, in broad daylight. Can Constable Wood figure out what's going on, before it's too late?

Repossession, The

The spirit of a twin which died during separation at birth returns to claim the life and body of the surviving brother.

Reunion at the Victory Café

A couple visiting a London pub fashioned after a Second World War theme are disturbed by the sight of what looks like the husband's father, who was killed in this selfsame pub during the Blitz. A strange transformation follows - of a sudden its 1941 and the Blitz is in full swing.

Reverse Image

A milquetoast purchases an antique mirror and encounters an alter ego of himself, which offers to exchange places for awhile to take revenge on everyone who has treated him like a doormat.

Ringing the Changes

A honeymoon couple arrive in a sleepy Cornwall village seeking a place to celebrate. Their choice of an out-of-the-way town proves unwise, as the town has a very special tradition.

Road Ends at the Sea, The

Determined to confront his old friend about the affair he's been having with his wife, a man drives out to the lighthouse where they live. But the couple seem more interested in the strange black ship which has appeared offshore...

Room, The

Enticed by an eccentric, yet wealthy widow's substantial reward, a sceptic accepts an offer to spend a night locked in a supposedly haunted room in her mansion... despite the fact that previous volunteers have all gone insane or committed suicide.

"The Room" was adapted by Nightfall actor Graham Haley from "The Yellow Room" which was written for Beyond Midnight by Michael McCabe and which was, in turn, based on the 1894 H.G. Wells short story, "The Red Room."

Safe in the Arms of Jesus

A couple become concerned when their young son's religious leanings take on a warped, fanatical bent.

Screaming Skull, The

A retired sailor relates the tale of how and why he came to be haunted by a screaming skull.

Semi-Detached

A young girl living in a foster home finds herself potentially homeless when her 'parents' announce they are expecting. She is helpless to prevent being cast aside, ... or is she? Strange, unnatural things start to happen around the house. --- radioGOLDINdex

Servants of Cerberus, The

A wealthy and successful businesswoman, bedridden by disease, has visions in her dreams that her dogs speak to her. She also has a philandering husband and a secretary who wants to run away with him. Drama ensues. --- radioGOLDINdex

Shortwave Goodbye, A

A man has a shortwave radio which picks up future newscasts. He uses it for personal enrichment, and as an aid in killing his wife.

See also "Future Fear" (Nightfall)

Signal-Man, The

A railroad signalman is driven to the brink of madness by a spectral apparition at the mouth of a train tunnel, which seems to be trying to warn him of... what? --- radioGOLDINdex

Special Services

A couple on their way to visit a sick aunt are run off the road by an ambulance. The husband is rushed to a 'special services' hospital which claims to treat only the elite of society, but his wife suspect the doctors are lying about his sudden demise in the operating room.

Stone Ship, The

A 19th century ship's crew encounter a ghostly vessel in a thick night fog. Her hull is made of stone and the putrid stench about her is the stench of death. Despite their superstition and fear, they feel compelled to board her...

Strange Odyssey of Lennis Freed, The

The namesake of this story in an enigma for a middle-aged couple on the onset of a vacation. Winter has come on quickly, and the middle aged couple find that a sick man has been arriving every place that they go even in the midst of such inclement weather. What's worse is that the wife has a strange maternal instinct to protect the strange, unhealthy man. What is his bizarre secret? --- radioGOLDINdex

Teddy

A five year old is tormented by the constant din of other people's thoughts flooding into his mind. If that weren't bad enough, there are ruthless people who want to use him to their own selfish ends, including his own parents. Poor Teddy is helpless to prevent them - or is he?

Teig O'Kane and the Corpse

Based on the story Douglas Hyde. Ne'er-do-well Irishman Teig O'Kane is accosted by some little men (fairies, I think) and given the task of burying a talkative corpse before sunrise.

Tell-Tale Heart, The

A man of questionable sanity decides to do away with his tenant for the sole purpose of ridding the presence of the man's vulture-like eye. The landlord hides the body beneath the floor boards in a manner that would evade detection of even the most meticulous inspection. It's a perfect crime, except for the fact that the victim's heart beats in the ears of the murderer, crying out for justice.

See the Famous Authors on Radio page for a list of all the versions of this story produced for radio.

They Bite

An alien disregards protocols and contacts the primitive

Thinking Room, The

A young man who wants to kill himself discovers a secret club devoted to learning about suicide, and planning for The Special Day.

This One Will Kill You

Danny, a stand up comedian, continues to perform a dreadful routine night after night until the night club owner must fire him. The rejection is so great that Danny makes a final curtain call at the business end of a shotgun. His last request is a roast in lieu of a wake to be emceed by his former student and successful comedian, Steve. Danny has the last laugh, though, turning the tables on his plagiaristic protege.

Tie That Binds, The

A 38 year old man relates how he came to be at an asylum. In a drunken stupor, he rolled his car and killed his wife. After such, he suffers ill effects that seem to have no physical basis. After he collapses, he awakens to find himself certified in a psychiatric facility. The trouble is, he isn't crazy. At least, that's what the voice inside his head keeps telling him.

Turn of the Blood, The

In Hardy's Wessex, sometime in the 1800s, Gertrude, Farmer Lodge's new wife, meets a woman Lodge cast off (Rhoda) and the son she (Rhoda) had by him. After Rhoda dreams of a struggle with Gertrude, Gertrude's arm withers; Gertrude looks into fixing her arm. Things don't work out the way she planned.

Undertaker, The

As the titular undertaker (or mortician) - a somewhat caddish ladies' man - prepares the body of a woman who loved him, he reminisces, gets drunk, and has a one-night stand.

Volcano

A psychiatrist uses experimental methods to train a down-on-his-luck boxer.

Walter's Dog

An alcoholic lobsterman decides to murder his boss in order to become a man in his own eyes.

Watching

A peeping tom invents a girlfriend to compensate for his incapacities with women, and when his friends begin to suspect, resorts to extreme measures to ensure his girlfriend is both real and committed to him.

Waters Under the Bridge

Weather Station Four

Two men are trapped at a remote weather station in the Arctic by a violent storm. One is a veteran of the far north, but the other is an emotionally unstable rookie who begins to hear a female voice on the radio goading him to murder and madness. --- radioGOLDINdex

See also "A Study in Wax" (Suspense and Escape)

Wedding, The

In the late 1600's, a Jewish family embarks on planning a wedding. The superstitions of the father and bride-to-be run amok, fostered by a recent plague which hit the village. Times are better now, or so they think, until a strange jester offers to perform at the wedding. When the day comes, he arrives and expects payment upon services rendered. The miserly father reneges, much to the chagrin of the wedding party. They soon find out it is no laughing matter when you cheat a wandering jester.

Welcome to Homerville

A trucker on a lonely road to Homerville seeks out a little company on his CB radio, but the other truckers are horrified to learn of his destination, and plead with him to turn around, to avoid Homerville at any cost. --- radioGOLDINdex

Where Do We Go From Here?

The unfortunate Neville Edwards wakes up after a near-fatal accident, can't move a muscle or speak, but is fully conscious. In walks Ernie, thorough, reliable Ernie. He won't let the docs give him up for dead, will he?

Where Does the News Come From?

What happened to the anchorman who suddenly left the news broadcast in mid-stream? Why is no-one talking about him? And what did he discover about where the news comes from?

Wildcats

Two elderly sisters running an almost abandoned hotel take in a stranger who gets off a train by accident and needs to stay the night. Will they ever let him leave?

Adapted by Otto Lowy (based on the German short story by Christian Noak).

Willoughby Obsession, The

What happened in the Willoughby mansion the night that three people died there? What happened to the former gardener who was found babbling incoherently and dying? And what is that strange presence in the library?

Wind Chill

Trapped in a remote cabin by a violent snowstorm, a woman finds comfort in the unexpected company of an enigmatic young man, and discomfort in the wailing of a child out in the storm.

Young Goodman Brown

A young man journeys into the woods bordering his home village at dusk and encounters a strange man and a wicked Satanic ritual.

Your Fortune in 20 Words or Less

A two-bit carnival fortune teller is visited by a mysterious old man who bestows true clairvoyant powers upon him... but it comes at a price.

Copyright © 2000-2024 www.otrplotspot.com