MovieChat Forums > Tales of the Unexpected (1979) Discussion > The Eavesdropper

The Eavesdropper

posted 8 years ago by stonedprune1975
3 replies | jump to latest

I've just seen this episode for the first time ever.

The main character Moira suspects that a woman is having an affair with her husband. Throughout the episode she narrates her thoughts to us viewers.

In the scene in the restaurant where she notices that the woman is wearing her watch, she loses her composure and starts abusing the woman in her mind. She calls her 3 things. The first is "YOU WHORE". The second is not very clear but it sounds like "YOU MAGGOT". The third is very clear to my ears but I just couldn't believe what I heard. She is clearly saying "YOU CHUNT". I've added an 'h' to the spelling of that word as I don't think that I can get away with writing that word on here.

Do I need my hearing checked? I've listened to it over and over again and it is definitely what she said. I know that the early 80s were not very politically correct but surely you couldn't get away with casually using language like that on British TV. You hardly ever hear that word on TV even now.

And then later on when Moira pushes the woman into the path of a truck, we clearly see that they are part of a large group of pedestrians standing at a zebra crossing. Surely pedestrians have right of way at a pedestrian crossing and cars have to stop at a zebra crossing to let pedestrians cross. In this scene, all of the pedestrians are just standing waiting at the zebra crossing and the truck is seen approaching from miles away and the driver just decided to ignore all of the pedestrians and drive right through the crossing without stopping.

[–] davadski 8 years ago

Hi there. I'm not sure whether you'll actually see this reply, but I've just watched this episode and listened closely to the restaurant scene you mention - I'm pretty sure the three words she calls her are "You whore", "You murderess" (not "maggot") and "You cow", rather than the expletive you're hearing. It might just be Dorothy Tutin's accent which is making you hear that.

Hope this helps.

[–] stonedprune1975 8 years ago

Thanks for clearing that up.

I can hear 'murderess' now, even though it doesn't make much sense as she doesn't kill anyone. But I still can't hear 'cow'. Whatever it is she said, it definitely sounds like it starts with a 'c' and ends in a 't'.

I know that it can't possibly be the 'c' word as there is no way that would get past the censors, but that's what it sounds like to me.

[–] davadski 8 years ago

But doesn't she overhear (or rather think she overhears) the lady planning with the chap to have her killed? Hence the "murderess" I guess.