Absolutely everybody noticed the influence of "Witchfinder General" on this lively half-hour, and it could hardly be missed. What's surprising is that no-one seems to have mentioned the equally obvious influence of Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible", which has been filmed a couple of times, or Aldous Huxley's book, "The Devils Of Loudun", which was the basis of John Whiting's play "The Devils" and its 1971 movie version directed by Ken Russell. These are not exactly obscure or little- known works, after all! The notion that the tiny village of Little Happens will grow prosperous as a result of a witchcraft trial (it may, we are told with a straight face, even change its name to Much Happens) is taken direct from Huxley. This is not to deny the brilliance of the Pemberton-Shearsmith script, with its characteristic mixture of the absurd (this episode has perhaps the most outrageously silly jokes of the second season) and the terrifying (Shearsmith's admirably serious performance). All the actors, indeed, maintain perfect balance between the two extremes. Incidentally, the very end of the story shows a rather less distinguished influence - that of the "vampire" episode of "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors".
