Guardian of The Abyss

 

An antique mirror turns up at an auction. A young girl on the run from a cult society claims the the mirror is a scrying glass used to summon Choronzon, the almighty devil. Soon the society led by Charles Randolph are keen to get their hands on both the mirror and the girl.

Cast

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Michael Roberts
Ray Lonnen
Tina
Caroline Langrishe
Laura
Barbara Ewing
Allison
Rosalyn Landor
1st Girl
Sophie Thompson
Randolph
John Carson
2nd Girl
Sharon Fussey
Simon Andrews
Paul Darrow
Auctioneer
Barry McDonald

Production Information

Transmission Date: 15th November 1980 (UK ITV)

Screenplay: David Fisher

Director: Don Sharp

 

Trivia

The screenwriter of this episode obviously took inspiration from the history books. John Dee was Court Astronomer and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I, but he was also an occultist. He sought to contact spirits through the use of a scryer which would act as an intermediary between himself and the angels. Dee’s first attempts with several scryers were unsatisfactory, but in 1582 he met Edward Kelley, who impressed him greatly with his abilities. Dee took Kelley into his service and began to devote all his energies to his supernatural pursuits. Dee claimed that angels laboriously dictated several books to him this way, through Kelley, some in a special angelic or Enochian language.
Choronzon is a demon or devil that originated in writing with the aforementioned 16th-century occultists Edward Kelley and John Dee within the latter’s occult system of Enochian magic. In the 20th century he became an important element within the mystical system of Thelema, founded by Aleister Crowley, where he is the “dweller in the abyss”. Otherwise known as “the demon of dispersion”, Choronzon is described by Crowley as a temporary personification of the raving and inconsistent forces that occupy the abyss. In this system, Choronzon is given form in evocation only so it may be mastered. C.F. Russell, one of Crowley’s disciples, went on to found the Choronzon Club [source: Wikipedia]

The screenwriter, David Fisher, also wrote ‘The Late Nancy Irving’ and ‘Corvini Inheritance’ episodes from the Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense series

Filming Locations

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