A Laugh and a Cheap Lesson

There is no defending The Shadow on the grounds of subtlety, and it would be a strange thing to want. The premise is a man who can cloud minds, a moral that arrives with the force of a slap, and a laugh that generations have been able to do an impression of without ever having heard the programme.

It works because it is played straight and fast. Twenty-odd minutes, one situation, no dawdling. The scripts have a nasty streak — plenty of them are about people being buried, drowned or frightened to death — and the show never apologises for it, which is precisely what a serial with that title should do.

The Welles episodes are the ones everyone reaches for, and they are good, but the run settles into something more reliable afterwards. Take a handful at random. You will not be bored.