This 26-part anthology series of half-hour tales of mystery and suspense from Anglia Television included stories by such well-known authors as O Henry, Wilkie Collins and WW Jacobs, with a specially written excursion into the supernatural by the author of Quatermass, Nigel Kneale. Ambitious reporter Harry Langley pretends to be the murderer of unidentified woman, to boost sales with a special report from prison. But once arrested, the authorities seem to be convinced that he is indeed the killer - because the victim has been identified as his fiancee! The only real criticism I have is the condition of some of the episodes – occasionally the picture strobes, rolls and there’s some picture interference – but that’s no doubt due to the condition of the master recordings. All in all, with the nights drawing in, Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries is a great way to spend half an hour curled up on the sofa enjoying some razor-sharp storytelling and top notch 1970s TV acting. It’s also a chance to see where Anglia Television’s other anthology series Tales of the Unexpected (1979-1988) developed from. A Spanish officer, captured by the French during the Peninsular War, is imprisoned near the country house of an elderly aristocrat with a bored young wife - whose lover he becomes, with deadly consequences. (Based on a story by Honoré de Balzac However, the show didn’t really need Welles at all. The episodes – which, once his segments are taken out last maybe 20 minutes each – stand up in their own right.

For retired film editor Steve Peart news "Awesome Orson" was coming to the Anglia Studios was a momentous event.

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The Leather Funnel starring Christopher Lee, Simon Ward and Jane Seymour; story by Arthur Conan Doyle Captain Rogers starring Donald Pleasence and Willoughby Goddard; script by Harry Green; story by W.W. Jacobs

Even by the standards of half-hour television drama these stories are rather simple, with just one little sting in the tail. Sometimes the payoff isn’t quite as satisfactory as one might have hoped, and too often it’s too easy to see the payoff coming.

Like the previously issued 10-episode German DVD set from Pidax Film Media,, the UK release is encoded in the PAL, Region 2 format, which means it is not compatible with most North American players. (There has been no word of a U.S. release.) The series received critical acclaim both on American TV, where it debuted and at home in Britain when it was eventually aired there. Episodes A young man talks with the uncle of the girl he wants to marry, and is told a strange story about a curious funnel made of leather. While falling asleep next to the device, he has a presentiment that it was once used as an instrument of torture. (Based on a story by Arthur Conan Doyle) The only contribution that Welles actually makes to the series is his brief intros and outros, which almost certainly would have been done in a single day. But Welles did earn his money - his amused cynicism does add to the atmosphere.

Produced by Anglia Television, the 25-minute long episodes were originally broadcast by Britain’s ITV between September 1973 and February 1974. Thirteen episodes were featured on the first volume and the remaining 13 shows are contained on Volume 2. In the 19th century, Charles Stubbs is a perfectly ordinary citizen, until one day, he sees a terrifying spirit of a murdered old man appear to him. Shortly thereafter, he is summoned to be head of the jury on a murder trial, where a man called Higgins is accused of murdering an old man after he was caught cheating with his wife. Stubbs does not want to attend, but when the ghost appears to him again, he decides to accept the task. At the trial, Higgins complains about Stubbs being on the jury, despite the two never having met - since it is revealed that the apparition of Stubbs holding a noose appeared to him in jail every night. During the trial, both Stubbs and the defense lawyer, as well as a prostitute trying to provide an alibi for Higgins, keep seeing glimpses of the ghost, and eventually even the last opposing jury member is convinced of Higgins' guilt, and he is found guilty. Later, when Stubbs reads in the papers about Higgins' execution, the ghost appears to him a final time, nodding thanks, then fading away, having been put to rest. Anyone expecting a TV equivalent of Mercury Theatre on the Air was disappointed by this pedestrian series, filmed on videotape and hosted by a bored-looking Welles in his F for Fake garb of billowing cape and sloping hat. Great Mysteries lasted but one season (26 episodes). Welles didn't direct any episodes. This is the kind of show that the Talking Pictures TV channel has been resurrecting lately, but with no sign of it popping up on there yet, buying the series would make a good investment for anybody interested in offbeat 1970s series. Fans of British horror should enjoy it too – some of the stories have a supernatural or creepy element to them and both star and are directed by stalwarts of the genre.

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I for one am very interested in seeing what the first volume has to offer; if the second collection is anything to go by, I’d say it’s one of the most intriguing entries in the second half of Welles’ career, even if he was nothing more than a hired hand. It was all down to John Woolf that we were able to get him and I remember there being quite a bit of excitement – although I never met him myself. It was such a big moment for us