Ronan Vibert, Tales from the Crypt, James Wilby, Elizabeth McGovern

~ Tales from the Crypt 
n. Horror in the Night
- TV Series US (HBO)   1997: Series 5, Episode 
Ronan content: approx 13%    approx 25mins
Character:'T', ruthless small time London gangster/thug/hitman
Cast:James Wilby Nick, Elizabeth McGovern, Ronan Vibert 'T'
Dir:Russell Mulcahy
Availability: Not available. Repeats on US Sci-Fi Channel
Plot/Comments:

This grey, grimy looking, British-shot episode of Tales from the Crypt shows off the much-loved underbelly of petty London gangsterdom. 
It isn't an amazing episode by any means, but to its credit, instead of going for the ''Loaded Lad" Lock Stock... style, it goes for the more surreal circular morality tale of 'Performance'.
Nick (James Wilby) and 'T' (Ronan Vibert), are two small time gangsters in the unhappy Long Good Friday vein.
     Complete opposites, Nick is all suits, smart thinking, and restlessness at still being such a small and insignificant fish, while 'T' is a seemingly straight-up, casually-dressed, slicked-back, less intelligent 'taking orders' fish of an even more insignificant  nature. 
     Sent to knock off the infamous Mr Starr's diamond shop as part of an insurance scam, Nick puts forward the idea that they could keep the stash for themselves and become bigger players. 'T' scorns the idea -- nobody rips off Starr and lives. 
      After the Grab, 'T' turns against Nick, shooting him to keep the diamonds himself. 'T' turns out to be a bad shot, is shot in return, and Nick escapes into Darkest London with the stolen stash to hole up from Starr and lick his wounds in a familiar looking, once-grand, now seedy, East End hotel.
Naturally all is not as it seems. Suffering from blood loss, Nick begins to hallucinate horrifically: 'T' tracking him down and blowing him away; a blood and gore-soaked laundry trolley making the rounds each morning through never-ending corridors of screaming Room 305s; blood dripping from pipes and radiators; and a strange femme fatale straight out of a James Ellroy novel (Elizabeth McGovern) who tends his wounds and hides him from the police in return for his promise that he will help her escape the hellish hotel. 
     The hallucinations become more frequent and disturbing until the lines between nightmare and reality merge.McGovern finally reveals that she was a cheating wife who he and 'T' were hired to do a hit on five years ago by her jealous gangster husband. The door bursts open on the two of them: 'T' and Mr Starr have come for the diamonds and payback. 
     The camera reveals that to Nick, the hotel room is one of flaking ex-grandeur with McGovern beside him; to 'T' (and in reality), the room is merely a graffiti and needle-strewn shell, with only the bleeding Nick inside it. Nick is shot, the diamonds are recovered and 'T' laughingly remembers how he and (especially) Nick had done a really vicious hit on a cheating wife in that very room. As they exit the derelict and boarded up building, Starr reveals that he was tipped off by a mystery telephone call from an unknown woman.

Elizabeth McGovern's Black Dahlia character is played in a far more animated manner than her oddly stilted Margueritte in Pimpernel and James Wilby's character is very James Fox in Performance, even down to his hair and 60s suit. While there are some pretty awful lines in there (unfortunately these are mostly T's), there is a good build up of atmosphere, and the hallucinations are handled well. 
What really lets the episode down is the way it suddenly peters out once Nick is shot dead:  'T' and Starr's final lines are just clunkily scripted exposition, which sound more like awkwardly written plot notes than actual character speech.

 
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VIBERTOGRAPHY
Trainspotter Comment
  • Elizabeth McGovern also worked with Vibert on the Scarlet Pimpernel. They have no scenes together in Tales from the Crypt.See Loose Ends for a list of repeat co-stars.
  • Russell 'Highlander' Mulcahy also directed Vibert in the god-awful Talos: the Mummy (watch for the Vibert/Christopher Lee pre-title story)
n. Special thanks to Monique Desormeau for sourcing the tape
Ronan content:

'T' is a pretty functional element of the episode, there purely to set up Nick's injured flight from Starr and then explain the plot to the audience at the end. 
    Vibert shows him to clearly not be a Happy Chap. A sort of thug jobsworth, resigned to his lot and not smart enough to think of a leap to the big leagues. This lack of ambition makes him a good footsoldier and nothing more.
When he shoots Nick and goes to pick up the diamonds, there is considerably more swagger to him.

Looking tired and drawn, with roughly slicked-back hair, blue jeans, black boots and a black leather jacket (switched at the end for a long black leather coat in true TV Equalizer-baddie fashion) 'T' is the complete opposite to the more sartorial, 'mockney' Nick. 
     Vibert voices him somewhere between drug dealer Lee in Traffic and Bull in Big Women.
n. Special thanks to Monique Desormeau 
for sourcing the tape.