Original Air Date: January 1, 1976

Directed by: Michael Apted

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: A performance of the Harold Pinter play finds confusion about a possible affair between Bill (Malcolm McDowell) and Stella (Helen Mirren) which leaves Bill’s partner Harry (Laurence Olivier) and Stella’s husband James (Alan Bates) wondering what really happened.

Featured Feline: Stella owns a longhaired white cat which is unnamed but seen with her throughout the play.

Harry visits Stella and they sit and discuss the situation. Earlier in the play a comment was made about how Bill was once hypnotized by a cat. As the pair silently realize they are possibly losing the connections with their respective partners Harry suddenly focuses on the cat, exclaiming, “What a darling, beautiful kitten!” He asks her name but we never hear the answer.

In the play’s last ambiguous scene, Stella does not answer James when he asks for the truth but stares at him with the cat across her chest. There is a slight blooper when the camera cuts away and then back and the cat has shifted positions then shifts back again.

The cat is in the original stage play and many stage cats have played the part over the years. Here is a video of a cat actor named Sweet Bea who performed the role in 2017 in the Washington D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production.

Final Mewsings: Cats can have subtext.

Many thanks to Ted Davis for letting us know about the cat in this adaptation!

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