The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962)

Episode Overview

Dr. Fenwick, who struggles with mental illness, believes in the healing power of role-playing within psychiatry. After killing the head of the sanitarium where he is a patient, he takes on the man's identity. He confines the doctors and nurses in the attic, assigning their duties to fellow patients. Everything seems to go well until Natalie Rivers, the niece of the deceased director, comes to visit. Having never met her uncle, she is easily deceived by Fenwick. When Natalie stumbles upon her uncle's body and asks Fenwick to call the police, he feigns the call, but a patient posing as a detective arrives instead. Ultimately, Natalie uncovers the truth about the locked staff, and Fenwick attempts to silence her, but the police intervene.