Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Backward, Turn Backward
TV Flash files “Backward, Turn Backward” as hour 171 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 5, episode 18, aired 1960-01-31, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E18: listed hour 171 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 18 of 38 in season 5. It aired 1960-01-31 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Cure” (S05E17). Next is “Not the Running Type” (S05E19).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Sheriff Andy Willett investigates the murder of a man named Matt Thompson who was beaten to death with a wrench. He suspects a man named Phil Canby. Phil was involved in an affair with Matt's daughter Sue. Sheriff Willett discovers that a baby's cries were heard on the murder night. Knowing that Phil had been babysitting, he arrests Canby. As he is being taken way, his daughter Betty Canby yells at Sue. She blames him for ruining her father. She also yells at the sheriff. She begins to cry, almost regressing into infancy. She is mentally ill and was the murderer.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Backward, Turn Backward sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S05E18 is listed hour 171 of 268 — hour 18 of 38 in season 5, season 5 episode 18.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S05E18 air?
Backward, Turn Backward aired 1960-01-31 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Hitch's hosted half-hours rather than assuming he directed the lot. Sample the dry intros and the snap endings; the silhouette is the franchise.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Alfred Hitchcock Presents made the director himself the franchise: silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, and closings that sometimes 'corrected' crime to soothe censors. Watch it in 2026 as branded anthology swagger — Joan Harrison's engine, Hitch's persona, and twist endings as moral architecture you can still hum.
Calendar first: CBS, October 2, 1955. Then a later NBC window. Original half-hour run through 1962 — **268 episodes, seven seasons** — before the expansion as *The Alfred Hitchcock Hour* (1962–1965). That is not nostalgia cosplay. That is a branded anthology with a host who was the franchise, a silhouette you could hum, and a weekly drop of murder with a wink. Rex can keep the three-network hymn. This was already a logo, a window, and a closing card that sometimes reversed the crime to soothe Standards & Practices.
Filed against
- Alfred Hitchcock as Host
Alfred Hitchcock made himself the franchise on Alfred Hitchcock Presents — silhouette, dry intro, murder with a wink, closings that sometimes “corrected” crime to soothe censors. Branded anthology swagger, Joan Harrison’s engine, twist…