Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Deathmate
TV Flash files “Deathmate” as hour 218 of 268 in the TV Flash guide — Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–1962) on CBS/NBC, season 6, episode 27, aired 1961-04-18, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S06E27: listed hour 218 of 268 in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide, hour 27 of 38 in season 6. It aired 1961-04-18 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Coming, Mama” (S06E26). Next is “Gratitude” (S06E28).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Ben Conan is a con artist who is having an affair with Lisa Talbot who is married to a wealthy man named Peter. One day, a detective confronts Ben and tells him that he was hired to keep an eye on him. Ben believes that Peter sent the detective and he and Lisa plan a murder. Lisa tells him that since her husband has once had a heart attack it would be easy to kill him and stage another. Ben confronts Peter who denies hiring the detective. Ben knocks Peter out and puts him in the bathtub. He fills the bath hoping that the detective will believe his story that Peter had a heart attack in the bathtub and drowned. The detective arrives and sees Peter's body. He doesn't believe Ben's story because Peter has had no history of heart attacks. The detective also reveals that he was, in fact, hired by Lisa. Lisa, it seems, conned the man who was trying to con her. She now will inherit everything and Ben will go to jail.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Deathmate sit in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents guide?
S06E27 is listed hour 218 of 268 — hour 27 of 38 in season 6, season 6 episode 27.
When did Alfred Hitchcock Presents S06E27 air?
Deathmate aired 1961-04-18 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…