Suspense – “Banquo’s Chair” (May 25, 1943)

Suspense – “Banquo’s Chair” (May 25, 1943)

Tonight’s story blends crime, theatre, and the supernatural in a way only Suspense could deliver. In “Banquo’s Chair,” a Scotland Yard inspector retires with one unsolved case haunting him still: the murder of a wealthy woman. Convinced he knows the guilty man but lacking proof, he devises an elaborate ruse — a dinner party staged in the victim’s old house, where one empty chair waits at the table. When the lights dim and a “ghost” is meant to appear, the inspector hopes a guilty conscience will finally crack. But in true Suspense fashion, the evening takes a darker turn than anyone planned.

First broadcast May 25, 1943, “Banquo’s Chair” exemplifies the show’s knack for combining taut detective drama with eerie suggestion. Based on Rupert Croft-Cooke’s short story, it was adapted for radio and set to music by CBS’s finest. The episode demonstrates how Suspense could transform a simple stage-play premise into a chilling half-hour of radio, complete with twists that kept listeners leaning forward until the last word.

This episode is also notable for the way it toys with the audience’s expectations: is the ghost real, or is the fear we’re hearing in the guilty man’s voice entirely of his own making? The uncertainty — never fully resolved — is what makes Suspense endure decades later.

Cast & Production

Produced by William Spier, who helped shape Suspense into “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills.”

Music by Bernard Herrmann, whose scoring underscored the tension and later influenced Alfred Hitchcock’s films.

Starring Donald Crisp (in some versions), with supporting roles from CBS’s pool of top New York actors.

Why It Matters
“Banquo’s Chair” sits among the earliest classics in the series, showing how Suspense could elevate crime stories into ghost stories and ghost stories into psychological thrillers. Like “The Hitch-Hiker” or “Sorry, Wrong Number,” it’s one of those episodes that listeners traded tales about the next day.

Bobby Jay’s Take
The brilliance of this episode is its restraint. You don’t need to see the ghost — you just need to hear the way a man’s voice breaks when he believes one has appeared. Suspense always understood that the mind is the real theatre.

Presented by OTA Music Group as part of B4TV: Before Television — preserving the theatre of the mind for a new generation of listeners.