In the early 1970s the BBC's prestigious anthology series Out of the Unknown took a change in direction. Previously the series had been heavily sci-fi orientated and had attracted quite a following.. However at the end of the sixties producer Alan Bromly reasoned that for viewers who had witnessed actual moon landings and the near fatal Apollo 13 disaster "just setting a story somewhere in space is not the automatic thrill it once was." Bromly chose instead to shift the style of the series towards what he termed "plays of psychological suspense" with a heavy supernatural bias.

In January 1970 the production team began the search for suitable scripts for a fourth, and final, series. Though a relative newcomer to BBC drama, Bird's work on Journey to the Unknown must have stood him in good stead and he submitted several story outlines. "The Intrusion" concerned a young newly married couple who buy an old rectory which turns out to be haunted. It ultimately became "To Lay A Ghost". Another, called "Rampage", told of the crew of a helicopter forced to land in the grounds of a remote private clinic where the lunatics have literally taken over the asylum. The crew release two attractive young women locked in a room believing them to be members of staff - but there are some who are far too dangerous for even their fellow patients to consider allowing them to run free!

The record shows that in June 1970 Bird was commissioned to write a story called "Natural Break". Nothing more is known about it, but by the end of September he was completing "To Lay A Ghost", for which he received £650. (Around £5,000 at today's prices measured against the retail price index.)

The original storyline for Bird's later contribution, "The Uninvited", was briefed in February 1971, just a couple of months before the fourth series began transmission. At this stage it was entitled "The Vision", and described as "A woman has a terrifying experience anticipating the future".

A full scale script was then commissioned (then entitled "The Trunk") by which stage it was clear it would feature a "suburban couple". The script was accepted the following month (10th March) by which stage it was entitled 'The Uninvited". It was the last Out of the Unknown production to be recorded.

On the way home from school, fifteen-year-old Diana was attacked and raped. Five years later, after extensive therapy, she married a trendy young photographer, Eric Carver. The doctor told Eric not to hurry the consummation of the marriage, but to be patient and sympathetic.

It was not too hard; Eric would have done anything for his beautiful Diana. One of the things he did do for her was to buy a house. It was not a place he cared for much, and it cost a fortune to modernise. But from the moment they were first shown over it, Diana just knew she had to live there. Just like that - had to.

Their first sight of the ghost came when Eric developed some photographs he had taken of his wife in the garden. In every print a man could be seen standing in the garden. At first Eric rationalised it as some unnoticed Peeping-Tom. But when Diana started to sleep-walk, and the evil-looking ghost showed up in a lot more prints, Eric called in Dr. Phillimore of the National Psychical Research Association.

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Cooper grossly overstated a moderate point of criticism concluding " ... the subliminal message of this episode is so disgraceful that even for 1971 it seems incredible that anyone could have thought this nasty little piece of misogyny a fit subject for any form of dramatic presentation whatsoever ..."

Olive Bird believes the double-entendre in the title was almost certainly intentional (not that the BBC would have realised it!) But neither she nor Michael were aware of any controversy caused by the episode - in point of fact, in 1971 the episode was universally praised by the critics.

The BBC's Audience Research report contained very favourable reviews - many viewers felt it was a well developed and effectively "eerie" play which "gripped the attention" and "kept you on the edge all the way through". Others stated that it was one of the most enjoyable plays that they had seen. A minority found it somewhat "morbid", whilst a smaller sample disliked what was they described as "the unnecessary steamy bits". Some were unhappy regarding a climax that was "too vague and abrupt".

Peter Barkworth's performance as Dr Philimore was universally praised, and although Iain Gregory and Lesley Ann Down were viewed reasonably favourably, some thought that the couple should have appeared "more tense".The camerawork was also commended, particularly the then state of the art photography which realised the manifestation of the ghost at the end of the play. As with the newspaper reviews, the production standards throughout were viewed in very positive terms (bar one viewer who noted the way the banister wobbled as Eric Carver fled down the stairway towards the end of the story!).

The Guardian's TV Critic, Peter Fiddick, wrote
"Not I imagine a good one for the beginning-middle-and-end brigade but Michael J. Bird's "to Lay a Ghost", second in the new "Out of the Unknowm" series, must have given some of us hope that this really will be a change from series bearing names like "Goose Pimples" or "Shudder" with which the old psychopath and creaking doors school of suspense still bog down the schedules.

The play was glossily set, a bit after Antonioni, and directed by Ken Hannam with relaxed precision and a nice willingness to have a go at stretching the visual bounds of the medium with technical effects. A bit undercast though: Ian Gregory and Lesley-Anne Down had the right innocence for the young beautiful people (he a photographer, natch) but, she especially, at the expense of a certain stiffness."

George Pattison and his wife are middle people - income, age and class. Their imaginations are as conformist and limited as their daily lives. The one thing they have found that they can hold onto in this shifting world is each other; indeed their closeness even extends to a sort of mental telepathy.

It came as a considerable blow when George's company decided to give him a three-years overseas posting - a blow climaxing in their last night in the flat. All their furniture is in store, apart from a divan; both of them are nervous about the long journey ahead; their neighbours are insisting on wishing them luck with indigestible Spanish champagne.....

It is George who has the first hallucination: one moment the flat is bare, the next full of strange, out-moded furniture, then empty again. He tries to ignore it. But then Millie pops along to make sure they have cleared every last thing out of the hall cupboard only to come back half fainting because of the odd trunk in there - a trunk in which she had found the body of a dead woman. Then, when George runs to look, the cupboard is empty again.

They do their best to reasure [sic] each other, agree they are both imagining things. They get into bed but neither can sleep. Before long Millie is up for some water. Her scream brings George running to the sitting room - where all that strange furniture is suddenly back again and with daylight suddenly streaming in through the windows. And worse, an ill-tempered and frightening man emerges from the shadows to talk to them. At least, it seems that way until he calls them by other names and they realise that they are caught up in some terrifying dream. And then the poor woman whom Millie had seen dead in the trunk walks into the room.