Detective Murdoch investigates a bizarre case when a convicted murderer apparently manages to survive the hangman's noose.
Tropes:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Mr. Catchpole, the assistant hangman, seems besotted by Julia, but his lack of social skills (including enthusiastically talking about his grisly work) leaves her unnerved by him.
- The Alcoholic: Pleasant the hangman, whose lost his marriage over the job, and is convinced that he's executed at least one innocent man.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: Crabtree and Higgins enjoy doughnuts, a newish confection for the era, during their stakeout. Higgins confesses he thinks dying while eating one wouldn't be so bad.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- When the Hanging Judge discovered that the prosecutor bribed a witness to give damning testimony he was genuinely outraged.
- Catchpole seems to enjoy hanging people a lot more than his mentor Pleasants, but still takes the responsibility of giving condemned prisoners a painless death seriously and is horrified at the sight of a man being decapitated during a botched hanging.
- Gut Feeling: The veteran hangman has developed a sense for when someone is guilty, and the first time he felt a man was innocent, corroborating evidence showed up shortly after the execution. The second time, was the case of the episode, and caused him to rig the knot to save the condemned man's life. Sure enough, he was innocent too.
- Karma Houdini: Myrtle Smith (alias Agatha Meldrum) manages to get away without facing any repercussions for giving false testimony that sent at least two innocent men to the hangman.
- Knight Templar: Crown Prosecutor Dilllard.
- Mugged for Disguise: Fox knocks out Crabtree and steals his uniform so he can sneak into the morgue.
- Off with His Head!: When the Crown Prosecutor is hanged for his murder of the judge, the young hangman botched the execution and miscalculated the drop, making it too long. Rather than breaking his neck, he was completely decapitated.
- Spiteful Spit: Fox spits in the hangman's face as he puts the noose round his neck.
- Waking Up at the Morgue: Fox escapes hanging by means of an impromptu tracheotomy and the hangman deliberately shortening the drop. He wakes up at the morgue and terrifies Julia as he makes his escape.
