Lucille Fletcher’s Sorry, Wrong Number turns a telephone misconnection into a murder mystery: Mrs. Stevenson overhears two men planning a killing, then struggles to persuade anyone who can help before the danger reaches her own home. Its suspense depends on voices, missed connections and a passing train that both conceals the crime and masks its climax.
What happens in Sorry, Wrong Number?
In the script copy identified as “Sorry, Wrong Number (A Radio Play) by Lucille Fletcher,” Mrs. Stevenson is trying to telephone her husband when an accidental connection lets her hear two men discussing the murder of a woman. Their plan includes a location near a bridge, a patrolman’s expected absence, a train whose noise will cover a scream, and a robbery staged to disguise the killing.
Mrs. Stevenson tries to get someone to act, contacting telephone operators and then Sergeant Duffy. Those calls do not bring timely help. As the danger closes in at her house, the train passes and drowns out her screams. A call reaches the police afterward; George answers, “Sorry, wrong number.” That final phrase echoes the title and makes clear that he has reached the police.
How does the radio-play format create suspense?
The story is carried largely by voices, telephone conversations and sound cues rather than by visible action. The telephone is both the means by which Mrs. Stevenson discovers the plot and the limit on what she can know: she hears fragments from other places but cannot see the people involved or verify what is happening.
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The audience, meanwhile, can follow several voices and locations through the calls. That creates a gap between what listeners understand and what Mrs. Stevenson can get authorities to establish. Each attempt to enlist help raises the stakes because the calls produce more information and delay, but not a timely intervention.
Why is the train important?
The train is not merely background atmosphere. In the plan Mrs. Stevenson overhears, its passing is meant to cover the sound of a scream. When it later drowns out her own screams, the same sound cue becomes part of the murder’s execution and the climax’s concealment. The plot thus makes a radio sound effect do two jobs: it signals the planned method and then realizes it.
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What is established about the script and its versions?
The available script copy identifies the play as Lucille Fletcher’s and presents dialogue, telephone exchanges and sound directions. It supports discussion of the plot and radio technique in that text, but it is hosted on a document-sharing page rather than by an authoritative publisher or archive. It does not establish a definitive edition, the work’s textual history, or rights status. Claims about differences among adaptations or editions should therefore be based on comparing those texts directly.
A Teachers Pay Teachers listing describes a classroom package with a script, comprehension and discussion questions, and a link to an audio recording. That listing shows that a third-party educational resource is offered; it does not establish that the audio is still available, that the material is licensed, or that the listing is authoritative.
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- Top Loading CD Player: CD-R/RW compatible with LED CD track display for easy viewing of current track information
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