Hugh Grainger

Hugh Grainger

Background

Hugh Grainger is a race car driver in England. His wife is Joyce Grainger.

During the events of Dead of Night (1945) played by Anthony Baird

Eliot Foley introduces Walter Craig to the other guests including Mrs. Foley, Joan Cortland, Dr. Van Straaten, Hugh, and Sally O'Hara. As Walter sits down, he at first thinks he is dreaming. He walks up to Dr. Van Straaten and knows he is a psychiatrist, and says he has seen him in his dreams. Dr. Van Straaten thinks Walter must have seen him in the newspapers. Walter continues that everyone in the room has been in his dreams. They think maybe they also saw them in newspapers or around town, but he says that in his dream, they are all together in the same room they are in. He says there is a sixth person that comes in his dream later who he describes. Mrs. Foley and Eliot tell him that they believe him as does everyone else except for Dr. Van Straaten. Hugh then starts his story on the supernatural.

During a race, Hugh crashed his car, seriously injuring himself. In the hospital seven days later, Dr. Albury asks Joyce how long Hugh has been in the hospital. He tells her that he is worried about Hugh's fever. Hugh wakes from his fever and mistakes Joyce for someone named Peggy from Scotland. Hugh falls back into his fever, but eventually his fever breaks. Hugh flirts with Joyce and eventually asks her to marry him. During the night as he is reading, he hears a voice outside his window and when he looks outside, he sees a Hearse Driver who jokingly tells him that there is just room for one inside. He tells Dr. Albury about what he saw was something from his psychological crisis of almost dying. In time, Hugh gets better and leaves the clinic. As he is waiting to get on the bus, someone asks him what time it is and it happens to be 4:25 the same time as when he saw the Hearse Driver. Hugh is about to get on the bus when the bus driver, who looks exactly like the Hearse Driver, tells him there is just room for one inside. Hugh in shock, doesn't get on the bus and shortly after, the bus crashes.

Hugh tells the others that if he hadn't seen the Hearse Driver, he would have gotten on the bus. Dr. Van Straaten suggests that Hugh was still struggling with the psychological stress from his crash, which made him reluctant to go inside any vehicle. Joyce arrives at the house ans asks Hugh to pay her cab fair as she doesn't have any money. Dr. Van Straaten still doesn't believe and when Walter sees him tapping his glasses, he remembers that in his dreams, Dr. Van Straaten breaks his glasses and then the room goes dark, Eliot mentions the death of a man and then his dream turns into a nightmare. Sally is the next to tell her story of strange occurrence.

Dr. Van Straaten doesn't believe Sally's story and Joyce tells everyone that when she was a nurse there were times when unexplained things happened. Walter says that things in his dreams sometimes change and that in one instance he hit Sally, but not this time as she will be leaving soon. Mrs. O'Hara arrives at the house and takes her away to go to her godfather Edwin's birthday party. Joan is next to tell her story.

Dr. Van Straaten tells the others that Joan's story is a case of cryptomnesia, the transmissibility of an illusion by one person to another. Walter tells Dr. Van Straaten that he thinks his dream was a warning and he wants to leave. Dr. Van Straaten stops him and asks him to stay. Walter tells Eliot that he is leaving and Eliot tells him a story that happened to some friends of his.

Everyone laughs at Eliot's story. Dr. Van Straaten reminds Walter that the horror soon starts after Eliot mentions a man died, which must be Larry Potter. Mrs. Foley and Joyce go to make dinner and Dr. Van Straaten tells his story.

Dr. Van Straaten ends his story and tells them that Maxwell Frere is a case of dual identity. As Hugh is handing Dr. Van Straaten a drink, he breaks Van Straaten's glasses. The light's go out and Eliot says George is dying on them. Hugh tells Walter that George is Eliot's power plant. Walter asks to be left alone with Dr. Van Straaten and the others leave.