The Babysitter

The Babysitter is a 1980 American made-for-television thriller film directed by Peter Medak and starring Patty Duke Astin, William Shatner and Stephanie Zimbalist about a young girl hired as a live-in nanny who infiltrates and tries to destroy a suburban Seattle family. The film originally premiered as The ABC Friday Night Movie on November 28, 1980. Plot Dr. Jeff Benedict and his wife Liz have relocated to Seattle from Chicago. They have a 12-year-old daughter Tara. Liz feels that she needs some help with childcare and housekeeping. She happens to meet an 18-year-old girl named Joanna Redwine. Without consulting her husband, Liz hires Joanna as a live-in nanny. She weans Tara off of TV and engages her in outdoor activities. The Benedicts' neighbor Doc Lindquist watches Joanna warily one day as she pushes Tara to exhaust herself swimming. At a party, he overhears Joanna tell his grandson Scotty that she had lived in Seattle prior to working for the Benedicts. He points out to Jeff that this story does not match the one that she had told Liz. Doc begins his own quiet investigation into Joanna's background and finds it almost impossible to recreate where she has lived, because of the many foster homes where she had lived and the fact that she is legally an adult. Liz still is overly stressed and begins to confide in Joanna. She is convinced that Jeff has a mistress in Seattle. She explains that she has not had a drink in a year. Joanna suggests that there is no harm in having a drink.