Created by Francis Durbridge (1912-1998) "By Timothy!" Once upon a time, one of the most popular private detectives of all time was PAUL TEMPLE. Unless you were American. But Temple ruled the U.K. and much of the Commonwealth, and his exploits entertained millions of fans around the world. He made his first appearance in a BBC … Continue reading Paul Temple
Tag: BBC
“Doc” Job (The Hidden Motive)
Created by Lester Powell (1912 -93) The 1952 BBC radio serial The Hidden Motive related the exploits of "DOC" JOB, an eccentric insurance investigator and bibliophile looking into the possibly fraudulent death claim of a legendary Shakespearean actor, Sir Henry Sloan, whose wife died in her bath. Suspicion soon falls on the extremely wealthy thespian, … Continue reading “Doc” Job (The Hidden Motive)
Stephen Inch (The Inch Man)
Created by Lester Powell (1912 -93) STEPHEN INCH was a house detective working in at London's very busy Imperial Crescent Hotel in The Inch Man, a 1951-52 BBC drama series that apparently broadcast live. This was early days--the Americans had only aired the first private eye shows a few years earlier, and everyone was scrambling … Continue reading Stephen Inch (The Inch Man)
Horace Rumpole
Created by John Mortimer (1923-2009 ) Down those mean streets and meaner chambers a man must waddle... Lord knows, he's not a private eye--but I wish he were. Like Philip Marlowe, HORACE RUMPOLE is "a relatively poor man... a common man or he could not go among common people. He has a sense of character, … Continue reading Horace Rumpole
Dirk Gently
Created by Douglas Adams (1952-2001) THAT Douglas Adams? The guy with the BBC show and the Vogons and the towels and the three-armed Betelgeusians? Yup, that Douglas Adams. So now he's writing about trenchcoats, fedoras, smoky jazz, and femmes fatales? Well, no... Even in an era of maverick and increasingly non-traditional P.I.'s, DIRK GENTLY defies … Continue reading Dirk Gently
Dick Barton
Created by Norman Collins "With one bound Dick, was free!" The beloved star of the BBC's first daily radio serial was sometimes a private investigator, sometimes an adventurer, sometimes a "special agent"and sometimes--this is my favourite--a  "world-famous secret agent." But whatever his actual occupation was (it seemed to be dictated by the story), DICK BARTON was … Continue reading Dick Barton
The Rivals
Radio Anthology Series A radio anthology, dramatizing early stories of the "rivals of Sherlock Holmes," narrated by Arthur conan Doyle's Inspector Lestrade. THE RIVALS (2011-15, BBC 4) 16 30-minute episodes Starring Tim Pigott-Smith as Inspector Lestrade SEASON ONE "Murder by Proxy" Based on the story by By Matthias McDonnel Bodkin Starring Anton Lesser as PAUL BECK "The … Continue reading The Rivals