Television Crime Video

The Brothers
"No more than animals," Luke and Abel, always fighting, under the thumb of their stern father Albert (Gordon Gostelow) "a vicious man when he's cross," also a chapel man, who demands obedience from his wayward offspring, too much of a cliche to be plausible.
Inspector Mole is feeling irritated, that noisy car outside the station is right loud, 'tis Constable David Barker trying to start his new car, "this is a police station, not Brands Hatch." On inspection, the car is an ancient jalopy, but on film, he drives Cluff on a tour of inspection of his patch, first stop the pub. Landlord Josh complains that his new helper Mrs Ruth Rudge spends more times with those brothers. She's a "bobbydazzler," according to Cluff.
Next Cluff has time for a chat with water bailiff Barney (Joe Gladwin) whose daughter Lizzie now has no-one to wed in t'district since the brothers' eyes have turned to Ruth.
The inevitable crisis ends with the death of Luke, his corpse found in the river, "all t'lads and lasses come here." Certainly Abel had been courting her here, and it is known that Luke had pursued them in a temper. Several hairpins are scattered around, suggesting Ruth had been chased. Cluff questions her, but she remains obstinately silent.
Cluff's next call is on Albert and Abel. The former had been out alone, praying. He has an alibi, and Abel's dirty shoes seem to prove that he had not been the one doing the chasing.
Cluff turns to the guilty party. A word and t'truth emerges, "he's not a murderer"

The Cigarettes
Break-in at the newsagents shop of Silas Smith (Geoffrey Hibbert), the odd thing is that he doesn't inform the police.
June is Smart's assistant: she is courting Sgt David Barker. She notices that the "special consignment" of cigarettes is missing. Barker also notices a smashed window.
Inspector Mole calls to purchase some cigarettes, as does Cluff, who also sees Charlie, a glazier, at the shop. "I'll make a few inquiries," promises Cluff to the shopkeeper, who looks dismayed. We see that Pete, June's no-good brother has nicked the fags, along with his simple mate Dennis. Now Dennis' dad is Charlie, small world isn't it?
June is also in with Pete, Sgt Barker a useful contact, "if you're in with the police, you get away with it."
Cluff has soon deduced that the missing cigarettes must be stolen ones. From Charlie, he learns that treacle had been used by the thieves. When he sees Dennis innocently eating said substance, why, Cluff can put two and two together. Some cigarettes hidden in a rabbit hutch complete the investigation.
Smart has informed his two contacts of the robbery. They had nicked a large consignment, Smart one of their middle man. The villains plan to retrieve the fags that night, they know where to find them since Smart has guessed the identity of his thieves.
Sgt Barker's loyalties are split, but he agrees to Cluff's suggestion that he takes June out that evening. Cluff questions Smart, who confesses all, "I'm not a very good criminal."
Thus, in a neat touch, Inspector Mole has to leave off watching Z Cars, in order to swoop on Pete. Both he and Barker only find that the cigarettes have disappeared. But Cluff knows where they are! He is waiting at Smart's shop, for the thieves to return them. "A right collection" are taken to the police station and booked

At dead of night, Len and Jack shoot a sheep in a field. Then another. In their ramshackle van, they drive away the carcasses.
Jack is in need of the cash, to buy the lease of his cottage with his wife Hilda, but Len, a gamekeeper, is more out for the fun of it. He has eyes on Hilda.
Police get a break when potholers discover a huge heap of dead sheep, all their meat removed. Cluff reckons he knows one good marksman, that's Len and he chats with him and Hilda. He recalls that Jack's late father worked in a slaughterhouse, and had likely taught son Jack how to skilfully skin animals. The two thieves realise that Cluff is on to them, but he has no proof at all. Cluff knows it too, his one hope is to catch them in the act. But Inspector Mole is impatient for results and demands the crooks are brought in.
Len tries it on with Hilda, who is unsure of her feelings. When Jack learns of it, the couple row.
Inspector Mole joins Cluff and Barker on surveillance of the suspects. When Len is about to shoot a sheep, police pounce, "they knew!" They knew where to find Len, because Jack had informed the police.
Back at t' station, Cluff and Len have a reet heart to heart

The Thief

Intruder sneaks upstairs, helping himself to small items of jewellery. "not a lot to go on," it's the work of a professional.
Willie is a reformed poacher who has now settled slightly, with a trading job in the market stall run by Pell. His sister Sally is pleased, as is Cluff.
Inspector Mole is addressing a group at a dinner, a constable on the beat spots an open window at Mole's house, and calls Cluff, "our lives won't be worth living." Only clue in sight is a rabbit charm. Now Cluff recognises it as Willie's. All steamed up, Mole demands to know whodunnit. Since Willie had promsed to get even with Mole when he had been arrested, Willie must be the burglar. But Willie did not do it, in fact he had been out poaching again.
Det Supt Patterson comes in to investigate this crime, with Cluff assistng. Cluff chats with Willie, Sally anxiously listening in. Willie can't offer an alibi, but the truth comes out that he had been poaching. Cluff has guessed the truth, as we have, and with Barker sets up a watch on Pell. That night Pell goes to Willie's, planting some stolen property. Pell is arrested, asking for 43 other offences to be taken into consideration

The Professional

The Strangers
Cluff is chatting idly with John who is expanding his farm. Farmworker Moses joins them for a pleasant cuppa. He tells Cluff about young Jim, whom he clearly disapproves of, who is courting Joan (Judy Geeson), John's daughter. Joan gives Jim a tour of their property.
The scene shifts to a train. Mrs Core sips some medicine. When she alights, she feels poorly, and Inspector Mole offers sympathy.
Jim is back home with his mum, who has married again, to Don Swan, they've taken over the running of the pub. Mrs Core turns up here, and is given accommodation. It seems she knows Don.
Moses, ever out to make trouble for the newcomers, Strangers he calls them, tells Cluff that Mrs Core never slept in her room. Then her corpse is found by the river.
Cluff inspects her belongings, "there's something missing." As Mole had seen her arrive in town, he questions him. Then he leans on Moses, who admits he had found Mrs Core's handbag.
Moses is following Jim and Joan, when she accidentally falls down a cliff. With a rope, and assistance from Don, Jim and Moses pull her to safety. Thus disposed in The Strangers' favour, Moses intervenes when Don admits that Mrs Core had been an old friend. He had witnessed their meeting by the river and is able to exonerate Don

The Convict
In jail is Cluff, just visiting, recently convicted Hubert Pencarron is his man. Cluff is sure Pencarron is shielding the rest of the gang, but he is also here to inform the man that his sister had just died. Pencarron was driving the getaway car, who else was in it? Though he gets no reply, Cluff suspects Reader.
This villain is already planning another job with Frank Darby, and they steal a van and rob an off licence. Cluff tackles Reader, accusing him of the job. But there is no proof, though the questioning makes Frank and his wife Flo (Yootha Joyce) nervy.
"I work in a continual fog," complains Inspector Mole, but now's his chance! Cluff collapses suddenly, an attack of lumbago. He is transported off to bed.
Pencarron breaks out of prison and gets to Frank, Flo providing grub and a pint. As Cluff surmises from his bed, Pencarron is making for Reader. But Frank has his own idea, and sees a way out of his mess by getting to Reader first.
Reader is dead. No sign of struggle. Pencarron is on t'moor, running. Police close in.
Emerging from his bed, Cluff tries to question the nervy Frank, who is arrested for killing his boss. Pencarron is hiding in caves, and Cluff hobbles in to rescue him. A slight roof fall, and the convict is trapped. But Cluff and Barker succeed in releasing him

A nice little storm in a teacup. A stone through the window of estate agent Liddler (John Barron), "next time it'll be a brick." He's a man none too popular in Gunnershaw, "you've got to be ruthless," is his motto, as he tells his son Eric, witness his treatment in threatening the houses in Wellington Row with demolition.
He gives Cluff names of likely perpetrators, "a very large number," dryly observes Inspector Mole. Then Cluff goes to the three properties, first meeting Fred Bland locksmith. Cluff knows that it was he who chucked the stone. But he also calls on neighbour George Roberts, a signwriter, and dressmaker Beattie, who stands to lose her business.
That evening, while Barker is taking Mary for a meal, and Eric ditto with Elsie his father's secretary, a brick flies through Liddler's window. His office is vandalised, and some cash stolen. But no sign of a break in, so Cluff sees locksmith Fred as the cut and dried suspect. But Fred denies stealing the money.
In fact Barker works out that Eric used the cash to pay for his night out with Elsie. He admits it, and Liddler is stunned by this news. He understands that he's treated t'lad hard. Cluff too learns a lesson about not jumping to suspect the wrong man, "he'll rise again like a phoenix"

The Dictator

The Village Constable

PC Chris Ripon receives praise from Inspector Mole for his excellent report. He's "young and keen" and enjoys "a jar" in the pub with Barker, here also is Cluff, imbibing with Rufus, a farmer.
Rufus' wife Liz is having it off with Saul (Philip Madoc) and indeed anyone else she can find. For she also flirts with Chris. Rufus complains to Chris about gypsy Tom, who has taken his chickens. But he has no proof. Nevertheless Chris has a chat with Tom and his wife outside his caravan, "you'd best be on your way." Tom refuses to budge. But Cluff is more conciliatory, knowing more about Tom, "I'll see you're not bothered."
There are numerous filmed shots of an old car driving along t'lanes- it is David Barker with Mary Croft, on their way to Chris' home. He isn't in, and they find the place a mess. Actually he has gone to question Saul, who has had some tools stolen.
David and Mary see Chris when he returns home, beaten up, "I wouldn't know who it was," he says feebly. But under Mole's interrogation, he confesses it was done by Tom. Cluff listens to this, in rare silence. Later he explains, "I was with Tom all evening."
Cluff figures it all out. "Who might I arrest?" queries the mystified Mole. After a punch up, the villain is arrested by Chris

On Trial (Granada, 1960)
Real life historical trials, theme music Brahms' Fourth Symphony. My reviews of
1 Sir Roger Casement
5 Oscar Wilde
Studio Series menu
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Details of this series of ten dramas, Andrew Faulds was the Narrator in all of the trials, Peter Wildeblood producing the entire series.

1 Sir Roger Casement Friday July 8th 1960 9.35pm, repeated: Friday June 30th 1961 11.2pm (Granada region only)
Starring Peter Wyngarde in the title role, Abraham Soafaer as Lord Chief Justice, John Robinson as Serjeant Sullivan KC, John Westbrook as Sir FE Smith KC, Henry Oscar as Sir George Cave. Commentary by Brian Inglis. Cast also included: Neil Wilson, Brian Phelan, James McLoughlin, Liam Gaffney, Joan O'Hara, Jack Cunningham, Michael Robbins, Colin Blakely, John Barron, Ballard Berkeley, J Leslie Frith, John Maitland.
Documented by Cedric Watts. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Cliff Owen.
On Good Friday 1916, Sir Roger Casement was arrested after landing from a German U-boat on the Irish coast. His trial for treason, overshadowed by the existence of his notorious private diaries, was one of the most sensational in history.
Critic 'JP' commented that "the use of a narrator and a commentator (Brian Inglis) to describe events during the trial and to explain the background... was excellent... Peter Wyngarde did not have very much to say. How could he, when Casement refused to be called as a witness in his own defence? Abraham Sofaer appeared as a very upstanding and correct Lord Chief Justice, John Robinson played Defence Counsel, and John Westbrook was Prosecuting Counsel. Even Henry Oscar had only a relatively small part as the solicitor general... a difficult experiment but a production well done."
2 The Baccarat Scandal July 15th 1960, Friday July 14th 1961 11.2pm rpt (Granada region)
Starring John Justin as Sir William Gordon-Cumming, Alan Webb as Sir Edward Clarke QC, Michael Shepley Sir Charles Russell QC, Georgina Cookson as Mrs Arthur Wilson. Commentary by James Laver. Cast also included: Barry Lowe, Graham Crowden, Derek Smith, Hugh Cross, Kevin Brennan, Redmond Phillips, Malcolm Watson, Gilbert Spurge.
Documented by William Slater. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Henry Kaplan.
Sir William Gordon-Cumming is accused of cheating at cards during a society house party at which the Prince of Wales is a guest. In spite of every effort to suppress the scandal, it breaks out and Sir William is forced to bring an action for slander. Critic 'GT' liked the programme, writing, "direction of Henry Kaplan was, as usual, beautifully controlled and timed to heighten and lessen tension by a single shot of a glance, a smile, a look of worry."
3 Admiral Byng (July 22nd 1960) with Donald Wolfit in the title role. With William Mervyn as President of the Court, John Horsley Vice-Admiral Temple West, Jack May as Lord Robert Bertie, Noel Trevarthen as Capt Hervey. Narrator: Andrew Faulds, commentary by Commander Kemp RN.
Also in the cast: Richard Wordsworth as Charles Fearne, Peter Bathurst as Robert Boyd, Charles Heslop as General Lord Blakeney, Nicholas Selby as George Lawrence, John Miller as Rear-Admiral Holder, Richard Butler as Capt Simcoe, and Michael Lees as Capt Moore.
Britain is at war with France, Austria and Russia. The all important island of Minorca has fallen to the enemy, and the public demands a scapegoat. On December 28th 1756, Admiral Byng, Commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean is put on trial accused of cowardice. The critic ('RW') who reviewed this programme was most unimpressed: ""I don't think the excess of dialogue was the fault of ... the scriptwriter as the narrator was careful to point out that the play was 'in the actual words used.' Whatever it was that kept this documented play so static and so flat it certainly added nothing to the authenticity of the trial. Donald Wolfit as the unhappy and misjudged admiral... managed a look of dismay as he heard the adverse verdict, that became the only believable thing in the whole production. The whole subject with its exaggerated attires, its background of death before dishonour, lent itself to Ham. Everyone took advantage of it."
Director: James Ormerod.
4 Spencer Cowper Friday July 29th 1960 9.35pm, Friday July 28th 1961 11.2pm rpt (Granada region)
Starring Laurence Payne in the title role. Also starring: George Howe (Baron Hatsell), Richard Warner (Mr Jones) and Llewelyn Rees (Sir Hans Sloane). Cast also included: Viola Keats, George Skillan, Hamlyn Benson, Derek Tansley, Frank Crawshaw, Felicity Young, John Woodnutt, Paul Sherwood, Rory McDermot, William Young, Bartlett Mullins, Roger Boston, David Jarrett, Maureen Gavin, John Ronane, John Tucker.
Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Michael Scott.
The body of an 18 year old Quaker girl is found floating in a village stream. Spencer Cowper, a rising young barrister, is charged with her murder. On July 16th 1699 at Hertford Assizes, he conducts his own defence.
5 Oscar Wilde August 5th 1960, Friday July 7th 1961 11.2pm rpt (Granada region)
Starring Michael MacLiammoir in the title role, Andre Morrell as Sir Edward Clarke, Martin Benson as Edward Carson, Harold Scott as Mr Justice Charles. Commentary by JB Priestley. Cast also included: Lewis Wilson, Deering Wells, Alan Browning, Derek Sydney, Brian Alexis, Clive Colin-Bowler, Michael Caridia, Beresford Williams, Tudor Evans, Michael Bangerter.
Documented by Peter Lambda. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Silvio Narizzano.
Victorian England idolises Oscar Wilde, but when his private life is exposed in the courts, it seems that even his fame as an author cannot survive the scandal.
Two trials were shown, in a flashback the case brought for libel by Wilde against the Marquess of Queensberry.The main trial is of Wilde in the dock at the Old Bailey. Critic 'GT' confessed he was "completely disappointed," in the director, "Narizzano's worst production to date. It lacked depth, excitement. Camera work was dull, cutting was slow." Surprising too, was some bad acting, "only Andre Morrell came off well." Especially disliked was "the dreadfully bad casting" of Oscar Wilde: "I have great admiration for this actor.. but MacLiammoir had the wrong looks, the wrong build and lacked the extra-delicate sensitivity of Wilde... he hammed it up." Then "the usually reliable Martin Benson... was not the fiery cunning lawyer. He only looked like one." This programme, 'GT' described as "a complete failure"
6 The Dilke Case Aug 12th 1960
with Leo Genn as Sir Charles Dilke, Allan Cuthbertson as Henry Matthews QC, Laidman Browne as Walter Phillimore QC, Rachel Roberts as Mrs Rogerson, Joanna Dunham as Virginia Crawford. Commentary by Roy Jenkins MP. Others in the cast were Basil Dignam, Jack Gwillim, HM Beaufoy Milton, Ronald Adam, Ralph Truman, Donald Pickering, John Dawson, Walter Horsbrugh, Ian White.
Documented by William Slater. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Cliff Owen.
In 1886 Sir Charles Dilke Liberal MP for Chelsea is a respected figure. The Prime Minister, Mr Gladstone, looks on him as his political heir. Then suddenly Dilke is named as co-respondent in a sensational divorce suit brought by a Scottish MP against his pretty young wife Virginia Crawford.
7 The Tichborne Case Aug 19th 1960, Aug 18th 1961 11.2pm rpt (Granada only)
starring John Slater as The Claimant, with Oliver Johnston as Sir William Bovill, Nicholas Meredith as Sir John Coleridge, William mervyn as Sgt Ballantine, Lloyd Lamble as Hardinge Giffard, John Bailey as Henry Hawkins, Joyce Howard as Catherine Radcliffe, Edward Underdown as Lord Bellew. Also appearing: John Harrison, John Salew, John Wentworth, Bryan Coleman, Ian Ainsley, Malcolm Watson and Donald Bisset.
Documented by Peter Lambda. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Claude Whatham.
Roger Tichborne, heir to a baronetcy and a fortune, sets off on a voyage round the world to forget an unhappy love affair with his cousin Kate. The ship on which he sails is reported sunk with no survivors. Eighteen years later a butcher from Wagga Wagga Australia, comes to London claiming that he is the long-lost heir. In 1871 begins one of the longest and strangest cases in legal history.
8 WT Stead Aug 26th 1960, Aug 4th 1961 11.2pm rpt (Granada region)
with William Franklyn as Stead, costarring Douglas Wilmer (Sir Richard Webster QC), James Raglan (Charles Russell QC), Brian Oulton (Mr Justice Lopes), Annabel Maule (Rebecca Jarrett), Avis Bunnage (Mrs Armstrong), Milo O'Shea (Charles Armstrong). Others in the cast were Abb Martin, Julia Nelson, Frank Pemberton, Howard Taylor, Daphne Foreman, Peter Burton, Bruno Barnabe, Robert Sansom, William Wymar, Owen Berry as Archbishop of Canterbury and Keith Ashley as Bramwell Booth.
Documented by Vincent Brome. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Michael Scott.
In a series of articles exposing the corruption that lies beneath the puritanical surface of Victorian London, newspaper editor WT Stead describes how he bought a 13 year old girl from her parents for Ł5. The scandal has an extraordinary sequel when Stead is put on trial at the Old Bailey accused of abducting the girl.
9 The Trial of Governor Wall September 2nd 1960, September 1st 1961 rpt 11.2pm (Granada)
starring Roger Livesey as Governor Wall, Ewen Solon as Sir Edward Law, Anthony Sharp as Spencer Percival with Ballard Berkeley as Mr Knowlys, Geoffrey Toone as Thomas Poplett, Lally Bowers as Mrs Harriet Lacy, Glyn Owen as Evan Lewis. Others appearing were Eric Woodburn, Ronald Ibbs, Robert Cartland, Joss Ackland, Peter Madden, Edward Rees, Edwin Brown, David Dodimead, Henry Rayner, Raymond Mason.
Documented by Fenton Bresler. Designed by Darrell Lass. Director: Mario Prizek.
For twenty years Joseph Wall, ex-Governor of a British penal colony, has eluded justice. Now in 1802, he is brought to trial at the Old Bailey, charged with the murder of Serjeant Armstong, who died after a brutal flogging ordered by this governor.
10 Horatio Bottomley September 9th 1960 starring Harold Goldblatt in the title role. With Raymond Huntley, Geoffrey Chater, Edwin Richfield, Hugh Moxey, Peter Williams, John Longden. Director: Herbert Wise. The 1922 trial of the MP on 23 counts of larceny.
On Trial
Note: A 1965 BBC series JURY ROOM also dramatised a few of these celebrated cases

Sir Roger Casement

1916. Sir Roger is accused of high treason. He pleads not guilty. The narrator (Andrew Faulds) introduces the trial: "a mirror of the society who put him on trial." The context is the Great War, and the Easter Uprisng in Dublin. "What he did, he did for Ireland."
Sir Roger Casement's past loyalty to the crown is outlined, culminating in a knighthood in 1911. The Ulster prosecutor alleges that after this, Casement changed. First witness is John Cronin, once a German POW who refused to join The Irish Brigade "as guest of the German government." A second witness confirms this group was formed "to fight against England." However facts about this group are not properly explored, whether because this case has been heavily redacted, or because the details of the group were unclear at the time.
Roger McCarthy and May Gorman both testify that on Good Friday, a boat landed with arms. A police sergeant found Casement that afternoon and charged him with landing arms on the shore. Apparently this was common practice. The narrator explains how "amateurish" this smuggling of arms appeared, leaving us to draw out the implications. He explains how British public opinion swayed the case after the Easter Rebellion.
Casement offers a voluntary statement, denying the charges of working for Germany, and states that "not one penny of German gold" financed the rebellion.
Sjt Sullivan of the defence becomes unwell and collapses in court. He is unable to continue.
The Crown make a final statement, pointing out that Casement had been "in an enemy country."
The judge sums up. If the jury have "any reasonable doubt," the defendant must be discharged. Otherwise they must perform their solemn duty. The verdict is unanimous: guilty.
Casement reads out his prepared response, rejecting the jurisdiction of the court, he has been convicted under an archaic law dating to 1351. Home Rule for Ireland is his mantra, "I am proud to be a rebel."
The judge prononces the death penalty. Brian Inglis concludes the case, offering the support given by Bernard Shaw. But Sir Roger's Black Diaries contributed to his downfall. He became a martyr.
This hour long play gives maybe the essence of the trial, but few questions are answered beyond the strong impression probably intended by the script, that political expediency played its part. My own summary of the play is also constricted by space

On Trial

Oscar Wilde
1895, Oscar Wilde is on trial accused of indecency. He pleads Not Guilty. "Abandon all prejudices" wisely advises the prosecuting counsel. However a certain bias in the script seems apparent to me.
Narrator Andrew Faulds explores the background to the case, presented confusingly and too briefly, a case involving Wilde exposing his views on art, morality and his friendship with Lord Alfred Douglas, a "sodomite" according to his own father. One line from Wilde stands out, "I have never loved anyone but myself." But his relationship with one "ugly boy" is "unnerving." This was quite advanced television for its era.
Wilde had been arrested, and put in the dock alongside Alfred Taylor, accused of procuring youths for Wilde. A valet Charles Parker testifies how Taylor introduced him to Wilde, "good for plenty of money." Then Atkins adds to this evidence, but stating there was "no impropriety." However blackmail is his business. It is easy for Wilde's counsel Sir Edward Clarke to suggest these men are tainted witnesses. But this is harder to suggest in the case of the more respectable Edward Shelley, who says he rejected Wilde's advances.
The prosecutor reads extracts from True Love, "I am the love that dare not speak its name," and this draws Wilde to comment, eliciting applause in court. He denies any "improper conduct" with all these youths, but the redaction of the case for tv actually becomes surprisingly repetitive, and we are left to wonder what has been left out. A summary by the defence offers the key point that the witnesses are suspect. "Mr Wilde is not an ordinary man."
The selection of material might suggest the scriptwriter's own sympathies. Mr Justice Charles summarises, again repeating the details about the character of the witnesses. The jury retire, and cannot agree on a verdict.
A retrial is held, Wilde is found guilty. At the end, JB Priestley explains that he believes the government needed to obtain a Guilty verdict, Wilde was "a scapegoat." This certainly reinforces the programme's own stance
On Trial

Sherlock Holmes (BBC, 1964-8)

Douglas Wilmer created a fine Sherlock Holmes. Nigel Stock provided staunch support as Dr Watson. Later Peter Cushing took over the role of the great detective.

Pilot: The Speckled Band (May 1964)
1.1 The Illustrious Client (Feb 1965)
1.2 The Devil's Foot
1.3 The Copper Beeches
1.4 The Red Headed League
1.5 The Abbey Grange
1.6 The Six Napoleons
1.7 The Man with the Twisted Lip
1.8 The Beryl Coronet
1.9 The Bruce-Partington Plans
1.10 Charles Augustus Milverton
1.11 The Retired Colourman
1.12 The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
2.3 A Study in Scarlet (Sept 1968)
2.4/5 The Hound of the Baskervilles
2.6 The Boscombe Valley Mystery
2.15 The Sign of Four
2.16 The Blue Carbuncle

To the earliest TV version of Holmes
Taped Crime Menu

The Speckled Band
Who is whistling during a stormy night in an old lonely house?
Julia Stoner is to be married shortly, how relieved she will be to get away from her domineering stepfather's gloomy pile. A baboon and cheetah wander freely around it. "You're going to live happily ever after," her sister Helen tells her. "i sometimes think he's mad."
Not so, for that night there's a scream and Julia is dead. Has she fainted away from fear?.
Two years have passed, and now Helen is engaged to Percy. She tells her fiance that her stepfather has insisted she sleeps in Julia's bedroom until the marriage. Indeed, he forces her to do so. That night Helen hears a whistle. She jumps out of bed and runs away to consult SH.
She is shaking with fear, afraid of her stepfather. Dr Watson of course is all "at sea," especially baffled over Julia's dying words, Speckled Band.
After she has left with a lighter heart, the wicked stepfather himself, Grimesby Roylot (Felix Felton) bursts in to warn SH to mind his own business.
Undeterred, SH and Dr Watson travel down to Roylot's home. Nearby they meet some surly gipsies- one is wearing a speckled handkerchief round his neck.
Now SH examines Helen's new bedroom. His attention is on a bell pull, which does not work. A ventilator links the room with her stepfather's. In the latter room is a saucer of fresh milk.
That night, Helen lies petrified as Roylot prowls the house. SH and Watson gain entry via her bedroom window. "What a nightmarish place!"
They wait. A scream, but this is from Roylot. A deadly swamp adder had entered Helen's bedroom via the ventilator, down the bell rope. SH had beaten it off, and the snake had retreated and savaged its master, "violence recoils upon the violent"
Holmes Menu

The Illustrious Client(1965)
Sir James (Ballard Berkeley) is seeking SH's aid in preventing "the Austrian murderer," Baron Gruner from killing "a man of great significance." He has already implemented the first stage of that scheme, by becoming engaged to the innocent Violet de Merville (Jennie Linden).
Peter Wyngarde's Baron has an edge, irascible, almost frightening as you fear for the besotted Violet who is unable to see through her love for this egocentric. She will hear nothing against his "noble nature" for the very good reason that he has been so open and honest with her about his disreputable past, even to accusations that he killed his first wife.
SH's first move is to contact at a music hall a petty criminal called Shinwell Johnson. Proof positive against the baron is what Shinwell is asked to supply.
Then face to face with the baron in his sumptuous home. They exchange unpleasantries as both stand confident in their positions. Now the baron seems foppish, bantering, yet still menacing in warning off SH.
Miss Kitty Winter (Rosemary Leach) from Islington is the person that Shinwell comes up with. She is sure the baron has committed two other murders. He keeps a leather book, his 'collection' of his women conquests.
DrW has mugged up on another passion of the baron's, Chinese pottery, so he can offer him a rare Ming saucer, as a distraction while SH and Miss Winter search his study for the leather book. But it must be admitted Watson is no match for the baron who sees through him, "what is the game?" Too late he understands what SH is doing. The book is snatched, but Miss Winter has her own revenge, acid in the baron's face. Though naturally the good doctor rushes to his side, he's now a disfigured martyr. That at least is how Violet will see him, until she is shown the Lust Diary.
Perhaps the only weakness of this, is that the Baron seems, in the last analysis, no master criminal, but a mere lothario
Holmes Menu

The Copper Beeches

A pianist plays, her audience of two disinterested, until she faints. Jephro Rucastle (Patrick Wymark) must find a new tutor for his only son.
A very suitable candidate is Miss Violet Hunter (Suzanne Neve) who is offered the post at the Copper Beeches, five miles outside Winchester at one hundred pounds a year. For that generous salary, she must also make herself "useful." Another odd request is that she must cut her hair short.
She refuses, but seeks SH's advice when she receives a letter offering her Ł120. SH perceives she is a capable woman, and only suggests that she sends him a telegram if any problems arise. For she is determined to take up the position. Equally SH expects to hear from her.
At The Copper Beeches, she meets Claire Rucastle, Jephro's second wife, and ten year old Edward who "has his little ways." These include catching a mouse and killing it spitefully, "you little scamp." It is evident that husband and wife are planning something for Violet which is none too nice.
SH discovers that the first Mrs Rucastle left nearly all her fortune to her daughter Alice, who has gone to America.
Rucastle takes Violet's photograph, it draws the attention of a strange man lurking in the garden.
She makes a rendezvous with SH and DrW in Winchester, and tells them that she believes that she is there to impersonate Alice, whom she thinks is dead. SH concurs, though warns that other theories are possible. Following his advice, Violet explores the house, and finds an area that is not used. Is Alice imprisoned there? She asks SH to help, and conveniently the Rucastles are going out this evening. Violet locks the housekeeper in the cellar, and ensures her husband is drunk before signalling to SH and DrW that they can enter the house.
The only problem is that Rucastle returns unexpectedly. In the secret room, SH finds... nothing. Had the "scoundrel" guessed? A murderous attack by the infuriated Rucastle is stopped, and he unwisely releases Caspar the giant dog. Poetic justic almost follows, though SH shoots the dog to spare the villain.
All is explained, the stranger was Miss Alice's fiance, he had already rescued her from that secret room. We end with a nice misunderstanding by DrW, who thinks for a moment that SH has become engaged to the enchanting Miss Hunter!

The Red-Headed League
A break-in at the home of banker Merryweather. Master criminal, dubbed by SH as John Clay, leaves behind a trademark clay pipe, "he cannot bear to see his work unnoticed."
Pawnbroker Wilson is red headed. He employs a new assistant Vincent Spaulding, who offers to work at half pay since he is so inexperienced. He settles in well, and points out to his master an advertisement for a red headed gentleman who for "purely nominal services," will be paid Ł4 per week. Wilson applies and Duncan Ross offers him the post which involves copying out a book from ten to two each day. The work must be done in Ross' office.
SH is growing impatient as, apart from forged notes being passed, no hint of Clay can be found.
As Wilson suspects, the job is a fraud. One morning he arrives to find the office closed, and he turns to SH, who laughs at the story. Then astonishes Wilson by revealing a lot about himself. He takes on the case, and is fascinated by the description of Spaulding who "has a light acid mark on his forehead."
While DrW dozes, SH ponders the problem. They proceed to the "pokey" shop for "a time for observation."
SH returns to Merryweather. Plans of his bank were among items stolen. With the banker and Inspector Hopkins, they wait inside the vault of the bank. Spaudling enters via a different route, a tunnel constructed from the pawnbroker's. John Clay, alias Spaulding, is arrested, though in his arrest, he demands to be treated like royalty.
"An escape from boredom," is SH's verdict on the case

The Abbey Grange
Only the second half survives- the dvd gets Douglas Wilmer to read parts of the original.

Sir Eustace Brackenstall has been murdered by three intruders, who tied up his wife Mary (Nyree Dawn Porter). They had helped themselves to a drink and snaffled the silver. But SH reckons that Lady Brackenstall and her maid Theresa are lying.

SH returns to The Abbey Grange, and scrutinises the scene of the crime. He tells DrW that he knows who is the killer. "How on earth did you find that out?" marvels the dcotor.
SH questions Lady Brackenstall, urging her to tell the truth. She is silent. So SH orders Inspector Hopkins to search the fish pond, and here the stolen silverware is discovered.
SH has no proof that Captain Jack Croker is the killer, so he confronts him, "you be frank with me..." The captain admits he is in love with Mary, who had not reciprocated his advances, even though her marriage was a loveless one. In a flshback we see what really happened. SH notes that Croker had acted under provocation, and calls on his friend to act as a kind of jury, to determine what action should, or should not, be taken

The Beryl Coronet
Banker Alexander Holder (Leonard Sachs) has obtained, as security for a huge loan of Ł50,000, a crown.
His wayward son Arthur is in finacial difficulties yet again, gambling at cards. His pal Sir George won't honour the debt, so an IOU has to be all that Arthur can offer "for a few days." Worse follows for him, when his intended, Mary (Suzan Farmer) turns him down.
Lucy the maid notices that the crown has been locked in a cabinet and informs an admirer, Francis. At 2am Alexander awakes, to discover his son stealing the crown. The priceless jewels have been removed already. "I haven't taken the jewels," cries Arthur, but the police are called. Mary faints. Arthur is arrested.
Distraught, Alexander consults SH, desperate to recover the missing jewels. "A complex case," comments the great detective, "more in it than meets the eye," adds DrW.
SH starts outside the Holder residence, examining footprints. Then he questions Mary, who confirms that she had seen Lucy leave the house briefly, to talk to Francis, a man with a wooden leg.
Dr W is told to go to Arthur's cell and examine his hands, "you haven't cut yourself?" No. SH disguises himself and gains entrance into the downstairs rooms of Sir George's house. He learns from the butler that his master is broke.
"I am a ruined man," Alexander cries, as the jewels are not yet found. SH visits the jail and asks Arthur to remove his right shoe and sock. He examines the bare foot. "You will be a free man," he promises.
SH challenges Sir George, whose hand has been cut. The jewels are recovered and returned. Mary has left home. SH explains how the crime was committed, in flashback, "I can not believe it"

The Bruce-Partington Plans
At Aldgate station, a model train draws in, a dead man lies by the track.
The "omniscient" Mycroft Holmes (Derek Francis doesn't really convey him as such) seeks SH's help in finding out who murdered this dead man, Cadogan West, a junior clerk at Woolwich Arsenal. Naval plans were found on his body, some are still missing.
SH travels on the Metropolitan Railway to Aldgate, and deduces the corpse had fallen from the roof of a carriage.
Sydney Johnson, senior clerk, held one key to the safe where the plans were kept. The other was held by James Walter, who has just died. Col Valentine Walter claims to know nothing.
Johnson introduces SH to West's fiancee Violet. She reveals her fiance had been worried of late, but she is certain he was not the man to betray state secrets.
SH inspects the security at Woolwich. A known spy Hugo Oberstein has gone to Paris, and SH uses the opportunity of searching his house. Blood stains! The railway runs by a window of this house. "Holmes, this is your masterpiece!" exclaims the admiring DrW. The plans are found in a box, along with newspaper cuttings. These lead SH to Fleet Street.
The return of Oberstein is awaited. A surprise! All is revealed. Oberstein is arrested.
The tale ends with SH revealing to DrW a tie pin, a gift from a lady "at Windsor"

The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax
In a Lausanne hotel, servants Jules and Marie admire the jewellery of Lady Carfax while she is out on a walk. The lady is accosted by a bearded stranger. She is not seen again.
DrW is despatched to Switzerland, since the maid has cashed Lady Carfax's cheque for Ł50. DrW learns that last to see her had been a doctor of divinity, Dr Schlessinger. He also talks to Jules, who reveals that Marie had been dismissed. He says that Lady Carfax had met an Englishman, "I think she was frightened of this man." DrW cables SH for advice. He is hardly impressed by DrW's efforts.
DrW next finds Marie, who has a piece of jewellery which she claims is a wedding gift. Suddenly DrW spots the bearded man! The two fight, DrW rescued by a stranger, none other than SH in disguise. Hon Philip Green is the bearded man- and SH introduces him to DrW. It turns out that this man was in love with Frances, but forbidden to marry her by her father. But now he has made his fortune, he is an eligible suitor. But where is she?
SH has found out that Schlessinger is really a con man. Lady Carfax is, he is almost sure, held prisoner, somewhere in London. When one of her jewels is pawned in Westminster Road, SH gets the Hon Philip to watch this shop. A coffin is seen entering the premises of the "lately" Schlessinger. SH confronts him.
His story is that Lady Carfax had accompanied him to London, but then went away, leaving her jewels in lieu of unpaid bills. But who is inside the coffin? Dramatically, SH opens the lid - it's an old woman.
"I feel I have personally failed," SH confesses to Green. Then the penny drops. He returns to the coffin, and there inside is the dead woman as well as Lady Frances Carfax. DrW expresses the opinion that she will recover and SH explains how he solved the crime
Holmes Menu

A Study In Scarlet
Drebber and Stangerson, two Americans, are after Miss Charpentier. The former is taken prisoner and taken to an empty property, there to be killed.
3 Lauriston Gardens is where Inspectors Lestrade and Gregson find the corpse, and immediately summon the aid of the great detective. But there is one obvious clue, 'Rache' is scrawled in blood on a wall. Our Scotland Yard men search for the elusive Rachel. Thus the wrong suspect is arrested. However Holmes points out that the word is actually German for Revenge.
A wedding ring was lying by the corpse. A woman claims the ring, but obviously this is a man in disguise. Holmes gives chase but loses him. Evidently he is an accomplished actor, and thus Joey Daley is traced to a music hall. But he says he only claimed the ring as his for a wager.
Stangerson is done in, Rache is found above his corpse as before. By his side are two pills, which Holmes analyses while the Yard men patiently wait. Hol;mes deduces why the ring had been placed by the dead man. A Jefferson Hope is arrested.
He had been a cop on the trail of the two Americans. An explanation he offers a little tediously, partly in flashback. He had forced the killers of his girl friend to choose one of these pills, one was harmless, the other contained deadly poison. Drebber had taken a poisoned one, but Stangerson had refused to play the Russian roulette, and had been stabbed. "They both deserved to die."
Frankly, though this may be heresy, this plot is no better or worse than many a cheap tv crime show, let's not pretend otherwise. The only subtlety lies in the involvement of Sherlock Holmes
Holmes Menu

The Hound of The Baskervilles

Briefly, the legend is related using a painting of the hound, "it is out there now." Sir Charles be dead- from terror- new owner Sir Charles, whose life is "at risk" inherits over Ł740,000.
Dr Watson is charged with guarding him, "I shall come to no harm." Holmes is nowhere to be seen. This is a slightly plodding if authentic version of the tale, lacking the gory colour of the Hammer film, but offering, when out the studio, genuine Dartmoor locations.
Watson muddles through the clues, though of course it is Holmes' shadowy presence that penetrates the identity of the murderer. "Not a very satisfactory case," admits the great detective, even if readers might disagree, for collecting the clues proves difficult, and several blunders mar his brilliance. A trap is set, when Sir Henry is invited to dinner, rashly encouraged by Holmes to walk home across "the perils" of the moors, surely an invitation to murder. Unfastened is the chain, fog descends- "the greatest blunder of my life" cries Holmes. The hound bays and howls and attacks. Like the police in so many crime dramas, Holmes shows up too late- almost. Poor Sir Henry be nearly gored to death.
The bog claims the killer- aaargh! "No one can help him now," mutters Holmes dispassionately. This be almost Hammer

The Boscombe Valley Mystery

Uninspiring drama of a son who is arrested for murdering his father. James McCarthy had been seen crouching over his father's dying body, whose final word had been Rats.
Holmes and Watson catch the train to Ross in Herefordshire to attend the inquest. James refuses to divulge the reason why he and his father had argued earlier. Holmes meets Miss Alice Turner, who is hoping to marry James. Then he examines the scene of the crime, as Watson watches on in bemusement. A stone is found, the murder weapon.
Alice's father owned the McCarthy farm, the two men had been involved in the Australian gold rush. Turner reveals that Alice can never marry James. James' father however had wanted to see them married, but it can never be, since James is married to the local barmaid.
Baccarat in Australia was a gold rush town, and that apparently was what the dying man had been saying, the end of that town's name. The clues lead to the killer, Holmes supplying the motive is a long coda, partly unusually related through pen and ink drawings. Then melodrama to finish, oh and Alice and James kiss. On the train home, Holmes elucidates all to Watson

The Sign of Four
Miss Mary Morstan (Ann Bell) rather takes Dr Watson's eye, as she relates how every year she receives a flawless pearl through the post. Sent on the anniversary of her father's disappearance. This year she has also received a letter which promises to enlighten her. She asks Holmes, and Watson, to accompany her.
Their destination is a South London house, outwardly suburban, but the interior is "an oasis of art," where dwells Thaddeus Solto (Paul Daneman, utterly unconvincing as an Indian). "You are a wronged woman," he tells her. He relates how he and Mary's father had argued over a hidden treasure. This is now somehwere in Pondicherry Lodge, home of Thaddeus' brother. They all go there, to find the brother dead, the sign of four beside his corpse in a locked room. The killer had entered via a hole in the ceiling, and in the attic the treasure was hid. Of course it is now missing.
Inspector Jones is quick to arrest Thaddeus. Holmes however, pronounces that a wooden legged man named Jonathan is the killer. Using the dog Toby, he tracks down Mordecai Smith, boat builder. A wooden legged man had hired his boat, the Aurora, They track it down on the Thames, Jonathan attempts to run off, but with only one leg, he can't get far. The treasure is recovered.
Solto is handing Mary more pearls, as her share. Sensing a rival, Watson proudly hands her the recovered treasure chest, which is opened.
Holmes offers a somewhat melancholy epilogue

At the Hotel Cosmopolitan, Lady Morcar complains of a bad odour in her room. Workman John Horner pokes up the chimney. When the distinguished guest discovers that her valuable Blue Carbuncle has been stolen, Horner is arrested. He claims he is innocent, and attempts to kill himself in his prison cell.
Holmes is ordered by her ladyship to investigate the theft. However he expresses himself not interested in such a trite case.
What does attract him is a hat left behind, along with a dead goose, by a man fleeing the police. Holmes persuades Watson to make deductions from the hat about the owner. Holmes offers an amazing amount of detail. Watson offers Holmes a small Christmas present of tobacco, they are interrupted by a policeman who had discovered a carbuncle in the Christmas goose!
An advertisement is placed in the paper for Henry Baker, owner of the hat and goose, to come forward and claim his property. Eventually a man named Harold Baker shows up, brother of said Henry. He claims he had purchased the goose at the Alpha Inn, from landlord Mr Windigate. From him, Holmes learns the goose had come from Covent Garden Market. Here Mr Albert Breckinridge is less helpful, but is eventually persuaded by a little bet to reveal the goose came from a Mrs Oakshott.
However somebody else is inquiring after the goose. John Robinson is he, and he proves to be James Ryder, who works at the hotel. "That's mine!" he shouts, when Holmes shows him the carbuncle. The thief explains how the carbuncle had been hidden in the turkey, Holmes in the spirit of the season, allows him to run off, before returning the jewel to Lady Morcar

The Blue Carbuncle

The Quatermass Experiment (1953)
with Reginald Tate as the Professor.
Two surviving stories
July 18th 1953, and
July 25th 1953.

Quatermass II (1955)
with John Robinson as the Professor.
The six episodes from October 22nd 1955 to November 26th 1955.
1 The Bolts
2 The Mark
3 The Food
4 The Coming
5 The Frenzy
6 The Destroyers

Quatermass and the Pit (1958)
with Andre Morrell as the Professor.
Episode 1 was on December 22nd 1958. 1 The Halfman, 2 The Ghosts, 3 Imps and Demons, 4 The Enchanted, 5 The Wild Hunt, 6 Hob

Crime Serials Menu

1 Contact Has Been Established

It wouldn't be British if our first manned rocket doesn't go missing Somewhere in Space, "something went wrong." Judith's husband Victor is the youngest of the three crew members. I was waiting for the line, "it's jolly bad luck," but the script wasn't as bad as that, though we were given, "I'm not letting myself go!"
Here is primitive tv, of its time well done, with numerous close ups, and a few models, then a rather unconvincing mock up of the wreckage. Yes, contact with the errant rocket is re-established and it is guided back to Earth, "somewhere nearer than Croydon." The studio, in fact. The unruffled Dr Quatermass is driven to the crash site, somewhere on "the west side of Wimbledon Common."
You'd expect a larger crowd to be gathered here and there's little panic or even worry evident, however one enjoyable scene as an old lady (Katie Johnson) clutching her cat is helped down a ladder from her wrecked home- she's the only actor who looks at all dazed.
Jaded journalist Jimmy is one of a (slightly) increasing crowd. "There must be somebody inside the thing," for, to Judith's intense relief, tapping can be discerned. The tension and excitement build well, then the press interviews keep us guessing up to the end of part one. The rocket door is opened and out staggers a man in a space suit, real 50's sci-fi. It's Victor, the worse for wear. But inside the ship Quatermass can find no sign of his two companions, "I don't understand"

2 Persons Reported Missing

Victor Carroon is the only survivor, "where are the others?"
How could they have disappeared from the rocket?
Fullalove, a reporter, probes, as he is sure Professor Quatermass has some secret worry he has not revealed. When an apparent clue is discovered on the space clothing, he won't even reveal its significance to the police.
Victor is delirious, Inspector Lomax cannot get any sense out of him, "his brain must have been damaged." His wife is distraught, even though she had been intending to tell him she was leaving him.
Another clue is found in Victor's fingerprints. Quatermass is so worried by this action of the police, he has Victor removed from the hospital. The professor's own doctor has a theory about the "change" in Victor.
The patient is shown film of the launch. His only comment is "bring something back." However he repeats some his leader's German words, and it emerges that he can understand this language.
"A sort of powder" is found in the rocket. This might have caused an electrical fault. "What went on here?"

By today's standards, this single thread of story is very drawn out, its dramatic impact in 1953 was greater than it is on us today. It is interesting how this drama is sustained so well for over half an hour

Quatermass Menu
.

1 The Bolts
"Another of 'em!" Captain Dillon heads for a ploughed field and finds a hot meteorite aside a dazed farmworker. Call Professor Quatermass!
He is busy trying to solve why his rocket launch in Australia has resulted in a nuclear reaction on earth, instead of heading for the moon to build his projected moon colony. "We're out of the race!" Britain that is, not going to be first on the jolly old moon. The twin of this rocket in Britain clearly has the same latent fault.
Dillon, who happens to be the girl friend of Quatermass' daughter Paula, brings the meteorite to the great man. He at once goes to question Fred the ploughman about what he had witnessed, but the poor chap is unco-operative, who can blame him?
A security area excites Quatermass' suspicions- it looks like a refinery, though the professor knows what it really is. It is strangely deserted.
What's that? That thing on poor Dillon's face...?

Sorry if my review isn't more enthusiastic. I found some good acting in the story, notably Herbert Lomas as Will in the pub, but there is also some poor acting, here I have to slate Quatermass' daughter, nearly your original BBC-accented actress, who hardly improves as the series progresses and nearly derails several scenes. Still, this makes for interesting viewing

The fallen meteorite has sent Dillon into a trance like state. Security guards swoop and take him away, as a semi-prisoner, to the hospital at the mysterious government research unit. Quatermass is not allowed to accompany him, ordered away.
He encounters a tramp (Wilfred Brambell) who talks about the village that had been on this site before this huge base was built. Quatermass collects up a lot of flints, then drives to the nearby new town of Winnerden Flats, a mass of prefabs built for workers at the base.
One of their 'representatives' is Dawson (Michael Brennan) who is uncooparative when asked by the professor about the nature of the place.
A little girl who "wanders" interests him, she is in the same trance like state as Dillon, and has the same mark on her.
Analysis of the fragments, coupled with Quatermass' glimpse of something almost invisible, yield wild theories. Police refuse to help, but then Quatermass is introduced to a civil servant who says the place is researching into synthetic foods.
He finds one ally in an angry MP (Rupert Davies) who is trying to conduct an inquiry into Winnerden Flats. All he has met to date is "evasion." Quatermass is permitted to attend the next session, and oh dear, there he sees on one of the committee The Mark!

2 The Mark

Vincent Broadhead MP's inquiry ends with Quatermass departing in disarray. "Menace" is how he describes the atmosphere in there. But it is also gas, and the MP is turned into a shell of a man.
Public Relations Officer Ward has visited the plant and as he has a pass is persuaded by Quatermass to take him and the senior civil servant Fowler on a tour of inspection.
They begin at the medical centre, where there is no sign of Dillon. In fact very few people are around at all. The tour makes for the processing unit, where the suspicion is that it is not merely food for human consumption that is the end product.
Ward disappears, and reappears a sorry mess from 'The Dome,' handing Quatermass an object that he had found in there before he dies.
On the nearby beach, a picnicking family are ordered off by guards. Meeting resistance they are brought to the plant by armed guards, passing the departing Quatermass.
Leo Pugh has examined the rocks and has identified the source of the meteorites in deepest space. But now, thousands of miles away, "they are coming.....!"

The Food

Quatermass is certain that the meteorites now hurtling again towards Earth are capable of paralysing the nervous system and instil submission to an alien will. While Fowler delves the top secret ministry files, he becomes the latest casualty.
Quatermass decides to alert the press. He takes Hugh Conrad, a reporter, to a pub used by the workers at Winnerden Flats, and they chat with the McClouds, a couple celebrating their silver wedding. They pick up a few useful titbits, but the people there are nervous of speaking out. Then an" overshot", as they call it, crashes into the building. Vainly, Quatermass attempts to warn them of their peril.
Conrad unwisely handles the fallen object and surely he is succumbing! He manages to phone through his horrific story before dying.
The mud flats seem to be swarming with invaders! Quatermass breaks into the plant disguised as a guard. He stares at the inside of The Dome, swarming with a writhing mass of horrible looking gunge

The Coming

The Frenzy
Perhaps this title is optimistic, though "coming down in hundreds," are the meteorites to be transformed in the steel dome to beings that control The Earth itself. This "nest" is only one of many around the world.
A mob storms the plant and amid volleys of bullets, some dodge into the control room to where the pursued Quatermass has also fled. Quatermass reveals what he had seen in the Dome, "I don't believe it."
Pump oxygen into the dome, orders the scientist, this will destroy the process these workers had inadvertently created. As loudspeakers order them to quit the plant, union leader McCloud, who is operating the oxygen pump, capitulates and takes many of the workers with him, lured by the promise of being shown what is inside the dome.
"Blood!" Their bodies are used to block the oxygen pipe. If this had been made today, no doubt an ocean of red would have filled our screens- instead this horror is merely reported. Smoke! In the chaos, Quatermass gets away and bumps into Pugh, who is on a rescue mission, or something. Back to the rocket- quickly!
Rocket to take off... What's this? It is The Return of John Dillon, now zombified, who declares, "the rocket base is under our control." Sorry, but I didn't know whether to laugh or laugh

"He won't be the same man you knew four days ago." That is Cpt Dillon, who hands over some written orders. When Quatermass reasons with the zombie, somehow or rather Dillon responds and permits the rocket to be launched on its mission to destroy the enemy.
Consideirng there is no rocket, only scaffolding in the studio, the model behaves creditably, though maybe the drama by centering on the rocket loses the tension of their objective. Yet the scenes are performed without glorifying these space pioneers, who lurch desperately round their studio capsule.
Leo Pugh has been infected! He attempts to shoot Quatermass but finishes whirling off into outer space, "there's no gravity!" (In case you didn't know.)
Having reached his objective, Quatermass, with a cardboard cutout of Pugh wailing comically in the ether, destroys the enemy. The conviction behind the drama has necessarily to be conveyed by the strength of John Robinson's acting, and he carries it out well.
Dillon is released from his spell. Oh- and the world is saved

The Destroyers

In Hobb's Lane SW1 (also spelt Hob's), during excavations a skull is dug up. Apeman in Knightsbridge read the popular headlines.
At a press conference, Dr Matthew Roney appeals for more time to study the ancient fossils being unearthed. The concept of a five million year old human grabs the public attention.
Quatermass is falling out with politicians over the misuse of his rocket project for military purposes to achieve British world domination (don't laugh!). His plea for peaceful uses for his rocket falls on very deaf ears.
Back at the dig, a lady alerts Roney's assistant Barbara Judd over another discovery- an unexploded bomb. Or is it? It is not made of metal. Roney calls in the disillusioned Quatermass...

1 The Halfman

The Ghosts
The officious Col Breen is in charge of operations at the bomb site. Quatermass examines the metal alloy, finding it "harder than diamond." Thus it cannot be a World War Two bomb, though Breen persists in believing it to be so.
A complete skull is unearthed. As there is some low level radiation, a clay sample is removed for analysis, and to Roney's dismay, excavations have to stop.
Local gossip has it that the nearby house is haunted, and Quatemass explores the building, derelict since 1927. Scratch marks are on the wall. Mrs and Mrs Chilcot, neighbours, tell him about "the dreadful sounds" that would emanate from there. Then he chats with Roney about the dating of the bones.
With the radioactive all clear, Breen speeds things up with an excavator, again to Roney's intense anger. The analysis is dismissed by Breen as "absurd," though Quatermass knows that the presence of alien substances in the sample are significant.
Barbara Judd brings newspaper cuttings about The Knightsbridge Spooks of 1927. Breen has uncovered a huge rocket-like structure. Inside are strange markings, and a ghost.

The tension has been built up well, though perhaps too slowly, interesting that even a contemporary review by DEH admitted that much

The markings inside the rocket are identified as a pentacle, as used in black magic. A soldier panics when he sees a "horrible" figure.
Excavations reveal a door, this is made of a heatproof metal.
In a newspaper office, the story of the Apeman seems to be fizzling out. Reporter James Fullalove (Brian Worth) is sent to probe further.
The most powerful cutter fails to penetrate the void inside the rocket. All that happens is eveyone starts shaking. Research by Quatermass reveals the ghost stories are much older than 1927. In 1762 there were stories of ghosts, and several centuries previously, are found reports of demons in Hobs Lane. Each time has been after some disturbance of the ground.
A small hole mysteriously appears in the metal inside the rocket. Through this, a large eye is seen!
More noises when another attempt is made to break into the empty compartment. Success. Inside cobwebs and great demons. Dead demons

Imps and Demons

"Colossal" dead insects inside the bulkhead. Roney has them hastily sprayed so they do not decompose and then removes them to his museum. Quatermass and reporter Fullalove scour the area where the things had once lived.
The latter's newspaper article soon has the public clamouring outside Roney's museum, inside which there is much speculation on the origins of the species.
Is Colonel Breen cracking up? He and Quatermass are called on the carpet to the War Office. The minister is briefed. Quatermass hands out his considered theory that the specimens are Martian invaders from many aeons ago. You can't blame Breen for being dubious, his idea is that the last war is to blame. His is not scientific though an "ingenious" counter theory that the Minster eagerly latches on to.
As a result the area with the rocket is declared safe. Things can be returned to normal. But Barbara suddenly becomes unsconscious and one worker, Sladden, goes beserk as he clears away, and totters wildly out of the rocket into a graveyard where he collapses. Mysterious underground rumblings underneath his body add to the mystery

The Enchanted

"The whole place was shaking." Barbara describes this latest crisis to Quatermass, who is still fuming over the rejection of his theory by the minister. The two of them go to the church where Sladden is recovering. He becomes wildly excited when questioned about what he had witnessed.
Col Breen is attempting to substantiate his theory, by checking with Germany over the identity of 'their' rocket. Quatermass knows, however, that it is a throwback of the Martian invasion of Earth aeons ago. I'm not sure I knew if I believed either of 'em! That's probably the fascination of the story.
Roney has created an incredible invention, an optic encephalograph, that can depict the imaginings of the brain, and wants to use it to discover what Sladden has seen. As he is in too agitated a state, Quatermass tries to recreate what Sladden saw. It's a failure. But Barbara is more receptive and a violent reaction sweeps around the area as her mind records the scene. Later a tape is shown to the sceptical minister and Col Breen. It is "the cleansing of the hive," and indeed looks dramatic and "most serious," though the doubters put the whole thing down to hallucination.
At the rocket site, Breen delivers his speech on tv designed to calm the nation, but it backfires when there are explosions and Lord knows what else

The Wild Hunt

'Hob'
The final episode becomes a mass of cleverly generated wild scenes, which, if you have gone along with the premise, might be pretty convincing and even scarey.
A technician is electrocuted in the hull. This was no accident insists Quatermass, falling out yet again with Colonel Breen, who is preparing for a live tv broadcast to reassure the nation.
In a nearby pub, people are watching the tv screen which suddenly goes blank. Viewers are not shown the chaos at the rocket site, ethereal rumblings, then panic. A stampede along the street. Roney drags Quatermass to the now empty pub. "Everything's going mad." This includes Quatermass himself, who is more suspectible to the 'influence' and rages wildly, Roney acting as pacifier, all thoroughly melodramatic.
At the site Fullalove takes photos while Breen sits amid the ruins mesmerised, impressively baffled. Barbara acts possessed.
An American tv channel, NYBC-TV, puts out a report from a pilot flying over London, fires spreading like an epidemic. His plane crashes.
In the haunted house Potter searches. Roney reckons he knows how to end this madness, and as Quatermass is more in tune, he will execute the plan. This is a success, though not without fatality. When it is all over, Quatermass delivers an ominous warning speech

The Expert (BBC)
starring Marius Goring as Dr John Hardy, a Home Office pathologist. The other regulars were Hardy's wife Jo (a medical doctor and thus confusingly Dr Hardy), his assistant Sandra and Inspector Fleming.
There were three series shown from 1968 to 1971, with a revival in 1976. So it must have been reasonably successful, though largely forgotten these days. It is certainly lacking any lightness of touch, a serious, almost grim, account of forensic police work, sometimes quite absorbing, but you do wish Marius Goring's character could be just a little more human. I suppose he's a typical anti-hero, though hero is entirely the wrong word for this good doctor with but a hint of dry humour. "Arrogance, to the point of pomposity," is his wife's accurate summing up of his character, though he does vainly protest, "I'm never pompous."

ADAM ADAMANT LIVES! (1966/7)
"It's his courtesy viewers admire. The way he puts every woman on a pedestal and treats her like a rare flower." Alongside the perfect star Gerald Harper was Juliet Harmer as Miss Jones.
The BBC gave this their best shot in an attempt to emulate the fantasy that made The Avengers so unique. It's nice this series has received some sort of recognition following its dvd revival, although it's very hit and miss with a few absolutely brilliant stories but also a number of scripts that are best forgotten
The surviving stories:
1.1 A Vintage Year for Scoundrels 8*
1.2 Death has a Thousand Faces 7*
1.3 More Deadly than a Sword 0*
1.4 Sweet Smell of Disaster 9*
1.5 Allah is Not Always with You 2*
1.6 The Terribly Happy Emblamers 5*
1.7 To Set a Deadly Fashion 3*
1.8 The Last Sacrifice 1*
1.9 Sing a Song of Murder 8*
1.10 The Doomsday Plan 8*
1.11 Death by Appointment Only 7*
1.12 Beauty is an Ugly Word 7*
1.13 The League of Uncharitable Ladies 7*
1.15 The Village of Evil 5*
1.16 D for Destruction 2*
2.2 Black Echo 4*
2.13 A Sinister Sort of Service 6*
Taped Shows Menu

2:1 The Witness (April 1969)
2:2 The Witness -conclusion
2:4 The Yellow Torrish
2:18 Lethal Weapon (August 1969)
2:22 Your Money for My Life
2:25 Flesh and Blood
3:1 A Way to Die? (January 1971)
3:2 Where are you Going?
3:3 The Man on my Back
3:5 Whose Child? The Wife
3:6 Whose Child? The Husband - conclusion
3:7 Cedric
3:11 Smithereens
3:12 Hothouse
Taped Shows Menu

The Witness, part 1 Hypothesis
Though this two part story becomes progressively more absorbing, this first half would have been tighter as a half hour story.
A fourth murder in quick succession. "Keep your door locked," is police advice. All the victims are girls aged 19 to 25, all killed in their homes. First knocked out, then stripped and gagged. The motive appears to be some sort of punishment rather than lust.
Cameras follow Viv, a fiery redhead as she shops in a supermarket then goes home. Her gossipy phone conversation is interrupted by a knock on her door. Posing as an official, the killer gains entrance and swoops immediately. Procedure as before, only this time Viv's friend on the phone can hear something is wrong. She dials 999, the police swoop, but the attacker just succeeds in escaping on his motor scooter. Then we observe him in his bedsit, fastidious in his obsession with cleanliness.
A witness identifies a man who was proably following Viv. Another, Mary, who lives in the same block of flats, also identifies Viv's visitor, Jimmy Porter he was asking for.
Dr Hardy mulls over the Case with his wife. He builds up a possible portrait of the maniac, all guesswork but good guesswork- effeminate, good looking, and strong. An arts student, in his early 20s from a broken home. "All conjecture."
Police have been busy too, Martin Ingram is their suspect, who reluctantly but quietly is taken from his bedsit to the police station. Though he protests innocence, he certainly fits in with Hardy's theories.
Viv, dangerously ill in hospital, is just about able to identify her attacker, though the ordeal is far too much for her.
(for the continuation)
To The Expert Menu

The Witness, part 2 Hard Facts
Following the harrowing identity parade, Dr Hardy examines the suspect Martin Ingram, while Jo Hardy uses hypnosis on the victim Viv. Both scenes are well observed in detail, though the best follows. Despite Hardy's protestations, Ingram is immediately interviewed by the police inspector (John Collin).
Viv remembers the supermarket manager looking at her, and a good looking stranger inside the shop whom she quite fancied. He was in the identity parade but she hadn't seen him on that day. We reach the crux, the attack, "haven't I seen you somewhere before?" repeats Viv, though a description of him is hard, too hard to obtain.
Mary identifies Ingram as being in the flats that day. Hardy has pieced together a supermarket bag that Ingram had burned, it is from that supermarket. The manager describes a youth whom he thought might have been watching Viv, "staring" at her. He identifies Ingram in a parade.
All the evidence seems to suggest Ingram's guilt, this is the interest of the story. However what follows is unfair.
Ingram writes down a statement denying any knowledge of the girl. Cameras follow another girl being followed by a man. Ingram admits he had been in the shop, stealing, and had been at Viv's flats coincidentally to see his friend Jimmy Porter.
From his evidence, Hardy now concludes, "there is nothing to connect him and her." Too much of a swindle is this story as police fail to pick up the right vibes and like the story end in a cul-de-sac. 0 out of 10 for the ending

To The Expert

2.4 The Yellow Torrish (April 25th 1969)
Frank Houghton (Basil Henson) is worried that his company secretary Arthur Williams (Peter Barkworth) and shareholder Thorpe (Glyn Owen) are attempting to takeover "his" company.
In the river next to Houghton's cottage retreat, Williams finds his boss' bloodstained jacket in a drifting punt. No sign of a body but instead of phoning the police he calls in Dr John Hardy to investigate, fearful lest company shares plummet at the news of Houghton's disappearance.
Mrs Houghton (Jean Marsh) has no inkling of any accident and perturbed by the news that police have not been informed, contacts Inspector Fleming.
Hardy searches the cottage, then the river. Bloodstains indoors, and a possibility that the kitchen floor has been recently cleaned. Any initial injury, Hardy concludes, would have happened here. The boat has scratches on the side and some hair. This is later shown to be from a dog. And the jacket has two different blood groups on it.
Hardy is mystified why some clues have been left, apparently carelessly, while other fingerpritns and the evidence on the kitchen floor have been concealed. Though no fisherman, he is also intrigued why Houghton had taken two fishing rods with him.
The mystery is partly solved when old Greg admits he had borrowed Houghton's boat, he'd also borrowed Houghton's fishing rod, he's a poacher. His old dog had jumped out the boat and is later found drowned. Though the rod is a trout rod, it was a salmon fly, a yellow morrish. The other rod had been taken by Houghton on a trip to Ireland. He returns in time for a vital board meeting, his reappearance part of his scheme to gain control of the company. He is almost guilty of wasting police time, but where's the proof? The author has led us, and the police, a merry dance
To The Expert

2.18 Lethal Weapon (August 1st 1969)

This well constructed absorbing story by NJ Crisp begins with a night worker returning home early in the morning, stopping his car when he sees a dead woman in the road. Prof Hardy examines the corpse.
Mandy Williams is the dead girl, last seen alive at the Riviera Night Club, owned by Terry Warren. This information is relayed to Inspector Fleming by his assistant Charles Oakley, who is struggling to make ends meet with his wife Phyllis (Meg Wynn-Owen). Suddenly becoming reminscent of a 1950s film, there's a cabaret turn (by Lois Lane) at the night club where the boss is reluctant to reveal who Mandy had been with, apart from Oakley, who had used her as a minor informer. She was a hostess here, and had a six month old child, father unknown.
One man who has accompanied her home is traced, William Lever. He claims that though he had indeed offered her a lift, once they got outside the club, she had been picked up by a man driving a Cortina.
Mrs Webster of the Adoption Society explains Mandy had been having second thoughts about having her child adopted. The name of the father is not on record, but Mrs Webster is sure he is a policeman. Now the plot is clear, Oakley owns a Cortina and this is examined thoroughly by Prof Hardy. Underneath are discovered human hair, wool fibre and a wide scattering of blood stains.
"Why can't they treat you like a human being?" Phyll asks, as her husband is now under the closest scrutiny. It's the best scene. To her, he offers to resign from the force, so that they can have a better home life.
However it has got beyond that. In charge of the investigation now is Det Sgt Perry (John Collin). His questioning of Oakley, in Fleming's presence, soon forces the admittance, "it just happened with Mandy," his relationship that is. She had wanted him to get a divorce. He had picked her up that night, they'd argued in a quiet spot, near to where she was later found. In a temper she had walked off, he'd driven after her and accidentally knocked her down.
Hardy tries reconciling the evidence with Oakley's statement. Perry goes over the story in fine detail with the accused. Oakley is arrested but denies murder.
"One of my own men, I don't like that," says Fleming. He takes it on himself to tell Mrs Oakley in another satisfying if sad scene. Phyllis breaks down, she did know about her husband's affair, though the identity of the woman was unknown to her

The Expert

Your Money for My Life
On a dual carriageway, almost empty of vehicles, a car overtakes what traffic there is, and speeds down the outside lane, veers into a bridge, the driver hurled through the windscreen.
Peter Haskins, an Advanced Motorist, had been doing over 80mph, but what is most interesting about the case in charge of insurance investigator David Lynch (Simon Oates) is that he'd only recently taken out a Ł100,000 policy. The terrible news is relayed to his wife and children Brian and Angela. But Lynch wants to know how such a crash could have happened to a driver who'd never had any accidents before. Was Haskins worried about his son's latest student protests? Lynch engages Dr Hardy to examine the forensic evidence, which has seemed to indicate only a normal if tragic accident.
The main puzzle is why the usually reliable Haskins had turned up late for his office work that morning. The reason for his delay becomes the focal point of the story. Dr Hardy's examination of Haskins' clothing reveals several strands of hair, black white and blonde and lipstick on a handkerchief. Not his wife's. "I think his wife knew," surmises Lynch. The make-up is traced to a cosmetics company that specialises in bespoke products and Inspector Fleming is persuaded to open a police inquiry and contact this company. Over 100 customers have used this product, Angela one of them, but she certainly never saw her father that day. But the trail leads to a friend of Angela's, Penny Sparrow, a model who demonstrates the powder in question.
She provides the story of Peter Haskins' other life. To conclude, Dr Hardy goes over the evidence with Lynch in a typically vague 1970s conclusion
The Expert

Flesh and Blood
Ten year old Jacky Carr is bullied on his way home from school. The purpose of this scene isn't apparent until the end.
His father Albert (Dudley Foster) and "gone to seed" mother Jeanette (Ann Lynn) take him to the doctor to see about the annoying grit in his eye. Albert unburdens himself privately to Dr Hardy's wife about his sudden doubts that Jacky is his child. It's too long a scene but he wants a blood test to confirm his suspicions. "It's not as simple as that," he's warned for this was pre DNA days. Dr Hardy does check the blood. Mother is apparently O group, so is father. So is Jacky, though that doesn't prove anything of course.
The mother-in-law from hell (Marjorie Rhodes at her best) doesn't help the growing tensions between husband and wife. "If your father had known..." and lines like that don't cheer up the atmosphere, or indeed the play.
Albert has decided that Jeanette's former boss Michael (William Lucas) must be the father. He attacks him, nothing very violent, but it's enough to get Michael to complain to the police.
Angst ridden Albert is now arguing with his wife. There was never anyone else she cries. Another more advanced type of blood test might resolve the issue for now Albert is getting ever more neurotic. Another row with mother-in-law only makes it more like the dreaded Wednesday Play.
The new tests produce an "impossible" result. "She's not his mother." The Hardys inquire into Jacky's birth and the awful truth comes out. Unexpected and not at all convincing. About a baby stolen ten years before. That brings the police into the story and Jacky's future looks bleak as he is placed in an orphanage. That's where we go back to the opening unpleasant scene, for here it seems Jacky is going to be happy. It is more than flesh and flood can stand to swallow this story
The Expert

A Way to Die (January 3rd 1971)
In a giant pigsty where pigs are fattened, a young man is found locked inside, trampled to death. Head pigman Ronald discovers his corpse.
Not a lot of clothing or personal belongings left, the pigs have eaten almost everything they can. "I can hardly arrest 160 swine." So what's a shotgun pellet doing in his backside?
A scrap of scarf identifies him as a university student, and he is found to be David Lewis a second year undergraduate, known to Dr Hardy's wife as someone who had once attempted suicide. "A neurotic type," she underdescribes him. David's student friends put up a wall of silence, in a none too convincing scene. David's diary is found but "it's all Greek to me," for it is written in Russian and other languages.
Sendall, the piggery manager was allegedly staying at a London hotel on the night of the tragedy. Yet he never occupied his room. He admits he'd been covering up a dirty weekend. A yokel named Bennett (Windsor Davies) is found to be the owner of the shotgun that fired the pellet at David. But he says he lent it to Ron, who had wanted to scare off the students. That brings on a confession from David's girl friend that they had planned to release the pigs, all to do with animal rights. Ron admits borrowing the gun, then says Snedall fired the shot. Sendall in his turn admits leaving his dirty weekend in order to deal with the students.
At the piggery Dr Hardy demonstrates to Inspector Fleming the evidence that supports his conclusions about David's death. A confession follows.

The best characters in this story are David's grieving parents, a fine study.
The Expert

3:2 Where are you Going?
In the rain a young hippy is hitching a lift. Another girl joins him, but he quickly leaves in an empty bus. The driver comes to a halt on the A425 when he sees a corpse by the roadside. They recall an MGB passing them driving erratically a while earlier and police promptly trace this vehicle. The owner Alan Stafford (Jonathan Newth) is detained. Dr Hardy examines his car, noting a dent on his front bumper, though nothing inside to indicate a struggle.
We see what the police don't, a Cortina driver named Brian (Mike Pratt) with a scratch on his face. It makes the story suddenly pointless as Hardy gives Stafford a detailed examination. Maybe it shows that police work sometimes involves wrong turnings.
The dead girl was Claire, who had been making for London, "one of her daft ideas," to join her poet boyfriend. Cause of death, a fractured skull, but the question is, did she fall or was she pushed? There's a well done scene as Hardy discusses with his wife about hitchhikers, whether she'd pick one up, if so whom she would, whom she wouldn't.
Another quite pointless scene follows. Another sports car driver picks up a student from Warwick University. "These cars are very fast," though we are shown the speedo reading 50mph! He makes a pass she struggles, but he does let her out of his car.
Hardy has discovered lime on Claire's clothing, but what type of lime? Slake lime, cement which suggests a building site. The name Brian crops up but all this science has proved unnecessary. Brian's conscience has weighed him down and he confides in his mum who's not sympathetic but ultimately very worried for her son. She wants to concoct a tale, but he insists on informing the police. He'd given this "beautiful girl " a lift. "I felt funny... I touched her," after a struggle "she was gone."
Not clear if he'd killed her deliberately. The final scene is one that is very unhelpful also, must have been there to fill in time. The same sports car driver, not Alan, picks up another girl. I could have provided several more satisfying and honest endings than this lazy one
The Expert

3.3 The Man on My Back (January 17th 1971)

Dr Hardy is at the scene of a hit and run road accident in the countryside, by a railway bridge. There's "a car but no body," the crashed car had been stolen from probation officer Davis Jones (Edward Fox).
Inspector Fleming questions Jones as to whether any of his clients might have stolen the car. One possibility is the pathetic Norman Hobson, who can only produce the alibi that he was "at home in bed."
Hardy and his wife enjoy an evening meal with the probation officer and his wife Beth. It's evident from their sometimes philosophical discussion that Davis Jones has an unorthodox approach to his work, "a dilettanti," Flemings calls him, though he gets results.
Escaped convict Jock had been pally with Hobson and evidence connects him with stealing the car. Hardy works out the corpse had been carried in the back of this car to the bridge, traces of an expensive raincoat are evident, suggesting that it must be one belonging to Jones.
Jones resigns his job. He admits giving the coat to Hobson, who claims he has "flogged" it. It seems probable that Jock is the dead man and his corpse had been tipped over the bridge onto a passing train. A goods perhaps, "try Pontypool or Crewe."
Once the body is recovered, Jones who has turned to drink, comes clean. He sees he had been used. A very immature officer, you wonder how he got appointed.
The final scene in prison is very pathetic
The Expert Menu

Whose Child? Part 1 The Wife
Well drawn characters, even if this two parter is too drawn out.
Ruth Fletcher (Ann Lynn) has taken her baby boy to Dr Jo Hardy. She'd been so pleased after fifteen years to have this child, but her dilemma is, who's the father? There follows the familiar angst of the eternal triangle, is it her husband Harry (Anthony Bate) or her boyfriend Michael Jackson (James Maxwell)?
Though Harry's a cold fish, we do see him enjoying an evening out with business colleague Bill (Geoffrey Palmer) at a strip club. Too gratuitous though apparently "not much to write home about." Naturally, when he returns home late, he wants a bit more fun...
That decides Ruth to make a private appointment with Dr John Hardy, who as expected has a slightly high handed approach, wanting her to see the consequences of her action. Her idea is that she will live with the real father even though she loves only Michael. Blood samples taken, result: Michael could be the father. However unless Harry's blood group is ascertained, Hardy cannot say whether Harry might also be the father. Ruth is very reluctant to tell her husband anything, so borrows his hankie. She awaits that result anxiously.
Dr Hardy prefaces his comments with the rider that this hankie might have been borrowed, so could she be absolutely sure the sample on it is his? All Hardy will state is the person who used that hankie could not be the father. To be more positive, Harry's blood sample must be taken. However she decides there's sufficent proof and leaves Harry for Michael. She's all for ducking a confrontation, but Michael is honourable or maybe stupid enough to talk to Harry as he comes home from work. There's a scene outside Ruth's late home which ends in blows.
Now Harry is the one to consult Hardy. Sample taken, the evidence is that he cannot be the baby's dad. "You'll pay for this," Harry threatens his estranged wife
To part two, or The Expert Menu

Whose Child? Part 2 The Husband
On his driveway, Harry Fletcher is confronted by Michael, "please be reasonable." Divorce is the request, an argument is bound to result, Harry taps Michael with his umbrella and Michael collapses to the ground.
A postman finds the corpse. Ruth Fletcher is distraught (Ann Lynn gives us a fine study in grief).
Dr Hardy conducts a post mortem. Cause of death: a blow to the side of the neck.
Chief Inspector Fleming questions Harry who is quite open about the confrontation but states he left Michael "standing," adding, "he can't be dead." But the postman's testimony is that when Fletcher drove away in his car, the victim was already on the ground.
"I thought he was shamming," admits Harry at last. It bears out what we watched. Harry admits he struck Michael, but "I didn't mean to hurt him." He is charged with murder.
The question is, did he intend to cause his enemy grievous bodily harm? That's what the defence refute, pleading provocation. So why did Harry strike him?
Prof Hardy gives his evidence, the prosecution manage to hint that it might have been deliberate, even if Hardy won't budge from his opinion. A nervous Jo Hardy gives her account about the paternity of the baby. She has to mention Harry's threat to "kill" Michael, but believed it only an idle notion so had not reported him to the police.
"I thought you did very well," Dr Hardy tells his wife, slightly patronisingly.
Harry comes over as the injured party, in the light of his wife's adultery. Carefully staged questioning, and though he admits he hated Michael, his rival's taunt of impotence was what had made him strike the blow.
"It wasn't like that at all," Ruth states privately, even though she hadn't been present. The law states she is not permitted to testify against her husband.
The Hardys discuss the verdict, while Ruth and Harry pass in the street as strangers
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Cedric
A typically bleak drama of the era, of an angst ridden loner, well portrayed by Peter Jeffrey.
Cedric is unwrapping a parcel, inside a rare book, a first edition by Sir Walter Raleigh- phew!
So engaged by it is he, that he consults his doctor, Jo Hardy, since he has no one else to share his find with. Evidently he is seriously depressed, though she, even if sympathetic, only sends him back to his flat. Here he gets in a state, what with the noise of the baby crying downstairs.
Dr Jo and husband John Hardy find his room in an absolute mess, Cedric himself missing. We watch him outside a woman's house. When she goes out, he follows her, and into a supermarket. Their eyes meet for an instant, then she goes home, he behind her. He knocks on her door, it seems he'd been informed she was lonely by Dr Jo Hardy. At his place of work, a colleague Miss Lee describes Cedric as "like an old granny," hardworking though unusually he'd been off sick the last two days.
Dr John Hardy is examining the corpse of the lady we know Cedric had followed. Inspector Fleming questions a paper boy who had seen a man running away from the house, it is Cedric. Dr Jo Hardy is ridden with guilt that she might have inadvertently pointed Cedric in the dead woman's direction. She'd died of a heart attack, is her husband's conclusion, no definite proof she had been attacked, even though her head had been hit, this possibly from her falling onto her bath.
Cedric is in a pub discussing with a fellow drinker football, including Pele's beating England. Then he returns to his lonely room, now clean and tidy, as though in his old routine he makes for his office. This is on the eleventh floor. Miss Lee screams. His jump has been aborted. As usual, the police arrive after the event, such as it was, is all over.
The two Hardys take the unfortunate wreck of a man away to their home. Talk about his landlady's baby being his, an Oscar attempt at a closing monologue, thank goodness it's over
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Smithereens (March 14th 1971)
An old widow, Mrs Carr (Lucy Griffiths), alone with her cat settles down to sleep. Outside a man in a balaclava flashes his torch and effects an entry into the conservatory. Alerted, the lady waits, poker in hand, and bravely or perhaps foolishly, confronts the thief.
Next morning the milkman finds her unconscious and she is taken by ambulance to hospital.
Dr Hardy sifts the evidence, a broken milk bottle. This is the latest in a series of thefts on lonely old people living in isolated houses, others had been robbed of small sums of money. The local pub seems a likely spot where the crook had learned of possible victims. Farmer Stan is one such. Inspector Fleming interviews Mrs Carr when she comes round, though she cannot properly describe her assailant, he wore a balaclava and goggles. She admits she kept a hoard of half crowns in the house, which have gone missing.
Eddie Rutter had been spending half crowns at the pub, he lives in a scrap yard, a bleak place, and Fleming's assistant searches for the cash while he questions the man. Though he is now chief suspect, Hardy cannot provide any conclusive proof as to his guilt. But are the traces of blood found in Mrs Carr's house Rutter's?
Hardy's most important clue is algae that must have been brought in on the thief's clothing. The interesting breakthrough comes when Dr Hardy mysteriously sets about reconstructing the milk bottle broken into a hundred pieces, "what is the point of all this?" That only becomes clear when this long shot pays off as the reconstructed bottle can display a fingerprint, built up from all the fragments, but not, admits Hardy in disappointment, definite enough to obtain a conviction. But Inspector Flerming uses his own cunning and shows the print to Rutter to bluff a confession
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Francis Durbridge
The early work of that master of suspense serials has not been treated well by the BBC, who did so well out of him.
Thankfully, some memorable series have been released on dvd, here's one complete surviving six part serial from 1966:

A Game of Murder
starring Gerald Harper as Det Insp Jack Kerry,
with Conrad Phillips as Chief Supt Bromford (not ep 5),
David Burke as Det Insp Ed Royce, and June Barry as Cathy White.
Designer: Roy Oxley. Produced and Directed by Alan Bromly.
Others in all episodes were: John Harvey as Charles Bannister, and Christopher Wray as Douglas Croft.
Other semi regulars were: Diana King as Iris Bannister (stories 1,2,4, and 6), Peter Copley as Norman Penn (2,3,4,6), Dorothy White as Doreen Osborne (2,3,4,5,6), Dorothy Frere as Freda Lincoln (1,2,3), John Carlin as Leonard Lincoln (3,4,6) Kenneth Hendel as Cleg Reed (3,4,5), Murray Hayne as Rupert Delaney (1,3) and Patricia Shakesby as Greta (5,6)
Episode 1 (Feb 26th 1966) - With Anthony Sagar as the murdered Bob Kerry, Donald Oliver as PC Collier, Bernard G High as Postman.
Episode 2 (Mar 4th 1966) - With Carole Lesley (billed as Lesley Carole) as Liz Mason, Elizabeth Hopkinson as Brenda Thompson, Alan Hynton as PC Hodges, Bernard Stone/ Derek Martin as Taxi drivers.
Episode 3 (Mar 11th 1966) - With Richard Jacques as Barman.
Episode 4 (Mar 18th 1966) - With Donald Hoath as Det Insp Everson.
Episode 5 (Mar 25th 1966) - With Christopher Gilmore as Dr Friedman, Kenneth Waller as Dr Hasling.
Episode 6 (Apr 2nd 1966) - With Brian Cant as Sgt Fuller, Reg Whitehead as PC Small.

My reviews of the episodes

Crime Serials Menu

Episode 1

Bob Kerry, professional golfer, is to play a round on his own today. Liz and Douglas are left in charge of his pro shop in Putney. Before leaving for the course, Bob says goodbye to his son Jack, a Scotland Yard detective, whose workload currently includes the minor case of finding Midge, the poodle of Bob's daily, Mrs Lincoln.
On his way to see a friend in hospital, Jack is stopped by police. They have terrible news. His father has been hit by a golf ball. He has died. A distressed young golfer, Rupert Delaney, had driven a ball straight at Bob in a bunker on the twelfth hole. Accidentally of course. The doctor had taken an hour to get to Bob, too late.
Jack disagrees with the coroner's verdict of accidental death. But then there is some good news. A Mrs Bannister on Kingston Hill, phones to say her husband has found a dog answering to Midge's description. Jack confirms it is Midge, even though her rather valuable collar is missing. He writes a cheque for Ł5, a reward, to be given to charity.
Driving home with the dog, he sees a Fiat HXC443C, a numberplate his father had written down before his death for some unknown reason. Oddly, the driver of this car is Delaney, his passenger a blonde.
6 Linton Close Knightsbridge is where Delaney lives. But Jack finds him out, and returning to his car, notices a recently dropped lady's scarf. And close by is Delaney, shot dead in the back of his head.
In his pocket, Chief Supt Bromford finds a receipt for a registered letter posted this day to Jack.
Next morning Jack, with Bromford in attendance, awaits the arrival of the post. Bromford asks Jack if he knows a Basil Higgs. The name of the treasurer of the charity named by Mr Bannister to whom Jack had donated his Ł5 cheque. Why was this cheque in Delaney's flat?
The letter is delivered. In Bromford's presence, it is opened by Jack. "This is why your father was killed," reads the abrupt note. Enclosed is a collar. Midge's.

For my review of episode 2

Start of Game of Murder

Episode 2

Jack Kerry recounts the whole tale to Supt Bromford, perhaps for the benfit of new viewers! He says the collar had been bought by his dad for Mrs Lincoln. "It seems a perfectly ordinary collar to me." Liz explains Douglas had told Bob Kerry he could buy it at Penn's pet shop. She also recalls Bob had been talking quite earnestly with one posh customer, a lady called Iris, whom he later told Liz he had never met before. This Iris seems have have given Penn a medallion which had been attached to the collar. Some investigation reveals her real name is Cathy White, from Liverpool, and what's more, she was the girfriend of the late Rupert Delaney. He had been backing a show, which had flopped, which starred Cathy.
Bromford interviews Charles and Iris Bannister who admit they had returned Midge to Kerry, but had never taken any cheque for charity from him. "I don't know anyone called Basil Higgs," states Mr Bannister who, furthermore, is not wheelchair bound as Kerry had described. Now Basil Higgs was the payee for the Ł5 cheque for charity, and that turns out to be an alias of Delaney!
Mrs Lincoln has resigned her job, why she has lied about staying with her nephew instead of admitting she has got another job isn't at all clear.
Cathy (aka Iris) phones Jack, "I'm in trouble." She arranges to meet him at a Notting Hill restaurant, but when he shows up, she runs off. After a chase along the pavement, she leaps into a taxi, he joins her and she claims she never phoned him. "It was a tip-off," she concludes, "they knew I was at the restaurant." Question is, who are They?
Jack Kerry starts to escort her to the police, but on the way she admits she knows who killed Bob Kerry...

For my review of episode 3

Start of Game of Murder

Episode 3

Cathy White is taken to Jack's home where she tells her overlong story, though it is enlivened by partly being told in flashback. She had moved in with Rupert Delaney after the show he'd backed proved a flop, "we were very happy together." She had overheard Rupert being instructed by a man called Charles to be on the golf course at 10am next day. The name Bob Kerry had been mentioned. Rupert had returned next day in shock, "there was nothing I could do," he had accidentally killed Kerry with his golf ball. Rupert says he had never met Kerry before and asked her to forget all about it. Rupert's boss Mel Harris, whom Cathy has never seen, phoned later about the incident. Then later, the night before he died, she had argued with Rupert and left him. It was over such a trifling thing, a mere dog collar.
The chat is interrupted by an intruder who must have whisked Cathy away, for when Jack comes round, she has gone.
An unannounced visitor for Jack, Leonard Lincoln, nephew of his former housekeeper. He's worried about his aunt, "heading for a breakdown." It's a silly matter, she is gabbling something about Jack has stolen something from her, her dog collar. Jack is happy to return it, but insists she collect it in person. Yet it seems a most ordinary collar, nothing out of the ordinary according to the Yard lab report, nothing that could provoke murder surely.
In his father's belongings, Jack notices a guide book with a ring round a hotel in Aldeburgh. Now that was the place Bromford had said that Charles Bannister and his wife were off to!
At the Golden Plough in Barnes, Jack has arranged to return Mrs Lincoln's dog collar. In return, he has warned her he wants information about Mel Harris. But she never shows up, or rather she shows up later in Jack's flat, dead

For my review of episode 4

Start of Game of Murder

Episode 4

Jack Kerry is reprimanded for seeing privately the late Mrs Lincoln. Kerry also has to explain to Leonard Lincoln what happened to his aunt. The puzzle is, why she'd told Leonard she was coming to see Kerry. And why did she state she was working at this hotel when in fact she was staying there at Ł3.15/- a night?
Douglas tells Kerry of his father's secret- he had been having an affair with a married woman called Bannister. Oddly she had phoned Doug last evening about a missing receipt for a pearl necklace. Doug had been asked to post it, should he find it, to a hotel in Aldeburgh.
The Bannisters have reported a break-in, only item stolen is a pearl necklace. A police inspector investigating, later informs Supt Bromford that he had seen in the Bannister's house a wheelchair hidden in a cupboard. This corroborates Jack Kerry's statement that he thought Bannister was an invalid.
Cathy's friend Doreen Osborne had been spotted with Penn the pet shop owner. Kerry questions Penn about this "dreadful woman," who at the moment "has money to burn." 32 Defoe Mansions is where she lives.
Kerry finds her at home but not very forthcoming about Cathy's whereabouts. "She did a bunk," after Delaney died, is all Doreen can offer. But Jack hides in her flat and overhears her on the phone to Mel. Evidently she knows more. When she goes out, Jack pokes around and ends up at the wrong end of a gun, held by Stella, alias Cathy. She says she is so scared she is going to be charged with Rupert Delaney's murder. There's a struggle and the gun goes off...

For my review of episode 5

Start of Game of Murder

Episode 5

"Suffering from shock more than anything else," Cathy is now recovering. "Are you falling for her?" Inspector Ed Royce asks Jack Kerry. He fills his colleague in on what he has learned about Rupert Delaney. He worked for the shadowy Mel Harris, running a call girl racket. Cathy was the front girl, and blackmail followed. Jack can't accept Cathy was involved. But how to find the elusive Mel?
Doreen, with money to burn, seems the weakest link. Jack finds her weeping, having been beaten up. Mr Penn had been seen leaving the building. "You've got to tell me about Mel Harris," Jack urges her. But she is too scared, so Jack demands the same of Penn. He admits seeing Doreen but says she had been beaten up before he got to her.
A thin story, Ed believes. Is Penn Mel?
Cathy has now recovered enough to confide in Jack. She says she knew nothing about Rupert's business, though she knew Doreen was a call girl. She's never seen Mel Harris. Together they go to question Doreen, but she is now not in her flat.
Jack will take Cathy to Steeple Aston, to hide her away from any danger.
Leonard Lincoln brings Jack the dog collar, which has a zip which conceals a receipt for a pearl necklace. Jack arranges to return it to Iris Bannister. They are to meet at The Danish Cafe, but it is her husband Charles who comes to the rendezvous, "did you have trouble parking your wheelchair?" Jack asks him drily. He wants to know about his dad's involvement, but all he receives is a warning off. The real trouble is that Bannister knows exactly where Cathy has been hidden...

Review of episode 6

To the start of Game of Murder

Episode 6

The Priory Hotel Steeple Aston is where Cathy is. But Jack had spotted the hidden microphone in Doreen's flat and had given them a "bum steer." Bannister has no hold. Iris phones her husband at the cafe to warn that Mel Harris is watching the cafe. He is driving his grey Jag. When Bannister comes out, he is run down.
Iris is in "a terrible state" and tells all. Mrs Lincoln had gathered incriminating evidence against one of her former employers, Harris, and had tried blackmailing him. Wrongly, she had implied that Bob Kerry was her partner. Her dog Midge had been kidnapped to persuade her to call off the blackmailing. Cathy had sent the dog collar to persuade Rupert to speak out, but that scheme had failed. So who is Mel Harris? And where is he? That we still don't know.
Doreen is in a nursing home in St Albans, to undergo plastic surgery on her disfigured face. Jack asks Cathy to speak to her. "You know Harris," Caths urges her. Doreen is too scared to talk, but Cathy gets her to agree to a meeting, for "I want Rupert's job." To enforce the point, she adds darkly that she knows about Mrs Lincoln.
This works. Harris arranges to talk to Cathy about her proposal. "Play it cool, Jack advises her, "and watch his hands." She does act the part well. "I know why you killed Charles Bannister," she tells him. Mel curses him as "a bloody fool," he'd been trying to peddle narcotics on the side. With Harris increasingly suspicious, Jack intervenes to arrest the boss who is now trying to throttle her.
So all is explained, well almost. And Cathy really is taken to Steeple Aston... by Jack

The End

To menu for Game of Murder

Death is a Good Living (1966)

A deposed dictator, Salias, lives in comfortable exile in Florida, but longs to start an invasion of his former empire. He sends his pal Ramon Aguirre (Michael Godfrey) to Europe to drum up support from his rich sympathisers.
From the novel by Philip Jones, script by Brian Degas and Tudor Gates.
Leonard Rossiter plays the British agent Norman Lynch who will be retiring after this caper. His job is to eliminate Ramon. Though he likes to work alone, he is persuaded to take under his wing the promising young Peter (Don Borisenko), and most of the interest in the serial is their relationship, and their very different approaches.
You have to get away from seeing Reggie Perrin in Rossiter's every move, but once you overcome this, you can get involved in the characters.

1
In Miami, Ramon is briefed on his job to buy arms in Europe to kickstart his country's revolution. But his mission is known to others.
In London, Norman Lynch is briefed on his final job before he retires. His successor Peter is to accompany him, despite Norman's protests. Norman bids his dear old mother goodbye- she thinks he works as a travel agent.
Ramon flies in to Shannon Airport, two security men, Jim Prescott (Geoffrey Toone) and Tim Barton (Jeremy Burnham) have a watching brief on his every move.
Peter is impatient to kill Ramon off, but Norman is more patient, They tail Ramon as he is driven by car to a large house, where he is reunited with Maria Salvedor, a Cuban, whom he seems to know pretty well.
Norman leaves them there, much to Peter's frustration. As they while away the hours in their hotel, Norman explains that an agent needs a certain "flair" in his killing. But as Norman dozes, Peter goes off on his own to the house...

While Carlo leaves Ramon to "talk politics" with Maria, their conversation is more on the "I love you" lines. But she does try and get him to see his supporters for what they really are. "I am an old fashioned ideallist," he admits.
Peter is lurking in the garden, aiming his rifle through the open window. A gunshot. He runs off. He is not quite the fully fledged agent, for he had been aiming at the mirror image of Ramon! "Fortunately he was not a very good shot."
Lynch is furious, for he has got slightly injured in going after the wayward Peter. His precipitous action has put the enemy on the alert, though its naievty has also mystified them. A revised schedule is drawn up for Maria and Ramon. She is first to leave by plane, Ramon kisses her goodbye at the airport. He tells her he has given up his mission, for her sake.
Lynch is confident he has guessed correctly what changes will be made to their plans. He has indeed got it right, for Ramon is heading for a private airfield in Hertfordshire. Lynch and Peter are waiting there.
For Lynch, this will be his final act before a happy retirement, but in this he is wrong, for as his boss notes, an agent can never retire

Episode 3
At the airstrip, Lynch and Peter await their quarry, following Lynch's cunning plan, of deviancy of Reggie Perrin proportions.
"It's too tight," objects Peter, asking pertinently, "where am I to shoot from?" In fact it's "a simple matter of geometry," timing all important. "You go for the head," Lynch orders Peter.
The plane is running a little late, due to headwinds, giving the agents on board time to mull over their lives and motivation, "we don't take any chances," they comfortingly inform Ramon.
Lynch is all prepared, "stand by." But this is only a rehearsal. They have to wait some more. Lynch is going to write a book after he retires.
The plane appears in the sky. Lynch is to drive a baggage truck, Peter concealed behind stacks of cases. The plane lands and the passengers disembark. Peter shoots.
"Right through the heart," he breathes. "I said to the head," cried Lynch. The assassins make their getaway.
The airport gates are closed quickly. But Lynch and Peter are already on a plane, that has received the okay to take off. Destination Manchester.
"We did it." But they are not yet out of danger.
At the airport, the body is brought in from the plane. Ramon, it seems, is not dead

Episode 4

Maria is accused of the shooting of Ramon. "Why should I?" She becomes hysterical until Prescott brings Ramon to her, very much alive.
Lynch tells Peter that he is not returning to London. But the latter reveals that the job is not finished, for Peter's orders are to make Lynch the scapegoat. However Lynch has one ace up his sleeve, for he can tell the assassin that the killing has failed, labelling Peter "an amateur."
In any case, Lynch must have expected Peter might try to do this, and had emptied his gun! The pair part.
Major Gates (Jack May) inquires into the attempted assassination. His men tail Lynch, who does in fact drive to London.
Peter reports to his boss, though it is Gates who is waiting to question him.
Lynch gives his tail the slip and returns to see his mother. But she is not well, and Lynch has to call a doctor urgently. Here we see, not the hardened killer, but his soft heart, as he accompanies her to hospital. Gates, by contrast, has no heart for the old lady's feelings and bursts into the hospital. Lynch is escorted away. As he attempts to get away, he is shot dead.

THE END

Bat Out Of Hell

A 1966 5 part serial by Francis Durbridge
Starring John Thaw as Mark,
and Sylvia Sims as Diana.

To Crime serials menu

Part 1
The wealthy Geoffrey Stewart and his young wife Diana are packing, for tonight they are off on holiday to Cannes. Second in command at work, Mark Paxton lends them a suitcase- that's how stingy Stewart is with his money! Ned is to pick them up at 17.00 to drive them to the airport.
Geoffrey is a superior estate agent, and before he takes his break, he must see an important client who is very interested in buying this large mansion the firm has on its books. He is dropped off by Mark at the empty property, where he is shot. Dead. It's all so Mark can make out with Diana. Mark dumps the body in the boot of his Cortina and locks his car away in his own garage.
Diana phones the police, who are not at this point over concerned that her husband has failed to turn up to go on holiday. The plot is very straightforward.
Mark plans to drive the corpse to a gravel pit, "they'll not find him in a thousand years." However this is where things get complicated. The body has vanished. Then Diana receives a phone call. It's Geoffrey's voice, and he warns her, "they've got to think it's me."
Panicked, Mark and Diana puzzle what it all means. It cannot have been Geoffrey on the phone. He was definitely dead.
Next day Inspector Clay questions Mark about Geoffrey's death. His body has been discovered in a gravel pit. Diana identifies the corpse. She confides later to Mark however that her husband is not dead. The phone rings...

Note- one section of the background music is the theme later used in Callan

Part 2
Alunbury 8130. Mark answers. it's only bachelor Ned Tallboy, to see if Diana is all right.
Offering sympathy, family friends Walter and Thelma call to comfort her. Walter is a writer, and curiously advises Mark not to underestimate Inspector Clay. Thelma promises to come by in the afternoon to keep Diana company.
A cigarette case that Geoffrey had given Diana is returned to her, though she says it is not hers. The inscription inside from Geoffrey is odd, "who came like a bat out of hell."
Inspector Clay is mystified. A pair of gloves belonging to Geoffrey certainly do not fit the dead man. Moreover fingerprints also suggest the corpse is not that of Geoffrey.
Thelma tells Diana that she has had a call from Geoffrey saying he wants to meet her at three o'clock. Mark however is certain he had killed Geoffrey. Don't go, he advises Diana. But she goes to the Chichester Motel only to find another corpse being removed, this time it definitely is her husband. Shot dead.
Miss Tracey, owner of a sweet shop, phones Mark informing him that Diana has been arrested. She rings off after a reference to Bat Out Of Hell

Part 3
Kitty Tracey's phone call has come like a bolt from the blue. Mark returns home to start packing. Diana calls. She has not been arrested as the phone call had said. She'd admitted to Inspector Clay that she had gone to the hotel hoping to meet her husband.
He had told her that the first corpse in the woods has now been identified as that of Ken Harding, who ran a betting shop. Geoffrey's wallet had been discovered in these woods. Inside was a notebook with a list of payments to or possibly from "T." Tracey perhaps.
Alunbury 7432. Miss Tracey answers Diana's call. They fix a meeting for 7 o'clock tonight at her shop.
Ned is trying to flog an old Bentley to Walter. Thelma is against it. She tells Inspector Clay that she did not take any phone call from Geoffrey, despite what she had said to Diana.
Inspector Clay finds a message in Italian, which he gets translated: You Came Into my Life Like a Bat Out Of Hell.
At 7pm Diana arrives at the shop. A bloodstained knife is on the stairs. A dead body. But it is Thelma's corpse!
Shaken, Diana informs Mark. Inspector Clay calls round, then in walks Thelma very much alive

Part 4
Diane faints when Thelma walks in. She is put to bed. Walter explains that they had called round to "have it out" with Diane over her claim that Thelma had taken the phone call from Geoffrey.
Inspector Clay, suspicious, calls at Miss Tracey's sweet shop. He soon discovers her dead body.
Next he makes for Nigel Mills, who had wanted to see Diane urgently. He is the family solicitor. He explains that under Geoffrey's will, the bulk of his considerable fortune had recently been made over to a Diana Valesco. She lives in Chelsea, and Clay is soon talking to her. She is surprised to learn of the bequest.
"I think Kitty was blackmailibng Geoffrey Stewart," Inspector Clay informs Ned Tallboy. Kitty was a tenant of Ned's. Tallboy had guessed Geoffrey was seeing another woman, but he didn't know her identity.
Mark and Diane row over the will. Contest it, is Mark's first thought. Then he changes his mind. We can guess why, when he phones Diana Valesco asking to see her. 7pm tonight.
When he reaches Diana's flat, he is confronted by Clay. What is Mark's relationship with Diane Stewart? Mark bluffs. Why has he come to see Miss Valesco?

Part 5
An edited tape of Geoffrey's voice has been discovered in Miss Tracey's flat. The question is, who was her partner in crime? Inspector Clay concocts a possible scenario.
Walter tells Clay that he is worried about his wife. She was being blackmailed by Miss Tracey, and had gone to see her on the night of the murder.
Diane asks Mark about Diana Valesco, "very good looknig." He had learned that she had met Geoffrey by accident, like a bat out of hell. She has made an offer of accepting Ł10,000 rather than taking the whole legacy. But Diane is in an angry mood, the reason for which is revealed: she had received an anonymous note stating that Mark was running off, and she had checked and learned he had bought a ticket for a flight to Australia. She shoots him dead.
Thelma admits to the inspector that she had been blackmailed to the tune of Ł200 a month, on account of a swindle she was operating with Ken Harding. That fateful night, when she had called on Miss Tracey, an unseen intruder had knocked her out.
She receives a message via her husband to go to Diane's house at 2pm with Ł4,000 for the return of the blackmail documents. This she hands over and police swoop. After a brief chase through windy woods the blackmailer leaps into his getaway sports car. But Clay has disabled it. The ending is unintentionally slightly comic, when at least a dozen uniformed policeman close in on the one villain

Dixon of Dock Green (1955-1976)
starring Jack Warner as PC George Dixon, an Ordinary Copper. In September 1964 he was promoted to sergeant.
Other long serving cast members included:
Peter Byrne as Andy Crawford, George's son-in-law, Jeanne Hutchinson as Mary, his wife, as well as Arthur Rigby as Sgt Flint, the gruff but likeable station sergeant.
The series was one of the most famous creations of Ted Willis.
A "cosy" police drama which reflected the integrity of a pre-Z Cars police force. It ended up being derided as an anachronism, but that wasn't the fault of the programme, but of the world that had changed all around. Despite periodic attempts to make the stories more contemporary, this was always Jack Warner's show, and he ensured it was never unpleasant. One critic at the time nicely described watching the series as like "slipping into a comfortable pair of old slippers."
Jack Warner didn't begin every story, as some think, with George Dixon welcoming us with his celebrated "Evening All," though he often did.
16 The Rotten Apple (1956)
17 The Roaring Boy
18 Pound of Flesh
19 Father in Law
120 The Hot Seat (1960)
350 Waste Land (in colour, 1971)
367 Jig-Saw
397 Eye Witness (1973)
399 Harry's Back (1974)
410 Target
411 Seven for a Secret- Never to be Told
412 Sounds
413 Firearms were issued
414 Baubles Bangles and Beads
416 Looters Ltd
419 A Slight Case of Love
422 Conspiracy
Taped Crime Series Menu

The Rotten Apple
George Dixon: 'Ah, good evening!"

"A dickens of a surprise" awaits Alderman Mayhew (AJ Brown) in Glenside Terrace, he's been robbed. As it's on PC George Dixon's beat, he is on the carpet for not spotting anything. The irascible Sgt Flint bawls him off, so a chastened George returns home silent. Andy is here, having his radio repaired by PC Tom Carr, from Bristol (Paul Eddington). As the policemen chat idly about a spate of similar robberies Tom observes the crook must have "tons of nerve," while Andy believes it must be the work of The Captain, even though he has an alibi.
Now we see this gentleman crook, in Nelson Terrace, robbing the house of Mr Collings. But the owner interrupts the thief and phones the police. The captain waits unperturbed, sipping a drink. The pair exchange philosophies before the Captain catches Collings off guard, knocks him out and makes his getaway.
But Collings supplies the crook's description and it fits The Captain, "underneath he's a rat." The robber is arrested, though he denies any of the other crimes, and indeed his alibis for these remain watertight.
Mrs Gilbert in Westhouse Street is robbed that same evening, this can't be the work of The Captain since he has the very best of alibis! Observes The Captain, "someone else did these jobs, and did them to look like my work."
George is having a tiff with Mary about plain cooking, before Mary goes for a night out with Andy, all paid for by Tom Carr, who has had a nice win on the horses. George, back home, has a chat with Maurie, a bookie, who's owed a tidy sum of money. He asks George to help, as the debtor is Carr. "A damn young fool," he must be, decides George.
Next day he calls on Tom in his High Street digs. Carr does admit he is in debt, but implies that George is only making these inquiries as Maurie has given him a backhander. Naturally that riles our honest George and the pair exchange words. In the struggle stolen jewellery is exposed. "I can explain...." But it's all very clear now, "there's nothing worse than a rotten copper," pronounces George. Before Carr is placed under arrest, George forces him to take off his dishonoured uniform. "The only bad copper I ever me," he informs us in conclusion

PC Dixon comes face to face with an army deserter, Douglas Beale (Kenneth Cope), who is holed out in the room of his girl Diane (Jennifer Wilson). "Don't be a fool son, give me that gun."
But he won't, getting a sadistic pleasure from the power it gives him, and he enjoys arguing with his prisoners.
Remarks the disillusioned Diane: "I only hope there's no men in the next world." For Beale has declared "I've always wanted to kill someone."
But PC George Dixon gives them both a lesson in morals before pulling the carpet, literally, from under the coward

The Roaring Boy

Pound of Flesh
George Dixon: 'Ah, good evening!" Turning a blind eye, that's a policeman's art, he tells us. This is illustrated in the case of Mrs Kay Evans (Dorothy Gordon), of Turner Street, who reported "a sort of burglary." Her husband's best suit and shoes had been stolen while she popped out to post a letter.
An aside, old Billy calls at the station to announce that he has reformed. No more drink, he has signed the pledge. He explains to Sgt Flint that he found Glory while at the dogs at the White City, He's now at the Mission, and would like, please, a reference so he can get a job there.
George has had a look round the Evans home, but her story strikes him as a little odd. Neighbour Maisie can't confirm Mrs Evans' story that she met her on the way to the post box. Andy Crawford agrees her story's "thin" when he chats with George about it at home. When Andy investigates, his obvious question is, "are you sure the suit was stolen?"
Then Andy relaxes at the pub with Mary, chatting with George Blake (Leonard Williams), their window cleaner. George enjoys a drink also, with another friend, Jim. George has been busy, down at the pawnshop where he's been told Mrs Evans had pawned the suit. So he and Andy have to leave poor Mary high and dry to sort out the Evans.
Alf Evans is worked up about his missing suit. Why this cock and bull story? She's short of money, indeed she's been borrowing to make ends meet and owes Ł52 plus interest. She'd borrowed the money off Blake, "daylight robbery." Husband and wife make up tearfully.
Blake is running quite a moneylending business. Mrs Watts is his latest 'victim,' " a secret between us," he snidely whispers to her. She signs up to something she doesn't follow, actually a high rate of repayments. George Dixon arrives on official business. Blake possesses no licence to lend this money, so he is arrested. "Thank you Mr Dixon," concludes Mrs Evans.
Perhaps a very simplistic solution to a debt problem, but well acted
Dock Green Menu

Father in Law
George Dixon: "Ah, good evening."
This is the joyous story of Andy and Mary's wedding, that begins with a cosy chat between George and Andy on the eve of the big day. Guests include the bridesmaid Peggy, and 23 year old Pam who had been jilted at the altar.
Next day, it's off to church as a crowd watches outside the Dixon home extraordinarily undemonstrative (well, these filmed scenes were only shot without sound in those days). "Like a white angel," Mary takes her dad's arm, tramp Billy seeing them off and receiving an unexpected invitation to the reception.
Here Sgt Grace Millard and Sgt Flint are checking over the last minute arrangements. Grace thinks she recognises one of the helpers. Pam is there early also, as she can't bear to sit through the ceremony.
There's film outside the church, Andy and Mary now happily married. Nice shots of father looking on. Dinner afterwards then dancing, Billy has a turn with Grace. Pam can't dance however.
So well it all goes off, until a hitch, the reception manager Frank has found his wallet has been stolen, Ł10 missing. George is forced into a spot of quiet sleuthing, "this is a fine lark."
Billy is first to be questioned, naturally he takes offence. Then Grace recalls that the cloakroom girl she recognised is Muriel, who had been in court for something. Tempers start to fray until George calms them down and provides one of his comic monologues about his relations, then renders the sentimental Her Name is Mary, which all join in. To romantic music Andy and Mary take their leave, "I wish your mother could've seen you today." Then George gets a confession of theft, and all is forgiven
Dock Green Menu

The Hot Seat
George Dixon, "Oh good evening all."
George, Andy and Mary, plus Grace Millard spend a weekend in Paris. On the flight over the two men jest they are living the high life and are overheard by a conman. Peter Ames (Kenneth J Warren) and Joyce Cardew have a partner named Treadgold (William Mervyn) who gets to know Dixon in the hotel bar. He says he's in fertilizers, and is very impressed with George and Andy who say they're in Public Relations. He kindly loans them his car so they can tour the city.
Not so green Andy checks up with Dock Green, where there's a certain jealousy over this foreign trip, "I could do with a nice long weekend in Paris meself." Sgt Flint, tears Andy off a strip for making such an expensive phone call, but is already on the lookout for these swindlers. "They're not trying it on George, are they?" he asks incredulously.
On film we watch the tour de Paris, the flash car taking them in style to shots of them at the Arc de Triomphe, Eifel Tower and the Artists' Quarter in Montmartre. Then it's dinner with Treadgold, when Grace finds a stray wallet that is claimed by Peter Ames, and this introduces the other two crooks into the group. By way of thanks, Ames insists on buying drinks, after which Andy gets so carried away he offers to pay for the meal, kindly accepted. Then a night drive round the bright lights of the city, this time shots of the British inside the car with street scenes flashing by. At midnight they are admiring Nore Dame, by 1am it's time to turn in and Treadgold makes his move. Peter has this fantastic deal, 135,000 francs, about Ł10,000, would George and Andy like a slice of the windfall? A cash deal, bring it next morning, there's a big profit to follow. But it's the French gendarmes who swoop next morning and the conman find out it's they who have been conned, "we had to pick a couple of coppers."
But Andy has to pay for that meal, which George thinks funny until he gets a shock too, that fancy car had been hired out in his name
Dock Green Menu

350 Waste Land
"Good evening all."

He was living in a wasteland, a policeman, whose mind was damaged after a fight. While on duty, he goes missing, last seen in this sawmill, closed for the past six months. It makes for a distinctive backdrop to this story.
PC Norman's movements are traced, his wife is very worried since he was a very quiet man, "he couldn't get his mind to work." (Nor could the writer, you could add.) Yet somehow he was still allowed to work as a policeman.
A woman is found who knows him. She is Ruth. Though denying she knew Norman, finally she admits she was "an ear" for him. Not more? The whole story is always teetering on the Wednesday Play until the tedious search is stopped when a body is fished from the river, drowned.
We are offered "private thoughts" on his death, but it hardly makes for satisfactory drama

Jig-Saw
available on YouTube

Forbes is a watchman at a huge site, a derelict gasworks. In a warehouse he is locked in- briefly.
He gets out and George Dixon spends a long time questioning him. A baby book has been discovered on the site, belonging to Pamela Warren who was reported missing on Monday night. Her husband Colin is brought to the site.
A dog sniffs around the complex, then a posse of policeman join in the search. In fact three women two years ago had been attacked in the vicinity, is this a related case? Why was Pamela here? Colin doesn't know, saying he had attended an evening class on Monday. It turns out he was spending the time with Joan, a girl friend.
Pamela's handbag eventually is discovered. Uncle George chats to two small children who tell him they had found it earlier today. They had become scared when Forbes showed up, and locked him in.
That night a watch is kept. A decoy policewoman in plain clothes bravely strolls up and down. Though nothing happens, on the third day, after an attack, an arrest is made and Pamela's corpse unearthed. Very simple really, well written though ultimately very straightforward

Eyewitness
George Dixon: 'Good evening, all!"
A crooked croupier, about to flee the country, is stopped by Colley (Steve Plytas). His girl Anne watches in horrified hiding as he's shot dead.
She refuses to tell the police the truth, but when Colley's hitmen, realising the danger she poses try to shoot her too, she consents reluctantly to accept police protection after Andy Crawford saves her life. Not that she's grateful, she travels with her 'uncle' George Dixon to the safety an island hotel (Burgh Island).
The place she finds boring, though if she were aware of the extensive network of criminals that Colley has summoned to find her, she might be more cooperative. Instead, she grabs a chance of borrowing a car to drive off the island. However police soon stop her progress.
She is returned to Uncle George, but the alert crooks are istening in to police radio messages and are easily able to locate the hotel. An annoyed George makes Anne stay in her room, though even he underestimates the danger as Anne is snatched and dragged at gunpoint away from the island.
By speedboat, then by car, George gives chase. As the law, he is able to take a shortcut along an unfinished motorway and after turning off (at Eastwick) arrives at an airfield in time to prevent Colley's aircraft from taking off with Anne. Colley is placed under arrest. Well, that is what ought to have happened, but Colley hands Anne a fat bribe and she gives some cock and bull tale that means Colley gets away with it. George concludes by describing to us the rest of Colley's life history
To Dock Green Menu

Harry's Back (January 12th 1974)

George Dixon: "Good evening all."
Lee Montague has a fine role as the likeable villain, "one of the best," friend to all his mates, Harry Simpson. Among his own, he's loved by one and all, in his flash white suit, driving his flash white car. He's just been booted out of Spain.
Andy Crawford however knows Harry's other side, he's "the scum of the earth," his partner Lennie has gone to ground somewhere, though Harry with his typical Cockney generosity sees Lennie's wife's all right. Now Harry is becoming legit, marrying the posh Miss Marion Croft.
The sting for Andy is that he's up for promotion at long last, and Harry's one blot on his past, three cases against him collapsing when witnesses had mysteriously withdrawn their statements. Andy scans the wedding photos to see what villains had been present. Perhaps not unreasonably, Harry is upset when he finds out about this, and tries a quiet word with George Dixon. As George won't respond, Harry has a word with another, the chief superintendent no less. Thus Andy gets invited to a round of golf with the super, and Andy forthrightly says what he knows, or believes he knows about Harry, "he buys and bullies immunity from the law." Tread carefully, Andy is advised.
Harry's right hand man Bernie Moss is setting up another job. He leans on Freddy for his clean driving licence, reminding the poor Freddy, "Harry looked after you when you had that accident." The licence is needed for the hire a car used in a robbery of cosmetics, and Freddy is soon traced. His licence had been lost, he claims, why he'd even reported the fact. But a little leaning elicits a reluctant name, Bernie. That puts Bernie and Harry on a quest for revenge, and Freddy is "encouraged to change his tune," that is, run over and all but killed, "didn't see who it was," he moans pathetically.
Harry has decided wisely to scarper. But at the airport with his wife who seems in shock, he's asked a few pointed questions. In return Harry threatens to scotch Andy's promotion. However the news that his ex-partner's corpse has turned up is enough to prevent him flying off.
A search of Harry's luxury flat proves disappointingly fruitless, as Harry gloats and Marion remains in shock, until Andy finds a key concealed under a coffee table. A safety deposit box is later opened and the case against Harry complete when the gun that killed Lennie is found. However a lot of people still cannot believe anything bad about good old Harry

Target
"Good evening all."
A man named Smith (Anthony Steel) collapses in a supermarket. Winston Dallas kindly escorts him to his flat in Jasmine Square. Smith should go to hospital, Dallas suggests. His reward for being a Good Samaritan is for Smith to point a gun at him. Dallas runs off in haste.
Andy Crawford has started a full scale search after an eyewitness had seen Smith being "robbed" in the street. This misinformation and its aftermath would be called over reaction these days. However a second report from Dallas about the gun means that events take on a more serious turn.
In a snooker hall, Andy chats with Dallas. "He was drunk,"" is Dallas' opinion, but actually Smith's landlady has realised that the man is suffering from malaria.
Into this minor incident appear three men, posing as Post Office engineers. They are digging up the road, but in reality waiting and watching. Andy questions them. They are part of some undercover operation waiting for The Butcher to show up, your everyday suburban story has now changed dramatically, but is this really Dock Green? Scarely less credible is when Andy advises them how to tackle Smith.
Smith's landlady learns that he is a mercenary. The Butcher turns up amid some tension. Police surround him. He pulls a gun, as schoolgirls nearby start screaming. Gunfire. After a stand off, Dock Green is back to its wonted peace

Seven for a Secret- Never to be Told
"Good evening all."
A gas explosion in a house, one dead woman, assumed to be suicide. But George Dixon is wise enough not to take things at face value. Why was the kitchen window open, if she killed herself?
The corpse is that of Mrs Margaret Pengelly, a thoroughly unlikeable and detestable woman by all accounts. Her sixteen year old daughter Chrissie is missing. Her estranged husband Alfred isn't at all bothered by her demise. He'd not seen her for two years. Mrs Pengelly's most recent partner was Kieron O'Shea who tells George they had split up recently.
Another oddball character in her life was 'Uncle' Ralph Harding, whom we know, and Andy Crawford finds out, has taken Chrissie away. His borrowed car is found empty in Devon. It looks sinister, as "he's off his chump." Ralph has taken her to his mother's isolated cottage, and Andy is soon there, with the invaluable assistance of local policeman Sgt Goacher.
O'Shea decides he must tell the police he knows Mrs Pengelly was murdered, though subsequent events make you wonder what he is rabbiting on about.
After a chase, Ralph takes Chrissie to a derelict house, where Goacher is waiting. Ralph explains about Mrs Pengelly's death, the reason for their flight is hardly very clear. As George Dixon had warned us at the start, this wasn't really a case at all. And of course George is always right, isn't he?

George Dixon: "Good evening all."
Phone call to Dock Green police station, a woman sounds as though she is being strangled. Then a young girl picks up the instrument and explains, "mummy's fallen down." Patiently Uncle George Dixon tries to find out more, but all she can tell him is that she's called Janey. These days of course, such a call can be traced, but back then all the police have to go on is their taped recording of the conversation.
There's the sound of an industrial machine faintly in the background, yes, and a hooting of a ship.. This is a simple but absorbing tale of the hunt for Janey and her mum. To obtain a fix on their whereabouts, the hooting sound is identified as that of a tug on the river, the captain of this vessel is asked to play those hoots again, with police officers recording the noise at strategic local points.
Electronics expert Dave has the task of matching these recordings with the original hooting on the phone. He also refines the noises on that original tape. Two possible areas are suggested, and the machine noise identified as that of a printers. Hammond Street is where the search homes into, and above a printers is a flat, empty. Living here is new tenant Mrs Anne Turner, separated from her husband.
Mr Davis calls at the police station. He works for a security firm whose phone number had been scribbled on a wall in the flat. Oddly, it's a special line only used for confidential matters. Davis wants to know how she got it. He does recall a Mrs Anne Turner working for the company for a short while, but then we see him phoning Anne.
She does what he orders and phones Goerge at the station. She explains she is OK now, and quickly rings off. But sharp witted George has recognised the background sound on this phone call, she's at a railway station and a police car swoops and picks her up.
Andy Crawford questions Davis. Anne's his wife. He had beaten her up, trying to persuade her to return home to him. She maintains it was an accident. A frustrated Crawford has nothing to charge Davis with, he smugly confident no charge can be laid against him, as his wife won't betray him. It's a frustrating disappointing though maybe realistic conclusion to an absorbing little story

412 Sounds

Baubles Bangles and Beads
"Some jobs are more unusual than others," George informs us, after his usual greeting. This one is really more of its age, unconvincing, and with one dubious actress.
It starts with a police car chase round London back streets, Thieves chuck their loot over a fence in Dean Road, where it is found by Eric, a squatter. Thus when Chuck (Brian Glover) and his gang are apprehended, they are as innocent babes, and have to be released.
Of course Chuck makes for Dean Road, but the jewellery has gone. Eric and his mate, the dominant Phil, have found new and better digs. But though Chuck finds no trace of his loot, John, a more observant copper, manages to find a pair of earrings, part of the hoard stolen from Sir Paul Carson. Andy searches the property, and works out, like Chuck already has before him, that the squatters are into meditation.
Eric is taken by daughter of the house, Marian, to a guru, it's hard to take these scenes seriously. Eric offers the guru the jewels, which are gratefully accepted. He is a "dumb bell," under the influence of Phil.
Chuck and his mate Bert get to Phil first. He knows nothing about the jewels. They don't find Eric, who is with Marian, er, meditating.
Police raid the guru's and find the jewels, "well, well, well." The guru and his assistant are exposed as worthless frauds, "we've gotta earn a crust."
Chuck's gang come to search the guru's and are promptly arrested also

Looters Ltd
Sam Kydd gives another of his sympathetic portraits, this one of recently released ex-con Charlie Bennett, who had served his latest sentence after a bad accident on his last job.
On the way home, he witnesses a mugging. He helps Mr Price who is badly shaken, but is most reluctant to talk to police.
But he leaves his name and address and proceeds homewards, to a welcome from many friends and family. His son Ray gives him a present, a gold watch. The party falls silent when George Dixon pops round. But he only wants to praise Charlie for his part in helping Price. But when Charlie learns that keys and a gold watch had been taken from Price, he suspects the worst.
A lot of shoplifting has been going on of late, "organised raids." Andy Crawford's inquiries are at a dead end. In fact, we see that Charlie's wife Olive has been earning money while he was inside by getting her gang to steal goods to order, then sell them on to friends in the neighbourhood.
Charlie is touched when he receives a Ł20 thank you from Price. But he knows Ray was one of the muggers. As he reprimands his son, Ray realises the keys he had nicked must be those of Price's shop. He arranges with a pal to rob the place that night.
One of Olive's 'workers' is caught shoplifting. She refuses to talk. However PC Harry has been given a miniature tv as an engagement present from his fiancee Barbara. Andy spots that it is on the Stolen List. An offended Barbara says that she had bought it in good faith from Mrs Bennett.
At Charlie's house, Andy swoops with a search warrant. Olive Bennett is nicked, so is Ray when he returns home with the proceeds of his robbery, "a full house"

A Slight Case of Love
Good Evening all," is the familiar intro, followed by a quote, "you can't con an honest man."
Seven honest men to be more exact. A woman tells her intendeds that her aged mother needs to be placed in a home, Ł1,000 deposit will secure it.
She is Kate Harris (Moira Redmond) who is really only raising the money to pay her sister Fleur's debts. Her eighth and final victinm she falls for, he is Lewis Naylor, a rich businessman.
He reports her swindle to Dock Green police, but after examining files of local con women, picks out two possible women, neither of whom is Kate. He has fallen for Kate, and employs Phil Haynes, a private eye to trace her.
Andy Crawford interviews one of the women pointed out by Naylor, the scatty Heather, a known con artist, who says she has "retired." George deals with a similar, Sue.
Haynes has additional information from Naylor, and takes photos of women leaving an artist's shop. Kate is soon spotted, and Haynes takes Naylor to show him the exterior of the house where she lives, "it's the lady."
Phil informs the police that he had been followed on his latest job, though Andy denies all knowledge of Kate.
Naylor later phones Kate, inviting her to dinner. She accepts, and offers him a cheque reimbursing his payment. Instead her proposes to her, or is this more akin to "blackmail?"
Things may be set fair for them to live happily ever after, but police invite Naylor to attend an ID parade. Kate is one of the women in the line, along with Heather and Sue, but Naylor fails to pick out Kate. Andy has words with Naylor.
Others of Kate's victims however easily identify her, and George offers us the conclusion to the episode

An Ł80,000 armed bank robbery and police have to be issued with guns so they can close in on the three crooks who are now sharing the cash out.
After a tense time of waiting, the house where they are hiding is surrounded and the police move in. One criminal is shot as he tries to escape, but it turns out that none of the men are actually carrying shooters. So a detailed investigation is organised as a matter of urgency by brusque Inspector Donovan (Percy Herbert) whose main concern appears to be press reaction.
Questions are asked, still relevant today.

413 Firearms were issued

422 Conspiracy
"Good evening all."

Here's a familiar theme, is policeman Len Warren bent?
He is the key witness in the trial of Ben Randall and his wife June, accused of drunk driving, knocking down and killing a pedestrian. However "a wellwisher" writes suggesting Warren has been bought. Against Andy's advice, George investigates, his instinct is that Warren is a good copper.
However he has recently purchased a new car. Andy questions him. Len believes Ben is out to frame him. "I don't have to prove my honesty to anyone."
George chats with Len's fiancee Sally, She does explain the new car had come from their savings. He had been receiving threatening phone calls from someone. This animosity is traced to the anonymous letter writer, who had recently been charged with assault by Len. The man withdraws his letter of complaint.
Groge observes to Andy that Len does try to play it alone, very much like young Andy used to do. Len resigns, telling George his reasons. George offers him a gentle lecture. The ending is open ended

Dock Green Menu
Taped Crime Series Menu

The Hidden Truth (1964, Rediffusion)
The series was devised by Geoffrey Bellman and John Whitney. The producer was Stella Richman. The stars: Alexander Knox as Professor Lazard, and James Maxwell as Dr Henry Fox. Semi-regulars were: Zia Mohyeddin as Dr Hammond da Silva, Elizabeth Weaver as Dr Ruth Coliton, and George Moon as Stanley Garnet. Ruth Meyers as Bridget Webster, and Jacqui Chan as Tua Ling were in several stories.
The series depicted the work of a department of forensic scientists.
Surviving stories: 3 Cross Examination, 5 A Question of Involvement, 9 Sweets to the Sweet, 10 One For The Road
Taped Crime Series Menu

Series details:
1 The Shape (July 16th 1964) with Zia Mohyeddin, Elizabeth Weaver, and George Moon.
Script: Roger East. Director: Stuart Burge.
The Department of Forensic Medicine is asked to investigate an unusual case, and Dr da Silva, using a new technique, produces an unexpected result
2 Cause of Death - Professor Lazard has to decide if a charred body found after a warehouse fire has been murdered
3 Cross Examination (July 30th) with Zia Mohyeddin, Elizabeth Weaver, and George Moon.
Script:Fenton Bresler and Martin Woodhouse. Director: Peter Moffatt.
When expert witnesses clash, the verdict in a murder trial depends on the evidence of Dr Henry Fox
4 The Achilles Heel (August 6th) with Zia Mohyeddin and Elizabeth Weaver.
Script: Paul Lee. Director: Michael Currer-Briggs.
When a small boy's fears prevent him from telling the truth, Dr Ruth Coliton is forced to take an unorthodox step.
5 A Question of Involvement (August 13th) with Zia Mohyeddin.
Script: Richard Harris. Director: Lionel Harris.
6 Penny Post Paid (August 13th) with Zia Mohyeddin and George Moon. Also with Kathleen Breck as Grace Aystone.
Script: Roger East. Director: Marc Miller.
Professor Lazard's investigation of a 300 year old letter could shatter a daughter's love for her father
7 The Guinea Pig (August 27th) with Elizabeth Weaver.
Script: Martin Woodhouse. Director: John Frankau.
A young scientist's inexplicable death during a test at a research unit, forces Dr Henry Fox to cancel his holiday
8 Twelve Good Men (September 3rd) with Zia Mohyeddin, Elizabeth Weaver, and George Moon.
Script: Eric Corner and Ross Salmon. Director: Don Gale.
Dr Fox is the key witness in a case of poisoning. Will the jury be swayed by emotion, or his scientific facts?
9 Sweets to the Sweet (September 10th)
Script: Hugh Leonard. Director: Peter Moffatt.
Professor Lazard uses shock treatment on a student taking drugs
10 One for the Road (September 17th) with Zia Mohyeddin. Also with Bryan Pringle as Police-Sgt Robert Oakman.
Script: John Hawkesworth. Director: Lionel Harris.
When a police sergeant causes a fatal accident, his absolute guilt is without question until Professor Lazard is called in
11 The Final Analysis (September 24th) with Zia Mohyeddin, Elizabeth Weaver, and George Moon.
Script: Peter Lambda. Director: Peter Sasdy. Three adults are in conflicts when a baby is born
12 Missing, Presumed Killed (October 1st) with George Moon- James Maxwell not in this episode.
Script: John Hawkesworth. Director: Lionel Harris.
A crashed wartime bomber is discovered. Can Professor Lazard's findings solve a twenty year old mystery?
13 One of the Hampshire Pargeters (October 8th 1964) with Zia Mohyeddin.
Script: Ludovic Kennedy. Director: John Frankau.
How was Barry Pargeter killed? An Old Bailey jury hear expert evidence from Professor Lazard, but could he be wrong?

Cross Examination
Post mortem on Tobias Drew, died of coronary artery disease, according to Dr Henry Fox. But Drew had been robbed in his shop, and since his larynx is slightly bruised, foul play is suspected. Police believe old lag Jackie Munson be the guilty man, "more inside than out." He admits breaking into the shop, but says he never touched Drew.
Frisby is Munson's solicitor and Fox meets him outside the courtroom, and arranges to meet Dr Jessup whom the defence are calling to examine Drew's corpse. Dr Fox takes quite a shine to her.
Dr Lazard returns from his trip to America, and is filled in on the case. In court, the defence challenge Fox's assertion that any slight bruise was found on Drew's larynx. "It can't have disappeared!" But doubt is thereby cast on Fox's report, while Lazard listens on dubiously. Doubt is also cast on photographer Stan Garnet's pictures- is that a bruise on his photo or merely an imperfection in the developing of the print?
Lazard and Fox re-examine Drew's larynx, finding "no sign" of bruising. Lazard is able to explain why it might have disappeared, and how it can be found. However since the evidence has already been presented, this new finding is not permitted. However Munson can be questioned, the key point is, how did he know that Drew was dead? "Do you realise you have just confessed your guilt?"
The case is reviewed with Dr Jessup, and it is Lazard who invites her for a meal

A Question of Involvement

Excellent script by Richard Harris. Cindy is barking like mad in the grounds of Forest Lodge, where the Ashworths are caretakers. The dog has found a corpse. Supt Bowen calls in Dr Henry Fox to perform an autopsy. Village gossip is focussing on the drowned girl, a stranger, as well as on the Ashworths, three years ago they moved in, but keep themselves aloof.
The corpse is identified as an eighteen year old girl, who lived 40 miles away, but had left home two weeks ago. Landlord Edwards says he had seen her making her way to Forest Lodge. So Bowen confronts Mrs Ashworth, "did you ever see her alive?" The woman is not very cooperative. Bowen notices that Ashworth is a wood carver, and that one of his chisels is brand new. Was one of these the murder weapon?
Mr and Mrs Ashworth have an argument, she is sure her husband must have killed the girl. Though she has given him an alibi, in fact she was away in London. Mr Ashworth has some dark secret.
Police dig up his record, one of violence. He is interrogated. He claims that on the fateful night, he had seen a strange car nearby. Why has he a new chisel? Where is the old one that got broken?
Fox has been dubious about Bowen's theorising, and discovers some evidence that casts doubt on the case against Ashworth

Sweets To The Sweet
A young man, David (Ian Ogilvy), on the point of collapse, gets into his sports car, "I can't breathe, get doctor." In hospital, he dies of pneumonia, but a nurse spots he is a drug addict.
Professor Lazard is dining with old friend Andrew (Bernard Archard) and his wife Kate, in their swish apartment that looks too much like a set. Their studious son Gerry, a friend of David's, is given a lift by Lazard afterwards, off to a club. Lazard realises that Gerry must be on drugs too.
The professor consoles Carol, David's fiancee, who eventually confirms that David was an addict. It seems he had tried with persuasion from Carol to kick the habit, but his body had rebelled.
With Andrew, Lazard searches Gerry's room and a powder is discovered which Fox analyses as purple hearts.
In the club, Gerry is on a high, but in a police raid, he flees to Carol. In an unconvincig scene, they argue and he beats her up.
The script moralises, as Andrew confronts Gerry, "where's the harm in me taking something that bucks me up for a few hours?" Counters his father, "what's not natural, can't be altogether healthy."
Sporting a black eye, Carol tells Andrew that she had been beaten up by Gerry. The son flatly denies it, cannot even recall the incident. "You little monster."
"I took too many of those things," admits Gerry. It was pressure from his father to be a success.
Lazard talks to them both, Fox reading out his post mortem findings on David, and making Gerry formally identify the corpse. Shock tactics might have an effect, though the story concludes open endedly

An out of control car crashes, at the wheel a drunken policeman, Sgt Ted Oakman (Bryan Pringle). A doctor examines him, then, on bail, he is taken home to his sister Daisy.
Anstruther, a solicitor, listens to the whole story. Oakman had only had a few drinks, though his memory around events is hazy. Then comes the worst of news: the child passenger in the car has died. The charge will be manslaughter. "Like vultures," two reporters hover outside Oakman's house.
The policeman's urine sample is analysed, it reads over 100. Dr Henry Fox suggests a second reading is taken, and meets Oakman, who tells him he had been dieting. A sugar tolerance test is taken, and a blood sample. Oakman stays with the Department of Forensic Medicine for a few days, given beer for breakfast. Miss Ling observes as his speech becomes very slurred. More samples and tests.
Professor Lazard offers his advice, the lack of sugar is the cause of Oakman's condition, in the past it had often been assumed to be mere drunkenness. Lazard dines with the Chief Constable, answering a few oblique inquiries.
Oakman returns home and fills in his sister. He tells her he is determined to plead guilty. That's his choice, and the Forensic Department's backing is thus redundant. Oakman informs the Chief Constable, who tries to dissuade him. But Oakman is determined to defend himself, "it was my fault"

One For The Road

Maigret
Rupert Davies achieved a well deserved success as the celebrated pipe-smoking detective. That opening sequence of his striking a match to light his pipe, accompanied by Ron Grainer's evocative music was a classic.
Initially the programmes were telerecorded using Kinescope, "just as effective as film and a great deal cheaper." According to another contemporary report they were shot on both 405 and 525 line videotape as well as on 16mm and 35mm film. In fact, the main story is on tape, though there are a generous dose of film inserts using Parisian locations.
When shooting started the new BBC Television Centre had not been opened so the first two stories were shot at the old Lime Grove studios. Riverside Studios were apparently also used for a few early episodes before the BBC Centre opened officially on June 29th 1960. Rehearsals had already began (at the end of the previous month) and the first episode shot around June 14th 1960. The stories were screened from that October. In all, four series of thirteen episodes each were screened during the autumns of 1960 through to 1963.

1 Murder in Montmartre 2 Unscheduled Departure 3 The Burglar's Wife 4 The Revolver 5 The Old Lady 6 Liberty Bar 7 A Man of Quality 8 My Friend the Inspector 9 The Mistake 11 The Experts 12 The Cactus 13 The Children's Party 14 Shadow Play 15 The Simple Case 17 The Winning Ticket 21 Raise Your Right Hand 22 The Liars 23 A Crime for Christmas 24 The Reluctant Witness 25 The White Hat 27 Voices from the Past 29 The Countess 30 The Wedding Guest 32 Love from Felicie 33 The Dirty House 34 The Crystal Ball 36 Death in Mind 37 Seven Little Crosses 38 The Trap 40 Poor Cecile! 41 The Fontenay Murders 42 The Lost Life 43 The Cellars of the Majestic 44 A Man Condemned 45 The Flemish Shop 46 A Taste of Power 47 The Log of the Cap Fagnet 48 The Judge's House 49 Another World 50 The Crime at Lock 14 51 Peter the Lett 52 Maigret's Little Joke. See also Maigret at Bay (1969).

Production problems in 1961 in shooting series 2: A two week delay, in order that Rupert Davies could have a cartilage operation. Then Ewen Solon jumped from a Paris parapet - his own idea- and broke his ankle. A hastily devised new scene incorporated the accident, then he had to miss the next two episodes. Another incident was a cameraman falling ill with appendicitis, the relief cameraman didn't know the movements and as he tracked Davies, the actor inquired, "who's playing this part, you or me?" A filmed sequence that was retained in #14 Shadow Play was of a small boy in a scene shot in the Places des Bosges: he was watching the action and dropped his bottle of milk. Davies comforted the weeping lad, and it was felt so in keeping with Maigret, that the scene was retained

Taped Shows Menu

Murder in Montmartre
A girl leaves a low strip joint, and walking home in the dark (not what you are expecting), stops a gendarme. She wants to report a murder. She is 24 year old Arlette, and Maigret questions her in his office. It transpires that this murder is yet to take place: Arlette had overheard two men plotting to rob a countess, one of them was called Oscar. But when Maigret wants to talk to her boyfriend Albert, she withdraws her story.
Actually, it is Arlette who is done in, when she returns home. Maigret: "she was killed because she came to us."
Maigret's first call is to the Picratts Club, but neither the owner nor his wife know of any Oscar or countess. It turns out that Albert is a policeman, and he believes Arlette had been afraid of someone. It was not her real name.
A second death, an old lady, a countess, strangled. Clearly she was living in reduced circumstances, although robbery appears to have been the motive.
Philippe is her unsympathetic nephew, a drug addict like his aunt. He is released, but tailed by Albert.
The identity of Oscar is established, fifteen years ago he had been a servant of the countess, and has recently been seen in the district. Arlette's real identity is also discovered.
Philippe is seen collecting dope, and then he goes up the Funiculaire, "obviously looking for someone." Oscar, surely, whose identity is revealed when Philippe finds him. As police swoop, Oscar tries to get away, but Albert shoots him

The Burglar's Wife
Freddie the Safebreaker smashes a pane of glass, breaks in and is about to crack the safe, when he sights the body of a dead woman. Quickly, he runs away.
Maigret is about to go on holiday to Brittany, but is approached by Freddie's young wife Ernestine (Andree Melly), who, as she reminds the great detective, once was seen naked by him. She knows he is incorruptible, and she relates the story above to him.
The house belongs to a "respectable" dentist, M Serre (Hugh Burden) who lives here with his wife and mother. He says his second wife Maria left him two days ago. Maigret notes the smashed window but is told that "there'd been no burglary." However the dentist's car has been stolen.
Maigret joins his wife, promising they will be off and away tomorrow. But for now, he returns to the Serre house and makes a search. In the safe is gold. Maigret questions the dentist and they talk of his wife who is nowhere to be found. Obviously he is hiding something. Maigret is very suspicious that Serre's father, and his first wife both died of heart problems.
The missing car is discovered half a mile from the house. After a clue is found in it, he warns Serre, "as soon as it's light, the river will be dragged." Maigret gets Ernestine to put a bit of pressure on Serre's elderly mother.
Another round of interrogation at the station. Serre admits the truth, "it's fantastic." Exposed is "a systematic murderer." Maigret prevents another poisoning before the story finishes

The Revolver
A stranger has called at Maigret's home to see him on a "personal" matter, but the detective is out, and while he waits, the man nicks Maigret's gun, and runs away.
The theft is only noticed later. Maigret learns that Alain 19 year old son of his friend Baron Legrange is missing. The concierge in the ailing baron's block tells Maigret she saw a trunk being transported down the stairs. It is traced to the Gare du Nord, and inside is the corpse of a man named Andre. Reports come in that Alain had purchased some bullets, though the dead man had not been killed by them.
Alain had been seen at the home of Mme Debul, but she has just gone to England. Her maid Georgette shows Maigret round her home, and an open safe is found. It is empty.
Maigret flies to London to stay at the Somerset Hotel, where Mme Debul is also booked in. He meets Inspector Pyke (Campbell Singer) who had arranged for Alain, who is also in town, to be tailed.
Maigret sees Mme Debul and asks if Alain is her lover. He is not, but when Maigret searches her empty room later, he discovers it not quite empty. Someone is hiding in the cupboard! It is Alain. Maigret conducts a one way conversation: Andre it seems, had stumbled on Andre's corpse in his father's room. He wanted advice from Maigret, but had stolen the revolver instead. Legrange is being blackmailed by Debul. Alain emerges from his hiding place and hands over the gun. Maigret offers some comfort to Alain, by revealing that Debul used his dad to put the "squeeze" on victims like Andre.
When she returns to Paris, she will be arrested. Maigret chats sympatically to young Alain.
Perhaps not entirely convincing, with Margaretta Scott cast in the role of blackmailer, but I liked the touch of Maigret in England not perfectly understanding the language. Police car used: WWL317
Maigret Menu

7 A Man of Quality
Maigret's Citroen draws up at Les Marguerites, he is the bearer of bad news for Mme Gallet- her husband Emil has been found dead. He died in Sancerre, where he was staying in his capacity as a commercial traveller. However it emerges that he gave up this job fifteen years ago.
Maigret examines the papers of Emil, while his son Henri relates how his father passed his time. An eyewitness claims Emil was seen arguing with a man with horned spectacles, this is evidently Henri. His mistress is a widow, and is hoping to marry Henri when they have enough money.
Emil had visited a M de St Hilaire (Maurice Denham) while in the town, apparently they were both staunch Royalists, Emil helping raise funds for impoverished Royalist supporters. I'm a Republican, admits Maigret.
Lukas is in the room where Emil died, when someone takes a pot shot at him. Police trace Jacob (Wilfred Bramble) who passed letters, suggesting that Emil was being blackmailed. Then a taxman named Louis advises Maigret that he knows the identity of the killer... a Tonkinese. But he had not met Emil for 25 years, so this comedy interlude can be dismissed, except that Louis inadvertently puts Maigret on the right trail.
The dead man is not Gallet, and Maigret confronts the real Emil. A complex story emerges, perhaps too complicated, or at least in this presentation it doesn't come across clearly enough. Nevertheless it offers some pleasing touches, such as with Louis, and with the local police inspector (Peter Barkworth) who is extremely zealous and eager to help Maigret

The Mistake
Maigret is working at home to avoid interruption, but he is interrupted by news of a murder of a prostitute named Louise. Maigret goes to her flat in the Avenue Carnot, where Pierre, who works in a night club, used to visit her.
The concierge informs Maigret that eminent surgeon Professor Etienne Gouin (John Robinson) paid the rent of her flat. He lives in another flat here, but he had been called away the night of the murder.
Lukas traces Pierre to the club, where he is playing the piano. He sings his answers to the policeman's questions! When he is informed that Louise is dead, he does a bunk. After a chase through crowded streets, Lukas loses Pierre among railway sidings.
Dr Paul advises Maigret that the girl had been pregnant. She had been shot by a pistol.
Mme Gouin tells the inspector about her husband's numerous dalliances. Antoinette, her elder sister, did not approve of Etienne's behaviour, "I've seen this coming for years," she tells Maigret. She is certain that Etienne killed Louise, even despite his alibi. His colleague Dr Decaux does confirm the alibi, even though earlier we had seen Dr Gouin kissing her. Did he kill her? Maigret asks her.
Pierre gives himself up, "I didn't kill her." Listening in to Gouin's phone calls, shows that he was being blackmailed. Gouin admits it. Maigret is reluctant to question the famous man, but in their conversation, they cover Louise, Pierre, and life in general. Gouin repeats his alibi. Maigret has "a sort of instinct" as to the identity of the guilty party.
He phones Lukas ordering him to issue a warrant for the arrest of Antoinette. For once Maigret is in error, and a confession from the killer results from this action. Gouin is almost unmoved by the scene.
Later Maigret tells his wife that he had used Antoinette to force a confession from the real killer. Ah, so he hadn't made a mistake!

The Winning Ticket
In this, Maigret's investigations are rather interrupted by the zealous magistrate (Noel Howlett).
"I'm in great danger, Inspector Maigret," a man on the phone warns. Shortly after, his corpse is dumped from a yellow Citroen.
Maigret is suffering from a slight cold, so it is Lukas who establishes the identity of the dead man, Albert, who worked in a cafe. From here he had phoned the police. The Citroen had been seen outside yesterday. A man entering this cafe is shot dead and his attacker runs off. A lot of money is on the dead man's person.
Some of this cash had come from Maria, a Czech girl who is found in a low boarding house, heavily pregnant. She is taken to hospital. She is one of a number of illegal immigrants living together, the source of their cash is evidently something illegal. Maigret questions Maria after she has given birth. A nurse castigates him for being too severe. Two men attempt to 'rescue' her but are rather needlessly shot dead by police.
A thief is traced who owned the Citroen, he had been going to drive Albert out of Paris, except Albert had been shot first.
Maigret establishes that Albert had chanced on a railway ticket which in a complicated way had led to his death. The killer is one of these immigrants who were "doing pretty well" out of robbing farmers in isolated rural homes. It was his ticket and he is arrested

The Crystal Ball
Stabbing of a fortune teller as she gazes into her crystal ball. The killer drives hastily away in his green sports car, spotted by one young lady. A note by the corpse says The Fortune Teller Is Doomed To Death.
Maigret is dismissing Mascouvin, a nervous estate agent who is confessing to robbing his employer, who however claims no money is missing. "Go home," Maigret warns the shaking man.
Maigret inspects where the fortune teller lived. In a locked room, he discovers a man skulking, an old retired mariner. His wife says he had had a stroke, and neither she nor her daughter know of any fortune teller. The girl who witnessed the man driving away is scatty, though Maigret gets her to pick out a suspect.
Maigret takes his wife up river to a hotel where the dead woman stayed a lot. His interest seems to centre on a villa on the opposite bank, the Villa Verdi.
Back in Paris he searches the old mariner's room, more a "cell." The old man is discovered hiding in the loft. "I don't think you're mad," Maigret tells him, "or a master mariner." Lapointe arrests his wife, since she is found with 50,000fr on her person. It transpires that her real husband is dead, this new 'husband' is posing as her husband. The fortune teller had found out her crime, and demanded money, 50,000fr to be placed in a green sports car. Mascouvin who collected the money has been silenced. From his employer, Maigret learns that the lessee of Villa Verdi is a M Blaise, he was indulging in blackmail, and is about to flee to Switzerland. Despite offering Maigret a huge bribe he is arrested.
Maigret and his wife enjoy a dance at the hotel, though the dance looks a trifle modern for him

Two lonely old women are murdered and the ten million they've left seems sufficient motive.
Grocer's delivery boy Hertain (John Ronane) is chief suspect, but it seems obvious that he has been framed. He insists he has "nothing to say" to police.
Though he has to be arrested, Maigret risks his career in letting him escape, with the idea of following him.
An anonymous complaint about this "pseudo comedy" leads Maigret to Emile Radek (Anton Rodgers), an impoverished medical student, as well as his wife and his mistress. Hertain jumps into the Seine, and is taken unconscious to hospital.
Kirby (Jerry Stovin) is the man who is set to inherit the fortune, but he shoots himself. Now Maigret finds himself taunted by this Radek who is suddenly in the money. Radek is supremely confident that Maigret cannot touch him. He is interrogated in a strip club, with a stripper noisy in the abckground who never disrobes. Later he drops into Maigret's office to continue their little chat. "There could be another murder," Radek warns.
But Maigret can play cat and mouse too, and he toys with Radek at the scene of the murders

Death in Mind

Seven Little Crosses
Unusual Christmas edition, with Maigret at home with his family, only updated by phone by Lucas.
It is Christmas. A lad breaks in to an upstairs apartment, removes a small box and leaves via the stairway. He follows a burly man, and smashes several emergency police call point glasses. He chucks the box he has picked up, a lunch box, into the river.
An eyewitness had spotted the lad, twelve year old Francois climbing in to the apartment of an old moneylender. She has been found murdered, latest victim of a killer nicknamed The Sunday Man. Francois is the son of Olivier (James Maxwell), who is brother of Lecouer (Alfred Burke) who is currently the police officer in charge of the police call centre. He is able to give Lucas some useful background on unemployed Olivier, who is picked up by police. He admits he had borrowed 75 francs that night from the murdered woman.
Francois is still following the man, but why has he smashed seven police glasses? Francois is spotted by the burly man, who is Sgt Gaston Lubet, who had recently been sacked from the police force. Lubet points a gun at Francois' head. He takes the lad to a cafe. Police work out that Francois has been alying a trail, but reach the cafe too late. Lubet has forced Francois down to the river to kill him, for Francois had seen the killing. He had removed his dad's lunch box that his dad had left behind in the apartment.
Police prevent Francois being killed. Maigret is informed. He has been very inactive.
At times this story seems like a French Z Cars, though much less coarse

Maigret is travelling to spend a few peaceful days with Chabot (Alan Wheatley), a friend who is also the local magistrate. On an overcrowded train, Maigret is recognised by wealthy Gilbert Vernoux (Edward Chapman) who reveals his town of Fontenay is seething with unrest over the death of his brother-in-law Robert. An old widow had been killed in similar fashion, though the murders are seemingly unconnected.
Now there has been a third victim, an old tramp. Alain Vernoux, Gilbert's son had found the body, and is popularly assumed to be the murderer. Maigret vainly attempts to dissociate himself from investigations, but owing to a misunderstanding Lucas also shows up.
Class tensions are mounting, as Maigret tries to get some sense out of the peasant girl Alain is in love with. Her squalid room is such a contrast with Gilbert's opulent mansion that Maigret is shown round.
Rioters begind throwing stones and Chabot has to issue a warrant for Alain's arrest. He is found with his girl friend, who is nearly dead.
Maigret finds that Gilbert has cracked under all the strain of his son's arrest, and is much the worse for drink An unlikely scene sees the real murderer exposed.

The Fontenay Murders

This was not one of the better stories in the series, in fact it is quite poor

The Cellars of the Majestic

At six am in the basement of the Hotel Majestic, a woman waits, holding a gun. She is strangled. Prosper Donge (Ivor Salter) discovers her corpse in the locker room where he works, Ramuel is in charge of the wine cellar, and the manager (George Coulouris) shows Maigret the room where the dead woman Madeleine Clark was staying. Why had she gone to the locker room?
Her husband (Peter Dyneley) is called back from his trip to Rome. He admits he had spent the night with his lover Helen.
From Charlotte, Donge's partner, Maigret learns about Jo (Diana Coupland), a stripper in Cannes. Lukas is despatched to interview her. The story is that Madeleine had once been Mimi another stripper who had got Clark to marry her, thinking she was bearing his child. Blackmail had ensued, the payee appears to have been Donge, though from what his partner says, it seems it was not he who had killed Mimi.
His dark secret is removed from a case in the locker room, and he goes to see His son. Lukas arrests him. But it transpires someone else was the blackmailer, using Donge's name, and this man is tailed to the bank where he is withdrawing his blackmail money, and is arrested

The Flemish Shop
Maigret is called in when an unmarried mother disappears. Last seen in a shop run by the Peeters, a despised foreign family. He meets the ladies, Anna and nun Maria, who tell him that Joseph, who is to marry another of them, Marguerite, is not the father. Local gossip centres on this "modern Casanova," alternative view is he is "a crossover of Einstein and an angel." But he admits he is the father.
Gerard (Robert Gillespie) is hiding on a barge, he stands to gain a fortune if the missing girl is dead. A witness named Cassin claims to have seen a body being thrown into the river by the quayside.
Maigret examines a bedroom in the shop and finds a photo- it's of Gerard. Then the corpse turns up in the river, beaten to death with a hammer. Maigret can perceive that both Joseph and Anna knew she was already dead. Maigret tries to question the distressed nun, but cannot get the truth from her.
Lucas arrests Cassin, while Maigret talks to a mute lad who works for him. At the wedding of Joseph and Marguerite, there is an interruption by Maigret himself. Questioning Anna, all is revealed. But Maigret cannot prove his theory. Anna is confident that nobody will speak out the truth, but Maigret uses Maria's vows to reveal what actually happened. "You've destroyed yourselves"

46 A Taste of Power
A row between brother Richard Gendreaux (John Carson) and his sister Lise over her inheritance, when she shortly comes of age. He runs the family business, but soon she will have an equal control.
Richard blackmails Count Bob to marry Lise. What Richard doesn't know is that the pair have been having a clandestine affair.
At 1am Sergeant Lapointe happens to be passing the Gendreaux residence when he hears a shot. It comes from Lise's room, but when he searches the room, nothing is discovered. Exit one embarrassed sergeant. But after he has left, we see Louis the butler removing a corpse.
Maigret reads Lapointe's detailed report. He suggests that Lapointe trace the sports car that he saw outside the house. It belongs to Bob and he had been driven there by his friend Dede. Bob is lying in the morgue.
Lise is being sent away to America all of a sudden. Lapointe gets a break when he sees the sports car, and he watches Dede visiting a friend Cleo. When Lapointe calls, Dede knocks him out and ties him up. Maid Germaine later frees him. Dede is 80,000 francs to the good, but he is relieved of it when police pounce and the gang are arrested.
Maigret talks to Richard's retired father who confides that his two children are at daggers drawn over running the firm. He learns from Germaine that Bob had visited Richard that night, and from Richard and Louis the butler, Maigret gets the truth. Or is it? Maigret has a shrewd idea who was the intended victim of the killing, but there is no real evidence and thus no prosecution. However Maigret reflects that at least Richard will lose his control of the business

The Judge's House
Maigret is wrapping up a smggling case in Honfleur, when, in a very protracted opening, Lucas playing with a football with local lads, a corpse is reported at the judge's house. "He's going to throw it in the river tonight at ten to eleven." That's the time of high tide. Sure enough, as they keep watch on the property, Maigret and Lucas see the judge dragging something heavy. He admits it is a corpse (even though the actor is inadvertently breathing), though he is not the killer, nor does he even know the man's identity.
Lise his daughter, suffering from dementia, is the only other person living here, though the judge's son, Albert, lives nearby. The dead man is identified as a guest staying at the same hotel where Maigret is residing. He is a psychiatrist, and had been killed in Lise's bathroom.
Albert's mate Marcel had been seen with Lise- but he has disappeared. The judge confesses to the killing, but this is obviously only to deflect from the fact that he thinks his daughter is the killer. No way is she the killer, says Maigret. Lise is taken away to a nursing home.
Albert tells Maigret that Marcel was planning to marry Lise, they had approached this psychiatrist to find out if it was safe to marry Lise. Marcel is found and Maigret gets the two men to fall out, and after a punch up, he makes his arrest.
This is a sad, moody tale, with a sympathetic performance by Leslie French as the judge

Two young women are turned off a river boat, another remains on board, but someone on the bank recognises her, and calls out her name, Marie.
Lucas examines her corpse later, she had been strangled. Three boats had been moored at Lock 14 that evening. Maigret cycles the five miles to the next lock, where the boats now are. Here we see Jean (Andrew Faulds), who had spotted Marie, he helps the old lady who runs the cafe here- she has sort of adopted him, "he's like a baby, but a good bargeman."
Maigret talks to the owner of the Southern Cross, a rich man named Lampson (Hugh Burden), who identifies Marie as his wife, his fourth wife actually. Those on this boat are an unpleasant lot, morals suspect, "we don't interfere in each other's lives." The two ejected girls had been picked up. The question is, was Marie robbed for her missing necklace?
Jean lives on a barge, The Providence, caring for numerous pets. Mario, a sidekick of Lampson's, is an intruder, ransacking the boat. Jean returns to find him, and in the ensuing fight, Marco falls into the river and drowns.
It emerges that Jean had once been married to Marie and the chase is on to catch up with him. Maigret gets to his barge, but he has left, "gone beserk." He must be making for The Southern Cross. A lot of running through woods and fields by Lucas, to a showdown on the boat. Jean boards it, confronting Lampson, but a police bullet finishes him off, too dramatically

Crime at Lock 14

Maigret's Little Joke (Dec 1963)

Dr Philippe Javet (Michael Goodliffe) is off to Nice for his holiday with his wife. But a few days later she is found dead, in bed naked, in Paris, by locum Dr Gilbert Negrel (Neil McCallum). He claims she died of heart failure.
Maigret is on leave, his arm in a sling, after being wounded in a recent case. Lucas investigates this murder, but Maigret cannot help pondering the case, and sends Lucas an anonymous note, "why was she naked?"
It's from a crank, decides Lucas. He had learned Mme Javet died from digitalis, "it would kill her."
Martine, girlfriend of Negrel, asks Maigret to help her boyfriend. So he pokes his nose in, to the extent of visiting Javet's flat and sends Lucas a further anonymous note, "did you know the concierge is nearly blind?"
Another note follows, "what's the name of Javet's boat?" Lucas drives down to Nice to find out. He meets Javet's housekeeper here. It seems Javet was having an affair with Claire, his nurse.
Maigret gets Negrel to admit to Martine that he had had an affair with Mme Javet. Lucas arrests him. But he also questions other suspects, Javet of course, and Claire. Another slight joke from Maigret follows: it's his next note, "why is Claire lying?"
At last the killer is exposed, none too convincingly. Maigret congratulates Lucas on his success, but Lucas nicely leaves a note in return, thanking Maigret