Detective (TV series)

Detective is a British mystery anthology television series adapted from stories by numerous prominent crime fiction writers, with each episode focusing on a particular detective character. Several prominent fictional sleuths were showcased, including Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Thorndyke, Philip Trent, Sir Henry Merrivale, Roderick Alleyn, Father Brown, Albert Campion, C. Auguste Dupin, Sir John Appleby, Inspector Ghote, Nigel Strangeways and Gervase Fen.

Detective
Genre	Anthology Crime Mystery
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	45
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC
Release	30 March 1964 (1964-03-30) – 9 November 1969 (1969-11-09)

Each episode of the first series was introduced by Rupert Davies, in-character as Inspector Maigret, reprising his role from the eponymous BBC series that had aired from 1960 to 1963. Several episodes functioned as Backdoor pilots for potential future series. Of the 45 episodes, only three such shows were produced as a result: Cluff (1964–65) starring Leslie Sands, Thorndyke (1964) starring Peter Copley, and Sherlock Holmes (1965–68) starring Douglas Wilmer, and later, Peter Cushing.

Of the eighteen episodes from the first series twelve are currently known to exist; nine episodes from series two survive; while only one episode from the third series remains in the archive.^[1]

Recurring characters

Characters who appeared in more than one episode:

• Glyn Houston and Bernard Horsfall as Nigel Strangeways (2 episodes)
• David Horne and Martin Wyldeck as Sir Henry Merrivale (2 episodes)
• Michael Hordern and John Welsh as Detective Inspector Rason (2 episodes)
• Geoffrey Keen and Michael Allinson as Roderick Alleyn (2 episodes)
• Dennis Price and Ian Ogilvy as Sir John Appleby (2 episodes)
• Patrick Troughton and Colin Blakely as Jasper Shrig (2 episodes)
• Jane Merrow and Penelope Horner as Eve Gill (2 episodes)
• Lee Montague as Fred Fellows (2 episodes). Montague is the only actor to reappear in the same role.
• Derek Godfrey and Edward Woodward as Commissaire Bignon (2 episodes). Woodward had previously played C. Auguste Dupin.

List of episodes

Series One

No.	Title	Original author(s)	Detective(s)	Actor(s) who portrayed detective(s)	Ref.	Status
1.1	The Moving Toyshop	Edmund Crispin	Gervase Fen, Oxford professor	Richard Wordsworth	[2]	Missing
1.2	The Drawing	Gil North	Detective Sergeant Caleb Cluff, Yorkshire policeman	Leslie Sands	[3]	Missing, spawned a series
1.3	Trent's Last Case	E. C. Bentley	Philip Trent, journalist	Michael Gwynn	[4]	Missing
1.4	End of Chapter	Nicholas Blake	Nigel Strangeways, private detective	Glyn Houston	[5]	Survives
1.5	The Judas Window	Carter Dickson	Sir Henry Merrivale, amateur detective	David Horne	[6]	Missing
1.6	Dishonoured Bones	John Trench	Martin Cotterill, archeologist	Alan Dobie	[7]	Survives
1.7	The Man Who Murdered in Public	Roy Vickers	Detective Inspector Rason, officer of "The Department of Dead Ends"	Michael Hordern	[8]	Missing
1.8	The Speckled Band	Arthur Conan Doyle	Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective	Douglas Wilmer	[9]	Survives, spawned a series
1.9	The Night of the Horns	Douglas Sanderson	Robert Race, lawyer	Frank Lieberman	[10]	Survives
1.10	Subject: Murder	Clifford Witting	Inspector Charlton and Peter Bradford	Basil Dignam and Mark Eden	[11]	Survives
1.11	Death in Ecstasy	Ngaio Marsh	Roderick Alleyn, police inspector	Geoffrey Keen	[12]	Survives
1.12	A Connoisseur's Case	Michael Innes	Sir John Appleby, police officer	Dennis Price	[13]	Survives
1.13	The Loring Mystery	Jeffery Farnol	Jasper Shrig, Georgian era hero	Patrick Troughton	[14]	Survives
1.14	The Hungry Spider	Selwyn Jepson	Eve Gill	Jane Merrow	[15]	Survives
1.15	The Case of Oscar Brodski	R. Austin Freeman	Dr. John Thorndyke, Forensic sleuth	Peter Copley	[16]	Survives, spawned a series
1.16	The Speaking Eye	Clark Smith	Nicky Mahoun, accountant	Frederick Jaeger	[17]	Survives
1.17	Death of a Fellow Traveller	Delano Ames	Dagobert and Jane Brown, married investigators	Leslie Randall and Joan Reynolds	[18]	Survives
1.18	The Quick One	G.K. Chesterton	Father Brown, Roman Catholic priest	Mervyn Johns	[19]	Missing

Series Two

No.	Title	Original author(s)	Detective(s)	Actor(s) who portrayed detective(s)	Ref.	Status
2.1	The Deadly Climate	Ursula Curtiss	Robert Carmichael, reporter	Dudley Sutton	[20]	Missing
2.2	Dover and the Deadly Poison Pen Letters	Joyce Porter	Inspector Wilfred Dover, irascible police officer	Paul Dawkins	[21]	Survives
2.3	A Man and His Mother-In-Law	Roy Vickers	Detective Inspector Rason, officer of "The Department of Dead Ends"	John Welsh	[22]	Survives
2.4	Lesson in Anatomy	Michael Innes	Sir John Appleby, police officer	Ian Ogilvy	[23]	Missing
2.5	The German Song	H.C. Bailey	Reggie Fortune, police consultant	Denholm Elliott	[24]	Survives
2.6	The Beast Must Die	Nicholas Blake	Nigel Strangeways, private detective	Bernard Horsfall	[25]	Survives
2.7	The Avenging Chance	Anthony Berkeley	Roger Sheringham, amateur sleuth	John Carson	[26]	Survives
2.8	Born Victim	Hillary Waugh	Fred Fellows, police officer	Lee Montague	[27]	Missing
2.9	The Unquiet Sleep	William Haggard	Rachel Borrowdaile and Colonel Charles Russell, government agents	Sarah Lawson and Roland Culver	[28]	Survives
2.10	The High Adventure	Jeffery Farnol	Jasper Shrig, Georgian era hero	Colin Blakely	[29]	Survives
2.11	Cork on the Water	Macdonald Hastings	Montague Cork, insurance agent	Colin Douglas	[30]	Survives
2.12	The Case of the Late Pig	Margery Allingham	Albert Campion, gentleman detective	Brian Smith	[31]	Survives
2.13	The Golden Dart	Selwyn Jepson	Eve Gill	Penelope Horner	[32]	Survives
2.14	Crime of Passion	Colin Morris (dramatization of the real-life Dr. Crippen case)	Walter Dew	Glynn Edwards	[33]	Missing
2.15	Artists in Crime	Ngaio Marsh	Roderick Alleyn, police inspector	Michael Allinson	[34]	Missing
2.16	Deaths on the Champs Elysees	Francis Didelot	Commissaire Bignon	Derek Godfrey	[35]	Survives
2.17	The Murders in the Rue Morgue	Edgar Allan Poe	C. Auguste Dupin, French detective	Edward Woodward	[36]	Missing

Series Three

No.	Title	Original author(s)	Detective(s)	Actor(s) who portrayed detective(s)	Ref.	Status
3.1	The Prisoner's Plea	Hillary Waugh	Fred Fellows, police officer	Lee Montague	[37]	Survives
3.2	The Singing Sands	Josephine Tey	Inspector Alan Grant, policeman	John Carson	[38]	Missing
3.3	The Public School Murder	R.C. Woodthorpe	Sir Luke Frinsby	Cyril Luckham	[39]	Missing
3.4	Put Out the Light	Ethel Lina White	Miss Pye	Angela Baddeley	[40]	Missing
3.5	The Tea-Leaf	Edgar Jepson and Robert Eustace	Ruth Kelstem	Hannah Gordon	[41]	Missing
3.6	Hunt the Peacock	H.R.F. Keating	Inspector Ganesh Ghote, Bombay policeman	Zia Mohyeddin	[42]	Missing
3.7	Elimination Round	Ludovic Peters	Ian Firth and John Smith	David Buck and Meredith Edwards	[43]	Missing
3.8	And So to Murder	Carter Dickson	Sir Henry Merrivale, amateur detective	Martin Wyldeck	[44]	Missing
3.9	The Poisoners	Francis Didelot	Commissaire Bignon	Edward Woodward	[45]	Missing
3.10	Mr. Guppy's Tale	Charles Dickens	William Guppy, law clerk	Bill Fraser	[46]	Missing