The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries

Last updated

The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries
Genre Crime drama
Written by
  • Various
Directed by
  • Various
Starring
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
Original language
  • English
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes9 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • George Gallacio
  • Raghav Shome
Producers
  • Diana Kyle
  • Michael Bartley
Production location
  • United Kingdom
Running time90 minutes
Original release
Network
Release23 December 1990 (1990-12-23) 
29 August 1994 (1994-08-29)

The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries is a British detective television series, broadcast on BBC1, which was adapted from nine of the novels by Dame Ngaio Marsh, featuring the character Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The pilot episode was shown in 1990, with Simon Williams playing the part of Alleyn. Two series followed in 1993 and 1994, with Patrick Malahide replacing Williams in the title role.

Contents

Premise

In the pilot episode, the character of Alleyn was played by Simon Williams. William Simons was cast as Alleyn's right-hand man and "Dr Watson", Detective Inspector Fox, and Belinda Lang starred as painter Agatha Troy, Alleyn's love interest. When a full series finally came to screen three years later, Simon Williams was unavailable, and the role of Alleyn was filled by Patrick Malahide, while Simons and Lang reprised their roles. Over the course of two series, eight episodes were broadcast, each focusing on a separate novel in the series. Both Malahide series were released on DVD in 2007, via Acorn Media. [1] In 2011, Acorn acquired the rights to the pilot, and in 2012, issued a repackaged version of the set containing the Williams pilot. [2] This set was also released in Australia. [3] Unlike the original novels, whose first story takes place as early as 1934, after World War I, the pilot and thus all subsequent episodes take place after World War II, with "Artists in Crime" being set in late 1948.

Cast

Episodes

Pilot (1990)

Episode #TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal airdateYear of Source Novel
1" Artists in Crime " Silvio Narizzano Trevor Bowen 23 December 1990 (1990-12-23)1938
After an artist's model dies in a suspicious incident, Alleyn and his down-to-earth assistant Fox investigate. Matters get complicated with a houseful of suspects, blackmail, another death, and Alleyn's growing attraction to the painter Agatha Troy.

Series 1 (1993)

Episode #TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal airdateYear of Source Novel
2" A Man Lay Dead " Sarah Pia Anderson Barbara Machin18 April 1993 (1993-04-18)1934
Alleyn cancels his holiday with Troy to investigate a murder connected to a stolen chalice, but he's called when a second murder occurs at uncle's estate.
3" The Nursing Home Murder " Silvio Narizzano Kevin Laffan 25 April 1993 (1993-04-25)1935
A member of Parliament who has taken controversial stands on Palestine and A-bomb development is murdered during a routine appendectomy.
4" Final Curtain "Martyn Friend Hugh Leonard 2 May 1993 (1993-05-02)1947
An egotistical Shakespearean ham actor gathers his dysfunctional extended family in his mansion on his 75th birthday for the reading of his will.
5" Death at the Bar " Michael Winterbottom Alfred Shaughnessy 9 May 1993 (1993-05-09)1939
During a display of dart throwing in a Cornish pub a man's hand is impaled by a dart, and he dies shortly afterward from cyanide - although no one can explain how.
6" Death in a White Tie "John WoodsKen Jones16 May 1993 (1993-05-16)1938
Alleyn enlists the help of his friend Lord Robert "Bunchy" Gospell to uncover a society blackmailer. After Lord Robert is killed, a murder hunt follows among the world of titled heiresses, gamblers and adulterers.

Series 2 (1994)

Episode #TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal airdateYear of Source Novel
7" Hand in Glove "Martyn FriendKen Jones10 January 1994 (1994-01-10)1962
A divorced and disliked man living in a nobleman's estate is found in a sewer ditch after someone rolled a concrete pipe on his head.
8" Dead Water "John Woods Trevor Bowen 1 April 1994 (1994-04-01)1964
Alleyn's old French teacher, the landlord of an idyllic Scottish island, is receiving death threats because she's blocking its development as a health spa.
9" Scales of Justice " Jim Goddard Cyril Williams29 August 1994 (1994-08-29)1958
The publication of a war hero's memoirs and his dispute with a neighbouring fisherman about poaching leads to a murder.

Syndication

The series aired in the United States on PBS's 'Mystery!' and later on Amazon Prime. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngaio Marsh</span> New Zealand crime writer and theatre director (1895–1982)

Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966.

<i>Agatha Christies Poirot</i> British television detective series (1989–2013)

Agatha Christie's Poirot, or simply Poirot, is a British mystery drama television programme that aired on ITV from 8 January 1989 to 13 November 2013. The ITV show is based on many of Agatha Christie's famous crime fiction series, which revolves around the fictional private investigator, Hercule Poirot. David Suchet starred as the fictional detective. Initially produced by LWT, the series was later produced by ITV Studios. The series also aired on VisionTV in Canada and on PBS and A&E in the US.

<i>Midsomer Murders</i> British television detective drama series

Midsomer Murders is a British crime drama television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the Chief Inspector Barnaby book series created by Caroline Graham, and broadcasts on the ITV Network since its premiere on 23 March 1997. The series focuses on various murder cases that take place within small country villages across the fictional English county of Midsomer, and the efforts of the senior police detective and his partner within the fictional Midsomer Constabulary to solve the crime by determining who the culprit is and the motive for their actions. It differs from other detective dramas in featuring a mixture of lighthearted whimsy and dark humour, as well as a notable soundtrack with a title theme that includes a theremin.

Belinda Lucy Lange, known professionally as Belinda Lang, is an English actress. She is known for playing Liza in the ITV sitcom Second Thoughts (1991–94), and Bill Porter in the BBC sitcom 2point4 Children (1991–99). Her theatre credits include London productions of the Noël Coward plays, Present Laughter (1981), Blithe Spirit (1997), and Hay Fever (2006). Her radio/audio credits include voicing narrator Madeleine in the podcast Wooden Overcoats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Williams (actor)</span> British actor

Simon Williams is a British actor known for playing James Bellamy in the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. Frequently playing upper middle class or aristocratic upper class roles, he is also known for playing Charles Cartwright in the sitcom Don't Wait Up and Charles Merrick in medical drama Holby City. Since 2014, he has played the character of Justin Elliott in the long-running BBC Radio 4 series The Archers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Malahide</span> British actor (born 1945)

Patrick Gerald Duggan, known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a British actor of stage and screen. His acting credits include The New Avengers (1976), ITV Playhouse (1977), The Eagle of the Ninth (1977), Sweeney 2 (1978), Comfort and Joy (1984), The Singing Detective (1986), A Month in the Country (1987), Minder (1979–1988), Middlemarch (1994), The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries (1993–1994), Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001), The World Is Not Enough (1999), Brideshead Revisited (film) (2008), The Paradise (2012), Luther (2015–2019), Bridget Jones's Baby (2016), Game of Thrones (2012–2016), and Mortal Engines (2018), The Protégé (2021), and Liaison (2023).

<i>The Ruth Rendell Mysteries</i> British television crime drama series

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries is a British television crime drama series, produced by TVS and later by its successor Meridian Broadcasting, in association with Blue Heaven Productions, for broadcast on the ITV network. Twelve series were broadcast on ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000. Created by renowned author Ruth Rendell, the first six series focused entirely on her main literary character, Chief Inspector Reg Wexford, played by George Baker. Repeat airings of these series changed the programme's title to The Inspector Wexford Mysteries. However, later series shifted focus to other short stories previously written by Rendell, with Wexford featuring in only three further stories, in 1996, 1998 and 2000. When broadcast, these three stories were broadcast under the title Inspector Wexford.

Roderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published in 1982.

<i>Inspector George Gently</i> Television series

Inspector George Gently is a British crime drama television series produced by Company Pictures for BBC One, set in the 1960s and loosely based on some of the Inspector Gently novels written by Alan Hunter. The series stars Martin Shaw as the eponymous inspector and Lee Ingleby as Detective Sergeant John Bacchus, with Simon Hubbard and Lisa McGrillis in supporting roles as police constables in the fictitious North East Constabulary.

<i>Murdoch Mysteries</i> Canadian television series

Murdoch Mysteries is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the Detective Murdoch novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch, a police detective working in Toronto, Ontario in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The series was titled The Artful Detective on the Ovation cable TV network in the United States, until season twelve.

<i>Death at the Bar</i> 1940 crime novel by Ngaio Marsh

Death at the Bar is a crime novel by Ngaio Marsh, the ninth to feature her series detective Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard and published in 1940 by Collins (UK) and Little, Brown (USA).

<i>Final Curtain</i> (novel) 1947 detective novel by Ngaio Marsh

Final Curtain is a 1947 crime novel by the New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh, the fourteenth in her series of mysteries featuring Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn. It was published in Britain by Collins and in the USA by Little, Brown. The plot features the world of actors, and Alleyn's wife, the artist Agatha Troy, has a main role in the story.

<i>The Nursing Home Murder</i> Book by Ngaio Marsh

The Nursing Home Murder (1935) is a work of detective fiction by New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh and Henry Jellett. It is the only book Marsh co-authored.

<i>A Man Lay Dead</i> 1934 detective novel by Ngaio Marsh

A Man Lay Dead is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the first novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1934. The plot concerns a murder committed during a detective game of murder at a weekend party in a country house.

<i>Artists in Crime</i> 1938 detective novel by Ngaio Marsh

Artists in Crime is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the sixth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of an artists' model; Alleyn's love interest Agatha Troy is introduced.

<i>Death in a White Tie</i> 1938 novel by Ngaio Marsh

Death in a White Tie is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. It is the seventh novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of a British lord after a party.

<i>Overture to Death</i> 1939 novel by Ngaio Marsh

Overture to Death is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the eighth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1939. The plot concerns a murder during an amateur theatrical performance in a Dorset village, which Alleyn and his colleague Fox are dispatched from Scotland Yard to investigate and duly solve.

<i>Scales of Justice</i> (novel) 1955 detective novel by Ngaio Marsh

Scales of Justice is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. it is the eighteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1955.

<i>Dead Water</i> (novel) 1964 detective novel by Ngaio Marsh

Dead Water is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-third novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1964.

<i>Sister Boniface Mysteries</i> British detective TV series

Sister Boniface Mysteries is a British cosy mystery detective period comedy drama television series, created by Jude Tindall, which is produced by BBC Studios and BritBox. It is a spin-off of Father Brown, as the Sister Boniface character was introduced in a Father Brown episode. A 10-episode first series premiered on 8 February 2022, on the BritBox streaming service, and released in the UK on the UKTV Drama channel later in 2022. Sister Boniface Mysteries was commissioned for a second series, which began streaming in the US on Britbox on 3 April 2023. Series 3 began streaming on Britbox in the US on 24 April 2024. Filming on Series 4 began in July 2024.

References

  1. "The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries". 14 May 2007 via Amazon.
  2. "Inspector Alleyn - The Complete Series". 18 June 2012 via Amazon.
  3. "The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries - The Complete Series (5 DVD Set) DVD" via Amazon.
  4. "Alleyn Mysteries (1994)".
  5. "Inspector Alleyn Mysteries". TV Guide.com. TV Guide. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  6. "Alleyn Mysteries". IMDB. IMDB. Retrieved 27 November 2023.