Lord Peter Wimsey (radio series)

Lord Peter Wimsey is a series of full cast BBC Radio drama adaptations of Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey detective novels broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1973 and 1983, with a further adaptation of Gaudy Night mounted for BBC Audiobooks in 2005 to complete the full sequence of Sayers' novels, all starring Ian Carmichael in the title role.[2]

Lord Peter Wimsey
GenreRadio drama
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Home stationBBC Radio 4
StarringIan Carmichael
Peter Jones
Written byChris Miller
Peter Jones
Tania Lieven
Alistair Beaton
Michael Bakewell
Adapted from the works of Dorothy L. Sayers
Directed bySimon Brett
Martin Fisher
Enyd Williams
Original release30 December 1973 (1973-12-30) –
24 June 2010 (2010-06-24)
Opening theme"When Day is Done" by Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra[1]
("Rain or Shine" by The London West End Orchestra for Gaudy Night)

Cast and crew

The series stars Ian Carmichael as aristocratic sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. Carmichael played the role concurrently in five BBC Television adaptations beginning with Clouds of Witness in April 1972.[3] Peter Jones played Wimsey's loyal valet and assistant Mervyn Bunter in all original adaptations, and also dramatised Clouds of Witness with Tania Lieven.[4][5] Gabriel Woolf featured as Inspector Charles Parker, Lord Peter's friend and contact at Scotland Yard (later brother-in-law) in three adaptations. Mystery writer Harriet Vane was played by Ann Bell (Strong Poison), Maria Aitken (Have His Carcase) and Sarah Badel (Busman's Honeymoon) in the original sequence and Joanna David in Gaudy Night.

The first six productions were directed by Simon Brett, who became a crime writer himself following his involvement with the series,[6] with the next four directed by Martin Fisher. Gaudy Night, missing from the original sequence, was directed for BBC Audiobooks in 2005 by Enyd Williams[2] and was later broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in 2010.[7]

List of adaptations
No.TitleFirst broadcastNotes
1Whose Body?30 December 19735 episodes adapted by Chris Miller, directed by Simon Brett.[8]
2Clouds of Witness3 February 19748 episodes adapted by Peter Jones and Tania Lieven, directed by Simon Brett.[5]
3Unnatural Death5 May 19757 episodes adapted by Chris Miller, directed by Simon Brett.[9]
4The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club23 June 19756 episodes adapted by Chris Miller, directed by Simon Brett.[10]
5Strong Poison17 May 19766 episodes adapted by Chris Miller, directed by Simon Brett.[11]
6The Five Red Herrings4 January 19788 episodes adapted by Chris Miller, directed by Simon Brett.[12]
7Murder Must Advertise1 January 19796 episodes adapted by Alistair Beaton, directed by Martin Fisher.[13]
8The Nine Tailors20 October 19808 episodes adapted by Alistair Beaton, directed by Martin Fisher.[14]
9Have His Carcase21 October 19816 episodes adapted by Alistair Beaton, directed by Martin Fisher.[15]
10Busman's Honeymoon3 January 19836 episodes adapted by Alistair Beaton, directed by Martin Fisher.[16]
11Gaudy Night18 June 20105 episodes adapted by Michael Bakewell, directed by Enyd Williams.
Originally produced for BBC Audiobooks in 2005, first broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in 2010.[2][7]

Reception

Caroline Crampton reviewing a 2016 repeat of Have His Carcase in the New Statesman notes that "Ian Carmichael is Peter Wimsey...Somehow, the Hull-born Carmichael inhabits the character of Wimsey – the Eton and Oxford educated younger son of a Duke who turns to mystery-solving after traumatic experiences in the First World War – better than any of the others who tried over the course of the twentieth century...Just as Wimsey’s buffoonish, aristocratic utterances conceal a vulnerable, perceptive intellect, so does the old-fashioned style of this drama hide a darker, more difficult story."[17] David Hepworth in The Guardian notes that Carmichael "was put on this earth to play two great heroes of popular fiction: Bertie Wooster and Lord Peter Wimsey."[18]

Director and producer Simon Brett credits the series with inspiring him to become a crime novelist and his actor-sleuth character Charles Paris.[6] He recalls:

I was delegated to produce a series of adaptations...Ian Carmichael had just played the part on television and they wanted him to reprise the character on radio. Up until then, although I'd written four very proper unpublished novels, I’d been rather scared of crime fiction. I thought you had to have a computerised brain to work out the plots. But working with Chris Miller, the writer who adapted the books, I made some very encouraging discoveries. First, we found some gaping holes in Sayers' plots. And, also, although the plot was important, character and dialogue were at least as important. That realisation, together with the fact that on the Wimseys I was working with a lot of middle-aged actors, led to the birth of Charles Paris.[19]

See also

References
  1. "Victor matrix BVE-36302. When day is done / Paul Whiteman Orchestra". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  2. "Gaudy Night". WorldCat. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. "Clouds of Witness TV adaptation". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  4. "Wimsey". BBC Radio 4 Extra.
  5. "Clouds of Witness". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  6. "About". Simon Brett. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  7. "Gaudy Night". BBC Programmes. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  8. "Whose Body?". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  9. "Unnatural Death". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  10. "The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  11. "Strong Poison". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  12. "The Five Red Herrings". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  13. "Murder Must Advertise". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  14. "The Nine Tailors". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  15. "Have His Carcase". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  16. "Busman's Honeymoon". BBC Genome. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  17. "Why the antics of 1930s detective Peter Wimsey still sound fresh on the radio today". New Statesman. 14 September 2016.
  18. "Too Late To Stop Now, Strong Poison and what else to listen to this week". Guardian. 24 January 2015.
  19. "Meet the author: Simon Brett". Suffolk Libraries. Retrieved 30 July 2020.

Lord Peter Wimsey at BBC Online

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