#LoveAudio Week: Why I Love Radio Crime Dramas
You’ve all seen the books. The recent years have brought a spate of rediscovered vintage crime novels back in print. The Margery Allingham books, the Collins Crime Club and the outstanding British Library series – all with their beautiful vintage covers. But it’s #LoveAudio Week and I’m here to tell you: the radio is where it’s at.
I accidentally discovered Paul Temple on the radio a few years ago. After an episode of Steptoe & Son (which you might have seen on TV, starring the wonderfully wicked Wilfred Brambell), this charming theme tune came on and into my life stepped Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury as Paul & Steve Temple, a married detective duet.
Paul and Steve (as she’s always known) have wonderful adventures. Their cases come with reassuringly defined names, such as The Lawrence Affair (a favourite of mine as it shares my name), The Cuzon Case or The Madison Mystery. They are both reassuringly familiar and suitably exciting. Ever the gentleman, the strongest oath Paul will ever use is ‘by Timothy!’ However, I don’t want you to think it’s all Costswald-cosy. Our daring duo are always getting shot at, their car is run off the road, or they enter a house and nearly get blown up (all with glorious vintage sound effects).
And the strange thing is, the programmes are immensely compelling. They were originally broadcast serialised so the end of each episode leaves you in suspense – with Paul or Steve about to make a huge discovery. Trust me, you need to try it. Since I found that a good deal of them are now available on Audible, I’ve bought more than I’d like to admit – that way you don’t have to wait for the next episode. And if I really can’t convince you that audio is the way to go, HarperCollins brought out a beautiful set of the books last year. Whatever format you choose, beware: highly addictive.
But if Golden Age crime isn’t really your bag, how about Ancient Rome? Starring the completely perfect Anton Lesser as Marcus Didius Falco, Rome’s scallywag private eye, Lindsey Davis’ series is a huge amount of fun. I’ll admit that I expected this to be rather dry and well, Classical (emphasis on the capital C) but it’s a proper romp, a historical whodunit, if you will. Through drugs, poison, togas and love affairs, Falco solves some of Rome’s trickiest crimes, escaping by the skin of his teeth each time. The Falco mysteries beautifully tread the line between silly and serious, and add in a great theme tune, and you’ve got a cracking series. And did I mention Anton Lesser? The man is a genius voice actor (his Charles Dickens recordings are outstanding) and he is also rather lovely in person, but that’s a story for another time…
And if that doesn’t tempt you, you can’t turn down Agatha Christie. Poirot and Miss Marple are almost always to be found somewhere on Radio 4 Extra (otherwise known as my second home) and ready and waiting with a new mystery. Poirot on the radio is played by John Moffatt and just as Belgiumified as you could wish, and Miss Marple is the perfect June Whitfield. They are as cosy as you could hope for, and everything you want in a Christie story. The only problem is when you run out of episodes.
So there you have it – a whistle-stop tour through the wonderful world that is radio crime. From Rome to Agatha Christie: it’s all on your radio.
Maisie Lawrence is the Fiction Editorial Assistant at Simon & Schuster UK. Along with an unhealthy Radio 4 addiction, Maisie enjoys poetry and Formula 1 and can be found on Twitter: @MaisieFrances