Monthly Archives: May 2011

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 173 – Two Men In a Furnished Room

This week a rare story from the pen of William Irish, aka Cornell Woolrich, that as a radio drama is pure audio noir. The series on which it appeared was the MollĂ© Mystery Theater in 1946 starring John Beal (right) and Sam Wanamaker. It is an example of what biographer Francis Nevins calls Wollrich’s oscillation thriller. All the elements of… (more…)

The Complete Smiley

BBC Radio 4 Extra is now repeating the Complete Smiley series they ran last year. Though more spy that detective thriller, this is a very well done set of productions of John LeCarre’s novels of his spymaster George Smiley. They recently began the first of the novels – Call For the Dead. The series stars Simon Russell Beale as Smiley… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 172 – Pearls Are a Nuisance

An unusual Raymond Chandler story this time as heard over Suspense. “Pearls Are a Nuisance” was a Chandlerian spoof on the detective genre. Sounding almost Damon Runyon in structure, the story starred William Bendix and Alan Joslyn. This version is very faithful to the original fictional story. It is definitely not what you might expect from Chandler, yet it has… (more…)