7.4 /10 1 Votes
7/10 TV Written by Various Country of origin United Kingdom First episode date 23 December 1990 | 7.8/10 IMDb Directed by Various Original language(s) English Location(s) United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Patrick MalahideBelinda LangTim DuttonSandy WelchLeslie SchofieldMark PenfoldSimon Williams Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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, and two series followed, in 1993 and 1994. In the pilot, Simon Williams, played the part of Alleyn. For the subsequent two series, Patrick Malahide replaced Williams in the 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. Simon Williams was unavailable for filming following the pilot was made, so three years later, when a full series finally came to screen, both Simons and Lang reprised their original roles, but the role of Alleyn was filled by Patrick Malahide. 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. In 2011, Acorn acquired the rights to the pilot, and in 2012, issued a repackaged version of the set containing the Williams pilot. This set was also released in Australia. 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.