T H E B B C P R E S E N T S : P H I L L I P M A R L O W E
----- ----- ---------------- - ------------- -------------

1977 - 1988

First Show: 26 Sep, 1977 Last Show: 23 Sep, 1988
Number Shows: 6 Audition Show: none


Series Description:

The hard-boiled detective was the American answer to the smooth,
sophisticated English sleuth and the two archetypal hard-boiled
detectives are Dashell Hammett's Sam Spade and Raymond Chandler's
Phillip Marlowe.

Marlowe first came to radio in the US as a movie adaptation on the
Lux Radio Theatre on June 11, 1945. Dick Powell played Marlowe, as
he had in the 1944 RKO movie. The summer of 1947, Van Heflin became
the second radio Marlowe in a 13-show summer series on NBC. In 1948,
Gerald Mohr became the third radio Marlowe in "The Adventures of
Phillip Marlowe" series on CBS. The last US-produced show featuring
the detective aired Sept. 15, 1951.

In 1977, Phillip Marlowe again returned to the airwaves, this time
on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, an offering to Chandler
fans by the BBC.

Unlike the US Marlowe, the BBC productions were adaptation of the
Chandler novels. A total of six novels were adapted by Bill Morrison
and produced by John Tydeman. At the time of production, the rights
to "Farewell, My Lovely" were not available due to the 1975 film
version, starring Robert Mitchum. Only the other five were produced,
in the order the original books were published. Ten years later,
"Farewell, My Lovely" was produced, again with John Tydeman as
producer and adapted by Bill Morrison. Marlowe, for all six shows,
was played by Ed Bishop.

The shows were well received in the UK and later aired in the US over
NPR stations. The UK broadcasts were done as single 90-minute shows.
In the US, they aired in serial format of 3 30-minute spisodes each.
All broadcasts were in stereo. They are available from te BBC on
cassette and CD, in 3 sets containing 2 shows each.


Log Comments:

Dates for the shows were provided by Ian Beard in the UK. He also
sent an article that contained much valuable information for this log
("Sound Sleuths" by Jeffrey Richards from Issue 37, year 2000,
Sherlock Holmes magazine, discusses "The Radio Detectives" program
broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in Feb. and Mar. of 2000).


Chronological Log:

Date Day Num Title
------------ --- --- ----------------------
26 Sep, 1977 Mon 1 "The Big Sleep"
17 Oct, 1977 Mon 2 "The High Window"
07 Nov, 1977 Mon 3 "The Lady In The Lake"
05 Dec, 1977 Mon 4 "The Little Sister"
16 Jan, 1978 Mon 5 "The Long Goodbye"
23 Sep, 1988 Fri 6 "Farewell My Lovely"


Last Update: Oct 15, 2004


This log is informational only and does not imply that I have these
shows for trade or sale. The shows are still protected under
copyright law and should be obtained only from authorized dealers.

The log may be freely reproduced and published on a no-profit basis.
Please send error corrections or additional information to Frank M.
Passage, 109 Elmwood Road, Verona, NJ 07044 (email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).