The BBC Presents: Phillip Marlowe

The hard-boiled detective was the American answer to the smooth, sophisticated English sleuth; the two archetypal hard-boiled detectives are Dashiell 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). In summer 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 on CBS, the last US show airing Sept 15, 1951. In 1977 Marlowe returned on the BBC. Unlike the US Marlowe, the BBC productions were adaptations of the Chandler novels: a total of six novels adapted by Bill Morrison and produced by John Tydeman. At the time of production, the rights to 'Farewell, My Lovely' were unavailable due to the 1975 film version starring Robert Mitchum, so only the other five were produced, in the order the books were published. Ten years later, 'Farewell, My Lovely' was produced, again with John Tydeman as producer and Bill Morrison adapting. 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. They are available from the BBC on cassette and CD, in 3 sets containing 2 shows each.