The Mrs Bradley Mysteries
Encyclopedia
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries is a British television
drama series, produced in-house by the BBC
for broadcast on the BBC One
channel, based on the character created by detective writer Gladys Mitchell
. It ran in 1998 and 1999, consisting of five episodes in total; a one-off special in the first year followed by a series of four episodes in the second.
Some co-production funding was contributed by the United States
PBS
broadcaster WGBH
. In the US, the series was shown in PBS's Mystery!
anthology strand, the host of which was Diana Rigg
, who was also the star of The Mrs Bradley Mysteries. Wearing 1920s clothes, she introduced each episode to the audience:
"Adela Bradley
doesn't mince words. And why should she. They are her greatest weapon against fools, cads, criminals...and ex-lovers. Words also came easily to Adela's creator, Gladys Mitchell
, who published nearly eighty novels in her long lifetime. Gladys introduced Mrs. Bradley in 1929 in the book Speedy Death. She endowed her breezy heroine with attributes she herself possessed including an interest in Freud and a passion for all things British: Morris dancing, mayday rituals, and the Loch Ness Monster. Over the course of some sixty-six mysteries, Adela Bradley married and divorced three husbands, was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
, and a consultant to the British Home Office. She also developed prodigious abilities at pub darts, snooker, billiards, and knife throwing. One thing she cannot do is knit."
Joining Mrs. B. is her handsome confidant and chauffeur, George Moody, played by Neil Dudgeon
. Wherever their Rolls Royce carries them, they encounter murders that people are just too embarrassed to report to the police.
Episode 2. The Rising of the Moon
Episode 3. Laurels Are Poison
Episode 4. The Worsted Viper
Episode 2. The Rising of the Moon
Episode 3. Laurels Are Poison
Episode 4. The Worsted Viper
British television
Public television broadcasting started in the United Kingdom in 1936, and now has a collection of free and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channelsTaking the base Sky EPG TV Channels. A breakdown is impossible due to a) the number of...
drama series, produced in-house by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
for broadcast on the BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
channel, based on the character created by detective writer Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell was an English author best known for her creation of Mrs. Bradley, the heroine of numerous detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie...
. It ran in 1998 and 1999, consisting of five episodes in total; a one-off special in the first year followed by a series of four episodes in the second.
Some co-production funding was contributed by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
broadcaster WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
. In the US, the series was shown in PBS's Mystery!
Mystery!
Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH...
anthology strand, the host of which was Diana Rigg
Diana Rigg
Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
, who was also the star of The Mrs Bradley Mysteries. Wearing 1920s clothes, she introduced each episode to the audience:
"Adela Bradley
Mrs Bradley
Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley is a fictional detective created by Gladys Mitchell. Mrs Bradley is Mitchell's most significant and long-lived character, appearing in 66 novels that were published between 1929 and 1975....
doesn't mince words. And why should she. They are her greatest weapon against fools, cads, criminals...and ex-lovers. Words also came easily to Adela's creator, Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell
Gladys Mitchell was an English author best known for her creation of Mrs. Bradley, the heroine of numerous detective novels. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Stephen Hockaby and Malcolm Torrie...
, who published nearly eighty novels in her long lifetime. Gladys introduced Mrs. Bradley in 1929 in the book Speedy Death. She endowed her breezy heroine with attributes she herself possessed including an interest in Freud and a passion for all things British: Morris dancing, mayday rituals, and the Loch Ness Monster. Over the course of some sixty-six mysteries, Adela Bradley married and divorced three husbands, was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, and a consultant to the British Home Office. She also developed prodigious abilities at pub darts, snooker, billiards, and knife throwing. One thing she cannot do is knit."
Joining Mrs. B. is her handsome confidant and chauffeur, George Moody, played by Neil Dudgeon
Neil Dudgeon
Neil Dudgeon is a British actor best known for his many television appearances, most often in crime drama.-Early Life:Dudgeon was born 1 January 1961 in Doncaster, Yorkshire, and attended Danum Grammar School among others. He established himself as an actor in school plays and went on to study...
. Wherever their Rolls Royce carries them, they encounter murders that people are just too embarrassed to report to the police.
Dramatism
The Mrs Bradley Mysteries is, in many ways, an archetypal English television whodunit, with Adela Bradley, criminologist and amateur sleuth, solving crimes with the assistance of her chauffeur, George. The distinguishing dramatic device in the series is the regular asides from Mrs Bradley to the camera, which often highlight the comedic elements of the story.1998 TV movie, 90 minutes
Pilot. Speedy Death- John AldertonJohn AldertonJohn Alderton is an English actor who is best known for his roles in Upstairs, Downstairs, Thomas & Sarah and Please Sir!. Alderton has often starred alongside his wife, Pauline Collins.-Early life:...
- Alastair Bing - Lynda BaronLynda BaronLynda Baron is a BAFTA-nominated English stage, film and television actress, perhaps best known for playing the extremely busty Nurse Gladys Emmanuel, the object of Arkwright's affection, in the BBC comedy series Open All Hours....
- Mrs. MacNamara - Emma FieldingEmma FieldingEmma Georgina Annalies Fielding is an English actress.-Biography:The lapsed Roman Catholic daughter of a British Army soldier, Fielding spent much of her childhood in Malaysia and Nigeria, and a period in Malvern above her grandparents' betting shop...
- Eleanor Bing aka 'Mouse' - Simeon Andrews - Family Doctor
- Tom ButcherTom Butcher-Television:He is well known for playing PC Steve Loxton in The Bill from 1990 to 1997, Dr Marc Elliott in Doctors, Tim Gaskill in Casualty...
- Bertie Philipson - Tyler ButterworthTyler ButterworthTyler Butterworth is an English actor, who has appeared in Rumpole Of The Bailey, Bergerac, Last of the Summer Wine, The Bill, The Darling Buds of May, Hetty Wainthropp Investigates and Osborne in the ITV sitcom Fiddlers Three...
- Ferdinand Bradley - John ConroyJohn ConroySir John Conroy, 1st Baronet KH was a British army officer who became the chief attendant of the Duke of Kent and the Duchess of Kent who were the parents of Queen Victoria. When the Duke died, he became comptroller of the duchess' household and was rumoured to be her lover...
- Henry Baxter - Emma Davies - Hermione Bradley
- Sue DevaneySue DevaneySue Devaney is an English actress. She has played various roles on British television including; Debbie Webster in Coronation Street, Rita Briggs in Jonny Briggs, Liz Harker in Casualty and Jane in dinnerladies...
- Mabel Jones - Tristan GemmillTristan GemmillTristan Gemmill is an English actor, most notable for his role as Dr Adam Trueman on Casualty. He was educated at Holmewood House School, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, up to the age of 13. He then won an Academic Scholarship to Tonbridge School.- Biography :Gemmill is married to actress Emily Hamilton;...
- Garde Bing - Andrew Hallett - Constable
1999 series, 4 x 60 minutes
Episode 1. Death at the Opera- Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
- Inspector Christmas - Roy BarracloughRoy BarracloughRoy Barraclough MBE is a comic actor. He is best known for his role as the shifty, lugubrious landlord of the Rovers Return, Alec Gilroy in the long-running British TV soap Coronation Street where he formed an on-screen partnership with Bet Lynch .- Career :Roy Barraclough...
- Dr. Simms - David TennantDavid TennantDavid Tennant is a Scottish actor. In addition to his work in theatre, including a widely praised Hamlet, Tennant is best known for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, along with the title role in the 2005 TV serial Casanova and as Barty Crouch, Jr...
- Max Valentine - James Hurn - Alfie
- Amy Marston - Agnes Delamere
- Annabel Apsion - Mona Bunting
- Elaine Claxton - Miss Ferris
- Susan WooldridgeSusan WooldridgeSusan Wooldridge , is the daughter of British actress Margaretta Scott and composer John Wooldridge. She is also the sister of Hugh Wooldridge.She was born in London, England, and educated at convent schools....
- Mrs. Simms - Monique DeVilliers - Clementine
- Carli NorrisCarli NorrisCarli Norris is an English stage, film and television actress.On TV, she first appeared as Alice McMahon in Eastenders, the title character in Catherine Cookson's Tilly Trotter, central characters in In Deep, Grafters, Roger Roger, The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, Frank Skinner's Shane, The House that...
- Plum Fisher - Ken Oxtoby - Mr. Jenner
Episode 2. The Rising of the Moon
- Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
- Inspector Christmas - Meera SyalMeera SyalMeera Syal MBE is a British comedienne, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No...
- Madame Marlene - Kenneth ColleyKenneth ColleyKenneth Colley is an English actor. A long-time character actor, he came to wider prominence through his role as Admiral Piett in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi....
- Archie - Francis MageeFrancis MageeFrancis Magee is an Irish actor best known for his portrayal of Liam Tyler in the long-running British soap opera EastEnders from 1993 to 1995. He has also appeared in numerous television shows and feature films, including Sahara , Layer Cake and The Calling...
- Castries - Sheila SteafelSheila SteafelSheila Steafel is a South African-born actress who has lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom.Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, appeared in many classic television series, including: The Frost Report, Z-Cars, Sykes, The Kenny Everett Television Show, Minder, The Ghosts of Motley Hall,...
- Celestine - Peter Gallagher - Little Bernard
- Nikki McInnes - Lilly
- Big MickBig Mick (actor)Mick Walter , often referred to by the stage name Big Mick, is a British actor, noted for his dwarfism. He is known for appearing on television comedies, first appearing as Jack Large in Blackadder...
- Tom - Felicity MontaguFelicity MontaguFelicity Montagu is an English actress, known for her performances in radio and television comedy series and films.Educated at Loughborough University and the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, Felicity Montagu has played the foil to a series of prominent comedy characters.-Television:Montagu...
- Ruby Larkin - Richard Baglow - Peter
- James Baglow - Francis
- Nick Woodeson - John Forrester
- Janine DuvitskiJanine DuvitskiJanine Duvitski is an English actress, known for her roles as Jane Edwards in Waiting for God and Pippa Trench in One Foot in the Grave. She also created and played the role of Angela in Mike Leigh's play Abigail's Party.-Personal life:Duvitski was born in Nottingham. Her father was Polish...
- Mrs. Cockerton
Episode 3. Laurels Are Poison
- Phyllida LawPhyllida Law-Personal life:Law was born in Glasgow, the daughter of William and Megsie Law, who divorced after World War II. She was married to Eric Thompson from 1957 until his death in 1982. Their two children Emma and Sophie Thompson are both actresses...
- Isabel - Joanna RothJoanna RothJoanna Roth born 1965 in Århus, Denmark is an actress.She trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has appeared in film, TV, video games and theatre, in roles such as Ophelia in the film Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead....
- Lacey - Ronan VibertRonan VibertRonan Vibert is a British actor, known for his appearances on British television.-Early life:The son of Dilys and David Vibert, both artists. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from 1983 to 1986. He has a brother named Cevn....
- Douglas - Michele DotriceMichele DotriceMichele Dotrice is an English actress best known for her portrayal of Betty, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, played by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em, which ran from 1973 to 1978....
- Amy Parkin - Valerie GoganValerie GoganValerie Gogan was born in Scotland and left her native Glasgow in the 1980s to train at LAMDA , since leaving she has become one of a small number of Scottish actresses familiar to film and television audiences in th UK....
- Jessie - Michael FoxMichael Fox (British actor)Michael Fox is a British actor.He trained at the Anna Scher Theatre. He has worked in film, television and Radio.-External links:...
- Ronnie - Kenneth MacDonald - Alf
- Stuart BunceStuart BunceStuart Alexander Bunce is an English actor who is best known for his portrayal of the First World War poet Wilfred Owen in the film Regeneration directed by Gillies MacKinnon.-Biography:...
- Seth
Episode 4. The Worsted Viper
- Peter DavisonPeter DavisonPeter Davison is a British actor, best known for his roles as Tristan Farnon in the television version of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small and the fifth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, which he played from 1982 to 1984.-Early life:Davison was born Peter Moffett in Streatham,...
- Inspector Christmas - Pooky QuesnelPooky QuesnelJoanna Quesnel, known professionally as Pooky Quesnel, is an English actress, screenwriter and singer.-Background:Quesnel was raised in Eccles, Lancashire, along with her six siblings. She read English at Oxford University before spending a year at drama school...
- Delilah Hicks - Isla BlairIsla BlairIsla Blair is an India-born actress of British descent. She made her first stage appearance in 1963 as Philia in the London debut of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and her first credited film appearance in the 1965 horror film Dr. Terror's House of Horrors.- Biography :Isla Blair...
- Myrtle Quincey - Rebecca CallardRebecca Callard-Early life:The daughter of Coronation Street actress Beverley Callard, she was born Rebecca Jayne Atkinson, but took her stepfather's surname when her mother married Steven Callard in 1989. In her early roles she used her father's surname and was credited as Rebecca Sowden.As a child Callard lived...
- Cecily Moody - Jason O'MaraJason O'MaraJason O'Mara is an Irish actor who starred in the American television network dramas In Justice and Life on Mars. He now appears in the Fox series Terra Nova.- Career :He performed with The Royal Shakespeare Company...
- Jake Hicks - Matthew Burgess - Constable Sharp
- Charlotte FrancisCharlotte FrancisCharlotte Rose Francis is an English actress/singer. She is best known for her part as Lucy Barker in the CITV children's comedy drama My Parents are Aliens in series one to seven....
- Temperance Baines - John Bowe - Reverend Baines
- Alex Palmer - Lester Hicks
- Katie Lown - Polly
- Eddie MarsanEddie MarsanEdward Maurice C. "Eddie" Marsan is an English actor.-Early life:Marsan was born in Stepney, London to a working class family; his father was a lorry driver and his mother a school dinner lady and teacher's assistant...
- Ronald Quincey
1998 (TV movie, 90-minutes)
Speedy Death- Mrs. Bradley, with her trusty chauffeur George, arrives at Chayning Court for the engagement party of her god-daughter, Eleanor Bing. Later that evening, Eleanor's fiance is found dead in the bath. The police are called in and conclude that his death was nothing more than a tragic accident. Mrs. Bradley is not so easily satisfied—why was there water on both sides of the bath, why was the window open, and why was the door unlocked? While the rest of the household attends the funeral, Mrs. Bradley launches her own investigation, using her prodigious charm and wit to help the local police catch a killer.
1999 (4 episodes, approximately 60 minutes)
Episode 1. Death at the Opera- ...is set at Mrs. B.'s alma mater, Hadleigh Heights Academy for Young Ladies, where she has been invited to give an annual lecture. During the preliminaries -- a student production of The Mikado -- one of the teachers fails to make her stage entrance. She's dead, of course, though whether from murder or stage fright is a mystery. The principal's husband, Dr. Simms, diagnoses a heart attack and sees no reason to call authorities. But Mrs. B. notices signs of a struggle, and she soon turns up no lack of suspects and motives. The victim's lover was apparently art teacher Max Valentine, who is observed at a local nightspot dancing the tango with Mrs. Simms. Then there is deputy principal Mona Bunting who seems to have been having affairs with the victim and Max. Unfortunately, she ends up asphyxiated in the school's kitchen oven. Things look very bad for Max when it is learned he is using an assumed name. Then there is Plum Fisher, the scholarship girl who found the first body. In British murder mysteries, it's always the scholarship girl....
Episode 2. The Rising of the Moon
- ...takes Mrs. B. and George to the circus, where the girlfriend-assistant of knife thrower Castries is found dead in a Jack-the-Ripper-style slaying. Castries has a fierce temper and plenty of weapons. But Archie the clown also has a motive, since he lost top billing to Castries when Madame Marlene became circus manager. Archie seals the case against himself when he is caught red-handed standing over Madame Marlene's corpse with a bloody knife. He manages to escape by hijacking George and the Rolls. "Tell me," says George driving off with the fugitive clown, "where do you go when you run away from the circus?" But things are not what they seem, for at this moment, miles away, Mrs. B. is about to become victim number four just as she is discovering victim number three.
Episode 3. Laurels Are Poison
- ...involves Mrs. B. and George in a case of pharmacological forensics, supernatural science, and the sociology of underwear. That is to say, the victim has been killed with poison, apparently by a ghost, and the key clue is a missing corset on the corpse. Of the last, Mrs. B. observes: "The tyranny of the foundation garment is one of the major obstacles to the full emancipation of women." The setting is the haunted country manor of Mrs. B.'s old friend Lady Isabel Marchmont. Also in residence are Isabel's pregnant daughter Lacey, grandchild Algernon, and creepy son-in-law Douglas. Strange as it may seem, Seth the gardener has a threatening hold over Lacey and Douglas. Meanwhile, something odd is going on in the pantry between Mrs. Parkin the cook and Alf the chauffeur, leaving the cook's daughter Jessie as the only denizen of the estate untouched by intrigue. Mrs. Parkin is the first corpse to turn up. Seth is the second. A heart-rending subplot involves the World War I experiences of all the men in the story, including George whose family learned of his brother's death from a letter written coincidentally by Douglas. Needless to say, the specter that haunts the manor is called The Ghost of the Soldier.
Episode 4. The Worsted Viper
- ...ends the season with a double celebration: Mrs. B.'s esteemed colleague Inspector Christmas is being honored for services to a seaside town; at the same locale, George's daughter Cecily is marrying hotel clerk Ronald Quincey. The festivities are marred when the daughter of Reverend Baines turns up dead on the beach, a worsted viper tied around her neck and her hair roughly shorn. It reminds Mrs. B. of the case of Black Jack Briggs, involving similar murders centered on a religious cult. Another victim with a worsted viper appears, suggesting that this town has more to worry about than smugglers, adulterers, and chicken thieves. Add to that devil worshipers. Piecing together clues from the victims, the parish register, and letters to a local advice columnist called Miss Behavior, Mrs. B. concludes that the risk factors for sudden death are weddings and virginity, which point ominously to Cecily as the next target. In the course of the surprising solution, we learn how Inspector Christmas got his name.