The Game's Afoot - A History of the English Fictional Detective

The concluding episode brings us to the growing popularity of the genre and detective fiction's golden age. Beginning with Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin and G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown, we are then introduced to Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple and the formation of the Detection Club in 1930.

Extracts read by David Timson, Rupert Degas and Lucy Scott.

(Agatha Christie excerpts are read by permission of Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.)

David Timson takes a closer look at literature's most famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. Beginning with the creation of Conan Doyle's character and his loyal companion John Watson, we traverse Holmes' development through several of his best-known adventures.

Extracts read by David Timson.

The second half of the 19th century sees the establishment of the fictional detective novel, with Emile Gaboriau’s Monsieur Lecoq. We also meet the first professional female detectives in fiction.

Extracts read by David Timson and Lucy Scott.

In the first of this four part podcast the actor David Timson discovers the origins of the fictional detective, beginning with the criminal turned criminologist, Eugène-François Vidocq, before going on to discuss the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and his great friend Wilkie Collins.

Extracts read by David Timson, Rupert Degas, Kerry Shale and Ronald Pickup.