A Case for Dr. Morelle
April 23, 1957 – July 16, 1957 · 13 broadcasts
A Case for Dr. Morelle is a thirteen-part BBC detective series from 1957, and the only Dr. Morelle radio run for which recordings survive. Created by Ernest Dudley -- who dreamed the character up in a Bristol coal cellar during the wartime air raids -- Morelle is a Harley Street criminal psychologist and, in Dudley's own phrase, "the man you love to hate": arrogant, sarcastic and rude, but unmatched at reading the shape of a killer's mind. He works not from footprints and fibres but from interviews and psychological profiles, with his devoted, long-suffering secretary Miss Frayle absorbing his contempt case after case. Modelled on the imperious film director Erich von Stroheim, Morelle first appeared in 1942 on the anthology Monday Night at Eight, played by Dennis Arundell. For this dedicated 1957 series on the BBC Light Programme -- broadcast weekly from April 23 to July 16 and produced by Leslie Bridgmont -- the husky-voiced character star Cecil Parker took the role, with Sheila Sim as Miss Frayle. The thirteen half-hour mysteries carry titles like "The Blackmailer," "Poisoned Air," "The Black Ruby" and "The Will," and drew a deep bench of British guest players including Moira Lister, Ralph Truman, Norman Wooland and the animal impressionist Percy Edwards.
Episode Spine
1957
A Case for Dr. Morelle is a thirteen-part BBC detective series from 1957, and the only Dr. Morelle radio run for which recordings survive. Created by Ernest Dudley -- who dreamed the character up in a Bristol coal cellar during the wartime air raids -- Morelle is a Harley Street criminal psychologist and, in Dudley's own phrase, "the man you love to hate": arrogant, sarcastic and rude, but unmatched at reading the shape of a killer's mind. He works not from footprints and fibres but from interviews and psychological profiles, with his devoted, long-suffering secretary Miss Frayle absorbing his contempt case after case. Modelled on the imperious film director Erich von Stroheim, Morelle first appeared in 1942 on the anthology Monday Night at Eight, played by Dennis Arundell. For this dedicated 1957 series on the BBC Light Programme -- broadcast weekly from April 23 to July 16 and produced by Leslie Bridgmont -- the husky-voiced character star Cecil Parker took the role, with Sheila Sim as Miss Frayle. The thirteen half-hour mysteries carry titles like "The Blackmailer," "Poisoned Air," "The Black Ruby" and "The Will," and drew a deep bench of British guest players including Moira Lister, Ralph Truman, Norman Wooland and the animal impressionist Percy Edwards.