Deadheading
by Val McDermid
15 Minute Drama: 9 to 13 June 2014
Omnibus edition on Radio 4 Extra, Saturday 14 June 2014
Best selling crime writer Val McDermid turns to comedy capers among the carrots, as we rummage through the undergrowth of a murder on the allotments.
It's a case for Detective Chief Inspector Alma Blair, the Alpha Detective, her sergeant Jason Trotter, and Jo Blake the crime scene manager.
DSI Alma Blair ..... Julie Hesmondhalgh
DS Jason Trotter ..... John Hollingworth
CSM Jo Blake ..... Miriam Margolyes
Narrator/Brian Masters ..... Jonathan Keeble
Eric Ollerinshaw ..... Alan Rothwell
PC Sparks/Claire ..... Victoria Brazier
Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore
Directed and Produced by Justine Potter
A Savvy Production for BBC Radio 4.
160/44; 80 MB; sound quality excellent
Episode 1: Mon 9 Jun 2014 (1/5)
A body is found on an allotment in Cranby.
It's a case for Detective Chief Inspector Alma Blair, the Alpha Detective, her sergeant Jason Trotter, and Jo Blake the crime scene manager. Watch how the women behave towards each other. Rivals? Not quite. There may even be a barely detectable flirtatiousness between them.
Episode 2: Tue 10 Jun 2014 (2/5)
Humans, like most other animals, are happiest when they are on their home territory. When they are forced into strange places, they always seek out environments that remind them of their own turf. Which is why Detective Sergeant Jason Trotter is still in the pub, a classic habitat of the detective story. Meanwhile, Alpha female DCI Alma Blair is very much in her natural environment. In a police car, with a suspect.
Episode 3: Wed 11 Jun 2014 (3/5)
In the animal kingdom, there are a handful of primary directives that supersede everything else. Food, shelter, that kind of thing. In the detective story, it's the same principle. Suspects, motives, interviews. Nobody understands that better than the Alpha lioness of the pride - aka Detective Chief Inspector Alma Blair.
Alma and Jason follow the money to intrigue on a market veg stall.
Episode 4: Thu 12 Jun 2014 (4/5)
The moment of truth; the suspects are invited to turn on each other. The unravelling of the detective story so often depends on one person betraying another. It's one of the things this species is particularly adept at.
Episode 5: Fri 13 Jun 2014 (5/5)
As the suspense builds. What, we ask ourselves, what is that unfamiliar sound? Is it a mating cry? An alarm call?
In the wild, hunters have to rely on their tracking skills - their eyesight, their hearing, their knowledge of their environment and their experience. Luckily for Detective Sergeant Trotter, he has something more sophisticated to count on.
There's nothing quite like a good murder - apart, of course, from another good murder in a second series...
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Replies
Cheers, Rick. One of my favourite authors. This looks like a gem.
Rick, thank you so much!! Love the Whodunits!!
I LOVE Val McDermid-Stuff! Overe here, we´ve got the adaptations of 3 "Tony Hill"-Storys, wich are so dark and gritty...
Thank you, Rik, you da man, Man! :)
I've never heard these-- are they similar to the Tony Hill stories, which I really enjoyed? Yeah, Rik does manage to find some great stuff that makes this site the cool, unique place that it is (plus all the other members who contribute neat stuff).Thanks to all of you.