Francis Durbridge Presents
Francis Durbridge (1912-1998) had a very successful career as a novelist and playwright but achieved his greatest fame as a writer of mysteries for radio and television. His best-known creation was amateur sleuth Paul Temple who featured in several novels, four movies, numerous radio plays and the very successful 1969-71 BBC television series Paul Temple.

Between 1952 and 1980 Durbridge wrote no less than seventeen television serials for the BBC. These were aired under the umbrella title A Francis Durbridge Serial until 1959 and thereafter under the title Francis Durbridge Presents. The early serials from the 1950s are now lost but happily those produced between 1963 and 1980 survive.

Francis Durbridge was one of those English mystery writers, like Edgar Wallace, who was at least as popular in Europe as he was in his own country.

9 x DVD | PAL 4:3 | 1408 minutes | 64.9 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Genre: Mystery, Thriller


Volume 1:

THE DESPERATE PEOPLE
Professional photographer Larry Martin works with the beautiful people in the magazine and commercial advertisement world. When his brother Philip returns on leave from the army, celebrations are short-lived when he suddenly announces plans to leave for Dublin, and is later found dead in a hotel near Maidenhead, seemingly by his own hand. Convinced he was murdered, Martin determinedly seeks out the truth. As the bigger picture begins to develop, Martin comes up against the desperate people who will cheat, rob and murder to protect themselves …

MELISSA
Journalist Guy Foster is determined to find an answer when his plans to settle down and write books take on a menacing edge as he is reluctantly drawn into a nightmare world of intrigue, crime and suspicion when his beautiful wife, Melissa, is found strangled. What part did racing-driver friend, Don Page, play in the events leading up to her death? Can Peter Antrobus really have been Melissa’s secret lover? Why would a woman who never wore a hat own so many empty hatboxes? In pursuit of answers, Guy Foster struggles to piece together the secrets and lies of his wife, Melissa …

A MAN CALLED HARRY BRENT
Enigmatic travel agent Harry Brent walks into Carol Vyner’s life and turns it upside down with a whirlwind romance which sees her break off her engagement to Detective Inspector Alan Milton. What starts with flowers soon ends with death, however, when Carol’s former employer Tom Fielding is killed by a stranger, and all the evidence seems to lead back to Brent. Determined to find out more about his rival suitor, Milton’s pursuit of the truth uncovers a shadowy world in which secrets and lies are the currency, and where nothing is really what is seems. Milton soon discovers that dealing with a man called Harry Brent can be a one-way ticket to death …

A GAME OF MURDER
When once-famous athlete Bob Kerry dies in what appears to be a golfing accident, his son Jack (a Scotland Yard detective on leave) cannot let the mysterious tragedy go. Who is the man that his father arranged to meet at the course? What part does the sinister owner of a local pet shop have to play? Why is everyone so interested in a dog collar?
As Jack is drawn into a complicated web of deceit, prostitution, drugs and murder, is anyone playing by the rules in this game of murder?

Volume 2:

BAT OUT OF HELL
Wealthy Sussex estate agent Geoffrey Stewart’s plans for a holiday abroad are curtailed when he is shot by his business partner, Mark Paxton, with whom Stewart’s wife, Diana, has been having an affair. However, their plans to cash in soon go awry: the body disappears, Diana receives a shock telephone call from her husband, and then the police discover a badly disfigured body wearing his clothes...
Special Features
Bonus episode of Paul Temple - the 70s BBC TV series based on Francis Durbridge's literary detective

THE PASSENGER
Preoccupied by personal and business concerns, toy manufacturer David Walker breaks with his usual routine journey home and offers an extremely pretty girl a lift. However, the innocent gesture soon proves to be the biggest mistake of his life...

THE DOLL
Returning from Geneva, publisher Peter Matty encounters Phyllis du Salle and is instantly captivated by her beauty, charm and air of continental mystery. On a seaside triip, he gets more than he bargained for when Phyllis mysteriously disappears and Matty’s car, which she borrowed, is returned unoccupied by the local police. Confounded by the web of deceit she has spun, Matty becomes obsessed with tracking her down to discover the truth behind her secretive life...

BREAKAWAY: The Family Affair
Budding children’s author Sam Harvey’s planned breakaway from his former life as a Detective Superintendent is thrown into turmoil when, as he hands in his notice, he learns of his parents’ inexplicable and brutal murder. Harvey’s bid to fathom out the murderous puzzle presents him with mysterious packages, some extraordinary information from legal and journalist sources, threatening telephone calls, three strange numbers in a personal address book and which brings about two shootings and a further murder. As victim and investigator, can Sam Harvey find an answer to the riddle of the family affair?

BREAKAWAY: The Local Affair
Detective Superintendent Sam Harvey’s plans to retire and write children’s stories were unexpectedly scotched after the terrible murder of his parents. Having solved that harrowing crime, he now finds himself reluctantly drawn into a seemingly routine local affair in Market Cross. When a body is discovered in the woods, the case is clouded when witnesses offer conflicting accounts. What is the significance of the set of keys found near the body? To whom does the gloved hand belong? To trap a killer and thwart a $200,000 blackmail plot, Harvey must resort to some dubious methods.