Half hour series that went for thirty-nine episodes. It’s a police procedural. They were fillers shown at movie theatres during double features. The show was hosted by crime writer Edgar Lustgarten. They were said to be true stories from the Scotland Yard files. The show eventually found its way to TV in England and the U.S.
Opening episode: “The Drayton Case” – Christmas Eve 1941. a murder is committed during an air raid. Two years later a skeleton is found in the basement of a school. It’s taken to the medical examiner.
He’s able to give some sketchy information. He says it’s a woman who had been strangled. The missing persons files are consulted. There are hundreds of women listed and it takes months for them to find her identity.
The first suspect is her husband Charlie Drayton. He’s obviously a loser. He was supposed to pay his wife a pound a week in maintenance money. In 1938 he was missing payments and ended up in jail. He’s been out for a few years and Scotland Yard pays him a visit. He slips and says he doesn’t know anything about his wife’s murder. No one said anything about a murder but that’s not enough for them to arrest him.
They go to the scene of the crime and the school caretaker says there was a fire in the basement that night. The fire watcher kept trying to put it out before calling the fire brigade. Finally he had to call him. His name was Charlie Drayton.
The Inspectors go back to get him. He’s gone. Now there’s an air raid.
The shows were good in the fact that they weer no nonsense. No “clever” one liners just a straight ahead presentation.
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