Ten vintage dramas on the theme of murder, written by internationally recognised authors and set across the globe

‘Murder is murder, anywhere in the world. The taking of life, the most terrible crime a human being can commit, is the same in any language, whether it springs from vengeance, greed, hate, love or whatever...’

Conceived by BBC World Service producer Derek Hoddinott, the 1976 anthology series Murder International comprised half-hour adaptations of famous murder mysteries by world-renowned writers past and present, set in locations ranging from Corsica to St Petersburg, Malaysia, France and Spain. Collected here are ten of those thrilling dramas, each with a different theme, ranging from ‘murder by the supernatural’ to ‘murder by duel’. Bringing them to life are a host of leading actors including Denis Quilley, Maureen O'Brien, George Cole, Christopher Cazenove, Joss Ackland, Michael Denison and George Baker.

In The Hand by Guy Maupassant, an English aristocrat awaits his nemesis – alongside a gruesome trophy from his days in Africa.

Mess, by Francis King, sees an adolescent boy taking extreme measures to escape his chaotic home life.

The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin finds a high-stakes gambler risking his life and his sanity when he discovers the secret of how to win at cards.

Face to face with the state assassin, a dissident writer defends his right to free speech in Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Conversation at Night.

Three men, maddened by greed for gold, turn on each other in The Treasure in the Forest by H.G. Wells.

Serial wife-killer Clayton Allenby meets his match with bride number four in Julian Symons’ The Accident.

The youngest son of the Monkton family seems afflicted with hereditary madness in Wilkie Collins’ Mad Monkton – but is he insane, or cursed?

The Executioner, by Honoré de Balzac, centres on a young Captain in the Napoleonic wars, who is ordered to carry out a terrible crime.

Somerset Maugham’s Footprints in the Jungle concerns a charming married couple with a shocking skeleton in their closet.

In Stacy Aumonier’s The Fall, when a petty crook turns murderer, Inspector Tolozan uses the man’s greatest fear to extract a confession...

First broadcast BBC Radio, 4 21 July - 29 September 1976

With warm thanks to Keith Wickham and the Radio Circle

NB: Some of the language on these vintage recordings reflects the era in which it was first broadcast, and due to the age of the source material, the sound quality may vary

Conversation at Night © 1986 by Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich
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