Francis Durbridge Presents: A Game of Murder (BBC-2 1966, Gerald Harper)

A Game of Murder could be considered something of a sequel to the previous years Francis Durbridge Presents mystery A Man Called Harry Brent in so much as it features Gerald Harper once again as a Detective Inspector, this time though he is called Jack Kerry rather than Alan Milton.

The mystery surrounds the death of Kerry’s golfer father Bob who is found dead on the golf course. Kerry ran his own successful golfing supplies company and Jack is convinced his death is suspicious. He takes a leave of absence from the force to try and get to the bottom of things.

Original Radio Times Publicity 1966… Francis Durbridge has been called the creator of the television thriller serial. Such is his reputation that in the many countries where recordings of his BBC Television serials are shown, they are automatically assured of a vast viewing audience. When the six episodes of The Scarf were screened on six successive nights in Germany, so many people stayed home to watch that one incensed cinema manager tried to sabotage the serial by taking a full-page advertisement in a local newspaper and revealing the climax to the story. The effect was not quite what he had in mind; riot police had to be called out to control an angry crowd intent on wrecking both cinema and manager. A new Durbridge serial, then, is something of an event. The story of this latest one for BBC-2? Let’s just say that when once-famous athlete Bob Kerry is found dead on a golf course, his son Jack refuses to accept the coroner’s verdict of death by misadventure. As a Detective Inspector on leave he is able to devote his time to following up his suspicions, and in the process he discovers the secrets of his father’s private life – discoveries which guarantee six suspenseful Saturdays as A Game Of Murder is played out to its last startling twist. Says Alan Bromley, producing his tenth Francis Durbridge serial for BBC Television: “This is Durbridge at his best. I think it will have the same impact as Melissa”. And there could be no stronger recommendation than that.

production details
UK | BBC Two | 6×25 minutes | Broadcast 26 February – 2 April 1966

Series: Francis Durbridge Presents Season 5 Episodes 1-6

Writer: Francis Durbridge
Story Editor: Roger Parkes
Production design: Roy Oxley
Producer and Director: Alan Bromly

cast
Gerald Harper as D.I. Jack Kerry
June Barry as Cathy White
David Burke as D.I. Ed Royce
John Harvey as Charles Bannister
Christopher Wray as Douglas Croft
Conrad Phillips as Ch Supt Bromford
Diana King as Iris Bannister
Murray Hayne as Rupert Delaney
Dorothy Frere as Freda Lincoln
Lesley Carole as Liz Mason
Peter Copley as Norman Penn
John Carlin as Leonard Lincoln