BBC dramatisations of two classic detective novels featuring Inspector Gabriel Hanaud of the Paris Sûreté

The brilliant creation of British author A.E.W. Mason, Inspector Hanaud has been hailed as ‘the first major fiction police detective of the Twentieth Century’, and was one of the inspirations for Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot. In these engaging whodunits, France’s cleverest investigator is tasked with proving the innocence of two young women, both accused of murder.

At the Villa Rose – Madame Dauvray is found strangled at her villa, her priceless jewellery stolen. All the evidence points to her English companion Celia Harland, who has since disappeared. Holidaying in Aix-les Bains, Inspector Hanaud is approached by her fiancé Harry, who persuades him to take up the case…First published in 1910, this gripping mystery was the first outing for Inspector Hanaud, played here by Andrew Sachs, with Nicholas Rowe as Harry and Fiona Clarke as Celia.

The House of the Arrow – When a wealthy widow dies suddenly, the finger of suspicion points at her adopted daughter, Betty Harlowe. Her English lawyer, Frobisher, calls in Inspector Hanaud, who has come to Dijon to investigate a spate of poison-pen letters. Can he unravel the mystery surrounding the House of the Arrow? Richard Pasco stars as Hanaud in this adaptation of A.E.W. Mason’s 1924 thriller, alongside Benedick Blythe, Moir Leslie and Deborah Makepeace.


At the Villa Rose
Hanaud – Andrew Sachs
Ricardo – Ian Masters
Wethermill – Nicholas Rowe
Celia – Fiona Clarke
Madame Dauvray/Marthe/Jeanne – Janet Whiteside
Helene Vauquiers/Waitress – Alice Arnold
Perrichet/Lemerre – Stephen Critchlow
Servattaz/Besnard – Sean Baker
Adele – Becky Hindley
Dramatised by David Benedictus
Directed by Marion Nancarrow
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 October 1999

The House of the Arrow
Inspector Hanaud – Richard Pasco
Jim Frobisher – Benedick Blythe
Betty Harlowe – Moir Leslie
Ann Upcott – Deborah Makepeace
Francine Rollard – Carole Boyd
Boris Waberski/Girardot – Alfredo Michelsen
Carlos Espinosa/Gaston – Clive Panto
Maurice Thevenet – Mark Jones
Adapted by Alan Downer
Directed by Christopher Venning
Music composed and directed by Terence Allbright
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 4 February 1984