These audio recordings contain broadcast standards, language and attitudes of their time. Listeners may find some of the content offensive.

SERIES ONE

THE SURGEON'S KNIFE

In 1935,  two bodies are found in a Scottish ravine and Dr. Buck Ruxton's wife and maidservant are missing.

First broadcast on Wednesday 13th February 1991

CABIN 126

Can you be convicted of murder if there's no body? Take the case of actress Gay Gibson who disappeared from on board an ocean liner in 1947.

First broadcast on Wednesday 20th February 1991

THE MAJOR, THE SCONE AND THE DANDELIONS

One lump of arsenic or two? In 1920's Hay-on-Wye, there were good reasons for Mr. Martin to refuse an invitation to tea with Major Armstrong

First broadcast on Wednesday 27th Febraury 1991

THE BODY IN THE TRUNK

In May 1934, a decomposing body was found stuffed in a trunk in the Brighton flat of Tony Mancini.

First broadcast on Wednesday 6th March 1991

SHEER PLOD

In 1943, a body is found in the River Lea in Luton, starting off a nationwide manhunt.

First broadcast on Wednesday 13th March 1991

THE NEW YEAR NIGHTMARE

It's New Year's Eve 1960, and a gathering in an Essex pub leads to the tragic discovery of Jean Constable's body.

First broadcast on Wednesday 20th March 1991

SERIES TWO

THE WHEELS OF JUSTICE

Rachel Dobkin is reported missing by her sister. In 1942, a body is found in a bombed-out South London church. Can Dr. Keith Simpson prove it to be the murdered remains of Mrs. Dobkin?

First broadcast on Friday 10th January 1992

BULLESTS AND BALLISTICS

In 1921, PC George Gutteridge is shot dead in a country lane and two suspects are arrested. But can forensic evidence prove that the guns in their possession were the ones that shot the murdered policeman?

First broadcast on Friday 17th January 1992

THE PERFECT MURDER?

In May 1957, Elizabeth Barlow was found drowned in her bath. She showed signs of being drugged, but no trace could be found of any substance. Had someone committed the perfect murder?

First broadcast on Friday 24th January 1992

THE BLOODSTAINED HANDKERCHIEF

In February 1968, a woman is found murdered in her flat, and police find a handkerchief stained with a rare blood type.

First broadcast on Friday 31st January 1992

MURDER ON THE FARM

In 1974, Steven Jameson has been poisoned by paraquat, which his wife Alice accidentally spilled into a stew. But his doctor believes that Steven has been murdered.

First broadcast on Friday 7th February 1992

THE BLOODY THUMBPRINT

In March 1905, an elderly couple are battered to death in their South London shop. The only clue is a bloody thumbprint on the lid of the cash box.

First broadcast on Friday 14th Februrary 1992

SERIES THREE

THE FINGERLESS STRANGLER

In November 1943, the body of Rose Ada Robinson, a Portsmouth pub landlady, is found strangled.  Suspicion falls on petty crook Harold Loughans, but he had previously lost the fingers of one hand in an accident.

First broadcast on Friday 5th March 1993

THE BODY IN THE CHALKPIT

In November 1946, the body of John Mudie is found in a shallow trench, a noose around his neck. Was it suicide by hanging

First broadcast on Friday 12th March 1993

HITCHIKE TO MURDER

The strangled body of a female hitchhiker is found by the roadside, with all her belongings strewn about. But one thing is missing, a yellow string bag, which is later found in a lake miles away.

First broadcast on Friday 19th March 1993

THE WIGWAM MURDER

In September 1942, Joan Pearl Wolfe was living rough in Surrey in a wigwam built by her French-Canadian soldier boyfriend August Sangret. When her badly-decomposed body is found, can Dr. Simpson prove that her boyfriend's unusual knife was used to kill her? 

First broadcast on Friday 26th March 1993

DEATH OF THE LORD OF LIFE

In June 1948, Ananda Mahidol, the King of Siam, is found dead in his bedchamber from a single gunshot wound to the head. Originally thought to be suicide, the news quickly changes to first an accident, then to assassination.

First broadcast on Friday 2nd April 1993

THE USE OF MAGGOTS

In June 1964, the maggot-infested body of Peter Thomas is found in a Hampshire wood. Suspicion falls on William Brittle, who had borrowed a large sum of money from the victim and never repaid him.

First broadcast on Friday 9th April 1993