Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio! A podcast featuring the best vintage detective radio programs. Each week from Monday through Saturday, we feature six of Old Time Radio's great detective series from the beginning of the show to its very last episode. And as a bonus, twice a month we also post a public domain movie or TV mystery or detective show video.
Along the way, I'll provide you my commentary and offer you opportunities to interact.
Subscribe to the show by clicking your favorite podcatcher in the sidebar.
And don't forget to follow me on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
- Your host, Adam Graham
Listen to "The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio" on Spreaker.
Currently Featuring
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE FALCON DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT DRAGNET MR. CHAMELEON ELLERY QUEEN… and more!
View all shows
Check out our other shows:
Recent Posts
CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, YTJD Add
EP1537: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Hapless Hunter Matter
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Johnny is called to investigate a clear cut case of a hunting guide killing an insured and injuring his beneficiary, but is this the whole story?
Original Air Date: December 8, 1957
When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com
Mutual, Nick Carter, Podcast
EP1536: Nick Carter: The Case of the Priceless Prose
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Nick is called in to find a valuable manuscript and solve the murder of its owner.
Original Air Date: December 14, 1947
Support the show.
CBS, Philip Marlowe, Philip Marlowe OTR, Podcast
EP1535: Philip Marlowe: The Strangle Hold
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Marlowe has to prove that a big-time wrestler crooked or his client radio producer will face a slander judgment.
Original Air Date: October 15, 1949
ABC, Forgotten Detectives, Hated Detectives, Podcast, The Man From Homicide
EP1534: Man From Homicide: The Winthrop Case
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Lt. Dana investigates the murder of a man killed at a shady love nest.
Audition Date: September 16, 1950
Support the show.
NBC, Podcast, The Saint
EP1533: The Saint: Marvin Hickerson, Private Eye
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 1 Comment
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Simon helps a wet behind the ears farmer turned private detective after he appears to have committed murder.
Original Air Date: December 3, 1950
Support the show.
Take the listener survey.
Give us a call 208-991-4783
Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives
Click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click here to subscribe.
Golden Age Article
TV Series Review: Broadchurch Series 1
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 1 Comment
In the first series of Broadchurch from 2013, a small English town is shaken by the death of eleven year old Danny Lattimer (Oskar McNamara) and Alex Hardy (David Tennant), a detective inspector newly arrived in Broadchurch and lifelong local Detective Seargeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) are charged with investigating the case, and along the way they unearth many buried secrets of Broadchurch’s citizens.
While Tennant is the best known star in the series internationally, it’d be a mistake to assume that this a series about the investigators alone or primarily a David Tennant vehicle. The series is just not about the mystery, though there are plenty of clues and red herrings, but how this affects an entire community and then there are separate plots that work their way through Broadchurch: How the family handles this as well as learning of the husband’s infidelity, a discouraged minister, an ambitious young reporter, a self-proclaimed psychic telephone repairman, and then the suspects: some are hiding something, but in a few cases, we learn that people we’ve been suspecting have only been trying to hide a very painful past. It’s not a story with disposable characters.
As such, the middle four episodes feel like an ensemble piece and a very good one at that. What Broadchurch does is make characters who feel like real people. There are secrets but most of them aren’t off the wall things. There’s real human conflict at work.
My favorite character outside of the leads was Reverend Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill of Doctor Who) who was really revealed to be a strong character despite starting off looking much more like
In the hands of an amateur or a weak creative team, this type of story becomes a mess of characters running around. At the same time, the series succeeds on a directorial level. The way the story of Broadchurch is told is superb and nearly flawless with music, acting, and storytelling working together to tell a narrative. This is brilliant filmmaking and art on television which is just not something you see.
The mystery is good, although it’s probably the weakest part of the series. There are a lot of clues and red herring thrown in throughout the series. It’s hard to sort through, and the most important clues are ones that Alex Hardy knows but doesn’t share with the audience. Still, there are a few clues to the killer that the attentive viewer can pick up.
While this is a great series, it’s one that really requires parental discretion and is definitely not for the whole family. The series deals with serious issues that surround the death of a child and what could motivate it. While it was produced for broadcast television, it was produced for British broadcast television which has different standards than broadcasts in other countries. There’s very little sexual content or violence but some language that would not make it on American broadcast television. For the most part, , the use of these elements in the series were not gratuitous which is a tribute to the talent of the creative team to tell a good story.
Overall, this is a great example of what Television can be but so often isn’t.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchase
Dragnet, NBC, Podcast, Procedural
EP1532: Dragnet: The Big Boys
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
On a slow day, Friday and Romero find clues to fugitive robbery suspects from San Francisco.
Original Air Date: March 16, 1950
Support the show.
Share this:
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
- Click to print (Opens in new window)