Flaxborough is a fictitious town in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, created by author and local journalist Colin Watson as the background for a series of detective novels (''The Flaxborough Chronicles'') featuring ''Detective Inspector Walter Purbright'' and a cast of similar comic characters. Flaxborough cannot be precisely identified with any real town from the texts. It is a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

, with a borough police force and Chief Constable, a yacht club, and docks. It is often identified with

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. But it also had a cathedral, suggesting identification with

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

itself - although Lincoln, or rather Lincoln Jail, is explicitly mentioned too. The descriptions of the townscape, and in particular Lucilla Teatime's antiques business or charity offices, most closely resemble

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia **Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

. In the BBC television adaptation ''Murder Most English'', most locations were filmed in Spalding.

''The Flaxborough Chronicles''

*''Coffin, Scarcely Used'' (1958) *''Bump in the Night'' (1960) *''Hopjoy Was Here'' (1962) *''Lonelyheart 4122'' (1967) *''Charity Ends at Home'' (1968) *''The Flaxborough Crab'' (1969) - U.S: ''Just What the Doctor Ordered'' *''Broomsticks over Flaxborough'' (1972) - U.S: ''Kissing Covens'' *''The Naked Nuns'' (1975) - U.S: ''Six Nuns and a Shotgun'' *''One Man's Meat'' (1977) - U.S: ''It Shouldn't Happen to a Dog'' *''Blue Murder'' (1979) *''Plaster Sinners'' (1980) *''Whatever's Been Going on at Mumblesby?'' (1982)

TV Adaptation

Four of the books were adapted for television in 1977, and starred

Anton Rodgers Anthony "Anton" Rodgers (10 January 1933 – 1 December 2007) was an English actor and occasional director. He performed on stage, in film, in television dramas and sitcoms. He starred in several sitcoms, including ''Fresh Fields'' (ITV, ...

as Detective Inspector Purbright and

Christopher Timothy Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

as his Detective Sergeant, Sydney Love. The four books adapted were ''Hopjoy Was Here'', ''Lonelyheart 4122'', ''The Flaxborough Crab'' and ''Coffin, Scarcely Used''. The series was dramatised by Richard Harris, produced by Martin Lisemore and directed by Ronald Wilson.

References

{{reflist Fictional populated places in England Lincolnshire