''Punt PI'' is a fact-based comedy radio series on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

in which

Steve Punt Stephen Mark Punt (born 15 September 1962)Mr Stephen Mark Punt
company-director-c ...

investigates mysteries in Britain.

Format

Each episode is 30 minutes long and there are three or four episodes in each series. Starting with series two, every episode starts with a ringing phone and then the answering machine of "Punt's Private Eye". A mysterious individual identified only as 'Tracy' then speaks into the answering machine and asks Punt to investigate a mystery he has heard about. All episodes follow a similar format of Steve Punt introducing the mystery, before heading off to speak to witnesses and experts, and investigating different theories and leads.

Episodes

Series 1 (May 2008)

#A couple who found 400 false legs hidden under their floorboards #Britain's Strategic steam reserve #Numerous aeroplane crashes at

Dark Peak The Dark Peak is the higher and wilder part of the Peak District in England, mostly forming the northern section but also extending south into its eastern and western margins. It is mainly in Derbyshire but parts are in Staffordshire, Cheshire, ...

in the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

Series 2 (June 2009)

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

's plans for a headquarters in

Balham Balham () is an area in south London, England, mostly within the London Borough of Wandsworth with small parts within the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. The area has been settled since Saxon times and appears in the Domesday Book as B ...

, South West London, possibly at

Du Cane Court Du Cane Court is an Art Deco apartment block on Balham High Road, Balham, south London. A distinctive local landmark, it was opened in 1937 and, with 677 apartments, is the largest privately owned block of flats under one roof in Europe. It was a ...

Television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...

detector vans #The possibility of a real Manchurian Candidate

Series 3 (September and October 2010)

#The phantom settlement of

Argleton Argleton was a phantom settlement that appeared on Google Maps and Google Earth but was later removed by Google. The supposed location of Argleton was between the A59 road and Town Green railway station within the civil parish of Aughton in We ...

Nazi UFOs In ufology, conspiracy theory, science fiction, and comic book stories, claims or stories have circulated linking UFOs to Nazi Germany. The German UFO theories describe supposedly successful attempts to develop advanced aircraft or spacecraft pri ...

#A possible recording of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

's voice #The curse of

The Crying Boy ''The Crying Boy'' is a mass production, mass-produced print of a painting by Italy, Italian painter Giovanni BragolinPolidoro, Massimo (November/December 2012), "Curse That Painting!", ''Skeptical Inquirer'' 36 (6): 17–19 (1911–1981). This ...

Series 4 (September and December 2011)

#The murder of

Hubert Chevis Hubert George "Hugh" Chevis (21 September 1902 – 21 June 1931) was a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery of the British Army who died of strychnine poisoning in June 1931 after eating contaminated partridge. The youngest son of Sir William and ...

by poisoned partridge #A death ray allegedly made by

Harry Grindell Matthews Harry Grindell Matthews (17 March 1880 – 11 September 1941) was an English inventor who claimed to have invented a death ray in the 1920s. Earlier life and inventions Harry Grindell Matthews was born on 17 March 1880 in Winterbourne, Glouc ...

#A missing film about

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

#The

Battle of Watling Street The Boudican revolt was an armed uprising by native Celtic tribes against the Roman Empire. It took place c. 60–61 AD in the Roman province of Britain, and was led by Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni. The uprising was motivated by the Romans' ...

Series 5 (September 2012)

#The arsenal of Kris Ruddjers #The

Charfield railway disaster The Charfield railway disaster was a fatal train crash which occurred on 13 October 1928 in the village of Charfield in the English county of Gloucestershire. The Leeds to Bristol London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) night mail train faile ...

#The lost

Roanoke Colony The establishment of the Roanoke Colony ( ) was an attempt by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The English, led by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, had briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 15 ...

Series 6 (August 2013)

#The disappearance of

William Cantelo William Cantelo (born 1830) was a 19th-century British inventor. Credited with developing an early machine gun, he disappeared from his home in Southampton in the 1880s. While trying to find Cantelo, his two sons saw a photograph of American-born ...

#The

Hollinwell incident The Hollinwell incident refers to an unexplained event in July 1980 when around 300 children suffered fainting attacks, nausea and other symptoms. The incident happened at the Hollinwell Showground in Kirkby-in-Ashfield, in Nottinghamshire, England ...

#The murder of Charles Walton #The killing of two bears in the Forest of Dean

Series 7 (July and August 2014)

#The Mysterious Death of Flying Millionaire

Alfred Loewenstein Alfred Léonard Loewenstein (11 March 1877 – 4 July 1928) was a Belgian financier. At his peak in the 1920s, Loewenstein was worth around £12 million in the currency of the time (equivalent to £ million in ), making him the third-riche ...

#The 1971 Baker Street Bank Robbery #The Case of the MP (

Victor Grayson Albert Victor Grayson (born 5 September 1881, disappeared 28 September 1920) was an English socialist politician of the early 20th century. An Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament from 1907 to 1910, Grayson is most notable for his sensat ...

) Who Vanished #

Who put Bella in the Wych Elm? "Who put Bella down the Wych Elm?" is graffiti that appeared in 1944 following the 1943 discovery by four children of the skeletonised remains of a woman inside a wych elm in Hagley Wood, Hagley (located in the estate of Hagley Hall), in Worceste ...

Series 8 (August 2015)

#The Murder of Hollywood director

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner, 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, ...

#The Case of the Missing Cezanne # The Great Mull Air Mystery looking at mysterious death of hotel guest Peter Gibbs

Series 9 (July and August 2016)

#The Suspicious Death of

Emile Zola Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *''Emil and the Detective ...

#The Reclusive Skeleton of

Fingringhoe Fingringhoe is a village and civil parish in Essex, England, located five miles south-east of Colchester. The centre of the village is classified as a conservation area, featuring a traditional village pond and red telephone box. The ''Roman Riv ...

, exploring the disappearance of actress Constance Kent #There's a Kind of

Hum Hum may refer to: Science * Hum (sound), a sound produced with closed lips, or by insects, or other periodic motion * Mains hum, an electric or electromagnetic phenomenon * The Hum, an acoustic phenomenon * Venous hum, a physiological sensation ...

Series 10 (September 2017)

#Lost Nukes #Treasure in the Piano #Missing

Priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

#Taking the Pissoir? {{BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 programmes