''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'' is a British television

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

series, produced by TVS and later by its successor

Meridian Broadcasting ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

, in association with Blue Heaven Productions, for broadcast on the

ITV network ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passin ...

. Twelve series were broadcast on ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000. Created by renowned author

Ruth Rendell Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, (; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Rendell is best known for creating Chief Inspector Wexford.The Oxford Companion ...

, the first six series focused entirely on her main literary character, Chief Inspector Reg Wexford, played by George Baker. Repeat airings of these series changed the programme's title to ''The Inspector Wexford Mysteries''. However, later series shifted focus to other short stories previously written by Rendell, with Wexford featuring in only three further stories, in 1996, 1998 and 2000. When broadcast, these three stories were broadcast under the title ''Inspector Wexford''. In some cases stories were expanded from Rendell's original material or elements from a number of stories were woven together into one episode. A smaller number of episodes were based on Rendell's full-length novels, such as ''The Strawberry Tree'' starring

Simon Ward Simon Anthony Fox Ward (16 October 194120 July 2012) was a British stage and film actor. He was known chiefly for his performance as Winston Churchill in the 1972 film ''Young Winston''. He played many other screen roles, including those of Sir ...

, ''Going Wrong'' starring

James Callis James Nicholas Callis (born 4 June 1971) is a British actor. He is known for playing Dr. Gaius Baltar in the re-imagined '' Battlestar Galactica'' miniseries and television series, and Bridget Jones's best friend Tom in '' Bridget Jones's Di ...

, ''A Case of Coincidence'' starring

Keith Barron Keith Barron (8 August 1934 – 15 November 2017) was an English actor and television presenter who appeared in films and on television from 1961 until 2017. His television roles included the police drama ''The Odd Man'', the sitcom ''Duty Free ...

and

Ronald Pickup Ronald Alfred Pickup (7 June 1940 – 24 February 2021) was an English actor. He was active in television, film, and theatre, beginning with a 1964 appearance in ''Doctor Who''. Theatre critic Michael Billington described him as "a terrific sta ...

, ''Front Seat'' starring

Janet Suzman Dame Janet Suzman, (born 9 February 1939) is a South African-born British actress who enjoyed a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles, among others, on TV. In her first film, ''Nichol ...

, and ''The Lake of Darkness'' starring

Jerome Flynn Jerome Patrick Flynn (born 16 March 1963) is an English actor and singer. He is best known for his roles as Paddy Garvey of the King's Fusiliers in the ITV series ''Soldier Soldier'', Bronn in the hit HBO series '' Game of Thrones'', and Benn ...

. A total of fifty-five episodes featured Inspector Wexford, alongside his wife Dora (

Louie Ramsay Louie Ramsay (25 November 1929 – 6 March 2011) was a British actress perhaps best known to television audiences for her portrayal of the wife of Chief Inspector Reg Wexford on the ITV television series '' Ruth Rendell Mysteries''. In real life, ...

) and his assistant DI Mike Burden (

Christopher Ravenscroft Christopher Ravenscroft (born 1946) is an English actor, best known for his recurring role as DI Mike Burden in ''The Ruth Rendell Mysteries'', the ITV adaptation of Ruth Rendell's Inspector Wexford mysteries. Biography Ravenscroft was born in ...

). A total of twenty-nine episodes focused on other characters. The first six series were released on VHS, but have never been released on DVD due to licensing rights issues with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, who owns

Television South Television South (TVS) was the ITV franchise holder in the South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, initially as 'Television South plc' and ...

's back catalogue of programming. Series seven to twelve have since been released on DVD as a ''Best Of'' box set, omitting four episodes.

Cast

* George Baker as DCI Reg Wexford (Series 1—6, 9, 11—12) *

as DI Mike Burden (Series 1—6, 9, 11—12) *

as Dora Wexford (Series 1—6, 9, 11—12) * Deborah Poplett as Sheila Wexford (Series 1—6, 9, 11) * Charon Bourke as Sylvia Wexford (Series 2—6, 9, 11—12) * Emma Smith as Pat Burden (Series 1—6) *

Diane Keen Diane Keen (born 29 July 1946) is an English actress, known for her portrayal of Fliss Hawthorne in the Granada sitcom '' The Cuckoo Waltz'' and Julia Parsons on the BBC soap opera '' Doctors''. She also appeared in Nescafé advertisements from ...

as Jenny Burden (Series 4—6, 9, 11—12) * Ann Penfold as Jean Burden (Series 1—4) *

Noah Huntley Noah Cornelius Marmaduke Huntley (born 7 September 1974) is an English actor and model. He has appeared in films such as ''28 Days Later'' (2002), '' The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' (2005), ''Snow White and the ...

as John Burden (Series 1—4) *

Ken Kitson Kenneth Kitson (born 1946, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England) is a British actor who has been active on British television since the early 1970s. After leaving his job as a printer, he trained at East 15 Acting School, and made his scr ...

as DS Tommy Martin (Series 1—6) * Isobel Middleton as DS Karen Malahyde (Series 2—6, 9, 11—12) *

Colin Campbell Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse * Colin (humpback whale), a humpback whale calf abandoned north of Sydney, ...

as Sgt Willoughby (Series 2—6) *

Dave Hill David John Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English rock musician. He is the lead guitarist, a backing vocalist and the sole continuous member in the English band Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. Early life B ...

as DCC Freeborn (Series 3—6) * John Burgess as Dr. Len Croker (Series 2—6) *

Gary Mavers Gary John Mavers (born 1 September 1964), is an English television actor. Mavers graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and is best known for his portrayals of GP Andrew Attwood in ''Peak Practice'' which he worked on for 5 years as a ...

as Colin Budd (Series 1—6, 9, 11—12)

Episodes

Series 1 (1987)

Series 2 (1988)

Series 3 (1989)

Series 4 (1990)

Series 5 (1991)

Series 6 (1992)

This was the last series to solely feature Inspector Wexford. Subsequent series shifted focus onto other characters previously featured in short stories by Rendell.

Series 7 (1992—1994)

This series was the first series not to feature Inspector Wexford, with focus being shifted to other leading characters from Rendell's repertoire of short stories.

Series 8 (1995)

Series 9 (1996)

Series 10 (1997)

Series 11 (1998)

Series 12 (1999—2000)

Media releases

The first six series were released on VHS on 21 January 2000 via IMC Vision. This was shortly before the rights to

's back-catalogue were purchased by

during their purchase of

Fox Family Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

in 2001, which has subsequently led to all other TVS programmes being unavailable for commercial release on VHS or DVD. Subsequently, the remaining six series were released on DVD on 9 April 2007, as ''The Best Of Ruth Rendell Mysteries'', via Network. As these series were not produced by TVS, the licensing rights became available for a DVD release. However, four episodes were omitted ("Heartstones", "The Strawberry Tree", "Thornapple" and "Talking to Strange Men"), none of which have ever been commercially released. Again, the remaining six series were released on DVD in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on 24 June 2008. Series seven-twelve have since been repeated on ITV3 and

ITV Encore ITV Encore was a British drama pay television channel in the United Kingdom that was owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. The channel was exclusive to Sky's digital satellite platform, Sky Go, Now TV, and Sky Store. The ...

, however, once again the four episodes omitted from the DVD were not broadcast, suggesting that the licensing rights for these episodes are no longer available.

References

External links

* *
British Film Institute Screen online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruth Rendell Mysteries, The 1980s British crime television series 1990s British crime television series 2000s British crime television series ITV television dramas Television shows based on British novels 1987 British television series debuts 2000 British television series endings 1980s British drama television series 1990s British drama television series 2000s British drama television series Television series by ITV Studios Detective television series English-language television shows British crime drama television series ITV mystery shows Television shows produced by Television South (TVS) Television shows produced by Meridian Broadcasting Television shows set in Hampshire 1980s British mystery television series 1990s British mystery television series 2000s British mystery television series