George Cragge: In the Red & other mysteries

Four BBC Radio 4 dramas

By: Mark Tavener

Narrated by: Barry Foster, Full Cast, Hugh Laurie, John Bird, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Michael Williams, Peter Serafinowicz, Rebecca Front, Richard Griffiths, Stephen Fry

A collection of four blackly humorous crime mysteries featuring the fictional BBC Radio crime correspondent, George Cragge.

Adapted from the novel by Mark Tavener, In the Red sees the anarchic George Cragge investigate a spree of bizarre murders in the world of City finance, a small political party contesting a by-election, and a plan to overthrow the Director-General of the BBC.

The sequel, In the Balance, features George Cragge kicking off a murder trail during the FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium. And with Europe becoming a hot potato, can the Prime Minister hold onto his job?

In the Chair follows the maverick hack as he looks into a series of murders of dentists linked to New Labour policy.

The final drama, In the End, sees George Cragge investigating a series of murders of journalists.

These four comedy thrillers star Michael Williams as George Cragge with Barry Foster as Police Supertintendant Frank Jefferson. The star casts also include Stephen Fry, John Bird, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Peter Serafinowicz, Hugh Laurie, Rebecca Front and Richard Griffiths.

Witty and satirical entertainment

Great series, of radio shows, starts a bit slowly but picks up eventually and turns into an enjoyable crime story. However, the main strength is the with the humor and satire about the BBC, British life, politics and public organizations in general.

British comedy, drama through and through!

Some of Britain's best actors lend their voices to this hilarious, and at times brain twister of framed k9⁷

Totally marvelous!

I picked up this book on a whim; what fun!
The actors are great, the premise of a detective journalist is unusual and fun, and the sneaky plays on news commentary are hilarious.
Would that there were more dramatized serials such as this, I would buy them in an instant.

Lovely series!

I felt myself tear up when I realised [SPOILER AHEAD!!!] that George Cragge had died IN THE END. Wish he could have gone on solving crimes forever!

Great acting, wobbly stories

Mark Tavener is no Agatha Christie. The murder mystery parts of these stories are rather week and he doesn’t do enough in terms of dropping bits of evidence / hints that might help the reader to guess at the perpetrators. Instead all is reviewed at the end with a Big Bang.
On the other hand I really enjoyed the characterisation of office politics and have learnt a thing or two about navigating the corridors of power.
Absolutely top-rate voice acting but that’s to be expected given the famous names on the slate.