Scotland Yard

Scotland Yard was perhaps the best-known series to emerge from Anglo-Amalgamated’s output of crime drama. Shot as cinema support features at the company’s Merton Park Studios in South Wimbledon, these half-hour thrillers – based on real-life cases from the vaults of London’s Metropolitan Police headquarters – were a successful regular feature in cinemas over nearly a decade from the early 1950s onwards. Like sister series Scales of Justice, Scotland Yard is introduced by celebrated writer and criminologist Edgar Lustgarten and presents case after intriguing case, with many solved onscreen by the redoubtable Inspector Duggan (played by Australian-born Russell Napier).

Creators and Cast

Creators

None.

Cast

Rate

Russell Napier

Episodes

Season 1

39 episodes

S1 E1 · The Drayton Case

1953-02-01

A 1941 air raid uncovered a firewatchers strangled wife. During an argument over maintenance money after their divorce Drayton strangles her. Her body is discovered in a school cellar, and the search begins. Her dental records identify her as Mrs Drayton, and her ex-husband eventually confesses to the murder.

S1 E2 · The Missing Man

Upon their arrival in London, a retired vicar and his wife are disturbed to find that their son, Gerald Neil, who they had planned to visit, has, without notice, sold all his belongings and gone to live in Paris. Eager for news and an explanation, the two send word to Paris and, when no reply is received for several weeks, Reverend Neil decides to travel to Paris and find his son. The search proves fruitless and, when Scotland Yard exhaust every avenue of enquiry, Mr. Gerald Neil is filed away under "Missing Person" seemingly having vanished into thin air. A few days later the Reverend's wife is woken in the middle of the night by a vision of her son's murder - can the grisly dream find the key to finding her son?

S1 E3 · The Candlelight Murder

An Inspector unmasks a blacksmith as a killer of an old hermit.

S1 E4 · The Blazing Caravan

A perfect murder requires the culprit to escape detection and capture, a complicated task when the full force of Scotland Yard is determined to bring you to justice. Arthur Cox has just won £30,000 on the football pools but his luck comes to a very sudden and sinister end when George Buxton decides to murder him and steal his identity and winnings. Buxton is no fool, planning the murder and his escape down to the very last detail but to accomplish the perfect murder requires nerves of steel and a little bit of luck.

S1 E5 · The Dark Stairway

A blind man is pushed over on a darkened stairway during a murder. When questioned by the police the old man becomes frightened until his friend comes to the station. The Inspector holds an identity parade and the murderer is picked out by the smell of his after shave.

S1 E6 · Late Night Final

A missing crippled witness turns out to be a drug smuggler's disguise.

S1 E7 · Fatal Journey

An Inspector exposes an amnesiac as a blackmailer who killed the woman who jailed him.

S1 E8 · The Strange Case of Blondie

No summary.

S1 E9 · Passenger to Tokyo

A rare operation helps track a killer of a rich woman sent to Tokyo in a trunk

S1 E10 · Night Plane to Amsterdam

No summary.

S1 E11 · The Silent Witness

No summary.

S1 E12 · The Stateless Man

No summary.

S1 E13 · The Mysterious Bullet

No summary.

S1 E14 · Murder Anonymous

No summary.

S1 E15 · The Wall of Death

No summary.

S1 E16 · The Case of the River Morgue

No summary.

S1 E17 · Destination Death

1956-09-01

The discovery of a dead man at London Airport, a postcard photograph and a flask containing not only brandy, but poison, leads Scotland Yard to Lisbon and a giant currency smuggling ring.

S1 E18 · Person Unknown

No summary.

S1 E19 · The Lonely House

No summary.

S1 E20 · Bullet from the Past

No summary.

S1 E21 · The Case of the Smiling Widow

No summary.

S1 E22 · Inside Information

No summary.

S1 E23 · The Mail Van Murder

No summary.

S1 E24 · Night Crossing

No summary.

S1 E25 · The Tyburn Case

No summary.

S1 E26 · The White Cliffs Mystery

No summary.

S1 E27 · Print of Death

1958-04-18

Supt.. Reynolds proves that payroll robbers dismembered an ex-convict and grafted his fingertips on to rubber gloves.

S1 E28 · Crime of Honour

No summary.

S1 E29 · Cross Road Gallows

No summary.

S1 E30 · The Unseeing Eye

No summary.

S1 E31 · The Ghost Train Murder

No summary.

S1 E32 · The Dover Road Mystery

No summary.

S1 E33 · The Last Train

No summary.

S1 E34 · Evidence in Concrete

No summary.

S1 E35 · The Grand Junction Case

No summary.

S1 E36 · The Never Never Murder

No summary.

S1 E37 · The Silent Weapon

No summary.

S1 E38 · The Square Mile Murder

No summary.

S1 E39 · Wings of Death

No summary.