Eleven BBC Radio 4 Crime Dramas

The Sensitive

The complete series of off-beat police dramas featuring psychic detective Thomas Soutar

The complete series of off-beat thrillers about psychic detective Thomas Soutar, who uses his skills in police investigations. Set in Glasgow and featuring fantastic full casts, these unique police dramas star Robin Laing as Thomas Soutar. 
 
The Sensitive 
Police call in Thomas Soutar to help find a missing woman. Thomas is adept at solving crimes - but is his extraordinary gift a blessing or a curse? 
 
The Hanged Man 
Thomas Soutar discovers some unsettling connections between his own uncle's past and the murder of a young boy. 
 
A Possession 
When Thomas agrees to help in the search for a missing music student, he becomes obsessed by the missing girl in ways that he had not expected. 
 
A Nobody 
Thomas suffers a crisis of confidence when he is asked to investigate a potential serial killer. An old girlfriend, Kat, persuades him to take a break for a few days, but Thomas soon becomes convinced that they are being followed. 
 
A Casualty of War 
Thomas' mother has been forced to close her guest house due to emergency building work. An old friend offers her the use of his guest house, now lying empty. But Thomas senses a malignant presence in the isolated house, and one night Thomas' mother is sure she sees a face in her bedroom mirror – the face of a woman not seen since 1945... 
 
The Protector 
Thomas is asked to investigate the disappearance of a family friend. It's believed the missing man may have committed suicide, but the voices in Thomas's head suggest a different explanation… 
 
Queen of the Dead 
A grieving daughter finds hundreds of cassette recordings made by a woman obsessed with her late father, a Professor of English. Thomas Soutar is hired to trace the identity of the woman behind the tapes, who styles herself the ‘Queen of the Dead’. 
 
Terma 
Thomas is brought helps investigate when a journalist goes missing after building up a dossier on a powerful crime family. 
 
Black Island 
Thomas and Kat go on holiday to the Western Isles. But Thomas is soon drawn into a dangerous game with a celebrated actor. 
 
Underground Man (2 parts) 
Glasgow's disused underground tunnels are the hunting ground for an injured ex-soldier who threatens to kill three men he holds responsible for cheating him out of an inheritance. When one of the men under threat goes missing, Thomas helps the police in their search - but he soon discovers that there is danger much closer to home. 
 
Heart of Darkness (2 parts) 
A religious retreat in the Scottish Highlands is the venue for the final investigation by the psychic Thomas Soutar. Thomas and Kat discover that the extreme views of their host have alienated many people in the community, and a quiet few days away become unexpectedly life-changing when Thomas has a fateful reckoning with his psychic abilities. 
 
Written by Alastair Jessiman 
Produced and directed by Bruce Young

Alastair Jessiman

Finlay Welsh

Anita Vettesse

James Bryce

Ann Scott Jones

Steven McNicoll

Full Cast

Ralph Riach

Carol Ann Crawford

Crawford Logan

James MacPherson

Monica Gibb

A BBC Radio crime comedy

All six episodes of the gloriously gritty comedy crime drama 
 
Taggart meets A Touch of Cloth in this parody police procedural featuring DI Bob Boxer and his sidekick DC Shona Doberman. They're an unlikely couple of cops - he's grizzled, old-school and wears a cardigan; she's young, instinctive and wields a Blackberry. But together they tackle cases so tough, they'd make Frost flinch and Rebus run away... 
 
In Headless in Glasgow, a serial killer is targeting academics - can the duo track down the multiple murderer? The Killings in Kirkibrae sees them probing a link between some gruesome murders in Glasgow and some nasty deaths in an idyllic Highlands village. In The Big Cheese, Boxer falls into the clutches of a sadistic old enemy who exploits one of his deepest childhood terrors. Could a good cop really go bad? And in The Seat of Evil, Boxer and Doberman delve into a celebrity killing spree, as the plot thickens like fog on the Clyde. 
 
Murder is Child's Play finds two rival crime bosses competing for a coveted children's book award. With Glasgow campaigning to win 'European City of Kindness', can our detective duo prevent gang warfare? Finally, in The Black Widow, when Boxer and Doberman are called to investigate the brutal slaying of a popular Scottish actor, they become entangled (as you do) in a web of intrigue - one that gets even stickier when Boxer falls for the victim's seductive widow... 
 
Written by Alastair Jessiman, this sparkling send-up of the dour detective genre stars Finlay Welsh as Bob Boxer and Anita Vettesse as Shona Doberman, with James Bryce as DCI Paton. 
 
 
WARNING: this recording contains strong language 
 
 Production credits 
Written by Alastair Jessiman 
Produced and directed by David Jackson Young 
BA: Carrie Gibbons 
Content Assistant: Patricia Hitchcock 
Studio Managers: Gregor Graham, Mic Calder, Ross Blackmore, Malcolm Torrie and Heather Andrews 
 
Starring Finlay Welsh as DI Bob Boxer, Anita Vettesse as DC Shona Doberman and James Bryce as DCI Paton 
 
Headless in Glasgow 
With Ralph Riach and Ann Scott-Jones 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 23 March 2009 
 
The Killings in Kirkibrae 
With Sheila Donald, Carol Ann Crawford and Crawford Logan 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 24 March 2009 
 
The Big Cheese 
With Steven McNicoll, Eileen McCallum and Crawford Logan 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 25 March 2009 
 
The Seat of Evil 
With Steven McNicoll, Crawford Logan and Monica Gibb 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 26 March 2009 
 
Murder is Child's Play 
Butcher Brawley - James Bryce 
Rosa Caputo - Ann Scott Jones 
"The Shadow" - Cameron McNee 
Joe Macnamarra - Alastair Jessiman 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 6 December 2010 
 
The Black Widow 
Marion Swann - Juliet Cadzow 
Mackenzie Baxter - Sean Scanlan 
Joe Macnamarra - Alastair Jessiman 
With James MacPherson 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 7, 7 December 2010

Alastair Jessiman

Books by Alastair Jessiman

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