Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon & other adventures
Dashiell Hammett, Stuart Milligan (Read by), Connie Booth (Read by), Tom Wilkinson (Read by), Jane Lapotaire (Read by), William Hootkins (Read by), Full Cast (Read by)

Dashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon & other adventures

A BBC Radio Collection

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Summary

The godfather of the hard-boiled detective novel, Dashiell Hammett is widely acknowledged as one of America's greatest mystery writers. This collection brings together the BBC radio adaptations of his works for the first time, including the iconic The Maltese Falcon featuring his most famous character: Sam Spade.

The Maltese Falcon
San Francisco, 1928. When his partner is murdered on an assignment, private detective Sam Spade is drawn into a dangerous case involving a treacherous femme fatale and the priceless black statuette of a falcon... Tom Wilkinson and Jane Lapotaire star in this thrilling dramatisation of Hammett's most famous novel.

Secret Agent X-9
New York, 1934, and Secret Agent X-9 is about to embark on his most deadly mission yet. Falsely accused of murder, he struggles to stay one step ahead of the law in his relentless pursuit of his arch enemy, 'The Top'. Dramatised from a comic strip co-created by Dashiell Hammett, this tale of mystery, murder and mayhem stars Stuart Milligan, Connie Booth and William Hootkins.

Nightmare Town
Arriving in the desert boom town of Izzard, Arizona, sharp-edged tough guy Steve Threefall meets the beautiful, terrified Nova Vallance - and encounters danger, intrigue and a dark mystery... Read by Stuart Milligan.

The Man Who Killed Dan Odams
An escaped killer fleeing cross-country stumbles upon an isolated farm in Montana, inhabited by a woman and her young son... This mysterious and brooding noir western is read by Stuart Milligan.


The Maltese Falcon
Sam Spade - Tom Wilkinson
Brigid O'Shaughnessy - Jane Lapotaire
Mr Gutman - Peter Vaughan
Joel Cairo - Nickolas Grace
Effie - Mia Soteriou
Miles Archer - William Hope
Iva - Liza Ross
Wilmer - Peter Acre
Tom Polhaus - Norman Jones
Lt Dundy - Harry Towb
DA Bryan - Don Fellows
Newspaperman - Robin Summers
Taxi driver - Keith Edwards
Man with key - Arnold Diamond
Dramatised by Michael Bakewell
Directed by Jane Morgan
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 December 1984

Secret Agent X-9
X-9 - Stuart Milligan
Grace Powers - Connie Booth
The Top - William Hootkins
Evelyn Powers - Rachel Power
Deacon/Alden Powers - Peter Marinker
Matthew/Steward/Luke - Michael John Paliotti
Captain Brady/Bartholomew - John Guerrasio
Jude - Bruce McGregor
Cop 1 - Clive Rowe
Harper-Carp - Kerry Shale
Waitress/Sister Agnes - Miranda Pleasance
Other parts played by the cast
Dramatised by Mark Brisenden from the comic strip created by Dashiell Hammett and Alex Raymond
Produced by Chris Wallis
First broadcast BBC Radio 5 Live, 1-22 January 1994

Nightmare Town
Read by Stuart Milligan
Abridged by Neville Teller
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 5-8 November 2001

The Man Who Killed Dan Odams
Read by Stuart Milligan
Abridged by Neville Teller
Produced by Elizabeth Allard
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 9 November 2001

About the author

Dashiell Hammett

Dashiell (Samuel) Hammett was born in 1894 in Maryland, USA. He grew up in Philadelphia and Baltimore, leaving school at 14 and taking a variety of jobs including messenger boy, clerk, yardman and machine operator. A move to San Francisco saw him enrolling as an operative in the Pinkerton Detective Agency, the experience of which would feed his story writing. After being discharged from duty during the First World War for health reasons, Hammett began writing short stories for publication in literary magazines such as Black Mask. He then turned to novels, rapidly publishing some of his most notable work - Red Harvest (1929), The Dain Curse (1929), The Maltese Falcon (1930) and The Glass Key (1931). A new life of celebrity in Hollywood and New York led him to meet the playwright Lillian Hellman; they subsequently lived together until Hammett's death. Heavy drink would blight the rest of Hammett's writing career. A further novel, The Thin Man (1934), became a famous film, as had most of its predecessors. He earned a living from scriptwriting; and many of the short stories he had written for Black Mask were collected in three books, The Adventures of Sam Spade (1944), The Creeping Siamese and Other Stories (1950) and The Continental Op (1974). Hammett enlisted in World War II before being discharged with emphysema. In 1948 his drinking became so heavy that he suffered an attack of delirium tremens, which frightened him into abstention. During America's period of McCarthyism in the 1950s, Hammett refused to testify about 'un-American activities' in Hollywood. For this he was sent to prison for six months. He died in 1961; a collection of short stories, The Big Knockout and Other Stories, was published in 1966. With his creation of Sam Spade, and the distinctive style in which he wrote, Hammett had created a sub-genre of detective fiction which has since been christened 'hard-boiled'.
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