If you’re a fan of many of the great television productions from the BBC (that’s the British Broadcasting Company) and other companies that PBS and it’s local stations here in the US snapped up broadcast rights to, then you’ll want to check out this website for Acorn Media.

Some truly wonderful shows over the years have come to find new lives with American viewers. Everything from Upstairs Downstairs to All Creatures Great and Small to Brideshead Revisited  and more were enjoyed by a much wider audience, thanks to PBS. And with the growth of first cable television and now home video on DVD, almost any show that you recall fondly from those times can be yours to enjoy all over again.

Now in the Colton household, a particular favorite out of all of those great shows were the adaptations of Dorothy Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey novels starring Ian Carmichael. So when I had the chance to pick up one of the series, “Murder Must Advertise”, well as his Lordship might have so appropriately put it, “I was in for a ripping good time, eh what?”

For a series of shows that was produced in 1973, these were every bit as good as anything on television today. Making use of economies, the show made use of video tape for interior sequences and only shifted to film for outdoor sequences. And it was nice to see actors in roles before they went on to bigger things in other productions. Specifically, there were Christopher Timothy (before he was James Herriot on All Creatures Great and Small), Paul Darrow (with many memorable film and television roles including Kerr Avon in Blakes 7!), John Hallam (a fine Irish character actor), Peter Bowles before The Irish R.M., To The Manor Born or Rumpole of the Bailey -- and many more.

Ian Carmichael just was Lord Peter. And in this story (as related in a synopsis from Wikipedia), “Lord Peter Wimsey, under the pseudonym of "Death Bredon" (actually his middle names), takes up employment as a copywriter for an advertising agency in order to discover more about the recent mysterious death of one of the employees. In the process he discovers much of the convoluted private lives of the other employees, not to mention getting a feel of what it is to actually work for a living. Eventually he traces the connection to a drug-smuggling operation, which he proceeds to infiltrate and uncover. Wimsey makes the connection between the drug-smugglers and the employee who has become their tool and has responded to a blackmail threat with murder.”

Death Bredon (in cognito) as the Harlequin at a party full of the bright young things of the de Momerie crowd. Image capture from 1973’s “Murder Must Advertise”.

It’s an entertaining story that is well presented and keeps you guessing, just as the author no doubt intended. If you’re looking over the video aisle looking for something to enjoy, this is one title worth the price. And check out the others in the series also available from Acorn. They also include an short interview (culled from a larger effort) in which Ian Carmichael shares a bit of his experiences in the production of the shows, including a great bit on the proper use of monocle for just the right effect.

Just the thing for that time when you’ve run out of excuses for some really interesting television to watch, “eh what?”