First broadcast 26 February to 2 April 1966.

London police detective Jack Kerry (Gerald Harper) has his holiday cut short when his father is killed in a freak golfing accident. The man who confesses to the fatal golf strike, Rupert Delaney (Murray Hayne), claims to be a stranger – so why did Jack’s father have a copy of his car license plate?

Francis Durbridge was a hugely popular mystery writer, particularly via a string of radio serials he penned for the BBC from 1938. Featuring the husband-and-wife detecting team of Paul and Louise “Steve” Temple, the serials ran for 20 separate series up until 1968 and was subsequently expanded to both film and television. A prolific writer, Durbridge also wrote numerous original works in novels, radio plays, and television series. One such series was A Game of Murder, produced as a six-part serial by BBC Television in 1966. It was directed by BBC producer-director Alan Bromly, who had produced the science fiction anthology series Out of the Unknown and would later direct twice for Doctor Who (on “The Time Warrior” and “Nightmare of Eden”). The cast included Adam Adamant Lives‘ Gerald Harper, The Forsyte Saga’s June Barry, and David Burke (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), John Harvey, Peter Copley (Thorndyke), and Dorothy White (Get Carter). As with most British archival television, the serial is a constant game of ‘where have I seen that actor before’ with the answer typically being ‘Coronation Street, Z Cars, or The Bill‘.

Typically of Durbridge’s writing, every 25-minute episode is packed with plot and incident with very little in the way of character or depth. Every instalment seems to end with another murder, piled so frantically upon each other than things quickly become comical. It begins sensibly enough, with an accidental death just might have been a carefully planned murder. It ends with a labyrinthine tower of corpses so high that a solid 10 minutes are spent simply explaining what happened. There is clearly no expectation that the viewer will successfully piece together the clues before the protagonist does. All one can do is hold onto the plot and get taken for a ride.

Harper and Barry thankfully bring a lot of charisma to their lead roles, and that at least makes all of the frantic criminal acts rather enjoyable. Peter Copley also delivers more than his role requires as an eccentric pet shop owner who somehow keeps getting folded back into Jack Kerry’s investigation.

The story does its best to embrace a more contemporary “Swinging 60s” setting and mystery, but it really does not seem comfortable territory for Durbridge’s script or the BBC production in general. Produced over for commercial rival ITV or its affiliates, and the contemporary setting might have shone. Produced by the BBC, and it’s sadly a lot of furtive conversations in bleakly decorated flats.

The greatest worth of A Game of Murder is as an example of what British television drama was like in the mid-1960s. Much of what a 21st century audience might see from that period tends to be the distinctive or culturally significant productions. One rarely comes across this sort of thing: shot cheaply on broadcast video with no expectation of ever being seen more than once. It is quick, breezy, thoroughly disposable entertainment – but whatever you do, don’t try to watch all six episodes at once. You are liable to get whiplash.