The Blackburn Files: The Complete Series 1-3

The BBC Radio 4 Crime Drama

By: Ian McMillan, Dave Sheasby, Martyn Wiley

Narrated by: Fine Time Fontayne, Judy Flynn, full cast

Fine Time Fontayne stars as pitman-turned-private eye Stephen J Blackburn in this whimsical detective series.

When he’s made redundant from his job at a South Yorkshire pit, Stephen J Blackburn sets out to forge a new career as a private investigator. With his trainee assistant Tracey, he looks into a series of complicated cases ranging from plagiarism to missing persons.

In Series 1, the duo are confronted with Hungarian exiles, a philandering husband, a long-lost brother, a purloined TV script and a time-share cash con. Series 2 finds them faced with seven stolen sculptures, a ransomed Filofax, a husband who reappears after 30 years and a routine marital case that starts to look like their final investigation. And in Series 3, Steven and Tracey get digging in the murky world of flowers, crack a pub quiz fraud scam, look into the theft of a ventriloquist’s dummy and track down an Irish labourer - a case which turns out to be far more complex than expected....

Starring Fine Time Fontayne (Coronation Street) as Stephen J Blackburn and Judy Flynn (The Brittas Empire) as Tracey Duggan.

Written by Ian McMillan, Martyn Wiley and Dave Sheasby
Directed by Dave Sheasby

First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 July-15 August 1989 (Series 1), 20 June-11 July 1991 (Series 2), 18 March-8 April 1993 (Series 3)

Cast

Stephen J Blackburn……………………Fine Time Fontayne
Tracey Duggan……………………Judy Flynn
Mam……………………Rita May
Dad……………………John Branwell

©2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Lively Characters

These actors make wish this was a TV show. I first heard this show on BBC Radio 4 and now I own it thru Audible. I enjoy this show and highly recommend it!

Not for real mystery lovers

Very snappy and dialogue driven - each case is about 20 minutes and mostly unsatisfying in the sense that there isn't much drama or investigation. Just cross talk and clever jibes. Also set much earlier than I thought - 1989. Don't listen to this if you want anything like real crimes, justice or cleverness other than in the dialogue. Oh and if you aren't English or in tight with English humor and culture, you might not get a lot of what's so funny.