Inspector Hornleigh

Inspector Hornleigh is a fictional British detective from Scotland Yard, the chief protagonist of a popular BBC radio series of the 1930s, Inspector Hornleigh Investigates, devised by Hans Priwin and played by actor S. J. Warmington. The series ran on the BBC's National station from 1937 to 1940, as one element in a 50-minute show entitled Monday Night at Seven.[1]

Each week Inspector Hornleigh interrogated various witnesses, one of whom makes some slip which incriminates him. The radio audience were invited to match their wits against Inspector Hornleigh's by identifying the criminal, with the mistake the witness made not being disclosed until the end of the programme.[2]

Between 1938 and 1940 a trilogy of films was made based upon the character, starring Gordon Harker in the title role: Inspector Hornleigh (1938), Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday (1939), and Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It (1940). All the films were made at Pinewood Studios in England.

In the films, Hornleigh was a cockney detective with the Metropolitan Police. He was accompanied by his slight and inept Scottish sidekick, Sergeant Bingham, played by Alastair Sim.[3] Whereas the BBC radio series had been a straight whodunit, the films were made as comedies. Despite their popularity, no further films were made because Sim wished to move on to other projects in order to avoid being typecast.

A subsequent television adaptation was made in West Germany in 1961, with Helmut Peine appearing as Hornleigh.[4]

Films

The character appears in:

References
  1. "Search Results - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  2. "National Programme Daventry - 30 May 1938 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  3. "Inspector Hornleigh".
  4. "Inspector Hornleigh". BFI. Archived from the original on 2009-01-14.
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