Gentlemen, Murder is Served, by Derek Wilson
Derek Wilson - Gentlemen, Murder is Served
BBC Radio 4: Saturday Night Theatre
Broadcast: Saturday 13th January 1990 @ 7:45 p.m.
The setting is Paris, in the year 1895 where, amid the glamour of life in the naughty nineties, Captain Giles Danvers is looking for wine,
women, and song. But instead, his old friend and cousin, Dr. Phillip Delamain, decides to give him something different. He takes him
to spend the evening with Hector Porteus, a grey-bearded professor who is the greatest anatomist in Europe. Phillip tells Giles that nobody
knows the real Paris better than Hector. He's capital company and has a wealth of stories - some very sinister - because he was, for
many years, a police advisor on forensic medicine.
Over dinner, Porteus tells the two young men of a very interesting case. It is
the story of a very beautiful woman, Régine de Montille ... set in Paris in 1887.
"Gentlemen, Murder is Served" is based on the true story of Henri Pranzini, a charmer who was also a thief, a liar, a gambler, and a
conman. Pranzini became one of the most notorious murderers in 19th century France, accused of the triple murder of his lover, Régine de
Montille, her daughter, Marie-Louise de Montille, and her maid, Annette Gremeret. ... But was Pranzini guilty?
With Peter Jeffrey [Hector Porteus, a Professor of Anatomy], Christopher Ettridge [Inspector Tailleur of the Sûreté], Cornelius Garrett
[Captain Giles Danvers], Cornelius Garrett [Dr. Phillip Delamain], Barbara Kellerman [Régine de Montille], Christian Rodska [George, the
Head Waiter / Henri Pranzini], Peggy Ann Wood [Madam Le Carrière], Henry Goodall, [Monsieur Le Carrière, the Concierge], Jack
Watson [Magistrate Guillot], John Moffatt [Maître Richard Demange, Pranzini's Counsel], Phillip Manikum [Inspector Ceccaldi of the
Marseilles Police], Stephen Lyons [The Public Prosecuter], Jo Anderson [Madam Jordan, a Hotel Landlady], Dominic Rickhards
[Constable Le Moine, Inspector Tailleur's Assistant], and Joanne Mackie [Madam Fontaine, a 'Woman of the Streets'].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
Directed by Andy Jordan in Bristol.
90 minutes.
