Premiering on 10 September 1955, this series of Saturday night crime thrillers from the BBC was written by Berkely Mather and produced by Andrew Osborn.
The title for the series came from the two storytellers – a retired Scotland Yard official played by Ronald Simpson and an Army officer played by William Fox – who reminisced about past experiences.
The first of their reminiscences – ‘An Eye For Detail’ – concerned the self-styled “Colonel” (Ballard Berkeley), a cashiered captain of 25 years standing who decorated his new life of crime with all the military traditions, accoutrements and spit and polish, and tried to instil the same spirit in his confederates – Hamster (Sam Kydd), a bookbinder-cum-cardsharp, and Gilpin (Henry Oscar), a mediocre confidence trickster – especially when it came to organising a £50,000 diamond transaction.
‘The Day Off’ (17 September) featured Alexander Gauge as a crooked businessman named Wharton and Valerie White as his ex-girlfriend, Stella. Jack Rodney played Stella’s brother, Frazer.
‘For Art’s Sake’ (24 September) starred Leonard Sachs, Mary Merrall, Robert Rietty, Charles Farrell, Neil Wilson, Ann Murray and J Trevor Davies.
‘A Deal In Diving’ (1 October) started off with a dear old lady in a reputable antique shop (Beatrice Varley) and then followed a gang of confidence tricksters interested in a salvage operation in the shadow of the Admiralty. Laidman Browne co-starred as the Admiral, and Carl Bernard played the hard-talking Yeggsie.
‘The Nayalpore Emeralds’ (8 October) were two enormous gems, identical to the very last flaw. Individually, each of them was worth relatively little, but together they were worth a king’s ransom. One of them was owned by a Rajah, the other by a famous businessman named Caldecott (D A Clarke-Smith). It was clearly in various interests – including those of jewel dealers Woolfe (Meier Tzelniker) and Myberg (Frederick Schiller) – that the emeralds should be reunited.
Storytellers
Ronald Simpson
William Fox
Episodes
An Eye for Detail | The Day Off | For Art’s Sake | A Deal in Diving | The Nayalpore Emeralds | Diamond Cut Diamond
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