Judge Dee

1 9 6 9 (UK)
6 x 60 minute episodes

Michael Goodliffe starred as Judge Dee, a serving Chinese magistrate in various provincial towns who acted as a detective, prosecutor, judge and jury all in one in the seventh century AD.

Aided by his two assistants, Tao Gan (Garfield Morgan) and Ma Joong (Arne Gordon), Dee’s power was formidable.

Unfortunately, the Granda series was not a ratings success and critics complained of the show’s excessive concentration on Dee’s relationship with his wives rather than the crime he was investigating, and the intrusive dance routines that appeared to interrupt the plot of each episode.

The Judge Dee stories – written by Robert van Gulik, a former Dutch Ambassador in Malaya, Japan and the Lebanon – were first published in the 1950s and drew glowing praise from such connoisseurs as Agatha Christie and JB Priestly. They also became bestsellers throughout Asia.

Judge Dee
Michael Goodliffe
Tao Gan
Garfield Morgan
Ma Joong
Arne Gordon
Sun Dew
Penny Casdagli
Innocence
Susan Lefton
Rose Tree
Pamela Roland
Hoong
Norman Scace
Kuan Lai
David Ashton