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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Shows by Decade»1980s Television
    1980s Television Drama Shows S 2 Mins Read

    Shroud For a Nightingale

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    1 9 8 4 (UK)
    4 x 60 minute episodes
    1 x 90 minute episode

    Following the success of Death of an Expert Witness (a regular Friday night audience of 10 million viewers), Roy Marsden returned to play shrewd Detective Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard once more in an adaptation of another PD James novel by Anglia Television.

    John Vine also returned as Dalgliesh’s sidekick, Detective Sergeant John Massingham.

    Filmed on location in Norfolk, Dalgliesh’s murder inquiries took him this time to the bed of a dying patient at the John Carpendar Hospital and to sombre Nightingale House, the adjoining training wing and young nurses’ home where suddenly the risk of death seemed greater than on any ward.

    Amid the intrigues, jealousies and secretive loves of this tight-knit community, Dalgliesh discovered more than one motive – but then there was more than one murder.

    Joss Ackland was perfect as the egotistical Stephen Courtney-Briggs, and there was even a budding romance for Dalgliesh – with the seemingly aloof Matron Mary Taylor (Sheila Allen), the nursing school administrator.

    But this version lacked the subtlety of the book, and by playing around with the storyline, the story lost much of its splendid plot construction. It provided virtually nothing for the armchair detective in the way of clues and was more a tease than a true whodunnit.

    Marsden returned to play Dalgliesh on television several more times, including Cover Her Face (1985), The Black Tower (1985), A Taste For Death (1988), Devices and Desires (1991), Original Sin (1997) and A Certain Justice (1998).

    DCS Adam Dalgliesh
    Roy Marsden
    DS John Massingham
    John Vine
    Stephen Courtney-Briggs
    Joss Ackland
    Matron Mary Taylor
    Sheila Allen
    Sister Mavis Gearing
    Liz Fraser
    Sister Ethel Brumfett
    Thelma Whiteley
    Sister Hilda Rolfe
    Andree Evans
    Madeleine Goodall
    Rosalyn Elvin
    Christine Dakers
    Natalie Ogle
    Julia Pardoe
    Judi Maynard
    Maureen Burt
    Sarah Thomas
    Shirley Dalston
    Marcia Tucker
    Len Morris
    John Pennington
    Sergeant McPherson
    Nicholas Coppin
    Morag Smith
    Annette Robertson
    Delia Dettinger
    Margaret Whiting
    Jo Fallon
    Eleanor David
    Chief Superintendent Bailey
    Forbes Collins
    Arnold Dowson
    Robin Kermode
    Mr Coles
    Lennard Pearce

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