麻豆约拍

Inspector Rice probes Paul Dudden's death. Julian Rhind-Tutt reads the next instalment of the 1930s 'whodunit' continued by Anthony Berkeley.

Behind The Screen is a collaborative detective serial written by six members of the Detection Club. It was first broadcast weekly on the 麻豆约拍 National Programme in 1930, with each contributor reading his or her own part of the story.

The six authors were Hugh Walpole, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, EC Bentley and Father Ronald Knox.

To reflect the changes of storyteller, we have a different reader for each part of this new version:

When first broadcast, some listeners were puzzled by the method employed in planning a collaborative detective story. If the whole thing were indeed to be written like a game of consequences, with each new writer picking up where the last one left off, how could any consistency be achieved, and how could a satisfactory plot be managed and concluded?

Lord Peter Wimsey creator, Dorothy L Sayers, who co-ordinated the different contributions, explained the process: "The first three authors carried the story along according to their own several fancies; while the last three used their wits, in consultation, to unravel the clues presented to them by the first three."

Abridged by John Peacock
Producer David Blount
Made for 麻豆约拍 Radio 4 Extra by Pier Productions.