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Can fire investigator Quentin Barnaby determine if an office blaze was an accident or arson?

A 1962 drama series set off the well-beaten detection track. It's writer Philip Levene talked about his inspiration: "I have always been fascinated by fire......while writing two plays [Untimely Death, Weather For Murder] I was struck by the wide variety of intriguing ideas in a field that seemed (bar the obvious insurance fraud) comparatively untouched to date. Personally I have had my fill of court-room dramas, endless bodies and Private Eyes, but the puzzle of the charred remains of a burnt-out building intrigue me. The motivations of arson are numerous: greed, financial reverses destruction of evidence, revenge".

It stars noted Canadian radio, television and screen actor, Robert Beatty (1909 - 1992). Beatty shared the screen with James Mason in Odd Man Out (1947), Gregory Peck in Horatio Hornblower (1951) and Richard Burton in Where Eagles Dare (1968), as well as playing the Lester Powell's Irish private detective, Philip Odell on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Light Programme from 1947 to 1961.

Quentin Barnaby ... Robert Beatty
Val Crane … Gudrun Ure
Inspector Hackett …Duncan McIntyre
Alec Groves … Anthony Hall
Mr Ackroyd… Austin Trevor
Gloria … Jill Hyem
Miss Turner … Barbara Mitchell
Thornton … Denys Hawthorne
Bob Craig … John Pullen
Joan Masters … Mary Law

Written by Philip Levene

Produced by Martyn C. Webster

First broadcast on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Light Service in November 1962.