Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

So, back in 2022, I did a quick review on the 2015 BBC TV adaptation of ‘Partners In Crime’, featuring Agatha Christie‘s less well-known characters in crime English literature – Tommy and Tuppence – played by David Walliams and Jessica Raine. I enjoyed checking out that short-lived six-part TV series.

But of course, that wasn’t the only TV adaptation to feature Tommy and Tuppence. There is another TV series called ‘Partners In Crime’, which was made from 1983 to 1984, starring James Warwick (Lt. Scott in ‘Doctor Who’s ‘Earthshock’, believe it or not?) as Tommy and Francesca Annis as Tuppence.

I’ve seen Francesca Annis before in the 1999 BBC TV adaptation of ‘Wives & Daughters’ as well as the 2007 and 2009 BBC TV adaptations of ‘Cranford’. It was lovely to see James Warwick as Tommy and Francesca Annis as Tuppence, as they provide enjoyable interpretations of the crime detectives.

In the 2015 ‘Partners In Crime’ TV series, the setting was the 1950s. Here in the 1983-84 series, the setting is the 1920s. I’m not sure which adaptation is more faithful to the original book appearances of these characters by Agatha Christie, but I actually quite prefer the 1983-84 series over what’s in the 2015 TV series. 🙂

That’s not to say the 2015 TV series is unenjoyable. It’s fine enough, but it contained a lot of dark tones compared to the 1983-84 series, which is lighter and reassuring in how it tells its stories and characters. Tommy and Tuppence are also happier and more competent as detectives than what’s in the 2015 TV series.

An issue I have with the 2015 series is Tommy and Tuppence did crimes-solving randomly. Here, in the 1983-84 series, they’re assigned crimes to solve once they set up their crime detective agency with permission by the police. Tommy and Tuppence also seem to mostly work as equals in their crime-solving. 🙂

James Warwick is very competent when wanting to solve a crime compared to David Walliams who tended to bumble a lot in crime-solving. You also get a sense of Tommy and Tuppence loving each other more in the 1983-84 series than in the 2015 series, which I found a refreshing delight to watch.

That of course would have to do with the fact that there are more episodes in the 1983-84 series than in the 2015 series. It’s one season, yes, but the 1983-84 series has 10 episodes, plus a pilot TV film which is 2 hours long. The 2015 series has two stories divided into three episodes, which isn’t much.

As well as James Warwick and Francesca Annis, there are cast members like Reece Dinsdale as Albert, the overly-enthusiastic secretary for Tommy and Tuppence at their detective agency. There’s also Arthur Cox, who I’ve seen in the ‘Doctor Who’ stories ‘The Dominators’ and ‘The Eleventh Hour’, as Inspector Marriot.

The stories include ‘The Secret Adversary’, which is the two-hour pilot TV film as well as the 10 one-hour episodes themselves, including ‘The Affair of the Pink Pearl’, ‘The House of Lurking Death’, ‘The Sunningdale Mystery’, ‘The Clergyman’s Daughter’, ‘Finessing the King’, ‘The Ambassador’s Boots’, ‘The Man in the Mist’, ‘The Unbreakable Alibi’, ‘The Case of the Missing Lady’ and ‘The Crackler’. 🙂

There are recognisable faces in some of the stories, including George Baker, Honor Blackman, Peter Barkworth, John Fraser, Graham Crowden, Liz Smith, Michael Cochrane, Anita Dobson, Joan Sanderson, Denis Lill, Robin Parkinson, Benjamin Whitrow, Annie Lambert, Michael Carter, T.P. McKenna, Jennie Linden, Clive Merrison, Catherine Schell, Linda Marlowe, Preston Lockwood, Rowena Cooper and Shane Rimmer. Many of these actors I’ve seen in ‘Doctor Who’ TV productions. 😀

I’m pleased I purchased the 1983-84 ‘Partners In Crime’ TV series for my Mum’s birthday back in March this year. It’s a lovely crime detective drama TV series, starring James Warwick and Francesca Annis as Tommy and Tuppence. This series has even helped me with writing one of my ‘Doctor Who’ stories. 😉

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂