Archive Update: Father Brown and Edgar Wallace (BBC Radio 4)

1. Progress Metrics & Inventory Milestone

This report records the complete, grounded transcription and update from the post-1985 dated catalog inventory.

• Total Post-1985 Dated Targets (PR #5460): 5,407
• Completed & Verified Grounded: 106 (98 previously + 8 this update)
• Remaining in Post-1985 Corpus: 5,301

2. Highlights

Every synopsis follows the strict 100–180 character standard (story-first, dramatic action, high factual density, zero assistant boilerplate):

1. Father Brown: The Sins of Prince Saradin (1986-02-14)

• Synopsis:

  While holidaying along the Norfolk Broads, Father Brown and Flambeau visit an idyllic island estate and unravel a deadly duel stemming from a deceitful identity exchange.

• Background: Dramatized by John Scottney and directed in Bristol by Alec Reid; stars Andrew Sachs as Father Brown, Olivier Pierre as Flambeau, and Roger Hammond as Prince Saradin.

2. Father Brown: The Perishing of the Pendragons (1986-10-05)

• Synopsis:

  Visiting an eccentric admiral on a Cornish isle crowned by a ship-shaped tower, Father Brown unravels an ancient ancestral curse concealing an ingenious murder plot.

• Background: Adapted by John Scottney and directed from Bristol by Alec Reid; features Edward Kelsey as Admiral Pendragon and Brian Hewlett as Cecil Fanshawe.

3. Father Brown: The Arrow of Heaven (1986-10-12)

• Synopsis:

  Called to an American millionaire's heavily guarded high-rise fortress, Father Brown deduces how an impossible arrow shot through a window assassinated the paranoid recluse.

• Background: Adapted by John Scottney and directed by Alec Reid; stars Ed Bishop (Barnard), Richard Durden (Brander Merton), and Shaun Prendergast (Norman Drage).

4. Father Brown: The Mistake of the Machine (1986-10-18)

• Synopsis:

  When an overconfident prison warden relies on a psychometric lie detector to condemn an escaped convict, Father Brown demonstrates the dangerous fallibility of the machine.

• Background: Adapted by John Scottney and directed from Bristol by Alec Reid; features T.P. McKenna as O'Connor and Billy Boyle as McGurk.

5. Father Brown: The Curse of the Golden Cross (1986-10-26)

• Synopsis:

  When an archaeologist excavating an ancient church receives terrifying death threats sealed with a red cross, Father Brown unravels an ingenious conspiracy of religious mania.

• Background: Adapted by John Scottney and directed by Alec Reid; stars Tim Reynolds as Professor Smail and Peter Marinker as Mr. Tarrant.

6. Father Brown: The Actor And The Alibi (1986-11-02)

• Synopsis:

  When a tyrannical theater manager is stabbed to death inside his private office on opening night, Father Brown penetrates the theatrical illusions concealing an airtight alibi.

• Background: Adapted by John Scottney and directed from Bristol by Alec Reid; stars Peter Jeffrey as Mundy Mandeville and Bill Wallis as Inspector Bagshaw.

7. Father Brown: The Absence Of Mr. Glass (1986-11-29)

• Synopsis:

  Discovering a young man bound and gagged amidst smashed glassware, a dogmatic criminologist concocts a sinister criminal mastermind, but Father Brown sees the simple truth.

• Background: Adapted by John Scottney and directed by Alec Reid; features Bernard Archard as celebrated rationalist Dr. Orion Hood.

8. Edgar Wallace: The Man With The Red Beard (1989-04-24)

• Synopsis:

  Haunted by a mysterious red-bearded blackmailer threatening his life, a reckless London playboy turns to Scotland Yard, unaware of a cunning underworld revenge plot.

• Background: Short story by Edgar Wallace produced by Nigel Bryant for BBC Radio 4; read by character actor Edwin Richfield.