Where to Find a British Detective Quiz

Answer: Father Brown

In the stories written by G.K. Chesterton, Father Brown is a priest based mainly in London, but he had served previously in Essex. In the BBC television series (2013-), starring Mark Williams, Father Brown is the priest at a fictional town of Kembleford in the Cotswolds.

Answer: Vera Stanhope

"Vera" is an ITV show that made its début in 2011, based on a series of books by Ann Cleeves. Vera Stanhope, who works for a fictional Northumberland and City Police, is an older Detective Chief Inspector, devoted to her job, who works long hours, wears a raincoat that has seen a lot of use, and can be impatient with her team.

The series is filmed in and around the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and features the very attractive and not all that well-known Northumbrian countryside.

Answer: Reg Wexford

Ruth Rendell was one the UK's most prolific writers of crime fiction, both stand-alone novels and especially the two dozen or so books with her detective Reg Wexford, written over a period of 40 years. He was stationed at the fictional town of Kingsmarkham in Sussex. From 1987 to 2000 ITV aired twelve series starring George Baker as Wexford, originally titled "The Ruth Rendell Mysteries", but in re-runs the name was changed to "The Inspector Wexford Mysteries".

Answer: Miss Jane Marple

Agatha Christie surely created the best-known example of the English village mystery when she placed her elderly crime-solver, Miss Jane Marple, in the village of St Mary Mead. From the books we learn that it is somewhere in the south of England, not that far from London and served by Paddington Station in London. Between 1984 and 1992 the BBC adapted all twelve Miss Marple stories for TV, with Joan Hickson in the title role.

The village of Nether Wallop in Hampshire served as the setting of St Mary Mead.

Answer: Robert "Robbie" Lewis

The best-known detective to have operated in the university city of Oxford is Inspector Morse, played by John Thaw in the ITV series that ran from 1987 to 2000 (33 two-hour episodes). In that series his 'sidekick' was "Robbie" Lewis, played by Keven Whatley. From 2006 to 2015 ITV launched a sequel series "Lewis" (again with 33 episodes), with Whatley in the lead role and Laurence Fox as his assistant, James Hathaway.

Answer: Andrew Dalziel

Reginald Hill created the character of Andrew Dalziel (pronounced "Dee-ell") in a series of crime novels set in the fictional town of Wetherton in Yorkshire. Dalziel is large and imposing figure, who enjoys the pleasures of rugby, food, drink, and women. Set off against him is his subordinate, Peter Pascoe. From 1996 to 2007 the BBC aired a series called "Dalziel and Pascoe" (46 episodes), with Warren Clarke as Dalziel and Colin Buchanan as Pascoe.

Answer: Alan Banks

The very successful crime-novelist Peter Robinson was born in Yorkshire in 1950 but in 1974 moved to Ontario, where he has taught crime fiction and written more than two dozen mysteries with Inspector Alan Banks as his central character. But he has retained the setting of his youth by placing Banks in a fictional town of Eastvale in North Yorkshire. Between 2010 and 2016 ITV filmed 32 episodes of "DCI Banks" with Stephen Tompkinson in the title role. Robinson admits that Eastvale is based on the North Yorkshire community of Richmond.

Answer: Lord Peter Wimsey

Dorothy L Sayers's fictional detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, had a London address of 110a Piccadilly in the centre of London, but his ancestral home is at Duke's Denver in the county of Norfolk -- there is an actual village of Denver in the west of the county. Lord Peter is the younger brother of the 16th Duke of Denver.

At the end of "Busman's Honeymoon" we see Lord Peter taking Harriet Vane, who has just become his wife, to his ancestral estate. Two television series were made by the BBC: the first dramatising five of Sayers's books with Ian Carmichael in the lead (1972-1975), and the second in 1987, "A Dorothy L Sayers Mystery" which covers Lord Peter's courtship of Harriet Vane in "Strong Poison", "Have His Carcase", and "Gaudy Night".

Answer: Jim Bergerac

Jersey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel, one of the British Isles but not part of the United Kingdom. Jim Bergerac is a former police officer, now a private detective located on the island of Jersey. The BBC made 87 episodes of the series "Bergerac" between 1981 and 1991, with John Nettles playing the title role. Nettles would later play Tom Barnaby in "Midsomer Murders".

Answer: Sherlock Holmes

The most famous of all British detectives, Sherlock Holmes, lived at 221b Baker Street. When the original stories were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, street numbers on Baker Street did not go that high, and when the street was extended a dispute arose between Abbey National (a Building Society) who occupied the space where 221b should be and the Sherlock Holmes Museum, located a bit farther up the street, about where mail to Sherlock Holmes should be delivered.

The Museum now boasts the familiar blue oval plaque that denotes historical sites in London.

There have been many films and TV series about Sherlock Holmes, the best-known being that with Jeremy Brett (1984-1994).

Answer: Jack Frost

Between 1984 and 2008 R.D. Wingfield wrote six detective stories about an Inspector Jack Frost, set in the fictional town of Denton. Between 2004 and 2010 Yorkshire Television made 42 episodes of "A Touch of Frost", starring the veteran character actor David Jason.

Although Denton is somewhere in the south-central part of England, to be imagined as perhaps Oxfordshire or Berkshire, Yorkshire Television filmed the series in and about Leeds.

Answer: Brother Cadfael

Edith Pargeter used the pen name "Ellis Peters" for her twenty-book series, "The Cadfael Chronicles" (1977-94), which was one of the first examples of the historical mystery. Set in the twelfth century during "the Troubles", the civil war between the supporters of King Stephen and those of his rival Matilda, these books told the story of a middle-aged Welsh soldier, Cadfael, who retires to an abbey in Shrewsbury (Shropshire) as its herbalist.

But a friendship with the local sheriff and his ability to solve mysteries lead him to a series of adventures. ITV made thirteen episodes of "Cadfael" between 1994 and 1998, starring Sir Derek Jacobi in the title role.

Answer: Hetty Wainthropp

From 1990 to 1994, ITV released 28 episodes of the detective series "Hetty Wainwright Investigates". Hetty is a late-middle-aged woman whose husband has retired, and discovers that she has a knack for solving mysteries. To occupy herself and to augment the family finances, she becomes a private detective, investigating problems of varying degrees of seriousness.

Hetty was played by Patricia Routledge ("Keeping Up Appearances"), and her teen-aged assistant, Geoffrey, by Dominic Monaghan, (Merry in "The Lord of the Rings"). Darwen is a real Lancashire town in the Blackburn area.

Answer: Tom Barnaby

The name "Midsomer" might suggest a connection with the county of Somerset, but the location of Caroline Graham's fictional county is more likely to be a mixture of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. Graham wrote seven stories about Inspector Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) between 1987 and 2004, which became the basis for a very popular ITV series ("Midsomer Murders") which began to air in 1997 and as of 2021 episodes are still being made, although Tom Barnaby has given way to his cousin John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon).

Answer: Jimmy Peréz

In addition to her other crime series (e.g., "Vera"), Ann Cleeves wrote eight detective mysteries (2006-2018) set in the Shetland Islands, the most northerly community in the United Kingdom. Her crime-solver is Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez. ITV made twenty-six episodes between 2013 and 2018, with the lead played by Douglas Henshall.

Some filming is done on location in the Shetlands. It was announced in February 2021 that season 6 of "Shetland" would begin later in the spring.