Detective Superintendent Andrew "Andy" Dalziel and Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Peter Pascoe are two fictional

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

s featuring in a series of novels by Reginald Hill.

Characterisation and style

Dalziel is depicted as being rude, insensitive and blunt, whereas Pascoe is calm, polite and well mannered. Hill's mysteries often break with storytelling tradition. The novels employ various structural tricks, such as presenting parts of the story in non-chronological order, or alternating with sections from a novel supposedly written by Peter's wife, Ellie Pascoe (née Soper). The novella '' One Small Step'' is even set in the future, and deals with the detectives investigating a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

on the

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

. In another departure from the norm, the duo do not always "get their man", with at least one novel ending with the villain getting away and another strongly implying that what Dalziel and Pascoe dismiss as a series of unrelated accidents actually included at least one undetected instance of murder.

The novels

Adaptations

Television

* ITV adapted the novel ''A Pinch of Snuff'' in 1993 for a three-part serial. The serial starred comedy duo Gareth Hale as Dalziel and Norman Pace as Pascoe. Christopher Fairbank was cast as DS Edgar Wield. Reginald Hill was not happy with the adaptation, and it remained a one-off, much to ITV's disappointment. * The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

created a more successful series of adaptations, beginning in March 1996, with an adaptation of the first novel, '' A Clubbable Woman''. Produced by BBC Birmingham, the series starred Warren Clarke as Dalziel, Colin Buchanan as Pascoe, David Royle as DS Edgar "Wieldy" Wield and Susannah Corbett as Ellie Pascoe. Later series introduced Jo-Anne Stockham as DC Shirley "Ivor" Novello, Keeley Forsyth as DC Carrie "Tweedie" Harris, Katy Cavanagh as DS Dawn "Spike" Milligan and Jennifer James as DC Kim "Posh" Spicer. Twelve series were produced in total, concluding in June 2007. The BBC series won much critical acclaim from

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s such as ''

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. The television and novel continuities are separate, with both Ellie and Wield having appeared in the most recent books, despite having been written out of the TV series.

Radio

In 1990, ''Exit Lines'' was adapted as a five part serial for BBC Radio 4. Dalziel and Pascoe were voiced by Philip Jackson and Donald Gee, respectively.

References

External links

* {{Dalziel and Pascoe Fictional British detectives Fictional British police detectives Literary duos Book series Television duos Yorkshire in fiction fr:Inspecteurs associés