''Raffles'' is a British radio programme including eighteen episodes that first aired on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

from 1985 to 1992, and an additional radio play that aired in 1993 on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

. The series was directed by Gordon House and was based on the A. J. Raffles stories (first published 1898–1909) by author

E. W. Hornung Ernest William Hornung (7 June 1866 – 22 March 1921) was an English author and poet known for writing the A. J. Raffles series of stories about a gentleman thief in late 19th-century London. Hornung was educated at Uppingham School; a ...

. The series starred

Jeremy Clyde Michael Jeremy Thomas Clyde (born 22 March 1941) is an English actor and musician. During the 1960s, he was one-half of the folk duo Chad & Jeremy (with Chad Stuart). Their first song was the 1963 hit " Yesterday’s Gone". The duo became mor ...

as fictional gentleman thief A. J. Raffles, and

Michael Cochrane Michael Dundonald Cochrane (born 19 May 1947) is an English actor. He has played Oliver Sterling in the Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers''. Early life Cochrane was born 19 May 1947, in Brighton, East Sussex. He was educated at Cranleigh Sc ...

as Raffles's companion

Bunny Manders Harry Manders (almost exclusively known as Bunny Manders) is a fictional character in the popular series of Raffles stories by E. W. Hornung. He is the companion of A. J. Raffles, a cricketer and gentleman thief, who makes a living robbing the ...

. ''Raffles'' is occasionally rebroadcast on radio by the BBC and has been released on home audio.

Background and production

The series was a

and

co-production. The first two series were adapted from E. W. Hornung's stories by

David Buck David Keith Rodney Buck (17 October 1936 – 27 January 1989) was an English actor and author. Biography Buck was born in London, the son of Joseph Buck and Enid Marguerite (née Webb). He starred in many television productions from 1959 unti ...

, and the last series was adapted by Olwen Wymark. The director was Gordon House, and the signature tune was composed by Jim Parker.

played A. J. Raffles, and

played Bunny Manders.

Henry Stamper Henry Stamper (2 March 1937 – 18 January 2009) was a Scottish actor known for his mastery of almost all British regional dialects. He appeared in several small television roles, but was best known for performing in many radio plays. He earned ...

played a major recurring character, police detective Inspector Mackenzie. Jeremy Clyde and Michael Cochrane had previously portrayed Raffles and Bunny respectively in the first episode of the 1978

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

television series ''Crime Writers'', a documentary series about the history of crime fiction. In the same episode, Clyde and Cochrane also portrayed characters that inspired the creation of Raffles and Bunny,

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

and

Dr. Watson Dr. John H. Watson is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). "The Adventure of Shosc ...

, as well as the fictional detective C. Auguste Dupin and Dupin's unnamed companion. After playing Raffles and Bunny in eighteen episodes on BBC Radio 4 between 1985 and 1992, all adapted from Hornung's stories, Clyde and Cochrane reprised their roles for the radio dramatisation of

Graham Greene Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

's play '' The Return of A. J. Raffles'', which aired on the BBC World Service on 17 January 1993. The third series of ''Raffles'' had also been broadcast on the BBC World Service from 10 December 1992 though 14 January 1993. Henry Stamper reprised his role as Inspector Mackenzie for the 1993 radio play. Gordon House, who directed the ''Raffles'' series, also adapted and directed the production, and it used the ''Raffles'' series theme music composed by Jim Parker.

Cast

Main

as A. J. Raffles, a gentleman thief and cricketer *

, Raffles's companion

Recurring

as Inspector Mackenzie, a detective from Scotland Yard *

Ron Pember Ronald Henry Pember (11 April 1934 – 8 March 2022) was an English actor, stage director and dramatist. In a career stretching over thirty years, he was a character actor in British television productions in the 1970s and 1980s, usually in sma ...

as Crawshay, a rival working-class thief (Series 1) * Gordon Reid as Dr Theobald, a physician in Earl's Court, London (Series 3) * John Hartley as Mr Maturin, an alter ego of Raffles (Series 3) *

Gudrun Ure Gudrun Henderson Ure (12 March 1926 – 14 May 2024), also known as Ann Gudrun, was a Scottish actress, best known for her portrayal of the title character in the children's television series ''Super Gran''. Ure's career encompassed stage, film ...

as Mrs Fisher, a landlady in Ham Common (Series 3)

Episodes

Three series were aired with six 30-minute episodes each. An additional 60-minute radio play was broadcast in 1993, and was included in the BBC's home audio release of the third series.

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Release

The series has been rebroadcast occasionally on

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It mostly broadcasts archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes, and is the sister station of Radio 4. It is the pri ...

since its original release. The first two series of ''Raffles'' were released together digitally by

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

and on CD by

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

in 2015. The third series was released in 2017. The release of the third series includes "The Return of A. J. Raffles" by

References

{{A. J. Raffles British radio dramas BBC Radio 4 programmes BBC Radio dramas Historical radio series 1985 radio programme debuts Works based on A. J. Raffles