Edward Petherbridge plays the aristocratic detective with a foppish exterior masking deeper seriousness, while Harriet Walter embodies crime writer Harriet Vane, standing trial for poisoning her former lover in the opening story. Their chemistry drives three interconnected mysteries across ten episodes, beginning with Strong Poison in March 1987.
The production faced title changes on both sides of the Atlantic, broadcast as A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery on BBC Two but renamed Lord Peter Wimsey for American audiences. Walter later speculated this reflected nervousness about marketing a series centred on a female character whose creator lacked Agatha Christie's name recognition in the United States.
Each adaptation remains faithful to Sayers's original plots, from the poisoned lover case through the washed-away corpse on a Devon beach to the Oxford college plagued by anonymous letters and vandalism. Richard Morant completes the principal trio as Bunter, Wimsey's invaluable manservant, while composer Joseph Horovitz provides the period score for these 52-minute episodes.
Critics praised Petherbridge's interpretation as more psychologically nuanced than Ian Carmichael's 1970s version, capturing the character's carefully constructed mask of silliness concealing profound seriousness beneath. The series concludes with Vane finally accepting Wimsey's persistent marriage proposal, completing their courtship across three novels and ten episodes by May 1987.
Production Details
BBC Two / 1 Season / 10 Episodes / 1987
Writer(s): Philip Broadley
Producer(s): Michael Chapman
Main Cast
Edward Petherbridge as Peter Wimsey
Harriet Walter as Harriet Vane
Richard Morant as Bunter
Arthur Cox as Salcombe Hardy
Simon Cuff as Alexis
Michael Troughton as PC Ormonde
Rowena Cooper as Mrs. Weldon
Peter Benson as Perkins
David Quilter as Chief Inspector Parker
Jeremy Sinden as Henry Weldon
Barbara Young as Mrs. Lefranc
Romney Marsh as Haviland Martin
