The Ruth Rendell Mysteries starring
George Baker & Christopher Ravenscroft

Inspector Wexford features the lives and investigations of Chief Inspector Reg Wexford and his assistant,  Inspector Mike Burden.

The series began life in 1987 when Southampton-based Television South (TVS) won the rights to film Ruth Rendell’s third Wexford novel Wolf to the Slaughter. This title was produced and directed by John Davies who cast George Baker in the role of Wexford after hearing the actor’s voice being edited at Ealing Studios:

“I was playing in Bertram’s Hotel, the Miss Marple TV series. The director, Mary McMurray was editing it at Ealing when the Ruth Rendell director John Davies stepped into the studio and said, ‘Who is that?’ He called up my agent and offered me the job. It was extraordinary. At that moment, she happened to have my scene on screen, he happened to be passing and my director happened to have asked me to play the part in a country accent.”

The role of Burden was given to Christopher Ravenscroft, a fine actor who had earlier impressed both at the RSC and as the sinister Stapleton in the 1982 BBC production of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Twenty-three titles were filmed between 1987 and 2000. Sadly, there are no plans to film Ruth Rendell’s recent Wexford novels The Babes in the Wood (2002), End in Tears (2005) and Not in the Flesh (2007).