Detective Inspector Gwen Danbury comes from a family of investigators. Her father was a policeman, and her mother Joan often discussed cases with him - on one occasion helping him to solve a tricky murder. Gwen already has a capable, efficient sidekick in the form of DS Henry Jacobs - but nevertheless, her mum insists on helping Gwen with her inquiries.

Glasgow’s finest are on the case in these thrilling radio adaptations, based on the books by Peter Turnbull. In the four-part serial Condition Purple, a murdered prostitute is found in the heart of Glasgow's prosperous business quarter. Could a tattoo on her body hold the key to finding her killer? In Two Way Cut, another four-parter, a headless body without a speck of blood on it has the cops puzzled - and who was the strange figure that PC Hamilton saw running along by the canal?

London,1953. Josephine Daunt and Susan Dervish both worked for the Ministry of Defence during the Second World War, doing top-secret, highly dangerous espionage work. But in peacetime, they find themselves without a job and feeling useless. Determined to put their talents to good use, they decide to set up a detective agency, with the help of former private eye Bill Mackie. From their Covent Garden office, they handle a steady flow of business.

DI Trueman and DS Riley are reluctant partners in crime-fighting, paired up after high-flyer Trueman suffered a nervous breakdown that left him struggling to get back on his feet. Working with Riley isn’t exactly what the doctor ordered - but the Sergeant turns out to be much more of a help than a hindrance when it comes to cracking cases.

The first six series of the popular radio drama set in a Manchester legal practice, starring David Schofield. Frank Twist and Sarah Gold lead a maverick team of freelance paralegals operating in the mean(ish) streets of Manchester. Their agency operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, dispatching legal representatives to set free burglars, muggers and even some innocent people who find themselves on the wrong side of a cell door.

Manchester detective DCI Stone and his team are faced with 10 complex, morally challenging cases in this collection of hard-hitting radio dramas. As series 5 opens, Stone is still reeling from the mishandled shooting of Callum Gartside, a gunman who had murdered his own family. With his personal life in tatters, he must find the strength to hold it together and do his job. 

Hugo Speer stars as John Stone in the final two series of this gritty, fast-paced crime drama. Manchester detective DCI Stone and his team are faced with more morally challenging cases in these hard-hitting stories. When a dead body is discovered at an inner city hotel DCI Stone is forced to navigate the murky and transient world of catering.

Inspector Purbright is a thoroughly English policeman: affable, polite, dogged and decent. Created by award-winning crime writer Colin Watson, he appeared in 12 Flaxborough mysteries, four of which were adapted for BBC TV under the title Murder Most English. These five radio dramatisations star Peter Jeffrey, John Pullen and John Rowe as Purbright.

DS Dave Brook is a long-serving, ducking-and-diving police officer who takes armed robberies and violent crime in his stride. But then he is teamed up with young 'grammar school boy' DC Blair Maxton from sleepy Epsom. How will Max cope with the mean streets of his new patch? Among the thrilling cases in these four series, the detectives tackle an armed gang, confront a notorious crime family, search for a missing wife, investigate a gruesome ax murder and the death of a reclusive young woman, and assist ‘The Sweeney’ flying squad.

Seven BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations of P. D. James' acclaimed mysteries, plus P. D. James in Her Own Words. This collection includes: Cover Her Face, A Taste for Death, Devices and Desires, A Certain Justice, The Private Patient, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and The Skull Beneath the Skin.

Cantankerous and dishevelled, Chief Inspector Dover is no one's idea of a model detective - but he does have an uncanny knack for solving crimes. In these radio dramas, set in the 1960s and '70s, he and his long-suffering sergeant, Charlie McGregor, investigate sinister cases of kidnap and murder. The first four are adapted from Joyce Porter's novels, while the latter two are original stories based on her characters.

The Martin Beck books are widely acknowledged as some of the most influential detective novels ever written. Written by Swedish husband and wife team Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö between 1965 and 1975, the 10-book series set a gold standard for all subsequent Scandinavian crime fiction. Long before Kurt Wallander or Harry Hole, Beck was the original flawed policeman, working with a motley collection of colleagues to uncover the cruelty and injustice lurking beneath the surface of Sweden's liberal society.

Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he gets his own back, introducing 16 tales of detectives whose abilities rival that of the great Sherlock Holmes.

In these two compelling murder mysteries, MI6 officers Henry Colvil and Alex Soames become involved in a pair of complex cases which take them to the very top of the political and religious spheres. Written by acclaimed historian, broadcaster and author Christopher Lee, these gripping spy thrillers star Christopher Benjamin (Pride and Prejudice, Doctor Who) as Henry Colvil and Amanda Redman (The Good Karma Hospital, New Tricks) as Alex Soames. 

With his cape, canes and shovel hat, portly amateur sleuth Dr Gideon Fell cuts an eccentric figure - but his odd appearance belies his sharp intellect and astonishing faculty for deduction. Created by crime novelist John Dickson Carr and supposedly based on fellow author G. K. Chesterton, Dr Fell appeared in 23 novels between 1933 and 1967. This radio collection comprises all eight of the BBC adaptations based on Carr's best-selling books.