About this season
The Edgar Wallace Mysteries was a British second-feature film series, produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 46 films in the series, made between 1960 and 1965. The films were loose adaptations of Edgar Wallace's books and stories. Very few used his original titles, and there was no attempt to set them in the period in which Wallace wrote, probably to obviate the need for elaborate costumes and sets. A 1962 article in Scene magazine quotes £22,000 as the budget for an episode then in production.
Episodes (12)
1. The Set Up
Aired 4 December 1962
Recently released from prison, Arthur Payne meets a benevolent stranger on a train who says he may be able to help him. A few days later, a second stranger arrives at Payne's houseboat, and Payne reluctantly agrees to carry out a no-risk jewel theft for a fee. When the staged burglary turns to murder, Payne realises he's been set up and he goes on the run. All the evidence points towards Payne being the murderer, but one irrefutable fact troubles Inspector Jackson.
2. The £20,000 Kiss
Aired 18 December 1962
An up-and-coming politician is caught in a compromising photograph taken by a maid, who turns out to be part of a sophisticated blackmail ring. When the girl is found murdered, he holds an incriminating old dueling pistol.
3. Incident at Midnight
Aired 28 January 1963
A team of gangsters hide out in a late-night pharmacy to await a drugs transaction, little realising one of their hostages is not all they seem.
4. On the Run
Aired 12 March 1963
Model prisoner Frank Stewart, convicted for burgulary, escapes from prison with the help of Jock Mackay, an associates for his boss Wally Lucas, who plans to track down Stewart to know the location of stolen bonds.
5. Return to Sender
Aired 26 March 1963
Dino Steffano is charged with fraud and set to stand trial, rather than face imprisonment, he feels his best option is to nobble The Prosecuting Barrister.
6. Ricochet
Aired 1 April 1963
Solicitor Alan Phipps formulates a plan to blackmail his wealthy and unfaithful wife, Yvonne, and at the same time, get revenge against her boyfriend, John Brodie, by setting him up to appear that he is the blackmailer and for Yvonne to kill him. But Brodie, anticipating this predictament, has a hidden agenda behind all this to get the last laugh at Phipps.
7. The Double
Aired 15 April 1963
A man who has been left for dead by the impostor who takes his place returns to bring him to justice.
8. The Rivals
Aired 11 May 1963
A pair of hoodlums steal a car in which there is a ransom letter directed to a wealthy man whose daughter has just been kidnapped.
9. To Have and to Hold
Aired 15 June 1963
A CID detective is lured into a plot by girl who first pretends to fall in love with him, then that she's been killed and is now actually a heretofore unknown twin sister, and ultimately a murderous betrayal.