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Wexford Returns

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After a break of two years, George Baker returns to ITV as Detective Chief Inspector Reg Wexford in a two-hour adaptation of Ruth Rendell’s latest crime thriller.

Harm Done, which will be the 23rd Inspector Wexford mystery to be filmed in 13 years, also features guest stars Simon Shepherd, Clare Holman and Bryan Pringle, and regulars Christopher Ravenscroft, Louie Ramsay and Diane Keen.

Wexford is investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl when she suddenly turns up unharmed. Meanwhile, news that a convicted paedophile is being released into the community causes unrest among the residents of Kingsmarkham. Then when the three-year-old daughter of a local businessman vanishes, the crowd takes matters into its own hands.

As tension mounts, Wexford’s long-held views about family loyalties and the nature of abuse are challenged, and he finds himself for the first time questioning the law that he is bound to uphold.

George Baker began his acting career more than 50 years ago in repertory theatre. He has appeared in many classic films, including The Dam Busters, Goodbye Mr Chips, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The 39 Steps. He has also taken numerous television roles, including Emperor Tiberius in I Claudius, the lead in his own comedy series Bowler, with Penelope Keith in No Job For A Lady, and as Lord Dorincourt in the BBC’s Little Lord Fauntleroy.

George is currently writing the autobiography of his first turbulent 19 years, which took him from an affluent childhood in Bulgaria, through country-hopping during the war with his mother and four brothers, to English public school and a job in a seaside theatre at the age of 15.

Simon Shepherd plays Stephen Devenish, the father of the missing child. Clare Holman (Inspector Morse, The Lakes) is his distraught wife. Bryan Pringle appears as paedophile Tommy Smith.

Louie Ramsay plays Dora Wexford and is George Baker’s off-screen wife. They married in 1993, having known each other for almost 40 years. Louie has played Dora since the Inspector Wexford mysteries were first televised in 1987. The only other veteran of all 23 stories is Christopher Ravenscroft, who returns as Inspector Mike Burden. Diane Keen plays Burden’s wife, Jenny.

Harm Done was adapted for television by Christopher Russell, directed by Bruce MacDonald and produced by Neil Zeiger. The executive producers are Christine Benson and Graham Benson. Blue Heaven Productions for United Productions and Meridian Broadcasting.

George Baker as Wexford