No Crying He Makes
- Episode 4 / Series 1
- First transmitted in one part in 1988
- Adapted from a short story by Paula Milne
- Directed by Mary McMurray
- A Television South production
- DVD
You think I’m a plodder. Right? Good old Mike. Slow and steady, but he gets there in the end. Well, it’s because of plodders like me that someone like you can take your leaps in the dark because we provide the safety net.
It’s Christmas time in Kingsmarkham, and Wexford and Burden are preparing for family celebrations when a young woman reports that her baby daughter has been taken and replaced with another child.
A Spate of local burglaries is an extra headache for Wexford, who begins to wonder whether true happiness exists in any family - not least his own.
Credits
- DCI Wexford
- George Baker
- DI Burden
- Christopher Ravenscroft
- Dora Wexford
- Louie Ramsay
- Jean Burden
- Ann Penfold
- Pippa Bond
- Jane Horrocks
- Tony Jasper
- Clive Wood
- Leila Jasper
- Christine Kavanagh
- Sylvia Fairfax
- Charon Bourke
- Trevor Bond
- Jonathan Lacey
- Susan Baines
- Alison Rose
- Mrs Carter
- Dorothy Vernon 1
- Julie
- Natasha Williams
- Peter Jasper
- Ashley Barker
- DS Martin
- Ken Kitson
- Matron
- Meera Syal
- Pat Burden
- Emma Smith
- John Burden
- Noah Huntley
- Mr Henderson
- Kenneth Midwood 2
- Mrs Henderson
- Julia Lang 3
- Mr Hunter
- Richard Haddon Haines 4
- Mrs Hunter
- Karen Archer
- Mandy
- Shirley Anne Selby
- Katherine Freeman
- Barbara Marten
- Mr Franklin
- Ian Bleasdale
- Mrs Franklin
- Karen Gledhill
- Gavin Fletcher
- Karl Magee
- Senior Nursing Officer
- Rosalind Thomas
- Man in Police Station
- Tom Knight
- Woman in Newsagents
- Peggy Ann Wood 5
- Father Christmas
- Fred Bryant
- Kingsmarkham Choir
- The Romsey Abbey Choir
- Production Manager
- Judy Hunt
- 1st Assistant Director
- Jon Older
- 2nd Assistant Director
- Vaughan Watkins
- Location Manager
- Tony Clarkson
- P.A./Continuity
- Nicky Cooney
- Stage Manager
- Tiggi Trethowan
- Production Secretary
- Ellie Constad
- Music by
- Brian Bennett
- Script Executive
- Corinne Cartier 6
- Casting Director
- Doreen Jones 7
- Dialect Coach
- Joan Washington 8
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Denise Ryan
- Costume Designer
- Rita Angell
- Makeup
- Marion Durnford
- Graphic Design
- Freddie Triccas
- Designers
- Christine Ruscoe, Wallace Heim
- Production Buyer
- Ray Warwick
- Technical Supervisor
- Roger Chambers
- Chief Electrician
- Ken White
- Camera Grip
- Alan Imeson
- Sound Recordist
- A. Graham Fitzgerald
- Dubbing Mixer
- Danny Curtis
- Dubbing Editor
- Mark Thomas
- Editor
- Christopher Wentzell
- Camera Operator
- Mike Hatton
- Lighting Director
- Brian Turner
- Executive Producer
- Graham Benson
- Producer
- Neil Zeiger
Soundtrack
Notes
The Wexford soundtrack was composed, performed, arranged and produced by Brian Bennett at Honeyhill Studios in Hertfordshire.
The Ruth Rendell Christmas Mystery is adapted from the short story Ginger and the Kingsmarkham Chalk Circle.
Romsey was decked out with Christmas decorations, and locals wandered around the town with Christmas trees and presents for the filming of this episode in July 1988.
I appear in No Crying He Makes as my late father was a Salvation Army officer, and we were asked to form a band for that episode. Many of the band are my own family, and I did the musical arrangements for the show (Jingle Bells etc). My mother, Major Jean Harry, actually managed a walk-on/speaking role as she was asked to go into the pub and sell Reg a copy of the War Cry (Sally Army newspaper). This caused problems later as Equity complained she had been given a speaking role!
—Marc HarryInspector Burden is somewhat pedantic and very logical, but he never solves the case, whereas Wexford does. I don’t particularly like him because he is so judgmental and puritanical, but it makes him interesting to play as he keeps getting his nose rubbed in it.
—Christopher Ravenscroft
Footnotes
Doreen Jones 1940-2017: obituary by Derek Granger, The Guardian. ↩︎