Road Rage
- Episode 22 / An Inspector Wexford Special
- First transmitted in two parts in 1998
- Adapted from the Ruth Rendell novel by George Baker
- Directed by Bruce MacDonald
- A Blue Heaven Production for United Productions, Meridian Broadcasting.
- DVD | Watch now
We leave the characters behind when we leave the set - drive home, have a drink, I do a bit of cooking, Louie does a bit of line learning, I hear her, watch the nine o’clock news, go to bed, get up at 5.30 and go to work.
Environmental activists and Kingsmarkham residents unite to fight the construction of a new bypass road through Framhurst Great Wood. Excavations for the bypass unearth the badly decomposed body of a German student. Then five people, including Dora Wexford, are kidnapped by Sacred Globe, a terrorist group committed to saving the world.
Credits
- DCI Wexford
- George Baker
- DI Burden
- Christopher Ravenscroft
- Dora Wexford
- Louie Ramsay
- Jenny Burden
- Diane Keen
- Sheila Wexford
- Deborah Poplett
- Sylvia Fairfax
- Charon Bourke
- Ryan Barker
- Timothy Evans
- Owen Struther
- Nigel Pegram
- Kitty Struther
- Patricia Garwood 1
- Roxanne Johnson
- Natasha Estelle Williams
- Herr Ranke
- Lex van Delden 2
- Paul Curzon
- Owen Scott
- Timothy Jordan
- Robert Morgan
- Newsreader
- Debbie Middleton
- Myrna
- Fiona Welburn
- Conrad Tarling
- Jack Klaff
- Frenchie Collins
- Judith Sharp
- DI Weaver
- Judith Scott 3
- DS Malahyde
- Isobel Middleton
- Andrew Struther
- Daniel de la Falaise
- DS Slesar
- James Allen
- DS Vine
- Robin Kermode
- Daisy Panick
- Patsy Byrne 4
- Robert Panick
- David Foxxe
- Audrey Barker
- Joanna Scanlan
- Mrs Peabody
- Maryann Turner 5
- Colum Tarling
- Russell Mabey 6
- Chief Const Ryder
- Neil McCaul
- Stanley Trotter
- Ian Bartholomew
- Tanya Paine
- Natalie Walter
- Mr Mavrikiev
- Robin McCallum
- Clare Cox
- Amanda Boxer
- Pamela Tarling
- Iris Russell 7
- Charles Tarling
- Peter Howell 8
- Pub Landlord
- John Forgeham 9
- Pub Landlady
- Jean Warren
- Jefrey Godwin
- Trevor Bowen
- Newspaper Editor
- Trevor Ray
- Desk Sergeant
- R.J. Freeman
- Casting
- Suzie Bruffin, Liz Vincent-Fernie
- Music
- Brian Bennett
- Additional music
- Red Zebra
- Associate Producer
- Peter Hider
- 1st Assistant Director
- David MacDonald
- Location Manager
- Stephen Lawrence
- Continuity
- Alison Black
- Production Co-ordinator
- Dawn Mortimer
- Production Accountant
- Peter Harvey
- Costume Designer
- Rita Angell
- Makeup
- Toni Holmes
- Production Buyer
- Graham Curtis
- Art Director
- Paul Cowell
- Camera Grip
- Alan Imeson
- Gaffer
- John Donoghue
- Sound Recordist
- Maurice Hillier
- Graphic Design
- John Hamon
- Colourist
- Warren Eagles
- Dubbing Editor
- Howard Eaves
- Dubbing Mixer
- Dave Fallon
- Camera Operator
- John Harcourt
- Production Designer
- Christine Ruscoe
- Film Editor
- Christopjer Wentzell
- Director of Photography
- Mark Partridge
- Executive Producer
- Graham Benson
- Producer
- Neil Zeiger
Soundtrack
Notes
I was always grateful to George Baker for my role as Dora because she hardly appeared in the books. George told the producers that Dora should have more of a role in Wexford’s life, and they wrote it in, and I was thrilled. I like Dora very much. Some people are quite rude about her. A woman once described her as
—Louie Ramsaydoormat Dora
, and I defended her fiercely. Dora is not the strength behind Wexford, but she is quite strong in herself. She knows when to speak and when to remain silent. She is always there for him because she belongs to the generation that didn’t rush out to work. My father was a consultant, and my mother never worked, as she looked after him. When she died, he was lost.Blue Heaven Productions moved the fictional town of Kingsmarkham to Petersfield in East Hampshire after deciding that the closure of Romsey town centre for the protest march scenes would cause too much disruption for residents.
Footnotes
Patricia Garwood 1941-2019: obituary by Amanda Atkins, The Guardian. ↩︎
Patsy Byrne 1933-2014: obituary by Veronica Horwell, The Guardian. ↩︎
John Forgeham 1941-2017: obituary Anthony Hayward, The Guardian. ↩︎