Wolf to the Slaughter
Pilot Episode
First transmitted in four parts in 1987
Produced and directed by John Davies
A Television South production
From the opening episode of this four-part serial, Rendell appears to have been served well by TVS, with a sharp and absorbing dramatisation by Clive Exton, excellent casting, particularly in the form of George Baker as Wexford, and suspenseful direction by John Davies.
A girl called Ann was killed in this area between eight and eleven Tuesday night. The man who done it is small and dark and young and has a black car. Name of Geoff Smith.
This anonymous note to Detective Chief Inspector Wexford starts a murder investigation in Wolf to the Slaughter, a four-part crime thriller from TVS.
It seems a straightforward case, but Wexford doesn’t know who Ann is, and no one of that name has been reported missing. He can’t find a body, so how can he catch the killer? And who is Geoff Smith?
Credits
- DCI Wexford
- George Baker
- DI Burden
- Christopher Ravenscroft
- Dora Wexford
- Louie Ramsay
- DC Mark Drayton
- Robert Reynolds
- Rupert Margolis
- Nicholas Gecks
- Ruby Branch
- Carmel McSharry 2
- Monkey Matthews
- Russell Hunter 3
- Kirkpatrick
- Christopher Ellison
- Linda Grover
- Kim Thomson
- Mrs Penistan
- Jean Heywood 4
- Mrs Anstey
- Mitzi Rogers 5
- Russell Cawthorne
- Donald Hewlett 6
- Mrs Cawthorne
- Hal Dyer 7
- Mr Grover
- Arthur Cox 8
- Mrs Grover
- Pamela Buckley
- Mrs Kirkpatrick
- Stephanie Fayerman
- Jean Burden
- Ann Penfold
- John Burden
- Noah Huntley
- Pat Burden
- Emma Smith
- Sheila Wexford
- Deborah Poplett
- Sgt Martin
- Ken Kitson
- Sgt Camb
- Michael Stainton
- Anita Margolis
- Harriet Thorpe
- Ray Anstey
- Peter Slade
- Jan Winters
- Kate Eaton
- Knobby Clark
- Jim Dunk
- Cons. Bryant
- Rupert Bates
- Cons. Gates
- Daniel O’Brien
- Lady Customer
- Barbara Ashcroft
- Mrs Benson
- Eliza Buckingham
- Mrs Lorrimer
- Yvonne D’Alpra
- Richard Fairfax
- Marc Sinden
- TV Commentator
- Christopher Robbie
- Demolition Man
- Martin Fisk
- Edna
- Jo Warne
- Harold
- Fred Tregear
- Shop Assistant
- Neville Philips
- Mr Scatcherd
- Raymond Francis
- Music composed by
- Marc Wilkinson
- Orchestrated & arranged by
- John Coleman
- Casting
- Sheila McIntosh
- Costume Design
- Rita Angell
- Makeup
- Marion Durnfiled
- Stunts
- Marc Cass
- Graphics
- John Austin
- Production Buyer
- Ray Warwick
- Design Assistant
- Wallace Heim
- Vision Control
- Peter Mills, Bernard Sullivan, Brian Young
- OB Planner
- Charles Lewry
- Technical Co-ordinator
- Colin Denahy
- Vision Mixer
- Neil Guy
- Stage Manager
- Mike Fisher
- Floor Manager
- James Greville
- Unit Manager
- Bill Slark
- Location Manager
- Mark Cooper
- Production Manager
- Sian Prosser
- Videotape Editor
- Christopher Wentzell
- Senior Cameramen
- Michael Hutton, John Baverstock
- Sound Director
- Paul Birch
- Lighting Director
- Greg Gower
- Designer
- Christine Ruscoe
- Executive Producer
- Graham Benson
Notes
George Baker stars as Wexford with Christopher Ravenscroft in his first major TV role as Wexford"s assistant, Detective Inspector Burden.
George is married to the actress Sally Home and has just sold his London house, and is currently looking for a new home in Hampshire. George has five daughters and one granddaughter. Christopher lives in Stockport with his wife, Caroline and their 13-year-old son, Jack. 9
I was playing in Bertram’s Hotel, the Miss Marple TV series. Mary McMurray was editing it at Ealing Studios when John Davies stepped into the studio and said, ‘Who is that?’ He called up my agent and offered me the job. It was extraordinary. At that moment, she happened to have my scene on screen, he happened to be passing, and my director happened to have asked me to play the part in a country accent.
—George BakerJohn Davies also cast Ken Kitson in the role of Sergeant Martin after directing him in another Miss Marple title, Sleeping Murder. 10
Burden plays things by the book. He’s rather scientific, rather unimaginative and has a great deal of respect for Wexford.
—Christopher RavenscroftI’m sure Ruth Rendell would be the first one to admit that when George did Wolf to the Slaughter, he wasn’t what she’d got in mind for Wexford. By the time we’d done two, he embodied the role. I don’t know whether George became like Wexford or Wexford became like George, but the two became interchangeable.
—Neil Zeiger 11Wolf to the Slaughter was shot on video in the Hampshire market town of Romsey, which, for the production, became the fictitious town of Kingsmarkham in Sussex. 12
I feel a great affinity with Romsey because it was the first place in England that gave me a sense of belonging. The town took us to its collective heart, and though I now live elsewhere, I’m made to feel immediately welcome as soon as I arrive.
—George BakerThe town’s magistrates court was first used as the Kingsmarkham police station. However, because it was a working court, filming could only take place at weekends, and TVS decided to build a replica of the station inside a warehouse in Totton near Southampton.
Ruth Rendell last week got the chance to see, for the first time, her creations Wexford and Burden come to life in a major new production of her bestseller Wolf to the Slaughter. Rendell joined TV’s Inspector Wexford, George Baker and his assistant, played by RSC actor Christopher Ravenscroft, in Romsey during the shooting of the drama, which will be screened nationwide on ITV from August 2.
13
Footnotes
Russell Hunter 1925-2004: obituary by Brian Wilson, The Guardian. ↩︎
Mitzi Rogers 1940-2022: obituary by Julia Langdon, The Guardian. ↩︎
Hal Dyer 1935-2011: obituary, On the Buses. ↩︎
TVS Press release, 1987. ↩︎
Stephen Brailsford talks to Ken Kitson ↩︎
Super Sleuths ITV3, October 2006. ↩︎
TVS Press release, 1987. ↩︎
Chris Hughes, The Stage July 1987. ↩︎