The Drayton Case

Edgar Lustgarten narrates what became part of the Scotland Yard series.

Lustgarten states that one of the problems when you commit murder is what to do with the body.

In this instance, the murderer hid the body under a pile of rubble during wartime London.

The skeleton of a woman is discovered under what was a school. The police still need to make sure that the corpse was a victim of a German air raid and not foul play.

The forensic expert examines the skeleton and comes up with some details. Like the age of the woman, build and that she had some false teeth. The woman dies approximately two years ago.

After that some months go by as the police go through missing persons but they make a breakthrough. Inspector Henley visits the dead woman's estranged husband.

This is in fact a simple police procedural but I can see that audiences would had been amazed at the forensics back in 1953. The perpetrator was essentially a bit dim and a basic mistake gave them away

I hesitate to say if this was actually murder. I think manslaughter would be the most appropriate term given Lustgarten's musings.

Most notable as the first of 39 episodes of the SCOTLAND YARD series, directed by Ken Hughes, THE DRAYTON CASE is noticeable for the first appearance of Edgar Lustgarten, in an ornate sitting-room surrounded with too much furniture and narrating the episode straight to camera. This is also noticeable for the only appearance of DAD'S ARMY star John le Mesurier in the role of a police inspector. He doesn't have much to do, other than mutter lines under his breath and cast a calming presence over the whole proceedings.

How could this groundbreaking series not merit 10 🤷‍♀️ However for this opening episode some odd choice of actors.

Victim Mrs Drayton, (estimated age 40-45 by the pathologist) was played by Hilda Barry born 1884 & thus 69.

Even more incongruous is the choice of Victor Platt as her husband. Born 1920 he was thus at age 33, half her age !

To compensate somewhat it looks like he's been provided him with a greyish looking wig !

Must odd , and actually, quite endearing given these early days of the BEEB when it was establishing its place as a National Treasure unlike today when it's a National Disgrace.

Very, very pleased to have found this series and so far the episodes are very winning. Have to write my review of the series as a whole here because IMDb have given each short it's own page. Originally these shows were designed as "featurettes" to be shown in cinemas along with the main movie. First started filming in early 1950s and first cab off the rank was "The Drayton Case" about a sensational war time murder that patrons could probably remember. Another early one was "The Dark Stairway" from 1954 in which the police comb the city for a blind man who may or may not be a murderer - it was taken from a 1952 case.

The shorts were ground breaking in their realistic lighting, dialogue and police procedural realism and so popular were they that cinema patrons often phoned theaters to find out exactly when the "Scotland Yard" featurettes were due to start so they wouldn't miss a bit of the action. All the shorts are uniformly excellent, there are none below standard. After the first few years the shorts went global with Anglo claiming to have sold the series in 51 countries - so a Continental air crept in - "The Wall of Death" featured the suspicious doings of a pair of Polish circus workers, "Destination Death" ends up in Lisbon.

Among the more macabre "The Lonely House" deals with a house of horrors and a couple who run a phony dating agency. "The Ghost Train Murder" - not many boasted stars who got their break from "Scotland Yard" but this one had Jill Ireland and Diane Aubrey as two girls in a block of flats who have been forced into prostitution. "The Never-Never Murder" is about the evils of hire purchase. Also "The Strange Case of Blondie" - a vaudeville theme, this is about a deadly blonde cat burglar who doubles as a door to door surveyist in order to case the houses!!