Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Lord Peter and Bunter are on holiday in Scotland when an artist is murdered. Six people have a good motive for killing him. One is the murderer, while the other five are red herrings.


Five Red Herrings is the last of five Dorothy L. Sayers, Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries produced by the BBC in the 1970s. It is composed of four approximately 45-minute long episodes presented on two DVDs with no additional material worth mentioning. It stars Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter, and Glyn Houston as Mervyn Bunter, his trusty manservant.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. This is the last time Carmichael and Houston appear together as Lord Peter and Bunter. Carmichael does go on to play Lord Peter in a radio series on BBC Radio 4. More about that later.

A talented but extremely troubled artist is murdered and, unluckily for the murderer, Lord Peter Wimsey is vacationing nearby, accompanied by his valet, Bunter. Lord Peter quickly discovers that six people have a good reason to want this man dead. In order to ferret out the murderer, first Lord Peter must eliminate the Five Red Herrings.

This is not a standard Lord Peter outing. Gone are the palaces and stately homes. Gone are the visits to the House of Lords or Buckingham Palace and the casual phone calls to the US Ambassador or the Archbishop of Canterbury. This story could just as easily be solved by Poirot or Holmes, although the production does make some humorous use of the primitive conditions in Lord Peter's vacation cottage and its effect on long-suffering Bunter.

However, while Lord Peter is robbed of his luxurious surroundings and eccentric family, the story does have an excellent cast. The setting in the Scottish lowlands near Glasgow is used to good effect, and the local accents are sufficient to force some to use subtitles, although I had no problems myself. (Of course, I was born in the borderlands, and my own accent requires subtitles on occasion, especially after a few beers.)

The plot is an intricate affair concerning motive and opportunity, and is much more like a Christie mystery that the other Sayers offerings in the set, not that being compared to Agatha Christie is a bad thing, you understand. However, perhaps in an attempt to emulate her rival, Sayers becomes bemired by detail in the novel, making it a slow, stodgy read. The TV adaptation gets rid of most of the clutter, making it a much better paced and more enjoyable story.

While it cannot live up to The Nine Tailors, this is still a very good story and well worth watching. Four resounding Scottish stars, and a fond wave of farewell.


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Red Herrings.

Considering Lord Peter's background, it is interesting to note that the origin of the term "Red Herrings" is in fox hunting, not fishing as you might have imagined.

Apparently, when training a hound to follow a trail, something with a very strong scent is used, like a pickled red herring. Later, as part of their final training, the hound must follow the scent of a real fox. The trainers cross the trail periodically with the scent of a red herring, laying a false trail to try and fool the hound. Hence, something or someone that distracts the hunter from his quarry is termed a red herring.


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Lord Peter and the BBC.

Now that the show is over, the key question is, with a successful series on their hands, why did the BBC stop?

It cannot be shortage of material. There were two admittedly-weaker Lord Peter novels as yet unmade. Then, the brilliant set of four novels that include Harriet Vane. There were also 18 short stories that could have made a good episode, and three novellas that could easily have produced a full 3-hour offering.

Sadly, I think it simply came down to age. Ian Carmichael was 15 years older than Lord Peter at best, and while the actor was getting older, much of the remaining material was written when Lord Peter was a younger man. Sadly, although Carmichael was probably the ideal choice for Lord Peter and plays him brilliantly, he got the role just a little too late in life.

This theory is backed up to some extent, in that the BBC continued Lord Peter as a series of Radio 4 shows, also starring Ian Carmichael. Here, freed from the necessity of aging, Carmichael made most of the novels, including much of the romantic material with Vane, and he does an absolutely stellar job. In a strange piece of coincidence, in Strong Poison, his co-star was Joan Hickson who, in her seventies, was MUCH too old for her role, but was soon to become the definitive Miss Marple. Also in an act of personal coincidence, the show co-starred Simon Jones, the one true Arthur Dent, widely known for his role in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I reviewed a few days ago. These radio shows are now available on cassette and CD and may be found on Amazon.

Another indication that it was Carmichael's age that ended the run, was the fact that the BBC attempted to continue the series a few years later in 1987, making three of the four Harriet Vane novels with Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey.

The new series got the usual top notch BBC treatment, and a considerably larger budget than the first series. Harriet Walter was the perfect choice for Harriet Vane and played the part brilliantly. (How many people are called Harriet anyway?) However, Richard Morant was much too young for Bunter. Edward Petherbridge is a fine actor and looked very like the Wimsey described by Sayers. However, either because of the script or the direction, he played the role with neither charm nor wit nor humor. The format too, was 30-minutes shorter than the prior series, leaving far too much of Sayers on the cutting room floor. Add to that an almost complete lack of chemistry between the three leads, and the series was a disappointment.

Of course, this could just be me being a curmudgeon since I liked Carmichael's Wimsey so very much. But if so, why didn't the BBC finish the series with the fourth and final* Vane novel Busman's Holiday?

Of course, asking why the BBC did not make something is exactly where we came in...


* Note: Two further Vane/Wimsey novels have been "found" since this series aired.


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Filmography:


BBC TV presentations with Ian Carmichael as Wimsey:

- Clouds of Witness (1972)
- The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1972)
- Murder Must Advertise (1973)
- The Nine Tailors (1974)
- Five Red Herrings (1975)

Brilliant productions superbly acted by a brilliant cast.

- - -

BBC TV presentations with Edward Petherbridge as Wimsey:

- Strong Poison (1987)
- Have His Carcase (1987)
- Gaudy Night (1987)

Good production standards, but poor chemistry between cast members. Presentation pales in comparison to earlier series in my opinion.

- - -

Movie with Robert Montgomery as Wimsey:

Busman's Honeymoon (1940) - aka Haunted Honeymoon.

This horrendous adaptation loses most of the witty dialog and almost all the plot. Sayers refused to watch it. So should you.

* * *

Directory.

As part of the reviews of these five mini-series, I have included the following background information:

- Lord Peter Wimsey Biography
- Mervyn Bunter Biography
- Dorothy L. Sayers Biography
- A Complete Lord Peter Wimsey Bibliography


* * *

Five Red Herrings (1975)

Directed by Robert Tronson

Written by:
Dorothy L. Sayers (Novel)
Anthony Steven (Screenplay)

Cast:
Ian Carmichael - Lord Peter Wimsey
Glyn Houston - Bunter

Russell Hunter - Matthew Gowan
Donald Douglas - Hugh Farren
John Junkin - Mr. Alcock
Clive Graham - Michael Waters
Ian Ireland - Sandy Campbell
David Rintoul - Jock Graham
David McKail - John Ferguson
Roy Boutcher - Henry Strachan
James Copeland - Wully Murdoch
Susan Macready - Gilda Farren
Ann Scott-Jones - Mrs. Alcock
Jake D'Arcy - Hammond
Sally Kinghorn - Betty
Irene Sunters - Mrs. Smith-Lemesurier
Michael Elder - Sergeant Dalziel
Willie Joss - Dr. Cameron
Elaine Collins - Helen McGregor
Robert James - Sir Maxwell Jamieson
Michael Sheard - Inspector MacPherson
Julie Peasgood - Fenella Strachan
Jan Wilson - Miss Selby
Eileen McCallum - Miss Cochrane
Jean Faulds - Mrs. Ellison
Elizabeth Sinclair - Jeanie
Phil McCall - Clarence Gordon
Brown Derby - Minister
Jimmy Martin - Porter

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Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD