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Destination – Fire!: 14 Full-Cast Vintage BBC Radio Crime Dramas
Robert Beatty stars as Quentin Fire Investigator in Philip Levene’s gripping 1960s crime series
A prolific writer for radio and TV, Philip Levene scripted numerous crime dramas and serials for the BBC in the 1960s. One of the most popular was Destination – Fire!, inspired by his fascination with the varied motivations of those who commit arson. Intrigued by ‘the puzzle of the charred remains of a burnt out building’, he came up with the idea of an investigator who would work out how a fire was started, by whom, and why.
Starring Robert Beatty, who was well known for playing Irish detective Philip Odell on BBC radio, Destination – Fire! ran for three series on the Light Programme between 1962 and 1966. Of the original 33 episodes, 19 have sadly been lost, but the remaining 14 are all included here. Among the cases tackled by the tenacious ‘Q’ Barnaby are a blaze in a cinema, a fire aboard ship, the destruction of a theatre, an incident in a recording studio involving a pop singer, and a double arson insurance fraud which sparks murder…
These thrilling standalone dramas feature a full cast of established actors, including Gudrun Ure as Valerie Chrane, Duncan McIntyre as Inspector Hackett and Anthony Hall as Alec Groves.
Produced by Martyn C. Webster
2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
A prolific writer for radio and TV, Philip Levene scripted numerous crime dramas and serials for the BBC in the 1960s. One of the most popular was Destination – Fire!, inspired by his fascination with the varied motivations of those who commit arson. Intrigued by ‘the puzzle of the charred remains of a burnt out building’, he came up with the idea of an investigator who would work out how a fire was started, by whom, and why.
Starring Robert Beatty, who was well known for playing Irish detective Philip Odell on BBC radio, Destination – Fire! ran for three series on the Light Programme between 1962 and 1966. Of the original 33 episodes, 19 have sadly been lost, but the remaining 14 are all included here. Among the cases tackled by the tenacious ‘Q’ Barnaby are a blaze in a cinema, a fire aboard ship, the destruction of a theatre, an incident in a recording studio involving a pop singer, and a double arson insurance fraud which sparks murder…
These thrilling standalone dramas feature a full cast of established actors, including Gudrun Ure as Valerie Chrane, Duncan McIntyre as Inspector Hackett and Anthony Hall as Alec Groves.
Produced by Martyn C. Webster
2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
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Published October 23, 2025
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About the author
Philip Levene
15 books1 followerPhilip Levene was an English writer for television, radio, and stage. He trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art and also worked at the morgue. Suffering from chronic ill health, he turned to writing radio plays in 1956. Levene wrote nineteen episodes of the 1960s British television series The Avengers during the Emma Peel era.
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