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Wycliffe
1994 - 1998 6.0 (3 votes) 5 Seasons
Genres
Crime Drama
Networks
ITV1
Created By
W.J. Burley

Wycliffe

Overview

Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.

Top Cast

Jack Shepherd
Jack Shepherd

Detective Superintendent Wycliffe

Jimmy Yuill
Jimmy Yuill

DI Doug Kersey

Helen Masters
Helen Masters

DI Lucy Lane

Seasons

Season 1 (1994)

In series one Wycliffe is called in to head up several murder investigations, delving into each case to discover the culprits and the true nature of those involved in the deaths.

6 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Four Jacks
1994-07-24

A young female archaeology student is found naked in bed with gunshot wounds, and lies in a critical condition in hospital. As surgeons try to save her life, Wycliffe digs into the life of a famous novelist, who claims his life is at risk. Then a man is shot dead while walking his dog on the beach, and Wycliffe is under pressure to act quickly if he is to prevent another murder.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: The Dead Flautist
1994-07-30

When the body of an amateur flautist, Tony Miller, shot by his own gun, is found on the secluded estate of Lord & Lady Bottrell, it is assumed that he killed himself. But Wycliffe senses there is more to the case than first meets the eye. As he unravels the dead man's last days, another mystery is revealed - the disappearance of a maid from the Bottrell household. Family feuds and illicit relationships are uncovered - and then another body is found.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: The Scapegoat
1994-08-07

A Cornish undertaker suddenly disappears. The missing man's body is found, washed up on the rocks, and a murder inquiry begins. A link is suspected between the undertaker's death and a strange local summer ritual, and the mystery ends with a figure strapped to a burning wheel plunging over the cliffs.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: The Tangled Web
1994-08-14

Wycliffe is brought in when an elderly bedridden woman is found dead, her body locked in a freezer, and a pregnant teenager, Hilda Clemo, from a bizarre family vanishes from her Cornish village. As fears for her safety grow, Wycliffe questions the family, whose feuding uncovers some dark secrets. Wycliffe has to unpick the tangled web of intrigue and greed.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: The Last Rites
1994-08-21

When the Reverend Jordan arrives at the village church, he discovers the partially clothed body of Jessica Dobell, the church cleaner, spreadeagled below the cross. A satanic cult is thought to be behind the gruesome death, but Wycliffe believes responsibility lies elsewhere. There is an air of violent hatred in the village, not all of it directed towards the dead woman.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: The Pea-Green Boat
1994-08-28

When a fishing-boat owner, Harry Tremaine, is killed in the explosion of his fishing boat, suspicion falls on the man's son, who stands to inherit everything, but Wycliffe remains unconvinced. There's also a local developer who wants to build a marina on the quayside Tremaine owned; Tremaine's partner has been having an affair with his wife; and there is a mysterious recipient of £500 in cash from Tremaine on the first day of every month.

Runtime: 50 min
Season 2 (1995)

Wycliffe is faced with many intriguing mysteries in series two - including the hunt for an escaped prisoner, a woman found dead in a car, a body washed ashore and claimed by two different wives, a dead schoolgirl and a surfer in a deep coma.

8 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: All for Love
1995-06-18

A hunt for John Bonetti, an escaped prisoner from HMP Bodmin, takes a dramatic twist after the discovery of a body. Wycliffe and his team race against time to recapture him.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: The Trojan Horse
1995-06-25

Alex Keir is distraught when his wife Alison goes missing, but Wycliffe is sceptical of his grief, until a ransome note is found. The case of apparent kidnapping then takes a dramatic turn when Mrs Keir is found dead and smelling of alcohol at the wheel of a crashed car.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: Charades
1995-07-02

Wycliffe and his team investigate the death of a man found blasted by a shotgun at a Cornish holiday home. They discover evidence of ill-feeling between the dead man and his brother-in-law.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: Lost Contact
1995-07-09

When a man's virtually unidentifiable body is washed ashore, Wycliffe is baffled when two separate women claim it is that of their missing husbands.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: Four and Twenty Blackbirds
1995-07-16

When a farmer goes missing, leaving his sheep and house unattended, the local police call in Wycliffe. Discoveries of arson and bloodstains lead the team into a farming community struggling to survive.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: Happy Families
1995-07-23

Through her family and friends, Wycliffe tries to discover if it was suicide or murder when a schoolgirl is found dead in a science laboratory after a school disco.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 7: Wild Oats
1995-07-30

When an attempt is made to steal a headless skeleton from an archaelogical dig, Wycliffe discovers an estate steeped in archaic values. The identification of the skeleton unsettles the land-owning Rawle family, whose days of sovereignty in the community are fading.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 8: Breaking Point
1995-08-06

Surfer Anne Carter is found in a deep coma when she is washed ashore. The assumption that she is a victim of afreak accident have to be revised when Wycliffe and his team investigate, and uncover a host of sinister facts and conspiracies. Their task is hindered by an obvious leak to the press, which puts DI Lane in a precarious position.

Runtime: 50 min
Season 3 (1996)

In series three Wycliffe celebrates his silver wedding anniversary. As always, celebrations are interrupted by a murder investigation.

8 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Dead on Arrival
1996-06-09

An abandoned lorry with five corpses at the ferry terminal and a man on the run bring Wycliffe's silver wedding anniversary celebration, which their children have laid on as a surprise, to an abrupt halt.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: Number of the Beast
1996-06-16

When unexplained killings rock the Bodmin community, locals become convinced that the "beast" is back.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: Slave of Duty
1996-07-07

A dead man found buried under a pile of 100-year old wood provides an intriguing case.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: Total Loss
1996-07-14

When a fishing boat goes down taking one of the crew with it , Kersey and Lane discover a fishing community that is struggling to survive under the strain of legislation, as well as a new competitive edge to their working relationship.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: Crazy for You
1996-07-21

A psychiatrist's wife is murdered in a seemingly unprovoked attack. Wycliffe finds that proving a motive can be harder than catching a killer.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: Faith
1996-07-28

The discovery of a baby's body leads the team to a bizarre pagan sect.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 7: Last Judgement
1996-08-04

When a magistrate known to Wycliffe is found hanged, everything pints to suicide. But Wycliffe's instincts tell him otherwise.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 8: Old Habits
1996-08-11

When a young woman is found strangled, a pathologist is struck by the similarities to a string of other unsolved murders. Wyclife and his team have to unearth 11-year old evidence to see if they can trace a link.

Runtime: 50 min
Season 4 (1997)

In series four, Wycliffe faces a raft of new murder cases and an internal investigation.

8 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Strangers
1997-06-29

Tragic events unfold after a wedding with a bizarre guest list: the bride and groom, who have only known each other for three weeks, advertised for guests to attend the ceremony in Penzance. Next day, one of the couple is found stabbed to death in their luxurious honeymoon hotel.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 2: Close to Home
1997-07-06

A petty criminal turns into a killer. A man is stabbed to death in a pub car park by a stranger. As Wycliffe investigates, the victim turns out not to be the upstanding businessman he seemed to be.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 3: On Account
1997-07-13

Wycliffe and Kersey exchange strong words as they investigate a disturbing case involving the contamination of jars of baby food in a local supermarket by a blackmailer. Meanwhile, the disciplinary enquiry into Wycliffe's team continues to run its course.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 4: Lone Voyager
1997-07-20

Wycliffe probes the disappearance of a lone yachtswoman, whose boat is discovered scuttled on the seabed.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 5: Seen a Ghost
1997-07-17

A dark family secret comes to light when a girl deliberately runs over a woman on a pedestrian crossing. The results of the enquiry board are revealed.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 6: Bad Blood
1997-08-03

A couple facing eviction from their tied cottage are suspected of murder when the landowner is suddenly killed. Wycliffe must act quickly to identify the killer before locals take the law into their own hands.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 7: To Sup with the Devil
1997-08-10

When a local pub landlord is bludgeoned to death, Wycliffe can find few people with a good word to say about him. A police informant points the finger at the victims' former wife and her new husband, but when DI Lane mishandles the situation, Wycliffe and Kersey are forced to stage a dramatic rescue.

Runtime: 50 min
Episode 8: Old Crimes, New Times
1997-08-17

Pursued by the press, under the spotlight of an internal investigation, and lacking support from his superiors, Wyclife's problems multiply when an old case resurfaces, and DCC Stevens seems out to prove Wycliffe is no longer up to the job.

Runtime: 50 min

Videos

Wycliffe (1993 ITV TV Series) Trailer

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