Whitehall 1212 1951 detective radio show

Whitehall 1212 (1951, United States)

The title of the show, Whitehall 1212, refers to the phone number of the Scotland Yard because, even though it was an American radio show, the stories presented were based on true crimes that took place in the United Kingdom. Chief Superintendent John Davidson, who actually was a curator of the Black Museum, the famous collection of crime memorabilia kept in the Scotland Yard, was the host of the show. Each episode was telling a different story linked to a different case, most of which later were identified by the fans of the show to be real cases that took place in pre-World War 2 Great Britain.

Actually, there was also a radio show called The Black Museum, hosted by Orson Wells, which was based on more or less the same set of cases, but the two shows had a slightly different approach. In Whitehall 1212, the whole story was told from the perspective of policemen truing to solve the case, while The Black Museum was telling the stories behind the crime, the reasons the killer had to commit the murder, etc. Also, the starting point of each of The Black Museum episode was a specific item that can be found in the collection and how later it was involved in the plot.

In total, 44 episodes were produced, which were broadcasted between November 1951 and September 1952.

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