David Threlfall (right) returns in the title role of ‘Baldi’, the popular and acclaimed Radio 4 murder-mystery series revolving around the adventures of Paolo Baldi, Franciscan priest-turned-sleuth, in modern-day Dublin.

Although Baldi’s job, as a priest on sabbatical from the Franciscan order, is supposedly as university lecturer in semiotics, he prefers to apply his eccentric imagination and analytical skills, wherever possible, to solving murders.

He is welcomed in this by his friend and accomplice in the Dublin gardai, DI Tina Mahon (Tina Kellegher), to the exasperation of her senior officer, DS Rynne (Owen Roe). Rynne’s view is shared by Baldi’s spiritual superior, Father Troy (T P McKenna), who wants Baldi to end his sabbatical, stop meddling in police affairs and return to his original calling in life, the Franciscan order.

‘Baldi’ was originally developed by BBC Northern Ireland from characters created by Barry Devlin, who trained at a Franciscan seminary before choosing a career as a rock musician with the hugely successful Irish band Horslips.

Since the 1980s Barry’s credits include directing music videos for, among others, U2, and writing and directing ‘Lapsed Catholics’ and ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ for television.

Previous series of ‘Baldi’ have taken our amateur detective from a murder in an Italian chip-shop in Dublin to a death at a remote monastic retreat in the country; from the worlds of horse-racing, maths geniuses and the police force, to clockmakers, garden centres and cricket matches.

In Series IV of ‘Baldi’, the tangential-minded sleuth investigates crimes ranging from the death of an expert anagrammatist in Dublin, to the disappearance of an academic on a remote island, to the murder of a politically-incorrect cigar-smoker; he encounters the worlds of a competitive gym, student debates and a shelter for the homeless – and always, somehow, comes out intact the other side.

Actors
David Threlfall (Paolo Baldi) is an acclaimed actor of stage, screen and radio whose credits include ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ and ‘Skellig’ for theatre, the films ‘The Russia House’ and ‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’ and for television ‘Sex, Chips and Rock’n’Roll’ and the current Channel 4 triumph ‘Shameless’.

Tina Kellegher (Tina Mahon) has played lead roles on stage in Ibsen’s ‘A Doll’s House’ and O’Casey’s ‘The Plough and the Stars’, on television in ‘Ballykissangel’ and ‘Sinners’, and the film ‘The Snapper’.

Owen Roe (Supt. Rynne) is an acclaimed Dublin stage and screen actor, where his numerous credits include the recent film ‘Intermission’ and stage productions of work by Boucicault, Tom Murphy and Sean O’Casey.

T P McKenna (Fr. Troy) is a legendary and hugely popular performer from the big and small screen, since his early appearances in the film of Edna O’Brien’s ‘Girl With Green Eyes’ and Sam Peckinpah’s ‘Straw Dogs’, to ‘Callan’, ‘Inspector Morse’ and beyond.

Writers
Simon Brett (Episode 1, ‘Cross Purposes’) is a widely-respected master of the whodunit form. For radio his numerous credits include episodes in the previous three series of ‘Baldi’, ‘No Commitments’ and ‘Smelling of Roses’. His novels include the Charles Paris murder-mysteries and most recently the highly successful ‘Fethering’ mysteries ‘The Body on the Beach’, ‘The Torso in the Town’ and others.

Bill Murphy (Episode 2, ‘The Devil’s Eye’), winner of BBC Northern Ireland’s Tony Doyle Award for television writers in 2001, has written the novels ‘Tin Kickers’ and ‘Fractions of Zero’. His radio credits include the Woman’s Hour series ‘Fractions of Zero’ and ‘The Final Sacrament’.

Andrew Martin (Episode 3, ‘The Smoker’) is a successful journalist whose recent, acclaimed novels include ‘The Bobby Dazzlers’ and the Edwardian railway murder-mysteries ‘The Necropolis Railway’ and its sequel ‘The Blackpool Highflyer’.

Martin Meenan (Episode 4, ‘No Sin’) is a short story writer and regular contributor to BBC Radio Foyle whose credits include, for theatre, ‘All in the Head’, the BBC short film ‘Everybody’s Gone’ and six episodes of ‘Baldi’ for Radio 4.

John Murphy (Episode 5, ‘The Empty Vessel’) left his former career as a Detective Sergeant in the Metropolitan Police when his recovery of Bob Monkhouse’s stolen joke-book inspired him to turn professional, first as a stand-up comic, then as a writer on many RTE shows including ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ and ‘The Dinner Party’. He currently has two films in development.

Francis Turnly (Episode 6, ‘Shelter’) is the author of the stage plays ‘Damage’, ‘Breathing’, ‘Descent’ and ‘A Samurai in Soho’. For radio his play ‘Pressing the Flesh’ was shortlisted for the Richard Imison Award in 2003.

Producer
Lawrence Jackson’s radio credits include two series of ‘Baldi’, the Classic Serials ‘Barry Lyndon’ and ‘The Charterhouse of Parma’, and the afternoon plays ‘Bull Epic’, ‘Carmilla’ and the forthcoming ‘The Giant’s Cause’ by David Rudkin.

More Photos from the recording of Series 4

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