Delve Special

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Delve Special was a UK BBC Radio 4 comedy starring Stephen Fry as investigative reporter David Lander. It ran for four series from 1984 to 1987, each series being four episodes long. It was written by Tony Sarchet and produced by Paul Mayhew-Archer.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the BBC erased or incinerated a lot of material which it thought of no further commercial use. This occurred because of copyright restrictions which allowed various pieces of material to be broadcast a limited number of times or to be sold on within a certain period of time. Once these parameters had been surpassed, the film/tape was disposed of. Delve Special unfortunately fell into this category ; from the first series, only one episode remains in the BBC radio archives. However, high quality home made recordings of all the first series episodes have recently appeared on some file sharing sites.

David Lander's investigative technique was usually somewhere between the questionable and the illegal - during each episode he also displayed some degree of ineptitude or lack of understanding in the subject matter he was reporting on. As a result, he usually found himself being set upon physically by those concerned. The programme heavily spoofed the style of topical radio reporters such as John Waite of Face the Facts and Roger Cook, a Radio 4 presenter who went on to television work such as The Cook Report.

Actors appearing in Delve Special included: Tony Robinson, Felicity Montagu, Stephen Frost, Mark Arden, Harry Enfield, Dawn French and Brenda Blethyn.

A follow-up television series ran for two series : This is David Lander (starring Stephen Fry) in 1988, and This is David Harper (starring Tony Slattery) in 1990 - Fry being unavailable for the second series due to other commitments.

[edit] A chronological Show List of Delve Special

                   Original
 Episode #         Air Date      Episode Title

1st Series 1984

 1.     1- 1      3-Aug-1984     The Shifton Scandal (1)
 2.     1- 2     10-Aug-1984     The Shifton Scandal (2)
 3.     1- 3     17-Aug-1984     The Shifton Scandal (3)
 4.     1- 4     24-Aug-1984     The Shifton Scandal (4)

2nd Series 1985

 5.     2- 1      6-Sep-1985     The Archibold Cox Gallery Robbery
 6.     2- 2     13-Sep-1985     Who's Baby?
 7.     2- 3     20-Sep-1985     The Secret Dis-Service (1)
 8.     2- 4     27-Sep-1985     The Nicholson Story: Red Faces at MI5

(1) - postponed from Sep 6.

3rd Series 1986

 9.     3- 1      5-Sep-1986     A Rocket for Defence
10.     3- 2     12-Sep-1986     Cowboys
11.     3- 3     19-Sep-1986     Food for Thought
12.     3- 4     26-Sep-1986     City Limits

4th Series 1987

13.     4- 1     28-Aug-1987     There's One Born Every Minute
14.     4- 2      4-Sep-1987     Bitter Harvest
15.     4- 3     11-Sep-1987     The Not-So-Supergrasses
16.     4- 4     18-Sep-1987     The Resurrection of St Jerome

[edit] External links

• Delve Special/This Is David Lander/This Is David Harper information at the BBC