In 1939 Raymond Chandler created a different kind of detective, the fast-talking, trouble seeking Californian private eye Philip Marlowe, for his great novel The Big Sleep. Marlowe's entanglement with the Sternwood family - respectable sister with gambling addiction, younger sister with drink/drug problem and an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures - is enshrined in the iconic film version with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Toby Stephens plays Philip Marlowe in a landmark series bringing all Chandler's ground breaking Philip Marlowe novels to Radio 4.

Philip Marlowe.....Toby Stephens
Vivien Sternwood.....Kelly Burke
Agnes Lozelle.....Barbara Barnes
Mona Mars.....Madeleine Potter
Carmen Sternwood.....Leah Brotherhead
Joe Brody.....Sam Dale
General Sternwood.....Sean Baker
Lash Canino.....Iain Batchelor
Eddie Mars.....Henry Devas
Cronjager.....Jude Akuwudike

Dramatised by Robin Brooks
Directed by Claire Grove

This series brings all the Philip Marlowe novels to Radio 4's Saturday Play. The Big Sleep 1939, Farewell My Lovely 1940, The High Window 1942, The Lady in the Lake 1943, The Little Sister 1949 and The Long Goodbye 1953, and two lesser known novels, Playback 1958 and Poodle Springs, unfinished at the time of his death in 1959. The series will be aired in Spring and Autumn 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y4cvg