The Ruth Rendell Mysteries is a British television crime drama series, produced by TVS and later by its successor Meridian Broadcasting, in association with Blue Heaven Productions, for broadcast on the ITV network. Twelve series were broadcast on ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000. Created by renowned author Ruth Rendell, the first six series focused entirely on her main literary character, Chief Inspector Reg Wexford, played by George Baker. Repeat airings of these series changed the programme's title to The Inspector Wexford Mysteries. However, later series shifted focus to other short stories previously written by Rendell, with Wexford featuring in only three further stories, in 1996, 1998 and 2000. When broadcast, these three stories were broadcast under the title Inspector Wexford.
In some cases stories were expanded from Rendell's original material or elements from a number of stories were woven together into one episode. A smaller number of episodes were based on Rendell's full-length novels, such as The Strawberry Tree starring Simon Ward, Going Wrong starring James Callis, A Case of Coincidence starring Keith Barron and Ronald Pickup, Front Seat starring Janet Suzman, and The Lake of Darkness starring Jerome Flynn. A total of fifty-five episodes featured Inspector Wexford, alongside his wife Dora (Louie Ramsay) and his assistant DI Mike Burden (Christopher Ravenscroft). A total of twenty-nine episodes focused on other characters.
The first six series were released on VHS, but have never been released on DVD due to licensing rights issues with The Walt Disney Company, who owns Television South's back catalogue of programming. Series seven to twelve have since been released on DVD as a Best Of box set, omitting four episodes.
Each episode follows the investigations of Chief Inspector Reg Wexford and his team of detectives in the fictional town of Kingsmarkham. The cases they investigate are often complex and involve a range of characters with hidden motives and dark secrets.
The series delves into the psychology of crime, exploring the motives and behaviors of both the perpetrators and the victims. The stories are often dark and gritty, with themes of murder, revenge, jealousy, and betrayal.
Throughout the series, Wexford faces personal challenges and struggles with his own demons, including his complicated relationship with his wife, Dora. Despite his personal troubles, Wexford remains a dedicated and determined detective, committed to solving each case and bringing justice to the victims.
This was the last series to solely feature Inspector Wexford. Subsequent series shifted focus onto other characters previously featured in short stories by Rendell.
This series was the first series not to feature Inspector Wexford, with focus being shifted to other leading characters from Rendell's repertoire of short stories. The lead role of Steven Whalby is played by Colin Firth.
The first six series were released on VHS on 21 January 2000 via IMC Vision. This was shortly before the rights to Television South's back-catalogue were purchased by The Walt Disney Company during their purchase of Fox Family Worldwide in 2001, which has subsequently led to all other TVS programmes being unavailable for commercial release on VHS or DVD.
Subsequently, the remaining six series were released on DVD on 9 April 2007, as The Best Of Ruth Rendell Mysteries, via Network. As these series were not produced by TVS, the licensing rights became available for a DVD release. However, four episodes were omitted ("Heartstones", "The Strawberry Tree", "Thornapple" and "Talking to Strange Men"), none of which have ever been commercially released. Again, the remaining six series were released on DVD in the United States on 24 June 2008. Series seven-twelve have since been repeated on ITV3 and ITV Encore, however, once again the four episodes omitted from the DVD were not broadcast, suggesting that the licensing rights for these episodes are no longer available.