Victor Canning's Mr Finchley

Two BBC Radio 4 adaptations of Victor Canning’s comic novels about the exploits of a shy solicitor’s clerk, starring Richard Griffiths

Edgar Finchley is middle-aged, unassuming and not in the habit of taking holidays – but in these two delightful dramatisations, he unexpectedly discovers the delights of travel as he crosses the Channel to the Continent and explores the English countryside.

Mr Finchley Goes to Paris finds our hero on his way to France to track down a rather irresponsible client. But before he sets off, he has an important question to put to a certain widow of his acquaintance… On arrival in Paris, he has a contretemps with a haddock, gains a guide, makes a move, visits a fair and gets caught up in a kidnapping – but is it a case of mistaken identity?

In Mr Finchley Takes the Road, he falls in love with a canary-coloured caravan and a rather stubborn horse, and heads off for a series of adventures touring 1930s Kent. Along the way, he meets an unlikely teller of salty tales, is captured by two gamekeepers and accused of poaching, visits an old haunt and goes on a crusade. But someone is following hot on his trail…

Dramatised by father-and-son team Eric Merriman (Beyond Our Ken) and Andy Merriman, these whimsical stories are narrated by James Villiers and star Richard Griffiths as Mr Finchley.

Written by Victor Canning
Adapted by Andy and Eric Merriman
Produced by Gareth Edwards

Starring Richard Griffiths as Edgar Finchley
Narrated by James Villiers

Mr Finchley Goes to Paris
Mrs Crantell – Anna Cropper
Mr Sprake – James Grout
Lawrence Hume – Piers Gibbon
Mrs Patten – Jill Graham
David White – James Taylor
Mavis – Teresa Gallagher
Frenchman – Barry Gordon
Marie Peters – Serena Evans
Robert Gillespie – James Cohen
Madame Mignard – Jacqueline Tong
Waiter – Keith Anderson
Mr Hammerton – Nicky Henson
Michel – Jeffrey Holland
Jerome Giraud – Simon Roberts
Gaston/Jacques – David Howarth
Baptiste Mignard – Albert Welling
Mr Barker – John Bird
Esmond Lockwood – Edward de Souza
Perkins – Richard Ridings
Lanky Harris – Alex Arkell

Mr Finchley Takes the Road
Mrs Finchley – Dinah Sheridan
Mr Rivers– Ron Pember
Turk – Peter Vaughan
Mr Sprake – James Grout
Mr Harricot– Alan Thompson
Colonel Greatorex – Ronald Fraser
Marshall – Joe Melia
Garge – Chris Emmett
Ernie – Jon Glover
Young woman – Susie Brann
Mr Blain – John Bird
Captain – Clive Swift
Mrs Maberley – Auriol Swift
Duffy – Richard Ridings
Mr Greevey – Albert Welling
Robert Finchley – Robert Gill
Mr Harbottle – Piers Gibbon
Miss Slater– Kate Binchy
Sir Simon Penickle – Alan Thompson
Mechanic – David Howarth
Jenks – Ian Bartholomew
Joe Turnbull – Bill Wallis
James Grimes – Geoffrey McGivern
Clarence Armitage – Sebastian Brennan
Mrs Armitage – Jacqueline Tong