Baldi (radio)


Baldi is a BBC Radio 4 murder mystery series whose central character is Paolo Baldi, a Franciscan priest on sabbatical, lecturing on semiotics at a university in contemporary Dublin. After helping the police as a translator for an Italian witness, he turns sleuth. Created by Barry Devlin, it is produced by BBC Northern Ireland.

Summary

Father Paolo Baldi is a priest torn between his interest in investigation and detective work, and the secluded life of a priest. On sabbatical from the Franciscan Order, he takes up amateur sleuthing and befriends DI Tina Mahon, a member of the Gardaí. Both her superior, DS Rynne, and Baldi's spiritual director, Father Troy, would prefer that he end his sabbatical and return to the Order. Father Baldi has an unfortunate knack of becoming involved in murder enquires, usually by his friendship with one of those involved. His gentle, reassuring behaviour and the Seal of the Confessional encourages participants to open up to him.

Broadcasting Information

Five series have been broadcast, totalling twenty-eight episodes. These have all been first aired in the 45 minute Afternoon Play slot, with frequent repeats of the series on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The regular cast includes David Threlfall, Tina Kellegher, Owen Roe and T. P. McKenna. Guest appearances have included some of Ireland and the UK 's leading actors, including Gerard McSorley, Martin Clunes, Stephen Mangan, Margaret D'Arcy, Niall Buggy, Adrian Dunbar, Michael Maloney, Bill Nighy, Sorcha Cusack, Geraldine James, Niall Toibin, Barry McGovern, Nick Dunning, David Kelly, Stephen Moore, Pauline McLynn, Sara Kestelman, Robert Bathurst, John Kavanagh, Mark Lambert and Victoria Smurfit.
The theme tune is by Sting, and is called "Saint Agnes and the Burning Train".

Episode list

Goofs

In the episode Sick Rose, Paolo infers that an unpleasant man has an unacknowledged son, based on the fact that both men suffer from color blindness. However, color blindness is typically an X-linked trait, which means it is passed on from mother to son.

Technical Crew