Roger Burford


Roger Verte d'Este Burford was an English poet, novelist and screenwriter. He also wrote crime fiction as Roger East.
Burford attended Cambridge University, being a friend of Christopher Isherwood. Both were members of the Cambridge University Kinema Club. He is fictionalised as "Roger East" in Isherwood's novel Lions and Shadows; On 28 April 1927 Burford married Stella Wilkinson, who appears as "Polly" in the same novel. The two men corresponded throughout the 1930s and Burford's letters are preserved in Isherwood's papers. After graduating he published the well-received "realist" novel Kay Walters, A Woman of the People in 1928. He remained active in British literary circles, publishing his poetry regularly in "little magazines" such as Seed and Booster and becoming a member of the editorial board of the poetry magazine Delta in April 1938. A collection of his verse was published in 1947.
In the late 1920s he also began a career as a writer of screen scenarios and scripts in the British film industry. He expanded into television in the 1950s, writing the BBC drama Three Steps in the Dark. His abilities as both a crime novelist and screenwriter led to him specialising in TV crime drama for much of the 1960s. He was the principal scriptwriter for the BBC series Maigret and also wrote for the one-off series The Hidden Truth and The Sentimental Agent. He also wrote a single episode for the BBC series Dr. Finlay's Casebook in 1965.

Burford was a diplomat in Moscow during World War II.

Publications

As Roger d'Este Burford
Kay Walters, A Woman of the People
As Roger Burford
Poems and Documents
Appointment with Seven
Moscow Blues. A Romance
As Roger East
The Mystery of the Monkey Gland Cocktail
Murder Rehearsal
A Candidate for Lilies
The Bell is Answered
Twenty Five Sanitary Inspectors
Detectives in Gum Boots
Meet Mr. Malcolm
The Pearl Choker
Kingston Black
The Pin Men
As "Simon" in collaboration with Oswell Blakeston
Death on the Swim
Murder Among Friends
The Cat with the Moustache

Selected Scripts and Scenarios

Meet Mr. Malcolm