Iconic detective lives up to expectations

LIEUTENANT Columbo (John Guerrasaio) is deservedly something of a folk hero. Peter Falk’s popular portrayal is iconic and this original dramatised version of the long-running, 70s television series is instantly recognisable.

Columbo is suitably comedic, shambolic and shabby, but with intense flashes of genius that mean he always gets his man (or woman). His raincoat is often inexplicably done up on the wrong buttons, his trademark cigar usually unlit, but the charm of this piece is that two adversaries are pitched against each other - and both have in-depth knowledge of the human mind: one a professionally trained psychiatrist, the other a street-wise policeman.

We’re in America – Los Angeles 1968 - and the play begins with some wonderfully blousy piano music – speakeasy style overlaid with a pulsing and insistent police siren. It sets the scene beautifully. We meet the psychiatrist, Dr Flemming (Brian Capron), who is planning a weekend away with his wife Claire ((Alexandra Boyd). But he has a bit on the side – who he is planning to make an accessory to murder. Susan Hudson (Elizabeth Lowe) is duped into supporting Claire’s well-planned, cold-blooded execution. You’d expect as many twists and turns as a pig’s tail but, inevitably, Columbo gets his man.

Columbo’s catch-phrase “And another thing ...” is used brilliantly. It started, apparently, as a mistake. The writers, Link and Levinson, admitted that their final scene was originally too short and to cover without a re-write they simply had Columbo re-enter the room and say: “And another thing”. Now you know.

Jane Howard