Radio comedy thriller. After the Second World War ends, former spies Josephine Daunt and Susan Dervish decide to setup a detective agency

During wartime, Josephine Daunt, a Special Operations Executive operative in France, and Dervish, her controller in London, were engaged in exciting and dangerous work. But in peacetime they found themselves at a loose end. Though very different people – Daunt, Cambridge educated, meticulous and inquisitive, and Dervish, practical, energetic and instinctive – they work well together and form a private detective agency, enlisting the help of Bill Mackie, a former private detective, whose son had been killed in the war while working for SOE.

In the new fourth series Josephine’s preparations for her marriage to Bill have to take a back seat when an up-and-coming young British fashion designer reports the theft of her latest designs. It seems a pretty straightforward case, but before too long Daunt and Dervish find themselves mixed up in a world of Teddy boys, political chicanery and sudden death.

All four series of the jaunty crime drama featuring two ex-spies who set up a private detective agency

London, 1953. Josephine Daunt and Susan Dervish both worked for the Ministry of Defence during the Second World War, doing top-secret, highly dangerous espionage work. But in peacetime, they find themselves without a job and feeling useless. Determined to put their talents to good use, they decide to set up a detective agency, with the help of former private eye Bill Mackie.

From their Covent Garden office, they handle a steady flow of business. But the ladies’ lives really become exciting when they rescue a woman from drowning – only to discover that she’s not what she seems. Soon, the daring duo are caught up in all manner of challenging cases, including a sporting assignment involving a priest and an Olympic boxing hopeful; a request to bid on a Monet that takes them on a trail across the Channel; a commission to investigate film actress Belinda Lane; and a theft at a fashion designer’s workshop that leads them into a world of Teddy boys, political machinations and murder…

Guy Meredith’s light-hearted crime series stars Anna Massey as Josephine Daunt, while Imelda Staunton, Frances Barber and Sylvestra Le Touzel play Susan Dervish. Bill Paterson and Sean Scanlan co-star as Bill Mackie.