PC 49 Books by Alan Stranks

PC 49 books by Alan Stranks

The Books of P.C. 49

First Uploaded 28 October 2002

corrections or additions?? Archie by John Worsley

The Career in Print of P. C. 49. The Adventures of P.C. 49 debuted on the Light Programme on Monday the 27th of October 1947. Initially the series was considered "adult" listening with all the early runs being broadcast after 8:30 PM. By early 1949 the exploits of Police Constable Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby had an ever growing audience of younger listeners, early evening repeats would have seen these figures on the rise. This popularity with younger listeners must have been enhanced even further with the launch of the Eagle comic in April 1950, and the character's inclusion from the first issue. Alan Stranks wrote the stories, and no doubt used many of the ideas and plots from the radio series.
Initially the strips were drawn by Strom Gould, and from August 1951 until the final P.C. 49 strip in March 1957 by John Worsley. The most notable difference between the strips and the radio series, was the decision by Stranks to drop the character of Joan Carr, Archie's girlfriend, from the Eagle in early 1951. She was effectively replaced by his creation of "The Boys Club", who from then on took up most of Archie's spare time. In light of the continued success of the radio series and popularity of the Eagle strip it is perhaps no surprise that Stranks was commisioned to write an annual in time for Christmas 1951. This was to be the first of a number over the following years, details of which follow.

Simply titled P.C. 49 and Published by Juvenile Productions Ltd pre Christmas 1951, It is an attractive volume that mixes text stories by Stranks with black & white drawings and several colour plates by illustrator F. G. Moorsom. Three P.C. 49 stories are presented:
The Case of the Red Bicycle
The Case of the Black Monkey
The Case of the Green Marbles

The book also features an introduction "I am P.C. 49" by actor Brian Reece, several short articles about policing by Ex-Supt. Tom Fallon formerly of the Metropolitan Police, A cartoon strip - John Harriott, First of the River Police, and another strip Tony Sims Beats the Crooks.

On Duty With P.C. 49 followed from Juvenile Productions in time for Christmas 1952, this book was very much in the same style as the first and was again illustrated by F. G. Moorsom. The three stories presented were:
The Case of the Rank Oursider
The Case of the Master Forger
The Case of the Captive Tadpole

As well as the usual quota of black & white drawing and colour plates, Brian Reece contributed another introduction titled "I Make My Second Bow". The article was accompanied by 4 BBC publicity stills of the cast of the radio series in costume. Alan Stranks contributed a brief article titled "The Case of the First Case - How P.C. 49 Was Born", and a page from a broadcast script was included.

The third book, On the Beat With PC 49, was issued by Preview Publications in 1953 and had one major change. Illustrator of the Eagle Comic strips, John Worsley had now taken over the artwork from Moorsom. In many ways their styles are quite contrasting. Moorsom's drawings and plates are very nice looking, but are lacking any of the vitality that John Worsley's have. Moorsom's seem static in comparison to Worsley's which seem very much alive, in my opinion. Another difference was that Worsley used actor Brian Reece as his image of P.C. 49, where Moorsom had not. The three stories this time around were:
The Case of the Laughing Man
The Case of Bunny's Christmas Box
The Case of the Sinister Secret

"A Personal Note from Brian (P.C. 49) Reece" was the introduction (the final radio episode had been broadcast a few months before), and there were a couple of new BBC publicity stills accompanying it. Also featured "Gigs Cartoon Crime Quiz", "The Language of the Lawless" by Eric Phillips (Det. Sgt. Wright) & "Two Tips For Junior 'Tecs" by Leslie Perrins (Chief Insp. Wilson).

Preview followed this, also in 1953 with a different kind of book. P.C. 49 "Eagle" Strip Cartoon Book, which reprinted three of John Worsley's strip's from the Eagle. He also created some new colour plates depicting scenes from the stories. The forward this time was by Eric Phillips and titled "An Old Chum in a New Guise". The featured stories were:
The Case of the Terrible Twins (this was Worsley's first Eagle strip)
The Case of the Curious Crab
The Case of the Golden Eagle

Below, the opening frames from The Case of the Spotted Toad

September 1954 saw the publication of P.C. 49 "Eagle" Strip Cartoon Book Number 2, this time from Andrew Dakers Ltd. Two Worsley strips from the Eagle were featured:
The Case of the Little Black Prince
The Case of the Looted Lorries

A text story was also featured - The Case of the Liittle Cop and there were also 8 colour plates by Worsley.

(Note, I have been unable to preview this book so far, and these details come from the Norman Wright article.)

And the final 1950's book was released in late 1955, this 6th book titled P.C. 49 Annual. The publisher was again Andrew Dakers Ltd.

This was back to text stories, with black & white illustrations, and a few colour plates. John Worsley does the introductory honours this time, as he "sketches a brief outline of ... Your Favourite Copper." The four feature stories were:
The Case of the Million Dollar Baby (4/11: 20.01.49)
The Case of the Giant Marrow (4/3; 25.11.48)
The Case of the Big Needle (6/5; 07.11.49)
The Case of the Feathered Smuggler

One particularly nice thing about this book (for those interested in the radio series) is that 3 of the stories appear to be straight adaptions of radio episodes, as they feature Joan Carr rather than the Boy's Club, as the previous books had. The episodes are indicated above.

That appeared to be the end of the line for Archie but in 1990, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Eagle, Hawk Books published a large format paperback* titled Eagle Classics - The Adventures of P.C. 49, which featured an excellent article by Norman Wright, that chronicled all the many incarnations of P.C. 49, and was by way of an introduction to 3 complete Stranks/Worsley strips. The titles were:
The Case of the Spotted Toad
The Case of the Magnificent Mouse
The Case of the Old Crock

*Other titles in the Hawk range were Riders of the Range, Harris Tweed & Fraser of Africa.

For anyone interested in these titles, Ebay & the Advanced Book Exchange are probably your best bets.

**Special Thanks to Ian Beard without whose help this page wouldn't exist.**

Additional Reference:
"'The Many Adventures of P.C. 49 - An Introduction" by Norman Wright featured in the Hawk Publication listed above.