The Big Sleep

In 1939 Raymond Chandler created a different kind of detective, the fast-talking, trouble seeking Californian private eye Philip Marlowe, for his great novel The Big Sleep. Marlowe's entanglement with the Sternwood family - respectable sister with gambling addiction, younger sister with drink/drug problem and an attendant cast of colourful underworld figures - is enshrined in the iconic film version with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Toby Stephens plays Philip Marlowe in a landmark series bringing all Chandler's ground breaking Philip Marlowe novels to Radio 4