(Syndicated, 1953) [For once the character actor who was master of the horror film genre got a chance to play the pursuer rather than the pursued in this series produced in Great Britain by ITV (known as Independent Television) and Panda Productions, and distributed by Official Films in the United States. The series was based upon a mystery novel by the American writer John Dickson Carr -- who wrote stories under the pen names "Carter Dickson", "Carr Dickson" and "Roger Fairbaim" during the 1930s through the 1970s. His lead character, Colonel March, played by Boris Karloff wore a distinctive eye-patch, and was in charge of the Scotland Yard "Department of Queer Complaints" -- which in those innocent times meant merely "unusual" complaints. Dickson's source novel "Department of Queer Complaints" which introduced Colonel March was published in 1940. A motion picture starring Karloff had been produced in 1952 called "Colonel March Investigates" scored by John Lanchbery, and the TV series was a natural spin-off the following year.]
[This is one of the few TV THEMEs heard on U.S. television written by British film composer William Alwyn; many of the episode scores for the series were written by Edwin Astley, who later created themes for "The Saint", "The Baron", "Buccaneer", "Seaway" and "Mark Saber of London"] Composer: William Alwyn (ASCAP) 1978 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the 1978 ASCAP Index of Performed Compositions] 2001 Publisher: [listed without publisher in the 2001 ASCAP ACE database] US Copyright Date: US Renewal Date: Recording: