Originally airing in 1973, the BBC production of Murder Must Advertise is a faithful adaptation of Sayers' 1933 novel of the same name. In this case, Lord Peter (Ian Carmichael) is called on to go undercover to discover the truth behind an apparent accidental death at a London advertising firm. One of the copywriters seems to have had a fatal fall on a slippery iron staircase at the firm, but not before starting to write a letter to the owner warning of shady goings-on behind the scenes. Was his death a coincidence or part of a deadly plot? That's Lord Peter's task to find out.

Like the other BBC adaptations of the Lord Peter novels, Murder Must Advertise is spread out over four fifty-minute parts. The only problem is that Murder Must Advertise would really have worked better as a three-part series; the story is interesting but the pacing in the production sags a bit in the middle. The first segment is extremely well-done, introducing the mystery and putting Lord Peter in an interesting position to find out if there was a crime, and if so who did it and, most importantly, why.

However, the next episode is a distinct let-down after the exciting introduction. It brings in the characters of Diane De Momerie and the rest of the "dope-addict" crowd, but this entire section of the story is curiously mishandled. A number of characters are introduced who will turn out in the end to be important to the resolution, but in contrast to the fairly clearly-defined characters of the advertising firm, these characters are sketchily introduced and not as memorable as they could be. In terms of plot, the second part of the film hardly advances the story at all, with Lord Peter mostly dashing here and there in costume, engaged in mysterious banter that doesn't add up to anything worthwhile.

Fortunately, the third and fourth parts take up the slack and move the story toward a satisfying murder-mystery conclusion. Less emphasis is placed on the De Momerie crowd, the weak point of the second episode, and more is placed on Lord Peter's piecing together what really happened on that fatal day in the advertising office. The scenes that take place in the advertising agency itself are the most entertaining, both from the murder-mystery story that unfolds there and from the glimpse into the world of 1930s commercial promotion. Sayers herself had worked at an advertising firm in the 1920s, so it's no surprise that these scenes are convincing, as she drew on her own insider's perspective for Murder Must Advertise.

One small jarring note in Murder Must Advertise is Ian Carmichael's age. While Sayers' novels don't really specify Lord Peter's age, for Murder Must Advertise, the context suggests a Lord Peter in his thirties at the latest... not the fiftyish, gray-haired gentleman that Carmichael portrays. Ian Carmichael does a wonderful job of capturing Lord Peter's eccentric personality, and age-wise there's no conflict in, for example, Clouds of Witness or The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. In Murder Must Advertise, however, he goes incognito as a junior copywriter in an advertising firm, but somehow none of his co-workers seem to notice that the new "junior" man, just learning his trade, is old enough to be nearing retirement. Lord Peter is even referred to as "young man" on occasion, and later, Wimsey refers to his sister Mary as his older sister, despite the fact that the actress playing Mary is clearly younger than he is. Carmichael does his best to carry out his role, and generally pulls it off, but the age conflict does require the viewer to suspend disbelief to a certain degree.

Video

Murder Must Advertise is presented in its original television aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Especially considering the film's air date of 1973, the image looks quite good, certainly a notch above average.

The most noticeable flaw is the poor quality of any scene that takes place outdoors: these scenes are grainy, very noisy, slightly washed-out, and typically have many more print flaws than the clean print of the indoor scenes. My theory in this regard is that the indoor and outdoor scenes were filmed on different types of film stock and that, for whatever reason, the outdoor film stock deteriorated in storage far more than the other type.

Fortunately for viewers of Murder Must Advertise, the story takes place almost entirely indoors, where the image quality is significantly better. For the indoor scenes, the print is clean, with a relatively low level of noise, essentially no print flaws, and good colors across the board.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is quite respectable, offering a clean, distortion-free audio experience. The all-important dialogue is natural-sounding and pleasing to the ear. In some of the "busier" scenes, such as a crowded party, the background sound level is a bit too high compared to the central dialogue, but for the most part the sound balance is maintained correctly.

Extras

The DVD set of Murder Must Advertise offers a few minor special features. There's an interview with Ian Carmichael, text information on Dorothy Sayers, filmographies, and trivia.

The two-disc set is packaged in two keepcases enclosed in a glossy paper slipcase. The packaging is attractive and is decorated in the same theme as the earlier releases of the Lord Peter films, so fans will have a nice-looking collection.

Final thoughts

As an enthusiast of mystery films and a reader of Sayers' novels, I found Murder Must Advertise to be an entertaining mini-series to watch. Its pacing is a little weaker than in The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club, which is my current favorite among the BBC's adaptations of the Lord Peter novels, but all in all it's worth watching. For those viewers who have enjoyed the earlier DVD releases of Lord Peter's adventures, Murder Must Advertise is certainly recommended.