BBC Radio 4 Extra

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Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Foreign Bodies

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: History

Mark Lawson examines how mystery novels reflect a country's history and political system.

Foreign Bodies: Series 1: Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk

Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk

Series 1

BBC Radio 4 - Foreign Bodies, Series 1, Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk

Mark Lawson visits Amsterdam in search of the detective Van Der Valk.

Mark Lawson visits Amsterdam in search of the detective Van Der Valk and his rather British creator. With Saskia Noort.

The Van der Valk novels written by Nicholas Freeling became a popular Thames TV series starring Barry Foster in the 1970s. A British chef who lived first in Holland and then France, Freeling's books depict both post-war Europe and the development of closer European ties in the European Union. 

Mark Lawson's series exploring European history through crime fiction continues with a trip to Amsterdam in search of Van der Valk. Lord Grey Gowrie remembers interviewing Nicholas Freeling before his death in 2003, and Dutch author Saskia Noort describes her books about crimes involving women which draw on trends in Dutch society now.

Producer: Robyn Read

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2012.

Foreign Bodies: Series 1

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Mark Lawson presents a history of modern Europe through literary detectives

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Series 1

Netherlands - Commissaris Van Der Valk

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