Great Barrington — Listeners who have tuned in to Great Barrington’s WBCR-LP 97.7 on Sunday afternoons over the past couple of years may have stumbled upon something a little different from most radio fare, like stepping into a picture-less film: a British detective series that pays homage to Sherlock Holmes while also breaking new ground. “Barnaby Druthers” will air its 100th original episode on Sunday, September 22, at 12:30 p.m.
The show is a spinoff of the Nutmeg Junction audio theater group in Torrington, Conn., which produces original audio theater programming for community radio stations. (Nutmeg Junction’s varying anthology program follows “Barnaby Druthers” at 1 p.m.) J. Timothy Quirk, the Torrington-based writer of “Barnaby Druthers,” describes the show as a “cozy mystery,” where there might be a murder, but there is nothing “particularly graphic”—in the tradition of BBC mystery shows, which Quirk always liked.
“Barnaby Druthers” was inspired in 2020 when Humphrey Ralston, who plays Barnaby, joined the cast at Nutmeg Junction. He was British, with an authentic British accent. Devon Richtmeyer, who plays his younger but more astute female detective Harper Thorne, joined at the same time. Quirk cast them in a “Barnaby Druthers” story, and the pairing stuck. “So we spun that off into its own individual series,” Quirk explains.
Director A.J. Lin began casting and directing the show, which, pre-COVID, was recorded in Torrington, at the community radio station WAPJ. During COVID, they recorded remotely via Zoom, which, says Quirk, “certainly widened our reach in terms of availability of cast members.” Over 30 cast members, many in recurring roles, have appeared on the show.
Audio theater has a long history on radio, remarks Quirk. “Besides classical music, a lot of radio stations had their own theater companies,” leading to some larger, more famous, and established theater companies like the Mercury Theater Company, with Orson Welles and “War of the Worlds.” With the advent of television, audio theater fell by the wayside and radio stations mostly played music. Now, it is “virtually nonexistent” on commercial radio, says Quirk.
“You would more often find something that’s akin to on podcasts,” he continues. “We, as far as I can tell, are one of a select few that’s on community radio stations. Community radio stations are, by definition, serving their listeners by providing something unique, that’s different, that’s not found on commercial radio.”
“Barnaby Druthers,” whose producers and cast all create on a volunteer basis, is broadcast on 35 stations in three countries. Quirk also began writing stories specifically set all across America and in the various cities of some of these radio stations. One of these days, said Quirk, he will write one inspired by Great Barrington. These are termed “Modern Druthers,” as opposed to “Classic Druthers,” set in Victorian England.
“I have to say that it’s easier and more fun to write classic stories; in the modern era, a lot could be solved with your phone, with access to information and video closed captioning. The Victorian era is more fun to write, but we do both whenever something inspires a story.”
The 100th episode will be a classic Victorian tale, but for this special episode, Quirk decided to jump back in time to Barnaby’s past, and to his first case, when school-age Barnaby got involved in an adventure with a young French girl. Now he gets a letter from that girl, and he and Harper Thorne set off for new adventures in Paris.
The episode features the voices of young actors Rowan Taaffe and Lily Danforth Gold. Quirk thinks it is important to draw from local community theater and give opportunities to young people.
And even newcomers to the series will be able to jump in and follow what’s going on. The 28-minute episodes are created “under the philosophy that every episode could be somebody’s first,” says Quirk.
If you like what you hear, the full archive of episodes is available to listen to on the Barnaby Druthers website. And Quirk isn’t planning on stopping anytime some. He is just returned for a trip to London, his first since 1986, and learned new things from several museum visits that he says will help him with the stories. “I’ve got at least four ready,” he says. “When you go travel and see something different, something will inspire. When you’re writing about the Victorian into the Edwardian age of England, it’s good to be there.”
Having churned out new stories consistently over the years since Barnaby’s inception, Quirk remarks, “now I think writing definitely begets more writing. The more I do it, the more I want to continue to do it. It’s also helpful that there’s a group of people that want to do it together, that we all are a part of it.”
