Enjoy two free detective episodes of Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator starring William Gargan A) 12/5/51 The Paper Bullets B) 12/12/51 Death and the Purple Cow Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator was a popular detective series heard on NBC from 1951 until 1955. Initially it was titled Barry Crane but soon became Barrie Craig. The series starred William Gargan as New York-based Barrie Craig with Ralph Bell as homicide detective, Lt. Travis Rogers. Craig liked to work alone and had an office on Madison Avenue. He solved his cases efficiently, and feared no one. He was billed as “your man when you can’t go to the cops, confidentiality a specialty.” Craig’s style was laid-back, which cut against the popular hard-boiled detective stereotype. Scripts were by Louis Vittes, John Roeburt and Ernest Kinoy. The series was broadcast from New York until 1954 with the East Coast’s best supporting actors rounding out the casts. In 1954, through the end of its run in 1955, NBC moved the show to Hollywood with Himan Brown and Andrew C. Love serving as directors. The producers hired Blake Edwards to write and direct a 1952 Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator TV pilot, but it never sold. A few years earlier, William Gargan had played a similar character on radio and TV called Martin Kane, Private Eye. Maybe the reason Gargan was such a convincing detective is because he was a real detective prior to becoming an actor. He worked as a credit investigator and collection agent for a clothing firm. After that, he worked as a private detective with a New York agency for $10.00 a day and expenses. As an actor, Gargan played Ellery Queen in three movies before being cast as Martin Kane, Private Eye. After he left Martin Kane, Gargan signed a million-dollar, seven-year contract with MCA to star in Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator on NBC.