Prescription: Murder, the 1968 pilot for Columbo, had been something of a muddled affair: overlong, unremarkable and, worst of all, a dull characterization of the lieutenant himself. Columbo returned ...

Lieutenant Columbo, played with average Joe charm and unshowy, easy-to-miss dexterity by Peter Falk, is more than meets the eye — to the bad guys, not us, because we know how things will turn out.

Columbo (or at least the programme) seemed to have a fascination with mystery writers. Perhaps this isn't surprising, as its creators later went on to make Murder, She Wrote, which sort of replaced ...