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Columbo – The Complete Series 1-10 on DVD in October

29 September 2009

Even within the pantheon of TV detectives, Lt. Columbo stands out from the crowd. Disheveled, cigar-smoking, doggedly persistent and so good at his job we can only presume he turned down all those promotion offers to avoid the dreaded desk job, he was memorably described by an admiring Charlie Brooker as someone who "irritates criminals into confessing." His cases were also unusually presented, with the audience clued in from the start on who killed who and the pleasure coming purely from watching our man where the bugger down.

The always wonderful Peter Falk gave Columbo a unique complacent, distracted air and the deceptive naivety that tricked so many criminals who were just too sure of themselves – lulled into a false sense of security, they incriminate themselves. Genius murderers believing they had committed the perfect crime sometimes even congratulated Columbo before being arrested. Columbo's signature trick is to conduct a seemingly innocuous interview, politely conclude it, then exit the scene – only to return moments later and, scruffy but menacing, ask "Just one more thing ..."

Now all ten series of Columbo's TV adventures are to be released in a single, cigar-box design set with an eight-page booklet from Universal Studios on 19th October 2009. The set will contain a staggering 35 discs and has a recommended retail price of £129.99.

The press release even provided a few facts about the series, under the banner Columbo – The Evidence, which are worth sharing for those not already hooked and clued in.

  • Columbo's first incarnation, as played by Bert Freed, was in 1960 in a TV anthology series which also included McCloud and McMillan & Wife. It became a stage play in 1962, this time starring Thomas Mitchell – Scarlett O'Hara's father in Gone with the Wind and Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life.
  • Finally, it was made into a 2-hour television movie in 1968. Mitchell had died, and the writers suggested Lee J. Cobb or Bing Crosby for the role, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down. Director Richard Irving was convinced that Falk, who wanted the role, could pull it off even though he was much younger than the writers had in mind. Falk continued in the role when the TV series began in 1971, and played the role until 2002.
  • Columbo's wardrobe was provided by Peter Falk himself. They were his own clothes – including the iconic trench coat which made its first appearance in the second episode.  
  • Columbo's equally famous battered car is a 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet, which Falk selected personally after seeing it in a car park at Universal Studios. When Columbo boasts that it's rare, he isn't kidding: from 1956 to 1961 only 2,050 were produced.
  • Falk would often ad-lib "Columbo-isms" (fumbling through his pockets for a piece of evidence and discovering a shopping list, asking to borrow a pencil, becoming distracted by something irrelevant in the room at a dramatic point in a conversation with a suspect), inserting them into his performance as a way to keep his fellow actors off-balance. He felt it helped to make their confused and impatient reactions to Columbo's antics more genuine.
  • Directors: Among the show's directors, some names sing out... Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Demme each directed an episode of the show during its first run. Nicholas Colasanto (Coach in Cheers) directed several episodes, as did Patrick McGoohan (The Prisoner) and indy giant John Cassavetes.
  • Among the illustrious faces who were either killers, killed or simply came under Columbo's scrutiny were the collowing:

    Murderers: Anthony Andrews, Honor Blackman, Johnny Cash, John Cassavetes, Billy Connolly, Tyne Daly, Faye Dunaway, Dick Van Dyke, George Hamilton, Martin Landau, Patrick McGoohan, Vera Miles, Ray Milland, Ricardo Montalban, Leonard Nimoy, Donald Pleasence, William Shatner, Rip Torn, Robert Vaughn and George Wendt (Norm from Cheers).

    Victims: Will Geer, Leslie Nielsen, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Martin Sheen, Mickey Spillane, Dean Stockwell and Robert Vaughn.

    Witnesses: actors such as Kim Cattrall (Sex & the City), Jamie Lee Curtis, Blythe Danner (Meet the Fockers), Jeff Goldblum, Walter Koenig (Star Trek's Chekov), had roles of varying sizes early in their careers. Peter Falk's real-life wife, Shera Danese, appeared in six Columbo episodes in various roles. More seasoned actors to appear later in their careers included Don Ameche, Robert Loggia, Patrick Macnee, Vincent Price and Rod Steiger.

  • A mystery like "Endeavour" Morse, Columbo's first name was never mentioned in the series, and became as celebrated an enigma as his never-seen wife. In the episode Columbo: Undercover, when asked for his first name Columbo replies, "Lieutenant".