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39 Episodes 1959 - 1960
Episode 1
An opium smuggling ring starts to operate across Europe, with its source in Turkey. Duval flies to Istanbul, where the local police have a suspect in the owner of an import-export business - except he appears to be operating quite legitimately. Finding a link in the supply chain gives Duval his first break, but leaves him with a problem: he must find a way of exposing the masterminds behind the scheme.
Episode 2
Journalist James Brownley arrives to interview noted businessman Baron Untermeyer, who wants the sensitive news of his retirement reported responsibly. The Baron dies in front of Brownley, who immediately reports the story causing a collapse in shares. The Baron was an imposter, though, and the death a fake, but Brownley himself is then found murdered. When Duval realises the nub of the fraud, not news the Baron was dead but the revelation he was still alive, investigating who profited from that knowledge leads back to the Baron's own private secretary, Castillon.
Episode 3
An unexploded bomb is discovered beneath a Scottish dam, with heavy rain raising the water level behind it by the hour. Interpol are called in to help trace those responsible for its design, members of a secret German research group. Duval finds that the only man who can help has his own reasons for not wanting to be found.
Episode 4
Deported from the United States back to his native Italy, the police are convinced convicted racketeer Johnny Stefano is up to something - and call in Interpol when he appears to ally himself with gangsters from across Europe. Duval must find exactly how his protection racket works, and discovers a clue in Stefano's past - and in a minor break-in in Paris.
Episode 5
Duval is set to leave for the weekend when a puzzling report comes in: the body of a seaman has been found washed up at Dover, just seven days after being reported lost overboard in the Mediterranean. As more information comes in, Duval must piece together what happened to the late John Talbot; staying late in his office, the final clue comes from a bottle of wine.
Episode 6
A sailor is knocked down and killed in New York, where his papers show him to be a criminal known to be dead. When his true identity - a refugee last seen at a camp in Austria - is established, Duval suspects a people-trafficking ring may be at work. Anxious to expose the gang's methods, he enlists the help of an undercover detective to act as bait.
Episode 7
Duval is on the trail of a female con artist who poses as a celebrity buying jewellery, and escapes by being arrested by two fake policemen. After the embarrassment of trying to arrest a genuine princess, checking enquiries at a press agency gives Duval a new lead. A narrow escape in Rome sees the fraudster escape again, but abandon her luggage. Her expensive, tailor-made clothes give Duval another chance when she comes to Paris for replacements.
Episode 8
When a number of old masters are stolen from a penthouse in London, Interpol suspect art dealer Wolf Barstrom may be involved and Inspector Duval is asked to help Scotland Yard with their investigation. Their suspicions are aroused when Barstrom is found at London airport, bound for New York with six paintings - only for them to be perfectly genuine works by a modern artist. The body of her father, who they believe helped plan the theft, is pulled from the Thames and Duval realises that she could also be involved - her work giving another way of smuggling the paintings out of the country, among the fittings of a liner. Arranging for the paintings instead to be sold off at auction, Duval forces Barstrom to show his interest.
Episode 9
The body of a Nato courier is found on the Istanbul-Paris express on its arrival, setting Interpol the problem of solving exactly where in one of half a dozen countries the crime was committed. Duval suspects the killer wanted only one thing - the courier's identity and uninterrupted passage through to Paris. He retraces the dead man's journey on the same train, and is surprised to find the courier was not alone - information that someone wants to keep from Duval at all costs.
Episode 10
The appearance of a valuable antibiotic on the black market poses a mystery for Interpol when the American manufacturer insists none has gone missing. Duval examines the stock delivered to Sweden: apparently intact, correctly sealed and all accounted for, he finds the packages containing nothing but bottles of water. He has the next consignment closely watched to try and uncover where, how and by whom the substitution has been made.
Episode 11
Mining engineer Martin Becker sets off an explosion at a diamond mine in Angola, and in the confusion escapes with a number of diamonds. He is soon traced to Johannesburg, with diamonds for sale, but claims to own them legally. The State Police are powerless to act, but learning that examination of the diamonds would confirm their origin, Duval approaches respected dealer Meyer to buy them. Having done so, it is a race to obtain proof of Becker's guilt before he is able to board a plane: he is caught with the help of airport staff deliberately stalling him.
Episode 12
A plane is hijacked by one of the passengers, flying it to an abandoned airstrip to steal its cargo of platinum. Duval flies to Hong Kong in search of the suspect, Chu Luan - but with the net closing in he manages to stay one step ahead of the authorities. When the trail leads to a dead end, Duval begins to wonder if the evidence is all it appears to be.
Episode 13
An Arab dhow is found half-sinking and abandoned - with 16 dead bodies sealed in the hold. Duval suspects it had been engaged in the slave trade and flies to Mombasa to examine it, only to discover the reason for its abandoning - its human cargo had been dying of plague. The crew of the boat make it back ashore, but those behind the trade are not taking any chances. When the body of a dead seaman - shot, but dying of plague - is discovered, Duval realises how ruthless they are.
Episode 14
Forger Eddie Keflik, wanted by the authorities in America, finds a new base for his operation in Europe - selling a printing press to a travelling circus and then blackmailing one of the performers to print his counterfeit currency. Interpol are alerted when forged dollars start to appear across several countries, and Duval travels to Rome to investigate the latest occurrence - and a sighting of Keflik. Duval tries to buy dollars on the black market, hoping to tempt Keflik to come to him, and nearly succeeds - but when he is recognised he loses his coat, and Keflik - only to gain a new clue.
Episode 15
A man is shot in Paris; pulled from the river, the police find on him a puzzling list of initials, addresses and dates. When they prove to be a series of unsolved murders, Duval suspects a ring of contract killers. With the last entry only partially legible, he faces a problem - that murder is due to happen the following day. In London, Duval faces a race against time to identify the intended victim before it is too late.
Episode 16
Author Andrew Slater, researching the capture of a British agent and his Dutch contact in wartime Holland, is killed in Amsterdam. Duval wonders whether the disappearance of money intended for the resistance could provide a motive for murder 16 years later. The possible exposure of a story of wartime betrayal endangers the life of the only person who can identify a traitor - a supposedly dead man's sister.
Episode 17
After burning down a warehouse in Hamburg, an extortionist signing himself 'George' demands £100,000 from a London insurance company. Duval suggests the money be paid, but with the pick-up closely watched George is still able to escape - using a boy on a bicycle to collect it for him. Duval has to try and second-guess the mysterious Mr George's movements - and find a way of actually identifying him.
Episode 18
In her Paris apartment, Zita McGrath is shot and killed - by her husband Cliff, who she thought was taking part in the Mille Miglia race in Italy. While Cliff dashes across Europe to meet his brother Mike, co-driver in the race, and firmly establish his alibi, Duval begins to wonder if he might not be their suspect after all. Duval has a race of his own to try and prove that the famous Cliff McGrath, seen by millions crossing the finishing line, was not at the wheel.
Episode 19
In the Caribbean, a Danish freighter is stopped by a fake naval patrol boat, the captain killed and a consignment of platinum stolen. Duval travels first to Mexico, the ship's destination, and then to the island of Andros to check a possible boat used by the thieves. The boat's owner, Gonzales, claims it is derelict and unusable but when Duval checks he finds appearances can be deceptive. He spreads some false information of his own in order to set a trap for the pirates.
Episode 20
At a conference in Montreal, Duval is introduced to local businessman Vic LeRoy - and is convinced he recognises him as a murderer who escaped from France 20 years earlier. A distinctive tattoo on his right arm could prove his identity, except LeRoy now has a false arm, the result of an accident in a lumber yard. Facing scepticism from the local police Duval looks into LeRoy's past, and makes a startling discovery.
Episode 21
The last words of a murdered man make Duval suspect money laundered by a racketeer through small, Italian-owned businesses was being called in. Alerting police forces to look out for any incidents involving Sicilians gives Duval an early lead when a shopkeeper in London is reported missing by his daughter. He had merely gone into hiding to try and avoid 'The Collector'; but when his daughter is kidnapped, he tries to settle the matter himself. Duval is not fooled, though, and is able to find a new lead to follow.
Episode 22
After her father has reported her kidnapped, Louisa Howard is tracked to a hotel in Switzerland: not kidnapped, but with her fiancé, Ronald Millais. Her father disapproves of the engagement, and dislikes Millais - well known for living off wealthy women - but Louisa resents his, and Duval's, interference. When Duval looks at Millais' past, the death of his first wife in a car crash starts to look more sinister when he finds his second wife walked out on him - after nearly being killed in a car accident.
Episode 23
Businessman Ernst Kaltmann, believed to have been murdered by his partner 12 years earlier, escapes from the Russian zone into West Berlin. His partner, Schroeder, is released from prison in Austria but is bitter at his treatment, and reminds Duval he cannot be tried again for the same crime. He evades the police and is able to enter Kaltmann's hospital, and shoot him. Kaltmann is taken for surgery where Schroeder sees him die and calmly surrenders; when heart massage revives him, Duval points out the crime - now in Germany, not Austria - is attempted murder.
Episode 24
Immediately after robbing a bank in Israel, David Baker and his girlfriend Diane fly to Spain, from where they know they cannot be extradited. The Spanish police are at least able to make it impossible for him to change his Israeli currency, forcing Baker to stay in Spain and send Diane to Paris. Duval poses as a money dealer and meets Diane but strings her along. Baker becomes suspicious of the delay and, fearful of being double-crossed, flies to Paris as Duval had hoped.
Episode 25
Fingerprint evidence puts safe-breaker Sash Moran at a break-in at a diamond merchant in Amsterdam, but Duval finds he has a watertight alibi - finishing a prison sentence in London. He insists he is being framed, and on release travels to Amsterdam - where Duval himself provides the alibi for a second crime. Duval is not convinced, and when he finds the trick to Moran's apparent innocence must try to anticipate his next move.
Episode 26
Two years after his disappearance in an apparent suicide, the widow of artist Hugo Ballard slashes a painting of his - Girl with Grey Hair - in an auction. She claims it is a fake, but with experts insisting it is Ballard's work, Duval investigates its origins and makes a surprising discovery. Ballard's widow is also on the trail though, with her own motive for finding the source of the painting.
Episode 27
Duval arrives in a small mining town in Western Australia to arrest a man for murder in Belgium. He faces opposition from the local police who also want the man for a local crime. Duval is concerned over the way the judicial process is playing out
Episode 28
Duval flies to Northern Kashmir to interview Pierce Clyde, an American businessman who has left a string of company failures in his wake. Arriving at a mountain hotel, Clyde has already left to make an attempt on a nearby peak. When Duval finds a booby trap in Clyde's room, it becomes clear that someone else is after Clyde - with deadly intentions.
Episode 29
When car trouble leaves Duval in a French town, he takes a professional interest in a local case. A woman's body found in the local canal, at first thought to be suicide, points to something more complicated when a lump of platinum is found in her pocket. Duval has to find the connection between a string of jewelery thefts, an English motor yacht, and a Dutch barge with engine problems of its own.
Episode 30
Duval stays at a Swiss ski resort posing as a wealthy French Count to act as bait for a suspected blackmail ring. He is soon approached by Hannah, young, attractive - and a trap for Duval. When a fellow guest, knowing the real Count, becomes suspicious of Duval's true identity events take a more dangerous turn and it is murder, not blackmail, that Duval is investigating.
Episode 31
30 mins
When a car parked on a London street is found to contain woman's body, the owner becomes prime suspect for murder. The police are amazed when Ben Stack comes forward to retrieve his car; claiming to know nothing of the body, the trail leads to a France. Duval soon finds a connection between Stack and the woman at a nightclub, but begins to wonder whether Stack is the real killer.
Episode 32
A cross-channel swimmer is shot as he arrives in England, his last words hinting at some startling revelation. Duval investigates and finds the crossings being used as a cover for a drug-smuggling ring. Knowing the French end of the operation, he plays a dangerous game to provoke a reaction and expose the contact in England.
Episode 33
A currency forger devises a very subtle method of circulating his handiwork: by blackmailing an employee of the manufacturer, he obtains duplicate keys to three safes and replaces genuine notes with forgeries. The first such swap, in Barcelona, is eventually traced to a company that had not been burgled - or so the owners thought. When forgeries then appear in Zurich, Duval spots the common factor - which leads him to the third safe, in London.
Episode 34
Interpol are hunting a pair of robbers, an 'engaged couple' targeting jewellery shops. The evidence points to the pair being English, and when one of them is slightly wounded in their latest robbery Duval finds a further clue - a British-made glove with a bullet hole in it. A break-in at a doctor's surgery in Switzerland suggests to Duval an attempt to treat the wound; looking for an English couple, he finds he has an entire coach party of possible suspects.
Episode 35
30 mins
Bernarde, the owner of a fashion boutique and an old friend of Duval's, asks for help in keeping his new designs safe ahead of their launch. Duval recommends Carol, a private detective who can be employed as a model in Bernarde's salon, and who soon discovers a seamstress tricked into smuggling clothes out. Carol is recognised when attempting to follow; those behind the plot are expecting her when she returns to investigate further, forcing Carol to think fast to find a way of alerting Duval.
Episode 36
When a batch of contaminated cholera vaccine is stolen in Pakistan, Interpol expect it to be sold on the black market and issue an alert for any to be tested before use. Duval flies to Delhi after the death of a doctor at a small clinic, beaten up but infected with cholera - from a broken microscope slide. As more reports of cholera cases arrive, it appears that a respectable drug wholesaler is the source. Duval suspects if not the company, certainly someone working within it, and must track down all the stolen vaccine before any more is used.
Episode 37
In Marseilles, gunrunner Jacques Morrell murders an archaeologist and takes his identity to travel to North Africa; supposedly working on a dig in a Foreign Legion base he is ideally placed to plan his next scheme. Duval is called in to investigate the hijacking of arms supplies, and becomes suspicious of the visiting Professor; he also discovers Morrell's source of information within the Legion, Corporal Kahn. Too late to prevent the last hijacking, he finds Morrell has killed his now-useless contact - news Duval is able to use to persuade Kahn's lover to help him.
Episode 38
Inspector Duval flies to South America to collect Dave Carson and take him to stand trial - and lands in the middle of a civil war. Told that Carson is working at a pumping station on an oil pipeline, Duval risks the fighting to go there with Captain Garetta of the local police and finds Carson alone, insisting he must stay to repair a damaged valve - or face oil flooding a valley. Duval decides to trust Carson and helps him in his work, but discovers he cannot rely on Garetta - working for the revolution, he has his own plans for Carson and Duval.
Episode 39
Karl Hausmann, a Nazi war criminal and explosives expert, is released from prison and vows revenge on the four judges who sentenced him, sending them each a letter threatening them. The first, an American, is killed by a remote-control bomb in New York; in Paris he is able to pass a booby trap to his victim's wife which she unwittingly takes into their apartment in spite of Interpol's precautions.. Duval travels to London where the last two victims, from Britain and Russia, are due to attend a conference; knowing it is the ideal opportunity for Hausmann, he hopes he can spot any attempt on their lives before it is too late..