The Sensitive

Eleven BBC Radio 4 Crime Dramas

By: Alastair Jessiman

Narrated by: full cast, Jimmy Chisholm, Julie Duncanson, Robin Laing, Sheila MacDonald

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The complete series of off-beat thrillers about psychic detective Thomas Soutar, who uses his skills in police investigations. Set in Glasgow and featuring fantastic full casts, these unique police dramas star Robin Laing as Thomas Soutar.

The Sensitive
Police call in Thomas Soutar to help find a missing woman. Thomas is adept at solving crimes - but is his extraordinary gift a blessing or a curse?

The Hanged Man
Thomas Soutar discovers some unsettling connections between his own uncle's past and the murder of a young boy.

A Possession
When Thomas agrees to help in the search for a missing music student, he becomes obsessed by the missing girl in ways that he had not expected.

A Nobody
Thomas suffers a crisis of confidence when he is asked to investigate a potential serial killer. An old girlfriend, Kat, persuades him to take a break for a few days, but Thomas soon becomes convinced that they are being followed.

A Casualty of War
Thomas' mother has been forced to close her guest house due to emergency building work. An old friend offers her the use of his guest house, now lying empty. But Thomas senses a malignant presence in the isolated house, and one night Thomas' mother is sure she sees a face in her bedroom mirror – the face of a woman not seen since 1945...

The Protector
Thomas is asked to investigate the disappearance of a family friend. It's believed the missing man may have committed suicide, but the voices in Thomas's head suggest a different explanation…

Queen of the Dead
A grieving daughter finds hundreds of cassette recordings made by a woman obsessed with her late father, a Professor of English. Thomas Soutar is hired to trace the identity of the woman behind the tapes, who styles herself the ‘Queen of the Dead’.

Terma
Thomas is brought helps investigate when a journalist goes missing after building up a dossier on a powerful crime family.

Black Island
Thomas and Kat go on holiday to the Western Isles. But Thomas is soon drawn into a dangerous game with a celebrated actor.

Underground Man (2 parts)
Glasgow's disused underground tunnels are the hunting ground for an injured ex-soldier who threatens to kill three men he holds responsible for cheating him out of an inheritance. When one of the men under threat goes missing, Thomas helps the police in their search - but he soon discovers that there is danger much closer to home.

Heart of Darkness (2 parts)
A religious retreat in the Scottish Highlands is the venue for the final investigation by the psychic Thomas Soutar. Thomas and Kat discover that the extreme views of their host have alienated many people in the community, and a quiet few days away become unexpectedly life-changing when Thomas has a fateful reckoning with his psychic abilities.

Written by Alastair Jessiman
Produced and directed by Bruce Young

©2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

great performance and stories

I have totally enjoyed the stories and the progression of the sensitives life. The performance of the readers was very well done and I could close my eyes and visualize the characters and scenery and felt like I was there.

An excellent series of detective stories!

This is one of the finest things the BBC has ever put out! Thomas is a psychic in Glasgow that offers, reluctantly at times, the police with help in their investigations. He is appreciated and also referred to as a freak and a charlatan when things don't turn out to be true. Thomas' gift/curse helps to solve some of the higher profile cases and in one episode makes himself the angry target of a serial killer who he purposely goads on a radio show, and then drives out in the country to wait for the killer to come to him. They are very well written and fleshed out detective stories and do a great job of driving the listener through the emotional gamut. These stories are not for the extremely sensitive (Oh I can't believe I went there!), but definitely not for children. Not a shot is fired from Thomas. He simply uses his gift as efficiently as one could use such a gift. Enjoy.

not a great story

excellent performance.
nice Scottish accent
I got bored and tired towards the end
the psychic is blind
Blind to his own impending