Five Minute Mysteries radio show (1947-1950, United States)

Episode time

5 minutes

Language

English

American radio shows Mystery shows Detective shows

Five Minute Mysteries was a show that was presented as a filler between other shows - as the title suggests, the whole show was done in just five minutes. The concept was very simple, but at the same time very effective - the first part was setting the scene, showing the few characters that took part and at the end of this part (after about 2–3 minutes) the detective who was taking part in the scene was giving his solution. Then there was a break during which the audience could try to solve for themselves what was the solution to the case, during which the main theme was played over and over again for about a minute. The last part was an explanation given by the detective to what led him to the conclusion that he gave before the break.

On the surface, the show was similar to The Adventures of Ellery Queen - a chance for the armchair detectives to prove what they are worth, but Five Minute Mysteries was not a panel show or the competition, the finding of the right solution was the only prize. While the show was interesting, there were some problems - not all of the episodes were made with the same standards and not all of the mysteries kept the same quality. Some of them had blindingly obvious solutions and after hearing a few episodes, it was too simple to solve the next one. But the bigger problem was with those not so obvious solutions - sometimes they were simply impossible to solve, f.e. they required a very specific knowledge about driving rules in some of the states in the US. But the worst kind of Five Minute Mysteries were those, which, even when the solution was given, not always make more sense than before you knew the solution.

Five Minute Mysteries was just a filler put in the program to fill all the gaps or to sell some advertisement time, the concept was not bad, but the quality sometimes struggled.