Colonel March
Scotland Yard Departmental Chief • First recorded inquiry in “The Department of Queer Complaints” (1940)
Biographical Profile & Origins
March presided over the fictional Department D3 at New Scotland Yard, dubbed the Department of Queer Complaints. The character gained further renown when Boris Karloff portrayed him in the 1950s British television series Colonel March of Scotland Yard.
Physical Bearing & Mannerisms
A stout, genial, round-faced gentleman with a perpetual twinkle in his eye, puffing placidly on a pipe and blowing smoke rings while contemplating seemingly miraculous anomalies.
Investigative Method
Refusal to accept the paranormal. March specializes in the "Queer Complaints"—reports that allege invisible men, people vanishing from rooms in mid-air, or animals committing impossible homicides. He operates by turning bizarre assumptions upside down.
Investigated Case Files
Carter Dickson
The Department of Queer Complaints
US: Scotland Yard: The Department of Queer Complaints
The Department of Queer Complaints
US: Scotland Yard: The Department of Queer Complaints
Seven investigations featuring Colonel March, the head of Department D3—a special branch of Scotland Yard that receives only complaints too bizarre, supernatural, or absurd for ordinary police channels. Includes the classic impossible crimes "The Footprint in the Sky" and "The Silver Curtain".