Inspector Larry Bird

Inspector Larry Bird is a non-canonical character created for ITV's 2007 adaptation of the novel At Bertram's Hotel. He is a Scotland Yard officer and the lead investigator for the crimes at Bertram's Hotel. In this respect, he replaces Chief Inspector Davy and Inspector Campbell from the original novel.

In the Davy and Campbell dynamic of the original novel, Campbell was called to investigate a relative minor incident concerning the disappearance of Canon Pennyfather. Davy, who had been conducting surveillance on the hotel because he believed some larger organised crime was being organised from the hotel, tagged alone, at first undercover as Campbell's assistant. Only later did the investigation take a more serious turn. With Bird, no such dynamic existed. He was called in from the first to investigate a serious crime, that of the murder of Tilly Rice, and given the hat she was wearing, it was considered possibly early on that it was a case of mistaken identity and that the actual target was someone else. As events escalated, he would have to investigate a second murder and also wrapped up two other side plots, involving the theft of jewels and the operation of a ratline for ex-Nazi fugitives.

From his appearance and demeanour, Larry Bird was probably a fairly junior officer like Inspector Campbell. Certainly younger than the average age of the people he had to investigate and question, but he was not going to let anyone put him down on account of his age. When Mr Humfries the hotel manager remarked that he expected someone "more mature", Bird retorted that he had been promoted to command a company at 22 at Normandy, and he saw more there in a week than Humfries would in a lifetime. Jane Cooper later remarked that Bird was about her age but acts like an old man. "It's been a difficult war," she adds. "I've seen that look before."

Being fairly junior, Bird was acutely aware of proper police procedure. He was at first reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help or her suggestions. But he quickly warmed up to her and also the Jane Cooper when he realised that they were highly observant and perceived more than he did about what was going on. Nonetheless, at one point, he said, rather comically: "Look, it's er...highly improper of me to even ask this but do you have any idea what happened?" By the time of the denouement, however, he was working hand in glove with them. He allowed Miss Marple and Jane Cooper to do most of the talking. There is even a humorous incident where Jane and Bird spoke at the same time. Jane apologised but Bird asked her to go on speaking.

Bird pairs off with Jane at the end of the show, much to Miss Marple's approval.

Larry Bird is portrayed by Stephen Mangan.