Paul Temple: The Complete Radio Collection: Volume One: The Early Years (1938-1950)

Product Information

Francis Durbridge licensed the television rights in his characters to the BBC, who between 1969 and 1971 produced a drama series entitled Paul Temple. It starred Francis Matthews as Paul Temple, and co-starred Ros Drinkwater as his wife Steve. [14] None of the television scripts were written by Durbridge. exists in full (this is the version available on CD/cassette from the BBC Radio Collection) [note 15]

Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her journalistic pen name 'Steve Trent', he solves whodunnit crimes through subtle, humorously articulated deduction. Always the gentleman, the strongest expletive he employs is " by Timothy!".During the Second World War, he served with the Royal Artillery in Italy and reached the rank of major. He was demobbed in 1944 and found that his time away from the cameras had affected his performance. He opened an antiques stall on Portobello Market, later progressing to a shop on New King's Road. He returned to theatre in the 1940s and, in 1950, he started writing plays as a sideline. His first play, The Isle of Umbrellas (co-written with Mabel L. Tyrell), was produced at the Embassy. [4] Coke portrayed the role of William in the film The Blakes Slept Here released in 1953. [6] In 1954, he became the seventh actor to take the role of Paul Temple in the long-running radio drama series written by Francis Durbridge. [4] The first serial he starred in was Paul Temple and the Gilbert Case. He had appeared in an earlier episode (1959) of Paul Temple called The Vandyke Affair as Paul Temple BBC Radio 4 Extra. [7] He played the role until 1968, when he appeared in Paul Temple and the Alex Affair. [4] Those programmes which survive have been repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra. [8] Coke returned to England and took acting lessons from an elderly actress. He later won a scholarship to study at RADA. [4] Career [ edit ] Until 1954 the strip was drawn by Alfred Sindall. [20] From 1954 onward it was continued by Bill Bailey, John McNamara [21] and Philip Mendoza. [22] Selected editions from the strips drawn by John McNamara were reprinted by an obscure South London magazine publisher, Micron, in a short lived series in 1964. [23] At no stage did the strip feature recognisable portraits of the then-current stars of the radio series, Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. [24] Commercial releases [ edit ] Created for the BBC radio serial Send for Paul Temple in 1938, the Temples featured in more than 30 BBC radio dramas, twelve serials for German radio, four British feature films, a dozen novels, and a BBC television series. A Paul Temple daily newspaper strip ran in the London Evening News for two decades. [1] Overview [ edit ] At the end of each tale, Paul, Steve and Sir Graham Forbes held a post mortem. Here, Paul explained why certain events in the serial took place, which of these had been red herrings, and which had been genuine clues. In general, the serials feature similar types of events, often in the same sequence.

Unfortunately, about a third of the earliest original radio broadcasts have been lost over the years, mostly due to BBC cost-cutting measures (“Hey, we can tape over these!”), with all the surviving original shows released by the BBC Radio Collection, and in the 2000s, they began re-recording and airing the remaining episodes with new actors, using the original sound effects and theme music when possible, all in an effort to retain as much as faithful as possible to the original broadcasts. ABOUT THE AUTHORPaul's hunt for Dr Belasco takes him from London's Soho to a dangerous rendezvous on the Great North Road. Coke graduated from RADA aged 24, and was named one of the Daily Mail 's 'Stars of the Future'. He was also reportedly offered a seven-year contract in Hollywood, though declined as he "will be a better actor in a few years, and Hollywood will still want him. If he goes now, he will be forgotten." [4] He starred in Dodie Smith's 1937 play Bonnet Over the Windmill. Coke made his film debut in the comedy Missing, Believed Married (1937) and later starred in The Return of Carol Deane and Keep Smiling (both 1938). [5]

During 2011–12 all four Paul Temple movies were released by Renown. A DVD box set of three was released in November 2011; the fourth film, Paul Temple's Triumph, was released singly, initially to Renown Club members only, in March 2012, but has since become generally available. Directors: Douglas Camfield, Cyril Abrahams, Paul Ciappessoni, Eric Hills, David Chantler Ken Hannam, Christopher Barry, Michael Ferguson, John Matthews, Frank Cox, George Spenton-Foster, Michael FergusonBecause no recordings survive for many of the early serials, in 2006 BBC Radio 4 began recreating them, in as authentic a manner as possible: as mono productions, employing vintage microphones and sound effects, and using the original scripts. In all cases Crawford Logan starred as Paul Temple with Gerda Stevenson as Steve, in place of the original leads. The first of these broadcasts, in August 2006, was a new eight-part production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery, originally aired in 1947. A new production of The Madison Mystery, from 1949, aired between May and July 2008, followed by the 1947 serial Paul Temple and Steve in June and July 2010. A Case for Paul Temple, from 1946, was transmitted in August and September 2011. The final such production to date was Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair, aired in 2013 (the longest of all the serials, running to ten episodes). Many of these new productions featured Welsh actor Gareth Thomas as the head of Scotland Yard. Each of the new recordings was also released on CD. [9] [10] Lester Mudditt first played Sir Graham Forbes, the Chief Commissioner of Scotland Yard, in this serial – and would continue to play that part in every serial up to and including The Spencer Affair in 1958.

Searching for Julia's killer, a fortune teller in Brighton warns the Temples they're in grave danger.Temple is a mystery author turned private eye (and shit magnet–trouble just seems to follow him), who is frequently “sent for” by Scotland Yard to “help out.” Aiding him in almost all of his investigations is his faithful journalist wife, Louise, known to one and all as “Steve,” after her writing pen name of Steve Trent. Also frequently lending a hand is Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard, who would join the couple at the end of each show to offer a post-mortem of sorts on the case at hand. Paul Temple Intervenes was obviously designed for a 20 minute time-slot and, according to Mr Wikipedia the only such in the series. Nevertheless, it appears that earlier serials were of a variety of time-frameslots. However, by Peter Coke's day, Paul Temple always strode the the microphone for 30 minutes at a time. The Paul Temple Library, reprints from the daily newspaper strips, published by Micron (March to July 1964): ten issues, priced at 1s 3d each Calling Paul Temple (abridged remake of radio serial Send for Paul Temple Again) with John Bentley as Temple and Dinah Sheridan as Steve.