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

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Between 1946 and 1952, Paul Temple appeared in four feature films, each an abridged version of one of the early (hence, now lost) BBC radio serials. These films were distributed by Butcher's Film Service based in the North of England. All were made in the years before Peter Coke was cast as the definitive Paul Temple in the radio series in 1954. Marjorie Westbury had been established in the radio series by this point, but was not cast in these films because she was not a film actress. Francis Durbridge's thriller stars Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve in another intriguing case for BBC radio's smoothest investigator and his glamorous wife.

Paul's investigations into the criminal activities of the shadowy Dr. Belasco have taken him and his wife Steve to London's Berkeley Square for a night of Latin American dancing at the fashionable Machicha Club. They're safe enough inside the Machicha - but it's a very different matter when they try to hail a taxi to go home... 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. In Germany, twelve Paul Temple radio serials were adapted between 1949 and 1967, each episode (in common with the BBC serials) ending on a cliffhanger. They were listened to by such huge numbers of people that they earned the sobriquet Straßenfeger ("street sweepers"), because they left the streets practically deserted whenever an episode was broadcast. They were performed by actors of national renown, including Luxembourg-born René Deltgen (who played the title role in 11 of the 12 series), Gustav Knuth, Friedrich W Bauschulte, Pinkas Braun, Heinz Schimmelpfennig, Siegfried Wischnewski, Wolfgang Wahl, Günther Ungeheuer and Paul Klinger amongst others.Through his work with antiques, he became interested in shell art, and started to produce his own pieces. He had his own personal gallery next to his home at Sharrington Hall in Sharrington, Norfolk, where he worked daily producing pieces. In April 2006, he opened the Peter Coke Shell Gallery in part of the recently restored fishing sheds on West Cliff at Sheringham in north Norfolk. [11]

Now it's the turn of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair from 1946, in which Paul and Steve come to the aid of a baffled Scotland Yard in pursuit of a deadly and mysterious criminal mastermind. Not only has the recording disappeared but also the scripts of Episodes 1, 2 and 6. This new production is made possible by the recent discovery by a colleague in Norwegian radio of a complete set of scripts in an old store cupboard in Oslo.

By Timothy, it's good to hear this early BBC Paul Temple which, according my little friend Mr Wikipedia, was first broadcast from October to December 1942 (right in the middle of the War, of course). 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!". In 1998, on the death of author Francis Durbridge, the BBC broadcast a radio documentary about Paul Temple written and presented by Jeffrey Richards, entitled Send For Paul Temple (aired on 20 May 1998), which included extracts from surviving recordings held in the BBC Sound Archive such as the first ever serial in 1938. [6] [1] List of radio serials [ edit ] Serial title Marjorie Westbury, who in 1945 would take over the role of Mrs Temple, had a supporting role in this serial (as Dolly Fraser – episode 1 only).