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

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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. In 2014, an abridged remake of the lost 1949 version of "Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair" was aired and released, followed by a live radio show in 2015 with the cast and the WDR Radio Orchestra, hosted by German Comedian Bastian Pastewka. 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] From 1938 to 1968, Francis Durbridge's incomparably suave amateur detective Paul Temple and his glamorous wife Steve solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most popular series. Sadly, only half of Temple's adventures survive in the archives.

Not a bad run at all, if you ask me. Even now, I get quite a bit of mail about this character, and it’s not all from Brits of a certain age. Coke later exhibited his works at Partridge Fine Art in the 1990s, and at The Fine Art Society in New Bond Street in 2002, and 2004, and at the Sloane Club in Lower Sloane Street in December 2006. [12] Personal life [ edit ]There was a rumour that recordings of this serial had been found. It arose when an American collector heard a recording of the BBC's 2006 re-make of this lost serial. 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 ]

Coke lived with his partner Fred Webb, a theatrical lighting engineer, and they collected shells in France and Italy for many years until Webb died in 2003. [2] Coke died aged 95 at Sharrington Hall on 30 July 2008. [13] Plays [ edit ] April 1938 saw the transmission on the BBC's Midland Regional Programme of a thriller serial called 'Send for Paul Temple', written by Francis Durbridge. For the next thirty years, until 1968, the incomparably suave private detective and crime novelist Paul, together with his glamorous Fleet Street journalist wife Steve, solved case after baffling case in one of BBC radio's most enduringly popular series. Unfortunately, recordings of many of the early series are lost to the archives. Calling Paul Temple (abridged remake of radio serial Send for Paul Temple Again) with John Bentley as Temple and Dinah Sheridan as Steve.

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I am old enough to recall when the Australian Broadscasting Commission transmitted Peter Coke's Temple at 10.00 at night. For me, Paul Temple was often accompanied by cries from my mother: 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 ] 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!". 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 AUTHOR