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Francis Durbridge

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50-526: Francis Henry Durbridge ( listen ; 25 November 1912 – 10 April 1998) was an English dramatist and author, best known for the creation of the character Paul Temple , the gentlemanly detective who appeared in 16 BBC multi-part radio serials from 1938 onward. Durbridge was born in Hull , East Riding of Yorkshire , and educated at Bradford Grammar School , where he was encouraged to write by his English teacher. He continued to do so while studying English at

100-442: A half-hour documentary Send For Paul Temple , an episode in the series The Radio Detectives . Because 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

150-596: A new permanent home on the Light Programme , which too was a national station, where they remained (save for occasional repeats on the Home Service) until the last serial in 1968. The introductory and closing music for the majority of the serials was Coronation Scot , composed by Vivian Ellis , though the earliest serials (those aired prior to December 1947) used an excerpt from Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov . Repeats of some serials continued to be heard on

200-480: A short lived series in 1964. At no stage did the strip feature recognisable portraits of the then-current stars of the radio series, Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. All the surviving English-language radio episodes, including the 1940 Canadian remake of Send for Paul Temple , have been released on CD by the BBC. The 11 surviving colour episodes held in the BBC archives (featuring Francis Matthews and Ros Drinkwater) from

250-614: A version of Melissa , adapted by Alan Bleasdale from the Francis Durbridge novel. Jennifer Ehle played Melissa. Sweden Finland Netherlands Paul Temple 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

300-544: Is a 1948 British crime film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring John Bentley , Dinah Sheridan and Margaretta Scott . It was the second in a series of four Paul Temple films distributed by Butcher's Film Service . The first was Send for Paul Temple (1946), with Anthony Hulme as Paul Temple. John Bentley then took over the role in Calling Paul Temple , continuing for two further films: Paul Temple's Triumph (1950) and Paul Temple Returns (1952). It

350-569: The BBC Sound Archive such as the first ever serial in 1938. 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

400-510: The University of Birmingham . After graduating in 1933, he worked for a short time as a stockbroker's clerk before selling a radio play, Promotion , to the BBC at the age of 21. Durbridge created the character of Paul Temple, a crime novelist and detective, in the 1930s. With Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who would later become his wife, Temple solved numerous crimes in the glamorous world of

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500-671: The 1940s serials, it made Temple sound like Wilfrid Hyde-White (it was a phrase Hyde-White frequently used, particularly in the BBC Radio series The Men from the Ministry ). Interviewed in 2006, Peter Coke said he hated the phrase, because even in the 1950s he thought it sounded old-fashioned. 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

550-459: The 52 episodes currently exist in the BBC's television archive with their original English soundtrack, and only 11 of these are in colour (for the other five, only black and white telerecordings survive). Seasons 2-4 survive, in colour, in archives in Germany, but with dubbed German soundtracks. The 11 colour episodes are available on DVD (EAN 5036193099021). The theme tune of the television series

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600-784: The BBC-TV version of "Paul Temple" were released on DVD on 6 July 2009 by Acorn Media UK . A further five black-and-white recordings (of originally colour episodes) were released in April 2012. All of Seasons 2-4 exist in Germany in various archives (principally in the archives of ZDF, the series' German co-producer) with soundtracks dubbed in German (just one, not existing at the BBC, survives in English). The German language versions have all been released on DVD in Germany by Fernsehjuwelen DVD. In 2010 Renown Pictures Ltd, new owners of The Butchers Library, released on DVD

650-549: The Geneva Mystery (1965) 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

700-482: The Message (1978). Beware of Johnny Washington (1951, reissued by HarperCollins in 2017) was a substantially re-written version of the first Paul Temple novel, Send for Paul Temple , and there were three others based on Paul Temple scripts that were recycled as non-Temple books. Two titles, Back Room Girl (1950) and The Pig-Tail Murder (1969) were written as original novels, but most of the later books were adapted from

750-532: The Paul Temple pen name. The Tyler Mystery is unusual in giving Temple's wife, Steve, a more central role. East of Algiers was partly based on the 1947 radio serial Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery . From The Kelby Affair (1970) on the novels are credited to Francis Durbridge alone. Durbridge wrote three Tim Frazer novels: The World of Tim Frazer (1962), Tim Frazer Again (1964) and Tim Frazer Gets

800-588: The feature films Send For Paul Temple , Paul Temple Returns (a.k.a. Bombay Waterfront ) and Calling Paul Temple . 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. Starting in February 2016, all

850-480: The first appearance in the series by Westbury, in a supporting role. All but one of the serials starring Peter Coke also exist: since 2003, these have been regularly repeated on digital station BBC Radio 7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra ). In 2006, the station tracked down the then 93-year-old Coke for a half-hour interview programme, Peter Coke and the Paul Temple Affair , and the actor was also interviewed in 1998 for

900-421: The following four Temple novelisations up until 1948. All of these were rapidly adapted from Durbridge's original radio scripts in order to capitalise on the popularity of the radio serial. Publicity for Send for Paul Temple described it as "the novel of the thriller that created a BBC fan-mail record". The two novels with Douglas Rutherford (The Tyler Mystery , 1957 and East of Algiers , 1959) appeared under

950-520: The gentleman, the strongest expletive he employs is " by Timothy! ". 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. Paul Temple

1000-574: The help of others. Durbridge wrote 20 Paul Temple serials for radio. The first was Send for Paul Temple , broadcast in eight episodes on the BBC Midland Regional Programme from 8 April 1938. Hugh Morton played Paul, and Steve was played by Bernadette Hodgson. Carl Bernard took over the part of Paul in 1939. Peter Coke took over the part from the 1954 serial, Paul Temple and the Gilbert Case , onwards. Marjorie Westbury took over

1050-459: The leisured middle classes, at first on radio. In addition to the Paul Temple series, Durbridge wrote other mysteries for radio and television, many of which were also produced for Dutch, German and Italian television and radio. Durbridge also forged a successful career as a writer for the stage with seven plays, the last of which, Sweet Revenge , was written in 1991. He also wrote 43 novels, many of which were adapted from his scripts, sometimes with

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1100-529: 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 . In 2015, all four Paul Temple feature films were released on DVD. Seven Italian-language Paul Temple serials were produced by RAI between 1953 and 1977, each with a different voice actor in

1150-498: The mid-1960s, mini-series based on the Paul Temple novels appeared on TV in Europe. The 1969–1971 television series Paul Temple ran for 52 episodes over four seasons, with the last 39 episodes (seasons 2–4) being the first international television co-production, made by the BBC with Taurus Films of Munich, West Germany. Paul Temple was played by British actor Francis Matthews , with Ros Drinkwater playing Steve. Calling Paul Temple

1200-402: The most popular with audiences, was Peter Coke (pronounced Cooke ) and Marjorie Westbury , who starred together in every serial made between 1954 and 1968; Westbury had played the role in every serial aired between 1945 and 1954. The radio series was a collaboration between writer Francis Durbridge and BBC producer Martyn C Webster, both of whom worked all of the radio broadcasts aired over

1250-1053: The opening title " The Frightened City " performed by The Shadows, which added a touch of horror to the dramas. Das Halstuch Look for Das Halstuch on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Das Halstuch in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use

1300-542: 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

1350-429: The original scripts in order to capitalise on the popularity of the radio serial. Publicity for Send for Paul Temple described it as "the novel of the thriller that created a BBC fan-mail record". Durbridge used a co-author because he regarded himself as a writer of dialogue, a scriptwriter rather than a novelist. The two novels with Douglas Rutherford ( The Tyler Mystery , 1957 and East of Algiers , 1959) appeared under

1400-422: The part of Steve from the fifth serial, Send for Paul Temple Again (1945). She remained as Steve for the rest of the radio run. To many people, Coke and Westbury are most firmly identified with Paul and Steve. The original signature tune was taken from Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov , with incidental music taken from the works of other composers, including Tintagel by Sir Arnold Bax . The signature tune

1450-426: The pen name 'Paul Temple'. The Tyler Mystery is unusual in giving Temple's wife Steve a more central role. East of Algiers was partly based on the 1947 radio serial Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery . From The Kelby Affair on the novels are credited to Francis Durbridge alone. Between 19 November 1951 and 1 May 1971, whilst the character was at the height of his popularity on radio and television, Paul Temple

1500-577: The radio plays were re-recorded using Dutch actors and the title character's name adapted as Paul Vlaanderen. In Norway there were made around 30 episodes for radio in three series in the years 1952 to 1973. 1952 - Paul Temple og Gregory-saken, based on Paul Temple and the Gregory-affair (1946) 1953 -Paul Temple og Madison-mysteriet, based on Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery (1949) 1973-Paul Temple og Milbourne-saken, based on Paul Temple and

1550-417: The radio series by this point, but was not cast in these films because she was not a film actress. 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. None of the television scripts were written by Durbridge and

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1600-444: The serials feature similar types of events, often in the same sequence. The Paul Temple characters and formula were developed in a succession of BBC Radio serials broadcast between 1938 and 1968, with several radio actors portraying the Temples. After the war the character was played by a succession of different actors: Barry Morse (1945), Howard Marion-Crawford (1946) and Kim Peacock (1946–1951). The longest-running team, and

1650-643: The stories are set in the 70s and lack the period charm of the radio stories. The 52 episodes, made over 4 seasons, were co-produced with ZDF , a West German television station based in Munich . This made it practicable, in terms of the show's budget, to film location scenes for the series overseas (i.e. in Munich and other cities in West Germany). The episodes were subsequently dubbed into German, using German voice artists, for broadcast by ZDF to German audiences. Only 16 of

1700-406: The streets deserted. The actors were of national renown, with Paul Temple played by Luxembourg -born René Deltgen , and supported by Gustav Knuth , Paul Klinger and others. All of these German radio serials are, like the BBC originals, available on CD . The European Broadcasting Union invited Durbridge in 1967 to write an original radio serial for the international market, La Boutique . This

1750-517: The successor to the Home Service, Radio 4 , during the 1980s, and as late as 1992 (when The Spencer Affair was repeated to celebrate Francis Durbridge's 80th birthday). Many of the earliest serials, in which the eponymous hero was played by many actors, have not survived. Several were remade in the 1940s, in abridged form, as feature films. However, some of the early radio serials do still exist, including Paul Temple Intervenes from 1942, featuring

1800-454: The surviving Paul Temple radio serials were released on CD across four new BBC box sets. These include the previously unreleased 1959 remake of Paul Temple and The Gilbert Case and the original 1950 Kim Peacock version of Paul Temple and The VanDyke Affair (the latter featuring Peter Coke in a supporting role) as well as the remakes made in the 21st century. In the Netherlands, several of

1850-440: The suspects to hamper him, through traps, ambushes, even assassination attempts. Always surviving these, Temple would arrange a cocktail party or similar social event at which he unmasked the perpetrator. 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,

1900-596: The television plays of the 1960s and 1970s. Durbridge married Norah Lawley in 1940. They had two sons. He died at his home in Barnes , London, aged 85, in 1998. The dates given are those of the first broadcast (and, in the case of serials, of the first episode): None of the episodes of The Francis Durbridge Serial are believed to have survived. All episodes of Francis Durbridge Presents survive except for The World of Tim Frazer of which only episode 3 and 10 (out of 18) are thought to still exist. In 1997, Channel 4 broadcast

1950-590: The thirty years from 1938 to 1968. Durbridge was still at college when he approached Webster, who was then with the BBC Midland Region , with his proposal for a mystery series about a gentleman detective. Initially the serials were broadcast on the service in the BBC Midlands Region service. As they gained in popularity, they were aired nationally instead on the Home Service . However, in 1945, they found

2000-586: 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. All 11 surviving German radio serials have since been released on CD as audiobooks . Two short-lived comic series by the Aachener Bildschriftenverlag and the Luna-Kriminalromane are rare collector's items. In 2014, an abridged remake of

2050-585: The title role. They attracted almost 80% of all TV viewers—partly because, at that time, many European countries had one TV station each. In the sixties and seventies, many mini-series adapted from Durbridge's works were produced in Italy by RAI-TV . They featured some of the best Italian actors, among them Aroldo Tieri, Giuliana Lojodice, Nando Gazzolo, Ugo Pagliai, Luigi Vannucchi, Alberto Lupo and Rossano Brazzi . In France, TV scriptwriter and director Abder Isker produced some of Durbridge's adaptations for ORTF . In

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2100-507: The title role: Both 1961 productions are presumed lost. In Israel, the Voice of Israel began broadcasting the series on April 21, 1964 until 1968. The programme was directed and produced by Reuven Morgan starring Bezalel Levi as Paul Temple and Nili Keynan as his wife Steve. The series, which was broadcast in the days when there was no TV station in Israel, gained a wide audience. It was also known for

2150-408: 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 Sir Graham Forbes. Each of the new recordings was also released on CD. Paul Temple's catchphrase, "by Timothy", first occurred in episode two of the first ever serial, Send for Paul Temple . As spoken by Kim Peacock in

2200-476: Was a professional novelist. While he possessed no formal training as a detective, his background in constructing crime plots for his novels enabled him to apply deductive reasoning to solve cases whose solution had eluded Scotland Yard. Over the course of each case, Temple eschewed formal interviews or other police techniques, in favour of casual conversations with suspects and witnesses. Yet even this informal style of investigation invariably precipitated attempts by

2250-487: Was adapted as a daily newspaper strip in the London Evening News . The strip was written by (and credited in-page to) Francis Durbridge himself. Until 1954 the strip was drawn by Alfred Sindall . From 1954 onward it was continued by Bill Bailey, John McNamara and Philip Mendoza . Selected editions from the strips drawn by John McNamara were reprinted by an obscure South London magazine publisher, Micron, in

2300-464: Was aired by the BBC in February and March 1959. The theme music was The Girl from Corsica by Trevor Duncan . There were objections in Germany in 1962 when comedian Wolfgang Neuss revealed in a newspaper who would turn out to be the murderer in the last episode of a German version called Das Halstuch  [ de ] . In 1960–61, The World of Tim Frazer was broadcast as an 18-episode serial featuring three adventures [1] with Jack Hedley in

2350-458: Was broadcast in more than 15 countries. Between 1952 and 1980, Durbridge wrote 17 TV serials for the BBC. Until 1959, they were shown under the umbrella title A Francis Durbridge Serial , which was then changed to Francis Durbridge Presents . Versions were also made in the Netherlands, Italy, France and Germany; some serials were re-made in the 1980s and 1990s. The Scarf was a six-part serial starring Stephen Murray and Donald Pleasence , and

2400-504: Was composed by Ron Grainer . Many of the BBC Paul Temple radio serials were novelised between 1938 and 1989 by Francis Durbridge working with collaborators from his original scripts. The first was Send for Paul Temple (1938) with John Thewes. 'Thewes' is thought to have been a pseudonym for Charles Hatton, with whom Durbridge collaborated on the following four Temple novelisations up until 1948. All of these were rapidly adapted from

2450-512: Was later changed to Coronation Scot by Vivian Ellis . The BBC licensed the serials to broadcasters in Commonwealth countries, where they were transmitted long after their original runs in the UK. In the 1960s, German radio adapted twelve Paul Temple serials. Like the BBC originals, each part ended with a cliffhanger , making them Strassenfeger ("street-clearers"), which were so popular as to leave

2500-569: Was produced by Ernest G. Roy at the Nettlefold Film Studios in Walton On Thames. Durbridge wrote many Paul Temple novels, but mostly worked with a co-author because Durbridge regarded himself as a writer of dialogue, a scriptwriter rather than a novelist. The first was Send for Paul Temple (1938), written in collaboration with the pseudonymous John Thewes. He is thought to have been Charles Hatton, with whom Durbridge collaborated on

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