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

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Many of the radio scripts were novelized by Francis Durbridge between 1938 and 1989, often in collaboration with John Thewes, Douglas Rutherford or Charles Hatten. Those with Rutherford were published under the pen-name “Paul Temple”, in fact. Seven Italian-language Paul Temple serials were produced by RAI between 1953 and 1977, each with a different voice actor in the title role:

The first of the re-recorded versions of this century, utilizing — when possible– the original theme music and sound effects. But Temple ruled the U.K. and much of the Commonwealth, and his exploits entertained millions of fans around the world. He made his first appearance in a BBC radio serial in 1938 and went on to appear in further radio serials, several novels, four feature films, a BBC television series in the sixties and even a long-running daily comic strip that lasted almost twenty years. But his main stomping ground was radio–the show was good for a whopping thirty-year run, initially airing on the BBC and then sent out internationally with the result that Paul Temple, even now, has fans all over the world.In the Netherlands, several of the radio plays were re-recorded using Dutch actors and the title character's name adapted as Paul Vlaanderen. Alfred Sindall drew the initial strips. [ clarification needed] Germany [ edit ] 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] 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. 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.

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 ] 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. Calling Paul Temple (abridged remake of radio serial Send for Paul Temple Again) with John Bentley as Temple and Dinah Sheridan as Steve.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. 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.