British Radio Drama: Paul Temple

In the United States, national radio drama ended in 1962, with the last aired episodes of the anthology series Suspense and the insurance investigator-detective, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

In the UK, radio drama is alive and well.

For many years, the digital channel BBC 7 has played old and new radio drama, comedy, variety, etc. Unfortunately the dim bulbs in charge of the BBC are shortly going to destroy the character and identity of this digital channel by renaming it BBC Radio 4 Extra. So of course it's going to get lost in the identity of Radio 4, and I predict will shortly disappear.

In any event, Paul Temple is a detective book writer who assists the police in various cases. It was never a radio series per se, but rather a series of 6 part or 8 part serials, and about 1 a year was produced for 10 years. They are frequently re-broadcast on BBC Radio 7 (but whether they'll be rebroadcast on Radio 4 Extra remains to be seen.

It's hard to explain their fascination for me. The stories are repetitive and formulaic. They always involve someone using a code name, whether it be Margo, or Jonathan, and this pseudonym is always revealed to be used by someone whom the Temples (Paul Temple and his wife Steve (actually Louise, but she is an ex-journalist and is called by her pen-name, which was Steve Trent)meets throughout their adventures.

There's also the annoying radio convention of alwats having to call each other by name when they speak, to make sure the audience knowswhose talking and who they are talking to. Gets on your nerves after a while.

But, I listen to them anyway, just because of the actors. Although a variety of radio actors played the couple, the most well-known, and the ones that BBC 7 airs, are those of Peter Coke (pronounced Cook) and Marjorie Westbury.

In my new exhibit, British Radio Drama: Paul Temple, I'll be synopsizing all the episodes of each serial.

First: more detail from Wikipedia:
Paul Temple is a fictional character created by British writer Francis Durbridge (1912-1998) for the BBC radio serial Send for Paul Temple in 1938. Temple is an amateur private detective and author of crime fiction. Together with his journalist wife (Louise Temple, nee Harvey, affectionately known as "Steve" after her pen name "Steve Trent"), he solves "whodunnit" crimes with subtle, humorous dialogue and rare "action". Always the gentleman, his use of the phrase "by Timothy" was the nearest he ever got to swearing. Between 1938 and 2010, the Temples featured in over 30 BBC radio dramas, 12 serials for German radio, a BBC television series, a German animated series, four British feature films and several novels. In the Netherlands several of the radio plays were recorded with Dutch actors and with the main character's name translated to 'Paul Vlaanderen'. In addition, a Paul Temple comic strip featured in the London Evening News from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.

British Paul Temple radio serials
Paul Temple was "born" as a radio detective. In Britain, several Paul Temple radio series were broadcast from the 1930s to the 1960s. While several actors and actresses portrayed the Temples over the years, including the Send for Paul Temple Again series which starred Barry Morse and aired in 1945, probably the best known portrayal of the couple was by Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. The introductory and closing music for the majority of the long-running BBC radio series was Coronation Scot (a musical depiction of a train journey) written by Vivian Ellis. Many of the serials starring Coke and Westbury have been repeated since 2003 by digital radio station BBC 7. 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.

In August 2006 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a new 8-part re-creation of one of the lost early radio serials, Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery, which had originally been broadcast in 1947. Crawford Logan starred as Paul Temple with Gerda Stevenson as Steve (originally portrayed by Kim Peacock and Marjorie Westbury respectively) in a mono production employing vintage microphones and sound effects. A new production of The Madison Mystery followed in May to July 2008, and a remake of the 1947 serial Paul Temple and Steve was aired in June and July 2010.

01: `Send for Paul Temple'. 8th April 1938.
"Paul" - Hugh Morton, "Steve Trent" - Bernadette Hodgson

02: `Paul Temple and the Front Page Men'. 2nd Nov 1938.
"Paul" - Hugh Morton, "Steve" - Bernadette Hodgson

03: `News Of Paul Temple'. 13th Nov 1939. (6 parts)
"Paul" - Hugh Morton, "Steve" - Bernadette Hodgson

04: `Send for Paul Temple'. 13th October 1941.(60 minute abridged Play)
"Paul" - Carl Bernard, "Steve" - Thea Holme

05: `Paul Temple Intervenes'. 30th Oct 1942.
"Paul" - Carl Bernard, "Steve" - Bernadette Hodgson

06: `News Of Paul Temple'. 5 July 1944. (60 minute abridged Play)
"Paul" - Richard Williams, "Steve" - Lucille Lisle

07: `Send For Paul Temple Again'. 13th Sep 1945.
"Paul" - Barry Morse

08: `A Case For Paul Temple'. 7th Feb 1946.
"Paul" - Howard Marion Crawford

09: `Paul Temple And The Gregory Affair'. 17th Oct 1946. (10 parts)
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

10: `Paul Temple And Steve'. 30th March 1947.
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

11: `Mr And Mrs Paul Temple'. 23rd Nov 1947. (45 minute Play)
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

12: `Paul Temple And The Sullivan Mystery'. 1st Dec 1947.
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

13: `Paul Temple And The Curzon Case'. 7th Dec 1948.
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

14: `Paul Temple And The Madison Mystery'. 12th Oct 1949.
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

15: `Paul Temple And The Vandyke Affair'. 31st Oct 1950.
"Paul" - Kim Peacock (NOTE: Peter Coke played Terry Palmer in this production)

16: `Paul Temple And The Jonathan Mystery'. 10th May 1951.
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

17: `Paul Temple And Steve Again'. 18th April 1953. (60 minute Play)
"Paul" - Kim Peacock

The Peter Coke era. Marjorie Westbury was always his wife Steve.

18: `Paul Temple And The Gilbert Case'. 29th March 1954.
"Paul" - Peter Coke

19: `Paul Temple And The Madison Mystery'. 20th June 1955.
"Paul" - Peter Coke (remake of 14)

20: `Paul Temple And The Lawrence Affair'. 11th Apr 1956.
"Paul" - Peter Coke

21: `Paul Temple And The Spencer Affair'. 13th Nov 1957.
"Paul" - Peter Coke

22: `Paul Temple And The Vandyke Affair'. 1st Jan 1959.
"Paul" - Peter Coke (remake of 15)

23: `Paul Temple And The Conrad Case'. 2nd March 1959.
"Paul" - Peter Coke

24: `Paul Temple And The Gilbert Case'. 22nd Nov 1959.
"Paul" - Peter Coke (remake of 18)

25: `Paul Temple And The Margo Mystery'. 1st Jan 1961.
"Paul" - Peter Coke

26: `Paul Temple And The Jonathan Mystery'. 14th Oct 1963.
"Paul" - Peter Coke (remake of 16)

27: `Paul Temple And The Geneva Mystery'. 11th April 1965. (6 parts)
"Paul" - Peter Coke

28: `Paul Temple And The Alex Affair'. 26th Feb 1968.
"Paul" - Peter Coke (remake of 7: Villain changed from Rex to Alex.)



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Exhibit: British Radio Drama
Detectives: Paul Temple