Paul Temple

Paul Temple is a fictional character created by British author Francis Durbridge (1912-1998). Some of the novels in which he appears were written in collaboration with John Thewes, Douglas Rutherford, or Charles Hatten – and those with Rutherford were even published under the name "Paul Temple", thus making the fictional writer a "real" one.

Temple is an amateur private detective and author of crime fiction. Together with his wife Steve, he solves the featured "whodunnit" crimes with subtle, humorous dialogue and rare "action". 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.

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. Many of the serials staring 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".

Paul Temple was also adapted for film; the first these adaptations was released in 1946 as "Send for Paul Temple". In all, four cinema movies were made:

* 1946 "Send for Paul Temple" with Anthony Hulme (1910-2007) (born Harry Idris Miller)
* 1948 "Calling Paul Temple" with John Bentley
* 1950 "Paul Temple's Triumph" with John Bentley
* 1952 "Paul Temple Returns" with John Bentley

In Germany, 12 Paul Temple novels were adapted as radio serials between 1949 and 1967, each episode ending with 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, and Paul Klinger amongst others. Almost all the German radio serials have since been released on CD as audiobooks.

Durbridge licensed the character to the BBC, which from 1964 made 64 TV episodes starring Francis Matthews as Paul Temple, assisted by Ros Drinkwater as his wife Steve. 52 parts of the series were co-produced with the German television station ZDF, making it the very first international co-production of the TV era. The theme tune of the television series was written by British composer Ron Grainer.

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 as Paul Temple and Gerda Stevenson as Steve effectively mimicked their earlier incarnations in a mono production employing vintage microphones and sound effects. A new production of The Madison Mystery followed in May to July 2008.

Two short-lived comic series by the "Aachener Bildschriftenverlag" and the "Luna-Kriminalromane" are rare collector's items.

A "Paul Temple" comic strip featured in the London Evening News from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.

British "Paul Temple" radio serials

* "Send for Paul Temple", 8 April 1938, Hugh Morton
* "Paul Temple and the Front Page Men", 2 November 1938, Hugh Morton
* "News Of Paul Temple", 13 November 1939, Hugh Morton
* "Send for Paul Temple" (remake, abridged), 13 October 1941, Carl Bernard
* "Paul Temple Intervenes", 30 October 1942, Carl Bernard
* "News Of Paul Temple" (remake, abridged), 5 July 1944, Richard Williams
* "Send For Paul Temple Again", 13 September 1945, Barry Morse
* "A Case For Paul Temple", 7 February 1946, Howard Marion Crawford
* "Paul Temple And The Gregory Affair", 17 October 1946, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And Steve", 30 March 1947, Kim Peacock
* "Mr And Mrs Paul Temple", 23 November 1947, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And The Sullivan Mystery", 1 December 1947, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And The Curzon Case", 7 December 1948, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And The Madison Mystery", 12 October 1949, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And The Vandyke Affair", 31 October 1950, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And The Jonathan Mystery" 10 May 1951, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And Steve Again", 18 April 1953, Kim Peacock
* "Paul Temple And The Gilbert Case", 29 March 1954, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Madison Mystery" (remake), 20 June 1955, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Lawrence Affair", 11 April 1956, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Spencer Affair", 13 November 1957, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Vandyke Affair" (remake), 1 January 1959, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Conrad Case", 2 March 1959, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Gilbert Case" (remake), 22 November 1959, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Margo Mystery", 1 January 1961, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Jonathan Mystery" (remake), 14 October 1963, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Geneva Mystery", 11 April 1965, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Alex Affair", 26 February 1968, Peter Coke
* "Paul Temple And The Curzon Case", 9 January 2006, Anthony Head $
* "Paul Temple And The Tyler Mystery", 5 June 2006, Anthony Head $
* "Paul Temple And The Sullivan Mystery" (remake), 7 August 2006, Crawford Logan
* "Paul Temple And The Kelby Affair", 5 February 2007, Anthony Head $
* "Paul Temple And The Harkdale Robbery", 7 May 2007, Anthony Head $
* "Send for Paul Temple", 5 November 2007, Anthony Head $
* "Paul Temple And The Madison Mystery" (remake), 16 May 2008, Crawford Logan$ The Anthony Head items are readings of the Paul Temple novels, not broadcasts of the radio serials*

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/gregorym101/Temple1.html The Paul Temple File]
* [http://www.thrillingdetective.com/temple.html Paul Temple]
* [http://www.ogs.on.ca/ogspi/200oh/07hul001.htm] Anthony Hulme Obituary