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Paul Temple BBC Serials #7
Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair
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.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed by three more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery, Paul Temple and Steve, and A Case for Paul Temple.
Now it's the turn of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair from 1946, in which Paul and Steve come to the aid of a baffled Scotland Yard in pursuit of a deadly and mysterious criminal mastermind. Not only has the recording disappeared but also the scripts of Episodes 1, 2 and 6. This new production is made possible by the recent discovery by a colleague in Norwegian radio of a complete set of scripts in an old store cupboard in Oslo.
It is 1946, and the whole country is shocked by the disappearance of a young woman who, according to a note found at the scene of the crime, is the victim of a certain 'Mr Gregory'. When a second girl disappears, Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard appeals to Temple and Steve for help. Their investigations take them from a lonely Yorkshire clifftop to the Blitz-damaged East End, from a gangster-run Mayfair nightclub to a deserted warehouse on the Thames, always with danger round the corner.
This version was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 3rd July to 11th September 2013.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed by three more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery, Paul Temple and Steve, and A Case for Paul Temple.
Now it's the turn of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair from 1946, in which Paul and Steve come to the aid of a baffled Scotland Yard in pursuit of a deadly and mysterious criminal mastermind. Not only has the recording disappeared but also the scripts of Episodes 1, 2 and 6. This new production is made possible by the recent discovery by a colleague in Norwegian radio of a complete set of scripts in an old store cupboard in Oslo.
It is 1946, and the whole country is shocked by the disappearance of a young woman who, according to a note found at the scene of the crime, is the victim of a certain 'Mr Gregory'. When a second girl disappears, Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard appeals to Temple and Steve for help. Their investigations take them from a lonely Yorkshire clifftop to the Blitz-damaged East End, from a gangster-run Mayfair nightclub to a deserted warehouse on the Thames, always with danger round the corner.
This version was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 3rd July to 11th September 2013.
5 pages, Audio CD
First published January 1, 1946
17 people want to read
About the author
Francis Durbridge
337 books34 followersFrancis Henry Durbridge was an English playwright and author born in Hull. In 1938, he created the character Paul Temple for the BBC radio serial Send for Paul Temple.
A crime novelist and detective, the gentlemanly Temple solved numerous crimes with the help of Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who later became his wife. The character proved enormously popular and appeared in 16 radio serials and later spawned a 64-part big-budget television series (1969-71) and radio productions, as well as a number of comic strips, four feature films and various foreign radio productions.
Francis Durbridge also had a successful career as a writer for the stage and screen. His most successful play, Suddenly at Home, ran in London’s West End for over a year.
A crime novelist and detective, the gentlemanly Temple solved numerous crimes with the help of Steve Trent, a Fleet Street journalist who later became his wife. The character proved enormously popular and appeared in 16 radio serials and later spawned a 64-part big-budget television series (1969-71) and radio productions, as well as a number of comic strips, four feature films and various foreign radio productions.
Francis Durbridge also had a successful career as a writer for the stage and screen. His most successful play, Suddenly at Home, ran in London’s West End for over a year.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 29, 2017
From BBc Radio 4 Extra:
Part 1 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
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.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed by three more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery, Paul Temple and Steve, and A Case for Paul Temple.
Now it's the turn of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair from 1946, in which Paul and Steve come to the aid of a baffled Scotland Yard in pursuit of a deadly and mysterious criminal mastermind. Not only has the recording disappeared but also the scripts of Episodes 1, 2 and 6. This new production is made possible by the recent discovery by a colleague in Norwegian radio of a complete set of scripts in an old store cupboard in Oslo.
The daughter of an eminent physician disappears after a night out at the Alpine Club.
Episode 1: With the Compliments of Mr Gregory
Episode 2: Introducing Sir Donald Murdo
Episode 3: The Madrid
Episode 4: Mr Davos has an Alibi
Episode 5: Virginia van Cleeve
Episode 6: Concerning Mr Zola.
Episode 7: A Woman's Intuition
Episode 8: News of Mr Gregory
Episode 9: Millgate Steps
Episode 10: Presenting Mr Gregory
Producer Patrick Rayner.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0368fwf
Part 1 of a new production of a vintage serial from 1946.
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.
In 2006 BBC Radio 4 brought one of the lost serials back to life with Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson as Paul and Steve. Using the original scripts and incidental music, and recorded using vintage microphones and sound effects, the production of Paul Temple and the Sullivan Mystery aimed to sound as much as possible like the 1947 original might have done if its recording had survived. The serial proved so popular that it was soon followed by three more revivals, Paul Temple and the Madison Mystery, Paul Temple and Steve, and A Case for Paul Temple.
Now it's the turn of Paul Temple and the Gregory Affair from 1946, in which Paul and Steve come to the aid of a baffled Scotland Yard in pursuit of a deadly and mysterious criminal mastermind. Not only has the recording disappeared but also the scripts of Episodes 1, 2 and 6. This new production is made possible by the recent discovery by a colleague in Norwegian radio of a complete set of scripts in an old store cupboard in Oslo.
The daughter of an eminent physician disappears after a night out at the Alpine Club.
Episode 1: With the Compliments of Mr Gregory
Episode 2: Introducing Sir Donald Murdo
Episode 3: The Madrid
Episode 4: Mr Davos has an Alibi
Episode 5: Virginia van Cleeve
Episode 6: Concerning Mr Zola.
Episode 7: A Woman's Intuition
Episode 8: News of Mr Gregory
Episode 9: Millgate Steps
Episode 10: Presenting Mr Gregory
Producer Patrick Rayner.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0368fwf
January 5, 2019
PAUL TEMPLE AND THE GREGORY AFFAIR started life as one of a succession of BBC radio dramas broadcast between 1938 and 1968. It was first broadcast in 1946. However, the original recoding was lost and in 2013, prompted by the discovery of the complete Durbridge scripts, the BBC remade it with Crawford Logan playing Paul Temple, and Gerda Stevenson playing his wife, Steve Temple.
Paul Temple is a successful mystery writer and an amateur detective who, like all fictional amateur detectives can outthink the police to the extent that Scotland Yard rely on him every time they are baffled, and they are baffled a lot.
Paul Temple is visited by his old friend Sir Graham Forbes, Chief Commissioner of Scotland Yard and his sidekick Chief Inspector Vosper. A young woman, Barbara Wallace, has been abducted. Two days after her abduction, her fiancé, Edward Day, receives the bracelet she was wearing along with the note ‘With the compliments of Mr Gregory.’ A second woman goes missing and a similar note is sent to her father. Both women were in possession of prescription drugs issued by a certain Doctor Wiseman.
Paul Temple and Steve set off to interview a witness. On their way there, their car is forced off the road into the river. Paul Temple flags down a passing car which, amazingly, is driven by Dr Wiseman, who treated both the missing women, only it seems they weren’t who they said they were, and now she is worried about another of her patients, Virginia Van Cleeve, only it isn’t... No, wait, it’s … or is it …
Never mind. You get the idea. It’s complicated and goes on to involve car chases, visits to glamorous night clubs, deaths of witnesses and strange and coincidental encounters which result in Paul Temple being suave, and saying ‘By Timothy’ a lot.
This is standard Paul Temple fare, and new listeners need to be aware that each Paul Temple mystery will proceed via a series of expected tropes. The villain doesn’t believe in maintaining a low profile. Instead, at the first opportunity, he or she will take pot-shots at Paul Temple and Steve, or try to blow them up, or drive them off the road. Or in some cases, all three. In case the Temples still haven't noticed there is a villain at large, he or she will send Steve Temple a booby-trapped gift:
‘Steve! Don’t open the parcel!’
BOOM!
Any witness who has vital information for Paul Temple will tell him of this fact over the phone or in a night-club or restaurant. The witness will, however, not divulge the information at this point but arrange to meet Paul Temple later. When the Temples arrive at the rendezvous, the witness is invariably dead. If the villain hasn’t yet tried to blow up the Temples, he or she will often do so at this point.
At the end, when Paul Temple has solved the mystery, he will invite all participants to a cocktail party where he will reveal the solution, a habit from which the police should perhaps try and dissuade him, as the villain invariably cuts up rough, whips out a gun and raises a fair amount of Cain.
Paul Temple fans know what to expect, and PAUL TEMPLE AND THE GREGORY AFFAIR does not disappoint. The BBC have played it straight with the remake. There is no 21st Century irony here. The accents are as cut glass as the original 1946 version, the narrative as wonderfully far-fetched, and all the Temple tropes fall neatly into place. After all, how realistic are Hannibal Lecter, Kay Scarpetta or Hercule Poirot? Paul Temple is simply an early manifestation of the mystery hero all fans enjoy.
And is it worth listening to? Definitely. It may be hokum, but it is hokum of the most enjoyable kind. Highly recommended, by Timothy!
Paul Temple is a successful mystery writer and an amateur detective who, like all fictional amateur detectives can outthink the police to the extent that Scotland Yard rely on him every time they are baffled, and they are baffled a lot.
Paul Temple is visited by his old friend Sir Graham Forbes, Chief Commissioner of Scotland Yard and his sidekick Chief Inspector Vosper. A young woman, Barbara Wallace, has been abducted. Two days after her abduction, her fiancé, Edward Day, receives the bracelet she was wearing along with the note ‘With the compliments of Mr Gregory.’ A second woman goes missing and a similar note is sent to her father. Both women were in possession of prescription drugs issued by a certain Doctor Wiseman.
Paul Temple and Steve set off to interview a witness. On their way there, their car is forced off the road into the river. Paul Temple flags down a passing car which, amazingly, is driven by Dr Wiseman, who treated both the missing women, only it seems they weren’t who they said they were, and now she is worried about another of her patients, Virginia Van Cleeve, only it isn’t... No, wait, it’s … or is it …
Never mind. You get the idea. It’s complicated and goes on to involve car chases, visits to glamorous night clubs, deaths of witnesses and strange and coincidental encounters which result in Paul Temple being suave, and saying ‘By Timothy’ a lot.
This is standard Paul Temple fare, and new listeners need to be aware that each Paul Temple mystery will proceed via a series of expected tropes. The villain doesn’t believe in maintaining a low profile. Instead, at the first opportunity, he or she will take pot-shots at Paul Temple and Steve, or try to blow them up, or drive them off the road. Or in some cases, all three. In case the Temples still haven't noticed there is a villain at large, he or she will send Steve Temple a booby-trapped gift:
‘Steve! Don’t open the parcel!’
BOOM!
Any witness who has vital information for Paul Temple will tell him of this fact over the phone or in a night-club or restaurant. The witness will, however, not divulge the information at this point but arrange to meet Paul Temple later. When the Temples arrive at the rendezvous, the witness is invariably dead. If the villain hasn’t yet tried to blow up the Temples, he or she will often do so at this point.
At the end, when Paul Temple has solved the mystery, he will invite all participants to a cocktail party where he will reveal the solution, a habit from which the police should perhaps try and dissuade him, as the villain invariably cuts up rough, whips out a gun and raises a fair amount of Cain.
Paul Temple fans know what to expect, and PAUL TEMPLE AND THE GREGORY AFFAIR does not disappoint. The BBC have played it straight with the remake. There is no 21st Century irony here. The accents are as cut glass as the original 1946 version, the narrative as wonderfully far-fetched, and all the Temple tropes fall neatly into place. After all, how realistic are Hannibal Lecter, Kay Scarpetta or Hercule Poirot? Paul Temple is simply an early manifestation of the mystery hero all fans enjoy.
And is it worth listening to? Definitely. It may be hokum, but it is hokum of the most enjoyable kind. Highly recommended, by Timothy!
April 26, 2022
Since I listened to these dramas out of order, I sort of knew who Mr. Gregory was, but it was still fun to try and guess.
Also Paul and Charlie are hilarious…I just about died laughing. And, the ending with Charlie playing hero: “Did I hit the right bloke?” Haha!
Content: mild language
Also Paul and Charlie are hilarious…I just about died laughing. And, the ending with Charlie playing hero: “Did I hit the right bloke?” Haha!
Content: mild language
September 13, 2021
I use the BBC Sounds app, lots.
And if there's a Temple available that I've not covered, I have a listen. Mostly because they're an undemanding listen rather than because of their sparkling plots or intellectual dialogue, neither of which are typically to be expected in these.
But this one...
I know these are from the days of "leather pennies" as my mother in law had a way of saying, but even so I can only take SO many "Darlings" in a normal page-worth of listening...
Steve contributes so little to these affairs that her dubiety, normally and repetitively voiced as "are you sure?" whenever a pronouncement is - pronounced - grates sorely on my credibility circuits.
Did/does ANYONE really speak like that?? I can't/won't believe it. If these speech patterns did exist, I can only accept that they did so on the pages of script that the cast members were sentenced to read out, week after week after...
As to the plot.
This particular one. So many info-sourcing encounters seem to be by protagonists approaching Temple... And in chance encounters. And are the Metropolitan police so confidence-strapped that Sir Graham so regularly comes to beg our usually initially unwilling gumshoe-author-hero to PLEASE help his hapless professional DIs (only in these scripts, they're thankfully still acronymlessly termed the full blown Detective Inspectors or Chief similar.
I'm sick these days of seeing TV cops routinely ID themselves as DC/DI/DCI/etc to members of the public, all of which latter would rise in my estimation if they immediately demanded to be told the actual rank of the copper flashing his warrant card so briefly before getting to business.
I do hope genuine cops don't take their model of public behaviour from TV shows...
But a recent reference to a boss cop not liking being called "Guv" by his officers (because they'd absorbed this from TV shows) was a pointer in these matters.
The Temple radio shows as originally made with Peter Coke are definitely the better ones, in my opinion. This last with Mr Logan, at TEN instalments was too long by at least two such. In my opinion. At half an hour apiece, as the latter stages approach, the earlier chapters are four-five hours of listening distant. Making for more memory-demanding entertainment. This is less evident if binge-listened-to, but doing that increases my resistance to the "Darling" factor as moaned about earlier.
I can't win here.
Even so and despite my multiple moans I've no doubt that when next I notice a Temple title on Sounds, it'll be chosen over the other availabilities. Why? Because it allows me to -however temporarily - inhabit a world devoid of mobile phones, where good manners still existed, and life wasn't lived at a thousand miles an hour. And where nobody was expected to wear a mask in shops, indeed if seen entering a bank so-garbed might have cashiers reaching for alarm buttons, in the expectation of a robbery getting under way...
And that's more than enough to keep me listening for - and to - such stuff. Agatha Christie dramatisations also offer a similar facility, so Messrs Coke and Logan don't have a monopoly on the nostalgia driven side of radio crime drama.
And if there's a Temple available that I've not covered, I have a listen. Mostly because they're an undemanding listen rather than because of their sparkling plots or intellectual dialogue, neither of which are typically to be expected in these.
But this one...
I know these are from the days of "leather pennies" as my mother in law had a way of saying, but even so I can only take SO many "Darlings" in a normal page-worth of listening...
Steve contributes so little to these affairs that her dubiety, normally and repetitively voiced as "are you sure?" whenever a pronouncement is - pronounced - grates sorely on my credibility circuits.
Did/does ANYONE really speak like that?? I can't/won't believe it. If these speech patterns did exist, I can only accept that they did so on the pages of script that the cast members were sentenced to read out, week after week after...
As to the plot.
This particular one. So many info-sourcing encounters seem to be by protagonists approaching Temple... And in chance encounters. And are the Metropolitan police so confidence-strapped that Sir Graham so regularly comes to beg our usually initially unwilling gumshoe-author-hero to PLEASE help his hapless professional DIs (only in these scripts, they're thankfully still acronymlessly termed the full blown Detective Inspectors or Chief similar.
I'm sick these days of seeing TV cops routinely ID themselves as DC/DI/DCI/etc to members of the public, all of which latter would rise in my estimation if they immediately demanded to be told the actual rank of the copper flashing his warrant card so briefly before getting to business.
I do hope genuine cops don't take their model of public behaviour from TV shows...
But a recent reference to a boss cop not liking being called "Guv" by his officers (because they'd absorbed this from TV shows) was a pointer in these matters.
The Temple radio shows as originally made with Peter Coke are definitely the better ones, in my opinion. This last with Mr Logan, at TEN instalments was too long by at least two such. In my opinion. At half an hour apiece, as the latter stages approach, the earlier chapters are four-five hours of listening distant. Making for more memory-demanding entertainment. This is less evident if binge-listened-to, but doing that increases my resistance to the "Darling" factor as moaned about earlier.
I can't win here.
Even so and despite my multiple moans I've no doubt that when next I notice a Temple title on Sounds, it'll be chosen over the other availabilities. Why? Because it allows me to -however temporarily - inhabit a world devoid of mobile phones, where good manners still existed, and life wasn't lived at a thousand miles an hour. And where nobody was expected to wear a mask in shops, indeed if seen entering a bank so-garbed might have cashiers reaching for alarm buttons, in the expectation of a robbery getting under way...
And that's more than enough to keep me listening for - and to - such stuff. Agatha Christie dramatisations also offer a similar facility, so Messrs Coke and Logan don't have a monopoly on the nostalgia driven side of radio crime drama.
April 3, 2024
I love this series, so true to its time period. I can't say I understood how all the loose ends came together at the end, but maybe I just wasn't listening closely enough. I love these characters.
January 30, 2023
Hvis ikke store dele af denne bog var ordret efter radioteatret og jeg derfor hører stemmerne inde i mit hoved, ville jeg være landet på et mindre antal stjerner, for bogen er ikke ret godt skrevet.
MEN nu er det sådan at bogen faktisk er skrevet efter radioteatret - som jeg er vokset op med, og er mit absolut favoritstykke - så det er en formildende omstændighed.
MEN nu er det sådan at bogen faktisk er skrevet efter radioteatret - som jeg er vokset op med, og er mit absolut favoritstykke - så det er en formildende omstændighed.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews