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Francis Durbridge
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Genre
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Media
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Audio Book
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Publisher | BBC Audio | ||
ISBN | 9781405676960 | ||
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Reviewer
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Jayne
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Synopsis
Paul Temple meets Iris Archer at a cocktail party, and agrees to write a play for the vivacious actress. So he is most surprised when she suddenly decides to pull out of the lead role days before the play is due to open. He is even more surprised when he glimpses her in the Scottish hotel where the Temples are holidaying - after she had told him that she was going to the South of France. Does her sudden appearance have anything to do with the mysterious letter passed to Paul Temple by an excitable young man, with explicit instructions to deliver it to John Richmond? What does the enigmatic Doctor Steiner have to do with events? And, most importantly, who is operating under the codename Z4? It is up to Paul Temple to find out...Anthony Head brings the great radio detective to life in this new reading of Francis Durbridge's classic novel.
Review
What a treat it was to listen to a Paul Temple story on this audio cd. I can remember listening to him as a teenager - this version read by Anthony Head was exhilarating.
News of Paul Temple is an exciting adventure mystery with crashes, explosions, poisonings, shootings, death by fire and by drowning which are just some of the dangers the intrepid hero Paul Temple faces as he brings down the most sophisticated espionage ring in Europe.
The original Paul Temple -- which my parents enjoyed as teenagers -- was a full cast production in the glory days of radio before television was widely available. This audio book is read and narrated by a single actor -- which might seem like a bit of a disappointment, until you actually listen to it.
Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spooks, and many other roles) demonstrates utter mastery of one person narration. After about five minutes, you forget that you're listening to Anthony Head doing all of the characters with different voices, including the most perfect Dutch accent that I've ever heard from a non-Dutch speaker. Alongside Cockney, Scots and the inevitable Austrian-German, he gives us a range of characters (men and women) whose voices are instantly memorable.
This is a wonderful achievement, and the whole thing is carried off without any sound effects or music except for the opening and closing titles.
As a script, News of Paul Temple is a jolly good example of Durbridge's classic genre, and pretty much perfect in its own terms. With Anthony Head's reading, it is elevated to something quite brilliant.
For a little nostalgia, or just for a stomping 1930s style thriller, this is highly recommended.
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