exists in full (this is the version available on CD/cassette from the BBC Radio Collection) [note 15]

Marjorie Westbury took over the part of Steve from the fifth serial, Send for Paul Temple Again (1945). She remained as Steve for the rest of the radio run. To many people, Coke and Westbury are most firmly identified with Paul and Steve. [8] Durbridge's grave at Putney Vale Cemetery, London, in 2015 There was a rumour that recordings of this serial had been found. It arose when an American collector heard a recording of the BBC's 2006 re-make of this lost serial. Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury star in another suspenseful case for BBC radio’s smoothest sleuth and his glamorous wife.

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In 1969 BBC Television, having just started broadcasting in color, commissioned Durbridge to write a 26-part series of Paul Temple starring Francis Matthews. Until 1954 the strip was drawn by Alfred Sindall. [20] From 1954 onward it was continued by Bill Bailey, John McNamara [21] and Philip Mendoza. [22] Selected editions from the strips drawn by John McNamara were reprinted by an obscure South London magazine publisher, Micron, in a short lived series in 1964. [23] At no stage did the strip feature recognisable portraits of the then-current stars of the radio series, Peter Coke and Marjorie Westbury. [24] Commercial releases [ edit ] Temple is a mystery author turned private eye (and shit magnet–trouble just seems to follow him), who is frequently “sent for” by Scotland Yard to “help out.” Aiding him in almost all of his investigations is his faithful journalist wife, Louise, known to one and all as “Steve,” after her writing pen name of Steve Trent. Also frequently lending a hand is Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard, who would join the couple at the end of each show to offer a post-mortem of sorts on the case at hand. The European Broadcasting Union invited Durbridge in 1967 to write an original radio serial for the international market, La Boutique. This was broadcast in more than fifteen countries.

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 ] Initially the serials were broadcast on the service in the BBC Midlands Region service. As they gained in popularity, they were aired nationally instead on the Home Service. However, in 1945, they found a new permanent home on the Light Programme, which too was a national station, where they remained (save for occasional repeats on the Home Service) until the last serial in 1968. The introductory and closing music for the majority of the serials was Coronation Scot, composed by Vivian Ellis, though the earliest serials (those aired prior to December 1947) used an excerpt from Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. [7] Repeats of some serials continued to be heard on the successor to the Home Service, Radio 4, during the 1980s, and as late as 1992 (when The Spencer Affair was repeated to celebrate Francis Durbridge's 80th birthday). [5] In this original eight-part crime thriller series from 1963, Peter Coke stars as the smooth gentlemanly sleuth.In Germany, twelve Paul Temple radio serials were adapted between 1949 and 1967, each episode (in common with the BBC serials) ending on 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, Friedrich W Bauschulte, Pinkas Braun, Heinz Schimmelpfennig, Siegfried Wischnewski, Wolfgang Wahl, Günther Ungeheuer and Paul Klinger amongst others.