I’m a pretty enthusiastic fan of Simon Brett’s Charles Paris mysteries — they are light, charming, and funny, rather like Simon Brett, if a little bloody and boozy (which, for all I know, Simon Brett is too) Decent Interval
The Charles Paris Mysteries on the radio, however, are simply exquisite. Bill Nighy is, as you’d expect, brilliant as the down-at-heel irresponsible, formerly philandering, lush. Jon Glover is hilarious as his neglectful agent, and Suzanne Burden makes his long-suffering estranged wife with whom he often lives as believable as anyone could. The scripts are terse, witty, and filled with in-jokes (I love his ring tones for his wife and Maurice, his agent). And, as in the books, nobody seems to have noticed the a very large fraction of all the murders in the UK seem to have happened with Paris in the next room. Radio 4’s Christmas present to us all is The Cinderella Killer. I haven’t listened to it yet, because they only just broadcast episode 2, and my preference is to wait for them all, and then binge (its only two hours — I’ll listen while shoveling snow some day). But I guarantee it will be perfect.
Oh, and incidentally, what is going on with Brian Protheroe? He seems to be in everything on the radio these days. When’s the next album coming out? Has anyone other than me heard of him?
{ 3 comments }
Donald A. Coffin 12.10.16 at 4:12 pm
I am also a big fan of these books and so I thank you for letting us know about the new one (which actually appears to have been published 2 years ago…).
Jim Buck 12.10.16 at 4:13 pm
Protheroe created a wonderful Irish Feste for The Crucible Theatre’s production of Twelth Night last year . He sang “Hey ho the wind and the rain ” in the manner of Luke Kelly. Little wonder that he’s never short of work.
Warren Terra 12.11.16 at 4:39 am
Totally agree – I love the radio series, Bill Nighy is wonderful.
I’ll just add that the radio adaptations are by Jeremy Front. He is the brother of the terrific comic actor Rebecca Front actor and the two of them together write a good comedy series for BBC Radio 4, Incredible Women.
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