AuthorSimon Brett, Jeremy Front
NarratorBill Nighy, Full Cast
Duration2h 10m
CategoriesAdult Fiction, Plays and Dramatisations, Crime, Thriller and Mysteries
PublisherBBC Audio
VersionUnabridged
Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris
Charles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he's unimpressed with the director's vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists.
But he soon finds himself back on familiar territory when the actress playing Ophelia goes missing, only to turn up dead. Did she take her own life, or was there foul play? As he amasses a list of suspects who might have wished her harm, Charles takes on the mantle of detective once more to decide if this is to be or not to be a murder case...
Scripted for radio by Jeremy Front from a story by Simon Brett, A Doubtful Death stars Bill Nighy (Emma, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Charles Paris, with Suzanne Burden as Frances and Jon Glover as Maurice.
Also included is an exclusive 18-minute afterword in which Jeremy Front discusses his experience of adapting an unproduced screenplay, reveals what it's like to work with recurring characters and actors, and explains the mechanics of recording for radio.
Simon Brett OBE has written 19 Charles Paris novels as well as many other detective novels. Jeremy Front is a dramatist and comedic writer; he has won awards for his adaptation of Sword of Honour and co-writes and stars in the series Incredible Women with his sister, Rebecca.
Credits
Written by Jeremy Front
From a story by Simon Brett
Produced and directed by Sally Avens
Production Coordinator: Cynthia Fagan
Studio Managers: Anne Bunting, Keith Graham and Jenni Burnett
Interview produced by Ania Duggan and Roshni Radia
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 May-12 June 2020
©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
A Charles Paris Mystery Book 4: An Amateur Corpse
Author: Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Author Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Narrator Bill Nighy, Full Cast
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 4
Duration 1h 52m
Charles is out of work again, and to make matters worse his mother has come to stay and he's no way of escaping her. So when he's offered some voiceover work by old friend, Hugo, he's delighted to get out of the house. But Hugo's marriage is in trouble: his much younger wife, Ellie, spends all her time at her Amateur Dramatic Group, and Hugo is dri...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
Duration 9h
Fethering residents, Jude and Carole, get more than they bargained for when a meal in their local pub leaves everyone with food poisoning. The landlord is horrified and when a series of disasters start to befall his business it looks like it could be the end of the road for the Crown and Anchor. The two amateur detectives wonder if it might just be...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
Duration 7h 35m
All bets are on when there's a body found at the bookies. When Jude wanders into Fethering's local bookies she has no idea that she will shortly be investigating the murder of Polish immigrant Tadeusz Jankowski. With her partner in crime, friend and next-door-neighbour Carole, she's determined to discover who killed him - and why? There are several...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 13: A Series of Murders
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 13
Duration 57m
Charles Paris, actor and amateur sleuth, is working in television as the brainless bobby sidekick to a suave detective. The accidental death of an unpromising actress causes little suspicion, except in Charles' mind. He decides to investigate.
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 17: Dead Room Farce
Author: Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Author Simon Brett, Jeremy Front
Narrator Bill Nighy, BBC Full-Cast
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 17
Duration 1h 51m
Bill Nighy stars as actor and amateur sleuth Charles Paris in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Simon Brett's novelCharles' career is on the up. He's starring in a revival of a popular (though hackneyed) 70's farce – and while his fellow actors aren't exactly who you'd want to find yourself in bed with, he's happy to be in work.But...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
Duration 7h 25m
It wasn't the rain that upset Carole Seddon during her walk on the West Sussex Downs. It wasn't the dilapidated barn in which she was forced to seek shelter. No, what upset her most was the human skeleton she discovered there.... So begins the second investigation for strait-laced Carole and her more laid-back neighbour Jude. This time their enquir...
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Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Simon Brett
Duration 7h
When Jude agrees to lend her vintage chaise longue for the local Amateur Dramatic Society's production of George Bernard Shaw's The Devil's Disciple, little does she realise she'll end up in a starring role. It's an ambitious play, culminating in a dramatic execution scene: a scene that's played for real when one of the leading actors is found hang...
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Charles Paris Mysteries Book 8: Murder Unprompted
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Geoffrey Howard
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 8
Duration 5h 4m
"I want you all out-gone-dead-exterminated!" high strung Alex Household cried out, when, after a lifetime of struggle, he lost the starring role in a new play called The Hooded Owl-to an actor who couldn't remember his lines. But did that mean that it was Alex who had shot the leading man dead during his climactic speech? charles Paris, for one, co...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 15: A Reconstructed Corpse
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Bill Nighy
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 15
Duration 1h 52m
Bill Nighy returns as Charles Paris: unsuccessful actor, bad husband and dipsomaniac. Desperately in need of work, having been kicked out of the marital home, Charles jumps at playing a missing property developer in a crime reconstruction programme. But the missing person case soon turns to murder when severed body parts begin to appear. Television...
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A Charles Paris Mystery Book 6: The Dead Side of the Mic
Author: Simon Brett
Author Simon Brett
Narrator Full Cast
SeriesCharles Paris Mysteries, Book 6
Duration 1h 52m
Actor and reluctant sleuth Charles Paris is facing chaos on the domestic front. He's lodging with his ex-wife Frances, and now their pregnant daughter has moved in as well. It's all a bit much... So he is over the moon when he lands a job on the BBC Radio Rep - but the ink is barely dry on his contract when a murder takes place in Broadcasting Hous...
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