The police, being police in a mystery film, are baffled! The solution? Why, it's right in the title: send for Paul Temple! This phrase is repeated several times throughout the movie, possibly for the people who came in during the middle of the film.

They stage smash-and-grab robberies in broad daylight on a crowded street, ten feet away from a policeman, who they then shoot point blank, having no sense of British courtesy, reservedness, or judicial reform. I tell another lie: it's a mystery thriller that pits Temple against what must be either Britain's boldest gang of jewel thieves, or its dumbest. They really don't have a pony.Īs with so many popular mystery novel and radio series, the inevitable movie adaptation follows-the first of the Paul Temple movies, Send for Paul Temple, is the thrilling saga of a man, his letters, and a playing card: The upper-class married couple as detectives is a familiar one in books, radio, and film: think The Thin Man's Nick and Nora Charles, Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, even DC Comics' superhero-and-wife turned sleuths, Ralph and Sue Dibny.Įach episode of the Peter Coke Paul Temple radio show begins with the series' signature tune, Vivian Ellis's light orchestral piece 'Coronation Scot, 'to which I mentally supplement with my own made-up-lyrics: The books and radio series all feature Paul and his lovely wife Steve, swapping bon mots, sipping cocktails, and solving crimes all around England and in the Continent. Played in radio drama by many actors, Temple's best-known portrayal is by Peter Coke (pronounced 'Cook,' so for quite a while I thought the well-known British comedian filled the role).

Created in mystery novels by author Francis Durbridge, Temple's a crime novelist turned-amateur sleuth: the go-to man when Scotland Yard are baffled by a mysterious case, need some help tracking down a criminal, or just want to hang out with cool, debonair, witty and urbane socialite Temple. If you're an Anglophile and especially a fan of British radio drama, you're sooner or later going to run into Paul Temple.

Send for paul temple