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Paul Temple

  • TV Series
  • 1969–19711969–1971
  • 50m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
78
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
15,214
6,576
Paul Temple (1969)
CrimeDramaMystery
Crime-novelist Paul Temple solves mysteries with the help of his wife Steve.Crime-novelist Paul Temple solves mysteries with the help of his wife Steve.Crime-novelist Paul Temple solves mysteries with the help of his wife Steve.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
78
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
15,214
6,576
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Creator
      • Francis Durbridge
    • Stars
      • Francis Matthews
      • Ros Drinkwater
      • June Ellis
    Top credits
    • Creator
      • Francis Durbridge
    • Stars
      • Francis Matthews
      • Ros Drinkwater
      • June Ellis
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 4User reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • Episodes52

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    TopTop-rated

    Photos7

    Paul Temple (1969)
    Paul Temple (1969)
    Paul Temple (1969)
    Ros Drinkwater and Francis Matthews in Paul Temple (1969)
    Francis Matthews in Paul Temple (1969)
    Francis Matthews in Paul Temple (1969)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Francis Matthews
    Francis Matthews
    • Paul Temple
    52 episodes52 eps • 1969–1971
    Ros Drinkwater
    • Steve Temple
    51 episodes51 eps • 1969–1971
    June Ellis
    • Kate Balfour
    13 episodes13 eps • 1969–1970
    George Sewell
    George Sewell
    • Sammy Carson
    11 episodes11 eps • 1970–1971
    Blake Butler
    • Eric Jordan
    11 episodes11 eps • 1969–1970
    Derek Martin
    • Paddy
    6 episodes6 eps • 1970–1971
    Janos Kurucz
    • Brodski…
    3 episodes3 eps • 1970–1971
    Jack Le White
    • Cleaner…
    3 episodes3 eps • 1970–1971
    Garfield Morgan
    Garfield Morgan
    • John Charlesworth…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1971
    Angus Lennie
    Angus Lennie
    • George McGregor - Librarian…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1971
    Tenniel Evans
    Tenniel Evans
    • Harry Wormold…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1970–1971
    Veronica Strong
    • Lottie…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1969–1971
    Denis Carey
    • Father Nikolas…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1971
    Prentis Hancock
    Prentis Hancock
    • David Moffatt…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1969–1971
    Madge Ryan
    Madge Ryan
    • Genine Dalton…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1969–1971
    Donald Morley
    Donald Morley
    • Henry Roach…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1970–1971
    Bernard Archard
    Bernard Archard
    • Chief Inspector McPhail…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1969–1971
    Peter Miles
    Peter Miles
    • Torpille…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1969–1971
    • Creator
      • Francis Durbridge
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Department S
    7.1
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    5.9
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    7.0
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    7.3
    The Baron
    Gazette
    7.7
    Gazette
    Hadleigh
    7.4
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    Bombay Waterfront
    5.6
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    5.6
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    Paul Temple's Triumph
    5.7
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    Public Eye
    8.6
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    Breakaway
    7.9
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    Softly Softly
    7.3
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      As far as the BBC Archives are concerned only 16 of the 52 editions are currently known to survive: 11 on the BBC's original colour masters as transmitted, with the final five episodes existing only as monochrome film prints returned from New Zealand. BetaFilm and/or ZDF in Germany do hold 35mm colour telerecordings of all 39 episodes from the second season onwards; however the vast majority of these only have the dubbed German soundtracks and not the English originals. (Amongst these does remain an English-tracked edition not held by the BBC, A Family Affair (1971)). To further muddy the waters, some German prints feature alternative footage which UK viewers never saw, and vice versa. Such differences even extend to the credits (the German prints retain the John Levene "running man" credit sequence even on later episodes where it had been supplanted in the UK originals).
    • Connections
      Referenced in The Morecambe & Wise Show: Episode #6.1 (1971)

    User reviews4

    Review
    Top review
    Neither Paul Temple, nor very good
    Having read the other surprisingly positive reviews, I feel someone ought to put the contrary position. I remember the show from its original broadcasts, and was intrigued to discover whether it stood the test of time. It didn't.

    In the first place, the resemblance to the Paul Temple world is minimal to say the least. The long-running radio series, usually starring Peter Coke as Paul and the incomparable Marjorie Westbury as his wife Steve, was a brilliantly manufactured set of whodunnits over as many as 8 episodes, where the plot twisted and turned and corpses piled up. Paul and Steve were perfectly at home in a (vanishing) world of martinis and Soho clubs, and weekends away at Maidenhead. Great play was made of Paul and Steve's domestic arrangements - we would hear them discussing the case over breakfast, passing the marmalade while theorising, and much was made of Steve's shopping trips. This trademark Durbridge vibe was often transferred to television, for example in Melissa or The Doll.

    This TV series - whose production, incidentally, was the direct cause of the cancellation of the radio show - takes Paul and Steve out of that world, into the world of colour supplement 70s glamour. The whodunnit element is played down, and the 50 minute format makes devious plot twists impossible. The end result is more Alistair MacLean than Francis Durbridge (Durbridge had no input into the scripts).

    The ever-reliable Francis Matthews makes a decent stab at Paul, but Steve is turned into a typical dolly bird of the time, clearly 15-20 years younger. This was miscasting of epic proportions - the radio Steve was at least as mature as Paul, and impossibly glamorous (think Audrey Hepburn, or Myrna Loy in the Thin Man films). The relationship worked as one of equals, rather than here where the whiff of sugar daddy is amplified by the fact that Steve gets little to say and less to do, other than marvel at Paul's genius. Poor Ms Drinkwater was somewhat out of her depth, as can be seen by a scan of her previous career, and, at least according to imdb, after this failure never worked in the business again (she moved into photojournalism).

    This of course might have worked, despite the failure to transfer the Temples' characters to television, had the programmes been any good. But they weren't. Meagre plotting, dull characters, and (later on), incomprehensible accents from foreign actors managed to make most episodes fall flat. Paul Temple was a major brand for the BBC, and they made a lot of efforts to keep the series going, but it thrived in a different world, and the attempt to give it a 1970s update bombed, and to my knowledge Paul Temple never appeared again in a new English-language production set in the present day; the BBC did produce new versions of missing radio serials in 2006, but these were based on original scripts, using the original scores and sound effects, and set in the 1950s.

    Paul Temple wasn't murdered, but his disappearance was down to manslaughter, and this series was largely responsible.
    helpful•6
    2
    • kmoh-1
    • Oct 4, 2019

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 23, 1969 (United Kingdom)
    • Countries of origin
      • United Kingdom
      • West Germany
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Paul Vlaanderen
    • Production companies
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
      • Taurus Film
      • Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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