Charles Paris: A Doubtful Death - Simon Brett

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Résumé :
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. CreditsWritten by Jeremy FrontFrom a story by Simon BrettProduced and directed by Sally AvensProduction Coordinator: Cynthia FaganStudio Managers: Anne Bunting, Keith Graham and Jenni BurnettAfterword produced by Ania Duggan and Roshni RadiaFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 May-12 June 2020CastCharles Paris????????????????????????Bill NighyFrances????????????????????????Suzanne BurdenMaurice????????????????????????Jon GloverVicky????????????????????????Jessica TurnerJenny????????????????????????Scarlett CourtneyTomasz????????????????????????Ian ConninghamTour Guide/Dan????????????????????????Will KirkWaitress/Izzy????????????????????????Lucy ReynoldsZoe????????????????????????Laura ChristySiriol????????????????????????Sinead MacInnesPete/Player King????????????????????????Neil McCaulTim ????????????????????????Greg JonesCanon Park/Director????????????????????????Clive HaywardPassenger????????????????????????Adam CourtingWaitress/Sat Nav. ????????????????????????Amy Bentley-KleinCassie????????????????????????Heather CraneyCheckout/Fortinbras????????????????????????Ikky Elyas Continuity R4/WS Announcer????????????????????????Jeremy Front

Biographie:

Simon Brett was born in Worcester Park, Surrey, on 28 October 1945. He was educated at Dulwich College and Wadham College, Oxford, where he read English and was president of the Oxford University Dramatic Society.

After graduating in 1967 he worked as Father Christmas in a department store before landinga job at the BBC as a radio producer. During his ten years there, he worked on such programmes as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Week Ending, The Burkiss Way, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and Just a Minute. He moved to London Weekend Television in 1977, where he produced Maggie and Her, End of Part One and The Glums (a popular spin-off from radio's Take It From Here).

Brett's first Charles Paris novel, Cast In Order of Disappearance, was published in 1975, and by 1979 he was able to leave LWT and become a full-time writer. He has written over eighty books, including nineteen Charles Paris books, fifteen Fethering Mysteries and six Mrs Pargeter novels, as well as several non-series titles such as A Shock to the System (1984), which was adapted as a film starring Michael Caine. He has also contributed to several anthologies and scripted many sitcoms for radio including No Commitments, Smelling of Roses and After Henry.

Other radio work includes several one-off plays for Radio 4, and a number of episodes of the detective series Baldi. A former Chair of both the Crime Writers' Association and The Society of Authors, he is currently President of the Detection Club, as well as being involved with various writers' organisations. He is married with three children, and lives in West Sussex.