1956 audio thriller by Francis Durbridge, in 8 parts. The daughter of
the head of MI5 has gone missing, and someone seems to have taken a
pot at amateur sleuth Paul Temple while he was on holiday…
This is a mid-period Temple, but it deviates quite a bit from the
formula, both in large elements and in small; for example, Paul and
his wife Steve spend a lot of time sniping at each other, in a way
that may have been considered reasonable banter in the 1950s but seems
distinctly unfriendly now. It's only Peter Coke's third outing in the
part, while Marjorie Westbury had been playing Steve for over ten
years opposite three previous actors, but in The Gilbert Case
(Coke's first time in the role) it wasn't nearly as obvious.
On the "large" side, zbfg bs gur cybg guernqf ghea bhg gb or erq
ureevatf, naq nf vg gheaf bhg gur infg znwbevgl bs gur npgvba jnf
trarengrq ragveryl ol pevzvanyf gelvat gb hfr gur vairfgvtngbe ntnvafg
rnpu bgure.
Still, there are good bits and amusingly dated bits; John Gabriel does
a fine Peter-Lorre-as-Joel-Cairo as a eye specialist who must surely
be dodgy in some way, and meanwhile the idea that a woman might own
a yacht in her own right, rather than its being in her husband's name,
is regarded as grounds for Deep Suspicion. Some waterborne shenanigans
in episodes 6-7 go pretty well given the limitations of grams, but a
climactic car chase is less convincing.
Silly lightweight fun.
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