My hiatus lasted a little longer than I’d intended. Real life intervened. Plus I hit a major reading slump this summer, so I had very little book-related material to blog about.
While my reading (and blogging) ground to a screeching halt, my newly-discovered affection for radio plays flourished. In addition to the excellent BBC radio productions of Dorothy L. Sayers’ mysteries, I’ve enjoyed several other series and one-episode plays. Here are a few I particularly recommend.
The Paul Temple Mysteries
These are vintage BBC radio serials featuring the mystery author and P.I., Paul Temple, and his glamorous wife, Steve. The plays were written by Francis Durbridge and aired between 1938 and 1968. Most of the recordings which survived star Peter Coke as Paul Temple and Marjorie Westbury as Steve. In 2006, BBC 4 commissioned several remakes of lost Paul and Steve plays. These star Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson.
The Paul and Steve mysteries consist of six to eight thirty-minute episodes per story. Each episode ends on a cliffhanger, and every story has Paul and Steve blowing up their car, or surviving a high-speed shootout. (Did Janet Evanovich listen to these, I wonder? 
) The stories are great fun, if very much of their time. Paul and Steve have an excellent camaraderie which makes the sexist elements easier to palate.
So far, I’ve listened to eight Paul Temple mysteries. My favourites are Paul Temple and the Lawrence Affair and Paul Temple and the Gilbert Case.
Agatha Christie’s Poirot and Miss Marple
I have a soft spot for Agatha Christie mysteries. These BBC radio plays feature John Moffat as Poirat and June Whitfield as Miss Marple. In general, I prefer the Miss Marple plays, but the same can be said of the books. However, the production of Murder on the Orient Express is particularly well done, despite being a Poirot story.
The Forsyte Saga (BBC Radio, 1990)
This is supposed to be the most expensive radio drama serial ever made. It consists of 23 episodes, and boasts an all-star cast including Dirk Bogarde. I’m only four episodes into it, but I’m enjoying it.
John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps (BBC Radio 4, 2001)
This play is a fine adaptation of John Buchan’s novel.
For anyone interested, I bought most of these plays from Books On Board or iTunes. They had far better prices for the downloads than I found for the CD versions.
Do you listen to radio plays? If so, which ones would you recommend?