Five full-cast BBC radio dramatisations, starring Bill Nighy as Charles Paris
Thespian sleuth Charles Paris is his own worst enemy, a louche lush who can resist anything except temptation - especially in the form of women and alcohol. Estranged from his long-suffering wife, Frances, his personal life is shambolic, and as an actor, he's C-list at best. But he does have a talent for solving murders - which is just as well, because wherever he goes, someone seems to drop dead...
A Series of Murders - Charles has landed a juicy part playing Sergeant Collins in the TV detective series, 'The Stanislaus Braid Mysteries'. But will all the deadly doings be restricted to on-screen?
Sicken and So Die - A suspected poisoner is on the loose in a production of Twelfth Night - can Charles track down the culprit before this comedy turns into a tragedy?
Murder Unprompted - There's drama backstage when a murder is discovered in a West End theatre production. Has Charles time to find the killer before the curtain goes up?
The Dead Side of the Mic - A job with the BBC radio rep coincides with the mysterious death of a studio manager in Broadcasting House. Once again, Charles steps in to investigate...
Cast in Order of Disappearance - Playing a middle-management vampire in 'The Wreathing', Charles finds himself dealing with a blackmailer, a maiden in distress - and a murderer. Has he bitten off more than he can chew?
Written by Jeremy Front
Based on the novels by Simon Brett
Produced and directed by Sally Avens
Starring Bill Nighy as Charles Paris, Suzanne Burden as Frances and Jon Glover as Maurice
Text copyright © Simon Brett 1975 (Cast in Order of Disappearance), 1980 (The Dead Side of the Mic), 1982 (Murder Unprompted), 1989 (A Series of Murders), 1995 (Sicken and So Die)
© 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Jeremy Front (Author) Jeremy Front is an award winning writer, actor and broadcaster. He studied Fine Art (Painting) at Goldsmith's, University of London and Central St. Martin's School of Art.
His first feature length screenplay was shortlisted for the Oxford Film Foundation Prize and first theatre pieces were musical/sketch revues, co-written with his sister, Rebecca Front. Four Times Four, a collection of monologues for women was staged by the RSC in Stratford as part of their New Writing Season.
Jeremy has written extensively for radio and television moving between original and adaptations in both drama and comedy. Work for BBC Radio includes the comedy series: Jack and Millie, seven series of Incredible Women (nominated BBC Audio Drama Award) in both of which he co-stars with Rebecca Front, and the long-running radio comedy series The Charles Paris Mysteries starring Bill Nighy. Jeremy has adapted and dramatized work by Graham Greene Stamboul Train, Elizabeth Gaskell Mr. Harrison's Confession, John Meade Faulkner The Lost Stradivarius, Anita Loos Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Nominated and Finalist for a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award), Chekov The Duel and Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall, Scoop, Brideshead Revisited and The Sword of Honour Trilogy (Winner of the BBC Audio Drama Award).
Simon Brett (Author) 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.