Charles finds himself uncharacteristically employed in a film, having landed the part of Szabec, a middle management vampire in The Wreathing.
His co-star is swimwear model turned actress Jodie Ricks and before long, Jodie is using Charles as a confidant. Poor Jodie is in terrible trouble - not only is she being blackmailed over some compromising photos, but she is also carrying the baby of the film's producer, Elliot Roth, who now wants nothing to do with her.
Then things take an even nastier turn when it appears that someone is trying to kill Jodie. Always keen to help a damsel in distress, Charles sets about trying to solve the mystery...
Starring Bill Nighy and Martine McCutcheon and dramatised by Jeremy Front.
Written by Jeremy Front, based on the novel by Simon Brett.
Duration: 1 hr 50 mins approx.
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Bill Nighy stars as Charles Paris with Martine McCutcheon as Jodie Ricks in this BBC Radio 4 comedy detective drama.
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 Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Week Ending, The Burkiss Way, Im Sorry I Havent 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 radios Take It From Here). Bretts 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. Jeremy Front is an award winning writer, actor and broadcaster. He studied Fine Art (Painting) at Goldsmiths, University of London and Central St. Martins 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. Harrisons 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 Waughs Decline and Fall, Scoop, Brideshead Revisited and The Sword of Honour Trilogy (Winner of the BBC Audio Drama Award).
