Francis Durbridge (1912-1998)

Francis Durbridge was internationally known throughout Europe for the creation of the Radio Detective Paul Temple and for the creation of the television thriller serial. The first Paul Temple serial was broadcast in 1938. There are 21 x6 or 8 part serials which were all produced by BBC Radio, the last being in 1968. He then moved to BBC television, writing 17 televison serials between 1952 and 1980. Both the radio and the televison serials had their own productions throughout Europe, enjoying particular success in Germany. The Temple serials are still extensively repeated and enjoy a large audio audience and BBC has even commenced re-producing the serials. Between 1971 and 1993, Francis Durbridge wrote for the theatre – the plays toured in the UK and Germany and three plays had successful runs in the West End.