CHARLES PARIS: A DEADLY HABIT: A BBC RADIO 4 FULL-CAST DRAMATISATION

Plays Theatre & Dance Detective & Mystery Stories

By Simon Brett

Synopsis

Actor and sleuth Charles Paris is back in this full-cast BBC radio dramatisation of Simon Brett's novel, starring Bill Nighy. Locked down with his semi-detached wife Frances, Charles has thrown himself into a new career as a handyman, becoming quite the DIY expert. Then his agent, Maurice, offers him the chance to get back on stage - and in a West End play, no less. The star, Justin Grover, asked for him specifically: but Charles has reservations. So why has Justin signed up for it? He certainly doesn't need the money, unlike Charles. The cast is drearily male, and before long Charles is hitting the Scotch again. When he drunkenly stumbles over the corpse of a fellow actor, Charles panics, leaving the body to be discovered by someone else. But he soon regrets lying to the police, and driven by guilt and self-preservation, he resolves to find the murderer...

Sample Player

Narrator	Suzanne Burden
Length	2hrs
Catalogue No.	16551
Publisher	BBC Digital Audio; 2021

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August in Edinburgh, and thousands of performers of all stripes have flocked to the Fringe Festival. Among them is Charles Paris filling in at the last minute after a student actress breaks a leg and has to drop out. Showcasing an earnest one-man show in a sea of stand-up comics is a bit of a gamble, but at least he's acting, and with a Charles Paris production, what could possibly go wrong? Charles is sharing a venue with a group of student actors, but when one of the performers dies in a freak stabbing, the actor-cum-amateur sleuth smells a murderous rat and decides to investigate. When the killer sets his sights on him, Charles realises that he must be getting close to the truth - despite not having a clue what's going on... Help arrives in the form of his agent, Maurice, in town scouting for talent, and Charles' 'semi-detached' wife, Frances, who inadvertently finds herself directing Charles' show. The three become drawn into the mystery, and find themselves playing detectives. This unlikely trio are way out of their depth, but when has that ever stopped Charles Paris?

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