I Didn't Want Him To Be the Killer!

I've been listening to Paul Temple and the Alex Affair. Recorded in 1968, it is broadcast on an annual basis by BBC Radio 7 (soon to lose their identity as they become Radio 4 Extra instead - so stupid.)

For 11 of these serials, from 1954 to 1968, Peter Coke (pronounced Cook) starred as Paul Temple, Marjorie Westbury starred as his wife Steve, and an actor named Simon Lack starred as Character X. He was in all but one of these serials, I think, sometimes playing the villain, sometimes the red herring, and on one occasion a police superitendent.

In Paul Temple and the Alex Affair, I had hoped he was the red herring, because I really liked his character. He plays a man who has been having hallucinations (at least, he says he's been having hallucinations) and then is being blackmailed by Alex.

Throughout his appearance, which begain in the last few minutes of episode 1 til now, midway through episode 5, he's been a sympathetic character whose been very afraid, the fear radiating out of his voice in a masterful vocal performance.

I couldn't stand it, and searched the web trying to find out who Alex (the master criminal whose name has been left at the site of two murders) was. And according to Yahoo Answers.com, it's him.

Damn I'm so pissed!

It's kind of funny...I really don't like these Paul Temple stories. They are each told in 8 episodes of 30 minutes each, and they are full of far-fetched plots, convoluted action, and people whose actions make no sense. By the eighth episode, a lot of people have died and anyone who hasn't died is a crook, involved in the crime in some way, and one of them - the "least likely suspect" is the master criminal...regardless of the fact that since they are the criminal, most of their actions for the previous seven episodes are rendered incomprehensible!

If they were books instead of radio serials I'd throw them against the wall each time they came to the end!

But I like Coke and Westbury and their rapport.

And I'm now a fan of Simon Lack - for all that he's been dead for 30 years - and will shortly be doing a website tribute to him.