Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Charles Paris: A Doubtful Death cover art

Charles Paris: A Doubtful Death

By: Simon Brett,Jeremy Front
Narrated by: Simon Brett,Suzanne Burden,Full Cast,Jonathan Glover
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £7.99

Buy Now for £7.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Charles Paris: A BBC Radio Collection cover art
Mrs Pargeter's Principle cover art
Pietr the Latvian cover art
Father Paolo Baldi Mysteries cover art
The Toff cover art
No Commitments: Series 1-5 cover art
A Man Lay Dead cover art
High Table, Lower Orders: The Complete Series 1 and 2 cover art
Sergeant Cribb cover art
Stone: The Complete Series 1-4 cover art
Mrs Sidhu Investigates cover art
Rumpole: On Trial & Going for Silk cover art
The Ngaio Marsh BBC Radio Collection cover art
Ann Cleeves: Raven Black, White Nights & Other Shetland Mysteries cover art
Rumpole: A BBC Radio Collection cover art
The Railway Detective cover art

Summary

Bill Nighy returns as the loveably louche actor-cum-amateur detective Charles Paris.

Charles Paris is in Oxford, appearing in a re-imagining of Hamlet by a high-concept drama company. No fan of immersive theatre, he’s unimpressed with the director’s vision and less than thrilled to be rehearsing alongside puppeteers and mime artists.

But he soon finds himself back on familiar territory when the actress playing Ophelia goes missing, only to turn up dead. Did she take her own life, or was there foul play? As he amasses a list of suspects who might have wished her harm, Charles takes on the mantle of detective once more to decide if this is to be or not to be a murder case....

Scripted for radio by Jeremy Front from a story by Simon Brett, A Doubtful Death stars Bill Nighy (Emma, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) as Charles Paris, with Suzanne Burden as Frances and Jon Glover as Maurice.

Also included is an exclusive 18-minute afterword in which Jeremy Front discusses his experience of adapting an unproduced screenplay, reveals what it’s like to work with recurring characters and actors and explains the mechanics of recording for radio.

Simon Brett OBE has written 19 Charles Paris novels as well as many other detective novels. Jeremy Front is a dramatist and comedic writer; he has won awards for his adaptation of Sword of Honour and co-writes and stars in the series Incredible Women with his sister, Rebecca.

Credits:

Written by Jeremy Front.

From a story by Simon Brett.

Produced and directed by Sally Avens.

Production Coordinator: Cynthia Fagan.

Studio Managers: Anne Bunting, Keith Graham and Jenni Burnett.

Interview produced by Ania Duggan and Roshni Radia.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 22 May-12 June 2020.

©2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2020 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

What listeners say about Charles Paris: A Doubtful Death

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    103
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    100
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    80
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Exquisite As Always

This review is not just for this dramatisation but all the Charles Paris dramatisations by Jeremy Front and Simon Brett.

Cosy crime at its witty and fun best.

Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden & Jonathan Glover where obviously put on earth to record these stories. Well done to all concerned especially the casting agent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love these

Love these more please, fantastic cast- murder mixed with comedy just wish they went on for longer!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Five star performances by all.

As always the great cast (Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden, Jonathan Glover etc) and writers (Jeremy Front, Simon Brett et al) of the Charles Paris Mysteries have been and made yet another masterpiece.

This includes four episodes followed by a talk by Jeremy Front about writing the radio dramas.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

grate book

i have all the books and this one is as good as the rest great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A little short

Didn't feel chapter 5 was required , necessary or terribly interesting, not my favourite Paris story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

As polished and entertaining as ever

This adaptation is as polished, slick and as entertaining as each of the previous 19 Charles Paris stories. Bill Nighy, Suzanne Burden and Jon Glover deliver Jeremy Front’s fast-paced and witty dialogue with natural ease. A pure joy!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Sorry but it’s dire.

I bought this as Bill Nighy was involved, but I’m sorry it’s just dire. Unconvincingly snappy dialogue, a plot full of holes and more cliches than you could shake a snake at. And yes I did listen all the way through, God help me. The first audiobook in my collection to get deleted. Sorry Bill.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!