Paul Temple: Games People Play (1970)

Synopsis

Paul Temple, originally a BBC Radio series broadcast between 1938 and 1968 about a crime novelist and amateur detective, transferred to the small screen in 1969.

Co-produced with West German television station, ZDF, filming took place in multiple locations, many of which were in West Germany. The show was dubbed into German and only 16 of the 52 episodes exist with the original English soundtrack.

Games People Play was the third episode of the second series of Paul Temple, first broadcast on BBC1 on Sunday 19 April 1970 at 7.25pm.

Francis Matthews plays Paul Temple, the crime novelist and amateur detective created by Francis Durbridge, with Ros Drinkwater as his wife Steve. The pair arrive in the Maltese islands and find themselves absorbed into what the Radio Times billing called the “sweet life” of a set for whom luxury has stopped being a treat and started being a requirement. At the centre of the group is an eccentric film star with a taste for games, and the boredom that money buys turns steadily into something a good deal more dangerous.

Gozo does a great deal of the work with Mġarr, Xlendi, Marsalforn, Żebbuġ and San Lawrenz all making appearances.

George Baker appears as Mark Hill, with Angela Browne as Juliet, Moray Watson as Alexis, Michael Gothard as Ivan, Tony Vogel as Piet and Penny Spencer as Maria. Maltese actor Joe Zammit Cordina plays Captain Debono. The episode was directed by Philip Dudley and written by John Gould, with Peter Bryant and Derrick Sherwin producing.

There is a reason this one matters more than most. The BBC wiped a great deal of its 1970s output, and of the 52 episodes of Paul Temple only 16 survive. Games People Play is the sole survivor from the first two series, and it survived because it was shot entirely on 16mm colour film on location rather than recorded on videotape in a London studio, which sent it into the BBC Film Library instead of the wiping queue.

Production Info