The Entirely Fictional Adventures of Noël Coward - BBC Radio Drama - Marcy Kahan

Written by Marcy Kahan
Read by Malcolm Sinclair, Eleanor Bron, Tam Williams, Full Cast
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 160 Kbps
Dramatization

The Entirely Fictional Adventures of Noël Coward and Mr Bridger’s Orphan - Five tall tales and one true story…

The Master turns sleuth and spy in this quintet of fictional radio dramas, plus the true story of how Coward came to take the role of chief gangster in the film The Italian Job.

Actor, playwright, songwriter, director, author and star – as far as we know, Noël Coward never added ‘detective’ or ‘undercover agent’ to his astonishing achievements. But could the intriguing gaps in his memoirs be hiding a thrilling secret life?

Starring Malcolm Sinclair as Coward, Eleanor Bron as his devoted secretary Lorn Loraine and Tam Williams as his devoted valet Cole Lesley, these light-hearted thrillers see Noël Coward solving crimes and foiling villains with his favourite weapon: wit.

1. Design for Murder

In this wry backstage whodunit set just before World War II, Coward must put aside the play he’s writing to track down a murderous psychopath in London’s West End.

2. Blithe Spy

This Second World War espionage adventure finds Coward in New York, where he turns secret agent and uses his talent to amuse to help Britain battle the Nazis.

3. A Bullet at Balmain’s

1948 and the celebrated playwright is in post-liberation Paris to take the lead role in his play Present Laughter. But the murder of a fashion-house mannequin provides a stylish distraction.

4. Death at the Desert Inn

1955. When $300,000 is left in a satchel in Noël Coward’s Las Vegas suite, it’s the prelude to a baffling murder mystery, complete with Judy Garland, a showgirl, a Broadway agent, an unlikely croupier and a US Congressman.

5. Our Man in Jamaica

1961. Reconciled to being out of fashion, Noël Coward is determined to finish his first novel – until his neighbour Ian Fleming sets him a challenge: become a spy once more to help destabilise Fidel Castro….

Also included is

Mr Bridger’s Orphan

Commissioned to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Noël Coward, Mr Bridger’s Orphan tells a surprising and little-known story from his life. It’s 1968 and Coward is in Dublin to play the chief gangster in the film The Italian Job. But why has the urbane actor and playwright, in failing health, accepted the role?

The play tells the story of how his involvement in the movie emerged from a significant encounter during Coward’s dynamic and humane twenty-year Presidency of the Actors’ Orphanage, revealing the down-to-earth man behind the sometimes waspish and rarefied public persona.

Mr Bridger’s Orphan reunites the cast of the Coward quintet: Noël Coward is again played by Malcolm Sinclair; his devoted secretary Lorn Loraine by Eleanor Bron; and his devoted Man Friday, Cole Lesley, by Tam Williams.

Directed by Marilyn Imrie.

My recordings from BBC iPlayer