Dick Barton and the Paris Adventure [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Hailing from 1946 this would appear to be a bit of a compromise. The original UK broadcasts have apparently all but been lost as the BBC destroyed most of them soon after airing, (the mind boggles at the short sightedness!),. This recording is from a later set of productions discovered in Australia. These were made especially for the Australian, New Zealand & and South African radio market.
The original Barton is missing but is replaced by a perfectly capable actor.
Obviously the recording shows some age with a slight splashy effect to anything sibilant, a lack of clarity and occasional distortion to loud scenes. This is all to be expected and really does little to distract the listener. Voices are very clear and the effects add weight to every scene.
Equally to be expected is the rather archaic approach to women with the main female character, Jean, enduring a continual barrage of patronising statements and behaviour from her male counterparts. In particular Barton himself whose prudish and self satisfied ego is of an age long since passed.In defence it has to be said that Jean puts up a fight & refuses to be the `shy retiring woman'. She often gets the better of the verbal jousting with Barton.
The age also leads to some fun. A music hall's acts include `Angus McHooster & Lulu Boyle and her 8 naughty girls'! It's been a while since anyone has said `love a duck' or called anyone a `perisher' too.
There is the occasional reference to previous unheard episodes too, in fact this adventure begins with the conclusion of a previous story which can be a bit confusing. An old enemy called `the professor' makes a brief appearance too.
However once `The devils galop' begins to play and the story develops ,by about the midway point of the second episode, you're drawn in & swept along. Fitting things in to a 15 minute slot would seem to allow little room for development but somehow both the characters and the story are given space to open out and before long you hardly notice the intervening music with the narrator asking questions about what's going to happen next that takes place between each episode.
The story itself flies around with nobody staying in one place for very long at all. Paris makes for a suitably interesting backdrop once they get there.
The villains are all pretty standard fare but there are so many of them that a huge variety come and go, (usually via some violent death),. People die rapidly and often in grisly ways. Barton and his mates seem to be the kiss of death to just about everyone else, good or bad!
It's amazing how a mental picture is so well painted. Modern technology would seem to make a mockery of such an outdated production. After all this is in bog standard mono, the effects are very basic and the actors sometimes fluff their lines. Yet as each episode passes you are made to anticipate what's going to happen next and as daft as it often is the characters are real and so are their surroundings.
This is certainly helped by some very solid acting but surely mostly down to tight scripting that refuses to sit still and doesn't let any one character dominate any scene. The fact that anything could happen and that someone is always just about to be helped on their way off the planet keeps the listener's constant attention.
This is not without it's faults. Age influences proceedings in various ways but overall this is a well put together adventure with a plot that both grips and speeds along. You can't help but like the main characters, (even if Barton is a smug & pompous windbag), and there is always a new twist to the story just around the corner.
At well over 4 hours and offering a lot of fun that you'll likely return to listen to again it is impossible not to recommend this.
Whether you're in to old radio theatre or just enjoy a good yarn and well arranged cast productions you are unlikely to be disappointed by this release. Give it a try.

Once I had got over the initial problem of 'was the first CD really the first one, or was I missing something?', I soon settled down to enjoy the light humour and rapid action of this set of CDs, and am now converted to being a fan of Dick Barton as well. I wasn't sure what to expect (my first introduction to Dick Barton was through the novelisations read by Toby Stevenson, which I had found quite hard-going) however, these original recordings are wonderful, and the story is a clasic. As a lover of the Paul Temple series, it is always a joy to discover a new story - one that will take me back to an era before I was born ... and era when men were gentleman, ladies were ladies, and baddies were baddies! This audio book succeeded there.

Each of the 4 CDs in the box contains 5 fairly short original episodes (one week of the original radio show); comnplete with the introduction and summary - and it is this introduction in the first episode that confused me when I started listening to the first CD, as it referred to a previous adventure; however, I soon settled down to enjoy the story.

All I have to say is "What will happen next? Will Elaine buy another CD in this series? Has Dick Barton captured another avid fan? Will all be revealed in the next episode?

Wait and see!!!

Like a lot of fellow reviewers I ordered this wanting to catch a bit of nostalgia from when the Radio was king. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into this and sadly found that it hadn't aged at all well. I guess times have just changed.

That's not to say that it wasn't pleasant to listen to, I just found it a tad boring at times, it was nice to listen to a blast from the past.

I still think anyone who is thinking about buying one of the many cd's available should give them a go, I just won't be starting a collection.

3 stars.