Simon Anthony Lee Brett OBE

FRSL The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 600 Fellows, elec ...

(born 28 October 1945 in

Worcester Park Worcester Park is a suburban town in South West London, England. It lies in the London boroughs of Sutton and Kingston, and partly in the Surrey borough of Epsom and Ewell. The area is southwest of Charing Cross. The suburb's population was ...

, Surrey, England) is a British author of detective fiction, a playwright, and a producer-writer for television and radio. As an author, he is best known for his mystery series featuring Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, Fethering and Blotto & Twinks. His radio credits have included ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it ...

'', ''

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'' is a BBC radio comedy panel game. Billed as "the antidote to panel games", it consists of two teams of two comedians being given "silly things to do" by a chairman. The show was launched in April 1972 as a pa ...

'' and '' Just a Minute''.

Personal life

The son of chartered surveyor John Brett and Margaret (née Lee), a teacher, he was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2–19 Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school for Single-sex education, boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a Public school (United Kingdom), public school, it began as the Col ...

and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy ...

, where he gained a first-class honours degree in English. He is married with three children and lives in

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much larg ...

, West Sussex, England. Brett was the president of the

Detection Club The Detection Club was formed in 1930 by a group of British mystery writers, including Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ronald Knox, Freeman Wills Crofts, Arthur Morrison, Hugh Walpole, John Rhode, Jessie Rickard, Baroness Emma Orczy, R. ...

from 2000 to 2015. He was appointed Officer of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the

2016 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2016 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

for services to literature.

Radio and television career

After his graduation from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, Brett joined the BBC as a trainee and worked for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

and

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

. While with the BBC, Brett produced the pilot episode of ''

'', as well as many episodes of the comedy series '' The Burkiss Way'', as well as the comedy panel games ''

'' and '' Just a Minute'' and radio adaptations of ''

Lord Peter Wimsey Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey (later 17th Duke of Denver) is the fictional protagonist in a series of detective novels and short stories by Dorothy L. Sayers (and their continuation by Jill Paton Walsh). A dilettante who solves mysteries fo ...

''. He also co-produced
From Us To You
' for BBC Radio 4 with David Hatch. In the mid-1990s, Brett wrote and hosted
Foul Play
', a radio panel game in which well-known writers of detective fiction were challenged to solve a dramatised mystery. When he moved into television, Brett was responsible for producing '' End of Part One'' (1979–80) and the television revival of ''

The Glums ''The Glums'' is a British television sitcom which first aired on ITV in 1979. It had its origins in a segment of the 1950s radio show ''Take It from Here''.Morgan-Russell p.3 The characters were revived as part of '' Bruce Forsyth's Big Night' ...

'' (1979), both for LWT. Brett wrote several sitcoms, including

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's ...

's '' After Henry'', ''

No Commitments ''No Commitments'' is a radio drama written by Simon Brett, originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and now on BBC Radio 4 Extra. It ran for 13 series, starting in 1992. The sitcom portrays the day-to-day lives of three very different sisters. All ...

'',
Semi Circles
' and ''

Smelling of Roses ''Smelling of Roses'' was a BBC Radio 4 comedy series starring Prunella Scales and written by Simon Brett. There were four series, each of six episodes, broadcast from 2000 to 2003. The series was produced and directed by Maria Esposito (some ep ...

''. ''After Henry'' was later produced on television for ITV. He has written episodes of the BBC radio detective drama '' Baldi'' (2000). In 1987, the Nigel Molesworth character created by

Geoffrey Willans Herbert Geoffrey Willans, RNVR, (4 February 1911 – 6 August 1958), an English writer and journalist, is best known as the creator of Nigel Molesworth, the "goriller of 3B" and "curse of St. Custard's", as in the four books with illustrations ...

was reprised for a four-part BBC Radio 4 series ''Molesworth''. Written by Simon Brett, the series portrayed Molesworth in middle age, still surrounded by many of the characters from his youth. Molesworth was played by Willie Rushton, with Penelope Nice as his wife Louise, and Clive Swift as the now aged ex-headmaster Grimes.

Bibliography

Detective novels

Brett has written four series of detective novels (Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, Fethering, and Blotto & Twinks). Most of these novels are in the "

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

" tradition of detective fiction, entertaining the reader through humour, eccentric characters and intricate plot twists. He has also written several mystery plays and some non-series novels, of which '' A Shock to the System'' (1984) is probably best known because the filmed version starred

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

as the business executive who takes revenge after being passed over for promotion. In 2014, Brett was chosen as the recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

for "an outstanding body of work in crime fiction".

Charles Paris

To date Brett has written 20 books about Charles Paris, an unhappily separated (but not divorced, more than 30 years on), moderately successful character actor with a slight drinking problem who gets entangled in various crimes, and finds himself unwillingly in the role of amateur detective. #''Cast, In Order of Disappearance'' (1975) #''So Much Blood'' (1976) #''Star Trap'' (1977) #''An Amateur Corpse'' (1978) #''A Comedian Dies'' (1979) #''The Dead Side of the Mic'' (1980) #''Situation Tragedy'' (1981) #''Murder Unprompted'' (1982) #''Murder in the Title'' (1983) #''Not Dead, Only Resting'' (1984) #''Dead Giveaway'' (1985) #''What Bloody Man Is That?'' (1987) #''A Series of Murders'' (1989) #''Corporate Bodies'' (1991) #''A Reconstructed Corpse'' (1993) #''Sicken and So Die'' (1995) #''Dead Room Farce'' (1998) #''A Decent Interval'' (2013) #''The Cinderella Killer'' (2014) #''A Deadly Habit'' (2018) ''Cast, In Order of Disappearance'' and ''So Much Blood'' were both adapted as serials for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

with Francis Matthews in the lead role in the 1980s.

Bill Nighy William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...

has played Paris in a series of BBC Radio productions. The first, an adaptation of ''So Much Blood'' for ''

The Saturday Play ''Saturday Drama'' (formerly ''The Saturday Play'') is a regular feature on BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of ...

'' in 1999, was recorded on location at its Edinburgh Fringe setting. ''A Series of Murders'' followed as another ''Saturday Play'' in 2004, leading into a number of half-hour serials which began with ''Sicken and So Die'' (2006) and continued with ''Murder Unprompted'' (2007) and ''The Dead Side of the Mike'' (2008), with ''So Much Blood'' apparently happening between the last two serials. These serials have all been updated from the novels, and adapted to deal with continuity problems caused by the adaptations being made out of order in relation to the books, with later adaptations featuring more far-reaching changes to the central mysteries. ''Cast, In Order of Disappearance'', this time starring Francis Matthews as Paris, began airing on Friday 29 January 2010 on

. From 26 February, its slot was taken for three weeks by an original series from Brett. A three-hour ''I Did It My Way'' programme featuring Brett's work was rebroadcast by BBC Radio 7 on Saturday 20 February 2010, including a repeat of ''A Series of Murders''. This was followed by ''Murder in the Title'' (2010) which aired weekly from 22 November to 13 December 2010. Nighy returned to the role in ''A Reconstructed Corpse'' (2012). Other recurring cast members include

Jon Glover Jonathan Philip Glover (born 26 December 1952) is an English actor. He has appeared in various television programmes including '' Play School'', '' Survivors'', the Management consultant in '' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', '' Casual ...

as Charles's agent Maurice, and

Suzanne Burden Suzanne Burden (born 1958) is a British actress. A graduate of RADA, she has appeared on television, and occasionally in films, since the early 1980s. She gained attention as Esther Summerson in ''Bleak House'' (1985). In 1989, she played Patrici ...

as his estranged wife Frances. On 5 December 2012 a 4-part adaptation of ''An Amateur Corpse'' began on Radio 4; Nighy and Burden again played Charles and Frances. A tenth story starring Bill Nighy as Charles began broadcast on 25 June 2014; this 4-part adaptation of ''Corporate Bodies'' also stars Suzanne Burden as Frances. List of radio adaptations with Bill Nighy as Charles: Saturday plays * ''So Much Blood'' (recorded on location at Edinburgh Fringe), 1999 * ''A Series of Murders'', 2004 Half-hour 4-part serials * ''Sicken and So Die'', 2006 * ''Murder Unprompted'', 2007 * ''The Dead Side of the Mic'' (''So Much Blood'' set between last 2 serials), 2008 * ''Cast in Order of Disappearance'', began 29 January 2010 * ''Murder in the Title'', began 22 November 2010 * ''A Reconstructed Corpse'', 2012 * ''An Amateur Corpse'', began 5 December 2012 * ''Corporate Bodies'', began 25 June 2014 * ''A Decent Interval'', 9–30 March 2016 * ''The Cinderella Killer'', began 2 December 2016 * ''Dead Room Farce'', 23 February to 16 March 2018 * ''Star Trap'', 6 March 2019 * ''A Doubtful Death'', 22 May to 12 June 2020 * ''A Deadly Habit'', 3 to 24 September 2021

Mrs Pargeter

Mrs Pargeter is a widow with a shadowy past who, with a little help from her dead husband's friends, is able to solve uncanny mysteries. The Mrs Pargeter novels include: #''A Nice Class of Corpse'' (1986) #''Mrs, Presumed Dead'' (1988) #''Mrs Pargeter's Package'' (1990) #''Mrs Pargeter's Pound of Flesh'' (1992) #''Mrs Pargeter's Plot'' (1996) #''Mrs Pargeter's Point of Honour'' (1999) #''Mrs Pargeter's Principle'' (2015) #''Mrs Pargeter's Public Relations'' (2017)

Fethering

Fethering is a fictitious village on England's south coast (adjacent to Tarring). It is the place of residence of amateur sleuths Carole Seddon, a retired civil servant, and her neighbour, Jude Nichol, whose origins are obscure. Twenty-one Fethering mysteries have been published so far: #''The Body on the Beach'' (2000) #''Death on the Downs'' (2001) #''The Torso in the Town'' (2002) #''Murder in the Museum'' (2003) #''The Hanging in the Hotel'' (2004) #''The Witness at the Wedding'' (2005) #''The Stabbing in the Stables'' (2006) #''Death Under the Dryer'' (2007) #''Blood at the Bookies'' (2008) #''Poisoning at the Pub'' (2009) #''The Shooting in the Shop'' (2010) #''Bones Under the Beach Hut'' (2011) #''Guns in the Gallery'' (2011) #''Corpse on the Court'' (2012) #''Strangling on the Stage'' (2013) #''The Tomb in Turkey'' (2014) #''The Killing in the Cafe'' (2015) #''The Liar in the Library'' (2017) #''The Killer in the Choir'' (2019) #''Guilt at the Garage'' (2020) #''Death and the Decorator'' (2022) Since 2011, Brett's Fethering series has been published by

Severn House Severn House Publishers is an independent publisher of fiction in hardcover and ebooks. Severn House specialises in publishing mid-list authors in both the UK and the USA. Established in 1974, Severn House began republishing out-of-print titles ...

Blotto and Twinks

Farcical whodunnits set just after the First World War and featuring the handsome and dim "Blotto" and his beautiful and clever sister "Twinks", both from a ducal family. #''Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter'' (2009) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Dead Dowager Duchess'' (2010) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Rodents of the Riviera'' (2011) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Bootlegger's Moll'' (2012) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Riddle of the Sphinx'' (July 2013) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Heir to the Tsar'' (July 2015) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Stars of the Silver Screen'' (2017) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Intimate Revue'' (2018) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Great Road Race'' (2019) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Maharajah's Jewel'' (2021)

Decluttering Mystery

Features Ellen Curtis, a widow with two grown children whose decluttering business brings her into contact with murder. #''The Clutter Corpse'' (2020) #''An Untidy Death'' (2021) #''Waste of a Life'' (2022)

Plays

*''Murder in Play'' (1994) *''Mr Quigley's Revenge'' (1995) *''Silhouette'' (1998) *''The Tale of Little Red Riding Hood'' (1998) *''Sleeping Beauty'' (1999) *''Putting the Kettle on'' (2002) *''A Bad Dream'' (2005) *''Quirks'' (2009) *''A Healthy Grave'' (2010) *''Murder with Ghosts'' (2015)Murder with Ghosts – show report – NODA
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Anthologies

*''The Faber book of Useful Verse'' (1981) *''Take a Spare Truss'' (1983) *''The Faber book of Parodies'' (1984) *''The Faber book of Diaries'' (1987) *''The Detection Collection'' (2005)

Frank Muir Goes into

Each book is a compilation of the anecdotes taken from the BBC Radio 4 series 'Frank Muir Goes into', which was produced by Brett and presented by

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wro ...

and Alfred Marks. *''Frank Muir Goes into...'' (1978) *''The Second Frank Muir Goes into...'' (1979) *''The Third Frank Muir Goes into...'' (1980) *''Frank Muir on Children'' (1980) *''The Fourth Frank Muir Goes into...'' (1981) *''Frank Muir presents the Book of Comedy Sketches'' (1982)

How to Be a Little Sod

*''How to Be a Little Sod'' (1992) *''Look Who's Walking: Further Diaries of a Little Sod'' (1994) *''Not Another Little Sod!'' (1997)

Other

*''The Child-Owner's Handbook'' (1983) *''Molesworth Rites Again'' (1983) *'' A Shock to the System'' (1984) *''Bad Form'' (1984) *''Dead Romantic'' (1985) *''People-Spotting'' (1985) *''The Three Detectives and the Missing Superstar'' (1986) *''The Wastepaper Basket Archive'' (1986) *''How to Stay Topp'' (1987) *''After Henry'' (1987) *''The Three Detectives and the Knight in Armour'' (1987) *''The Booker Book'' (1989) *''The Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor'' (1991) *''Look Who's Walking'' (1994) *''Singled Out'' (1995) *''Baby Tips for Dads'' (2005) *''Baby Tips for Mums'' (2005) *''The Penultimate Chance Saloon'' (2006)

References

External links

*
Samuel French – London, publishers of plays
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brett, Simon 1945 births Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people BBC radio producers English crime fiction writers English dramatists and playwrights 20th-century English novelists 21st-century English novelists English radio producers English radio writers People from Arundel People from Worcester Park Members of the Detection Club Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford People educated at Dulwich College English male dramatists and playwrights English male novelists Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Cartier Diamond Dagger winners