Bert Coules
| Bert Coules | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | London, England |
| Occupation | Playwright |
| Nationality | English |
| Genre | Radio, TV, stage |
| Subject |
Science fiction Mystery |
Bert Coules is an English writer, mainly for the BBC, who has produced a number of adaptations and original works. He works mainly in radio drama but also writes for TV and the stage.
Early years
Bert Coules worked in radio drama for ten years, gaining experience as a recording engineer, sound-effects technician, script reader and producer-director before becoming a full-time writer in 1989.[1][2]
Coules began writing without any previous training, saying that he only heard a bad radio drama and felt he could do better. He wrote his first script in 1977 and had it accepted, a 45-minute docu-drama called "Wagner in Hell".[3]
Writing career
Coules specializes in mystery and science fiction audio and radio drama, and has written a number of adaptations, most notably the Sherlock Holmes radio series starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams/Andrew Sachs as Watson. He also produced original scripts for this series, which was also issued on CD.[4] He has also written adaptations of several of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels, starring Philip Madoc as Cadfael, and of works by Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Isaac Asimov and other best-selling genre authors. He is an avowed Arthur Conan Doyle and Doctor Who fan.
Works
Original pieces include:
- The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (four series) starring Clive Merrison and Andrew Sachs
- Fear on Four: The Man in Black (three episodes)
- A Magician Amongst the Spirits: the deaths and lives of Harry Houdini
Dramatisations include:
- Flowers for Algernon: The Radio Play, starring Tom Courteney
- A Wizard of Earthsea, starring Michael Maloney and Judi Dench
- The Thirty-Nine Steps, starring David Robb and Tom Baker
- The Three Hostages, starring David Robb, Haydn Gwynne, Michael Malone and Clive Merrison
- Mr. Standfast, starring David Robb, Clive Merrison, Struan Rodger, Jasmine Hyde and Jon Glover
- Father Brown: The Secret Garden starring Richard Greenwood as Father Brown
- Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Oliver Reed as William Bligh and Linus Roache as Fletcher Christian
- The BBC's complete Sherlock Holmes - all four novels: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Valley of Fear and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and twenty-four of the short stories, starring Clive Merrison as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson.
- Rebus: Resurrection Men
- Rebus: The Falls
- Brother Cadfael: Monk's Hood
- Brother Cadfael: The Virgin in the Ice
- Brother Cadfael: Dead Man's Ransom
- The Guns of Navarone, starring Toby Stephens
- An English Tragedy, an adaptation of the play by Ronald Harwood starring Geoffrey Streatfeild and Derek Jacobi
Television appearances
In 2008 Coules appeared in a television documentary titled Decoding Cadfael which detailed the process of producing the series.
References
- ↑ http://www.mbalit.co.uk/author/172 Bert Coules
- ↑ Alison Deacon, Nigel Deacon. "Bert Coules radio drama, Sherlock Holmes, radio plays - DIVERSITY WEBSITE". suttonelms.org.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ↑ Miniscule, Caroline (7 December 2005). "Bert Coules, radio dramatist". TheThunderChild.com. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ↑ "Bert Coules: Holmes writer and dramatiser for Radio 4". BBC.co.uk. September 2005. Retrieved 20 May 2010.