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Raymond Chandler: Playback (Dramatised)

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Raymond Chandler: Playback (Dramatised)

By: Raymond Chandler
Narrated by: Toby Stephens, Sarah Goldberg, Iain Batchelor, Sean Baker, Claire Harry, Sam Dale
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About this listen

Toby Stephens stars in this BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisation of Raymond Chandler’s final completed Philip Marlowe mystery.

Fast-talking, trouble-seeking private eye Philip Marlowe is a different kind of detective: a moral man in an amoral world. California in the ’40s and ’50s is as beautiful as a ripe fruit and rotten to the core, and Marlowe must struggle to retain his integrity amidst the corruption he encounters daily.

In ‘Playback’, Marlowe is awakened early in the morning by a phone call from a lawyer. Clyde Umney instructs him to meet the eight o’clock train from Chicago, and shadow one of the passengers.

The lady in question, Eleanor King, is beautiful, classy and clearly unhappy. Obediently, Marlowe follows her - all the way to Esmerelda, where she’s going under the name Betty Mayfield and being leaned on by a cheap blackmailer.

Stuck doing a sneaky job for people he doesn’t like, Marlowe feels even grubbier than usual: and he’s soon in more trouble than usual too as he comes up against gangsters, hard men and a hitman...

Starring Toby Stephens, this exciting dramatisation retains all the verve of Chandler’s last novel.

©1958 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)1958 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd Thriller & Suspense
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I have been devouring this series over the past week and this one comes in wanting on both plot and character development. Still a treat to hear more of TS and his particular brand of PM.

Too short for the price

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i was very impressed with the exceptional quality of this version of raymond chandler's 'playback'; the music, sound effects and actors were top level and added to the entertainment. i especially enjoyed the superb voice of toby stephens - i felt that he nailed the complexity and character of philip marlowe, and made him sound truthful, human and attractive. well done on a good production... i have been a long-time fan of the marlowe radio adaptations starring the late great ed bishop, but i am sorely tempted to revisit them with toby stephens in the lead role! scandalous!!

toby stephens is excellent

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Sharp witty dialogue and plot. Brief but brilliant story. Toby Stephens is great as Marlowe

Everything great about Marlowe

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