Bert Coules
Encyclopedia
Bert Coules is an English writer, mainly for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, 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 dramaRadio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
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.
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".
Writing career
Coules specializes in mysteryMystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
and science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
audio and radio drama, and has written a number of adaptations, most notably the Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
radio series starring Clive Merrison
Clive Merrison
Clive Merrison is a Welsh actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College.- Television :...
as Holmes and Michael Williams/Andrew Sachs
Andrew Sachs
Andrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a...
as Watson. He also produced original scripts for this series, which was also issued on CD. He has also written adaptations of several of Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael novels, starring Philip Madoc
Philip Madoc
Philip Madoc is a Welsh actor who has had many television and film roles.One prominent role was the title character in the BBC Wales drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George...
as Cadfael, and of works by Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin
Ian Rankin, OBE, DL , is a Scottish crime writer. His best known books are the Inspector Rebus novels. He has also written several pieces of literary criticism.-Background:He attended Beath High School, Cowdenbeath...
, Val McDermid
Val McDermid
Val McDermid is a Scottish crime writer, best known for a series of suspense novels starring her most famous creation, Dr. Tony Hill.-Biography:...
, Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
and other best-selling genre authors. He is an avowed Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
and Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
fan.
Works
Original pieces include:- The Further Adventures of Sherlock HolmesThe Further Adventures of Sherlock HolmesThis article is about the BBC Radio 4 series transmitted from 2002 to 2010. There is also a U.S. produced series, which began in 1998, that transmits under the same title....
(four series) starring Clive MerrisonClive MerrisonClive Merrison is a Welsh actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College.- Television :...
and Andrew SachsAndrew SachsAndrew Sachs is a German-born British actor. He made his name on British television and is best known for his portrayals of Manuel in Fawlty Towers, a role for which he was BAFTA-nominated, and Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street.-Early life:Sachs was born in Berlin, Germany, the son of Katharina , a... - Fear on Four: The Man in Black (three episodes)
- A Magician Amongst the Spirits: the deaths and lives of Harry HoudiniHarry HoudiniHarry Houdini was a Hungarian-born American magician and escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer noted for his sensational escape acts...
Dramatisations include:
- Flowers for AlgernonFlowers for AlgernonFlowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960...
: The Radio Play, starring Tom CourteneyTom CourtenaySir Thomas Daniel "Tom" Courtenay is an English actor who came to prominence in the early 1960s with a succession of films including The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner , Billy Liar , and Dr. Zhivago . Since the mid-1960s he has been known primarily for his work in the theatre... - A Wizard of EarthseaA Wizard of EarthseaA Wizard of Earthsea, first published in 1968, is the first of a series of books written by Ursula K. Le Guin and set in the fantasy world archipelago of Earthsea depicting the adventures of a budding young wizard named Ged...
, starring Michael Maloney and Judi DenchJudi DenchDame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo... - The Thirty-Nine StepsThe Thirty-nine StepsThe Thirty-Nine Steps is an adventure novel by the Scottish author John Buchan. It first appeared as a serial in Blackwood's Magazine in August and September 1915 before being published in book form in October that year by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh...
, starring David RobbDavid RobbDavid Robb is an English actor.Robb has starred in various British films and television shows, including films such as Swing Kids and Hellbound. He is well known for playing Germanicus in the famous 1976 BBC production of I, Claudius and as Robin Grant, one of the principal character in Thames...
and Tom BakerTom BakerThomas Stewart "Tom" Baker is a British actor. He is best known for playing the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series Doctor Who, a role he played from 1974 to 1981.-Early life:... - The Three Hostages, starring David Robb, Haydn Gwynne, Michael Malone and Clive MerrisonClive MerrisonClive Merrison is a Welsh actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College.- Television :...
- Mr Standfast, starring David Robb, Clive Merrison, Struan Rodger, Jasmine Hyde and Jon Glover
- Mutiny on the BountyMutiny on the BountyThe mutiny on the Bounty was a mutiny that occurred aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty on 28 April 1789, and has been commemorated by several books, films, and popular songs, many of which take considerable liberties with the facts. The mutiny was led by Fletcher Christian against the...
, starring Oliver ReedOliver ReedOliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
and Roger DaltreyRoger DaltreyRoger Harry Daltrey, CBE , is an English singer and actor, best known as the founder and lead singer of English rock band The Who. He has maintained a musical career as a solo artist and has also worked in the film industry, acting in a large number of films, theatre and television roles and also... - The BBC's complete Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
- 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 MerrisonClive MerrisonClive Merrison is a Welsh actor of film, television, stage and radio. He trained at Rose Bruford College.- Television :...
as Holmes and Michael Williams as Watson. - RebusRebusA rebus is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form 3 salmon fish to denote the name "Salmon"...
: 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 NavaroneThe Guns of Navarone (novel)The Guns of Navarone is a 1957 novel about World War II by Scottish thriller writer Alistair MacLean that was made into a critically acclaimed film in 1961...
, starring Toby StephensToby StephensToby Stephens is an English stage, television and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for playing megavillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day , Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and Philip...