Simon Anthony Lee Brett OBE

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

(born 28 October 1945 in

Worcester Park Worcester Park is a suburban town in South 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 16,031 ...

, 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'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

'', ''

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 the host. The show was launched in April 1972 as a parody of ...

'' and ''

Just a Minute ''Just a Minute'' is a BBC Radio 4 radio comedy panel game. For more than 50 years, with a few exceptions, it was hosted by Nicholas Parsons. Following Parsons' death in 2020, Sue Perkins became the permanent host, starting with the 87th ser ...

''.

Personal life

The son of

chartered surveyor Chartered Surveyor is the description (protected by law in many countries) of Professional ''Members'' and ''Fellows'' of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) entitled to use the designation (and a number of variations such as " Char ...

John Brett and Margaret (née Lee), a teacher, he had 2 siblings - Penelope Clark and Michael Brett (author o
How to Read Financial Pages
. He was educated at

Dulwich College Dulwich College is a 2-18 private, day and boarding school for boys in Dulwich, London, England. As a public school, it began as the College of God's Gift, founded in 1619 by Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, with the original purpose of ...

and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

, 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 la ...

, 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 Louisa Rickard, Baroness Orczy, ...

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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to literature. In 2015, Brett was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature 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 800 Fellows, elect ...

Radio and television career

After his graduation from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, 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 (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

and

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

. While with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 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 ''

'' 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 amateur, dilettante who solves myst ...

''. 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 ''End of Part One'' is a British television comedy sketch show written by David Renwick and Andrew Marshall; it was made by London Weekend Television. It ran for two series on ITV, from 1979 to 1980 and was an attempt at a TV version of '' ...

'' (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 Nig ...

'' (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. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

'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, from 1992 to 2007. The sitcom portrays the day-to-day lives of three very different sisters. Al ...

'',
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 epi ...

''. ''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 illustration ...

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 William George Rushton (18 August 1937 – 11 December 1996) was an English cartoonist, comedian actor and satirist who co-founded the satirical magazine ''Private Eye''. Early life Rushton was born 18 August 1937 at 3 Wilbraham Place, Chelsea, ...

, with Penelope Nice as his wife Louise, and Clive Swift as the now-aged ex-headmaster Grimes.

Bibliography

Detective novels

Brett has written five series of detective novels (Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, Fethering, Blotto & Twinks, and the Decluttering Mysteries). 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 of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

" 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 a retired English actor. Known for his distinct Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films over Michael Caine filmography, a career that spanned eight decades an ...

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. ...

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 investigates the murders he encounters in the course of his career. #''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) # Short story "The Haunted Actress" in ''A Box of Tricks'' (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) # Short story "Doctor Theatre" in ''Original Sins'' ed. Martin Edwards (2010) #''A Decent Interval'' (2013) #''The Cinderella Killer'' (2014) #''A Deadly Habit'' (2018) # Short story "Cast in Order of Reappearance" in ''Playing Dead: Short stories in honour of Simon Brett by members of The Detection Club'' ed. Martin Edwards (2025); this volume also includes the short story "Lookalike" by Kate Ellis, in which Charles Paris also appears They have been adapted for

, mostly by Jeremy Front and starring Bill Nighy.

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) #''Mrs Pargeter's Patio'' (2023)

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) #''The 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) #''The 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) #''Death in the Dressing Room'' (2025) Since 2011, Brett's Fethering series has been published by Severn House.

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'' (2013) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Heir to the Tsar'' (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) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Suspicious Guests'' (2022) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Conquistadors Gold'' (2023) #''Blotto, Twinks and the Phantom Skiers'' (2024)

Nigel Molesworth

A continuation of the

Nigel Molesworth Nigel Molesworth is a fictional character, the supposed author of a series of books about life in an English prep school named St Custard's. The books were written by Geoffrey Willans, with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle. The Moleswo ...

books, featuring a now middle aged Nigel. #''Molesworth Rites Again'' (1983) #''How to Stay Topp'' (1987)

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) #''A Messy Murder'' (2024)

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 wr ...

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) *'' 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) *''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 Writers from the London Borough of Sutton 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English male writers Cartier Diamond Dagger winners British radio show creators British television show creators