This series of 21 plays was produced by Rediffusion and debuted on 29 September 1955, airing Thursday evenings at 9.00 pm.
The Haven
Feeling that he’s in a rut, Kenneth (Robert Harris) can’t bear to spend another summer in the family’s holiday home by the lake. Although his wife Barbara (Joan Miller) and the kids – Germaine and Roland – are disappointed, he wants to sell the house and use the money for a long trip.
Kenneth is a serious, sensitive man whose love for the high-quality things in life makes him greatly appreciative of the works of Swinburne, classical music and the company of well-bred young women.
Barbara, on the other hand, is a foolish, loud-mouthed ex-barmaid, rarely seen without a cigarette drooping from her lips. Loving her husband above all, she paints a pathetic, bewildered portrait.
Caroline Denzil and James Doran as the two children of the marriage make sufficient unnecessary commotion to drive any man into the arms of a quiet and gentle mistress.
Supporting roles were played by Lionel Jeffries and John Franklyn Robbins, and the play was directed by Peter Cotes.
Babs
Joan Miller Kenneth
Robert Harris Germaine
Caroline Denzil Roland
James Doran Bob Ritchie Lionel Jeffries Lonely Tom
John Franklyn Robbins
A Call on the Widow
Two detectives (Clifford Evans and Michael Craig) call at a lonely farmhouse to investigate the death of the owner. Marooned by floods, they become guests of his widow (Jean Kent). One finds love, the other finds murder.
Elsa Carter
Jean Kent McKendrick
John Rae Inspector Grant
Clifford Evans Sgt Marshall
Michael Craig
The Glorification of Al Toolum
Al (Lionel Murton) has won a competition as the most average man in the USA. Then he discovers that glorification brings troubles.
Al Toolum
Lionel Murton Emily Toolum
Joan Miller DJ
Hugh McDermott Sherman Toolum
Garry Billings Herman Toolum
Robert Brooke Little Louie
Barry Fennell John Bell
Peter Dyneley Barbara McClain
Betty McDowall Mrs Stickler
Barbara Cavan Browning
Errol MacKinnon Mr Bright
MacDonald Parke Mrs Goren
Bessie Love Mac the crazy kid
Richard Rogers
Summer in Normandy
Host
Neal Arden
A Garden in the Sea
This adaptation of Henry James’s The Aspern Papers featured a young writer (Robert Urquhart) searching for new material for his biography of a famous poet. He believes that a mysterious old recluse once knew the poet, and still has poems and letters yet unpublished. So he goes to visit her in Venice at the old palace that stands in a garden in the sea.
Margaret Haslan as the beautiful girl grown old and crazy, reading and re-reading her precious letters, communicated the lost yearnings and the desperate heartbreak with a kind of twisted beauty that underlined the horror (for the story is horrible). Rosalie Crutchley as Tina, the old woman’s niece, backed up admirably.
But the episode was televised live and there were enough bumps, rattles, rumbles, tinkles, clinks, clanks, squeaks, coughs and conversations in the background to keep a Royal Festival Hall audience happy for hours. And once we even caught sight of the camera boom.
There was also a marked feeling of claustrophobia generated by the paucity of sets (a couple of backdrops and half a dozen corners).
Tina Bordereau
Rosalie Crutchley David Naseby
Robert Urquhart Felice
Andreas Malandrinos Marian Cumnor
Mary MacKenzie Max Cumnor
Cyril Chamberlain Juliana Bordereau
Margaret Halstan
The End of the Mission
Balbina
Derek Bond
Alex Scott
Eric Pohlmann
The Inward Eye
The story of a girl for whom a guide dog was the means by which she found her way back in life.
Mary
Patricia Owens Kenyon
William Hartnell Husband
John Horsley Arthur Jones
David Markham Miss Dudley
Jean Hardwicke Blind beggar
Arnold Ridley Doctor
Llewellyn Rees Matron
Althea Parker Miss Baker
Vi Stevens Conklin
Peter Cozens Scott
Graham Ashley
Fair Passenger
Avice Landon
George Woodbridge
Area Nine
The play – directed by Peter Cotes – gives dramatic emphasis to the problems of those who trespass within that part of the brain known as “Area Nine”.
It’s the story of Adrian Childe (Anthony Dawson) who has a brain tumour. His wife’s uncle is a famous brain surgeon with an ill-disguised contempt for psychiatrists and unqualified faith in the infallibility of the surgeon’s scalpel.
The psychiatrist – who had once been engaged to Adrian’s wife – knows that Area Nine lies in that part of the brain the functions of which are still a mystery; if it is involved in an operation, changes of personality may occur.
Not only do they occur, but Anthony Dawson portrays the changes with terrifying realism. Mad as he obviously is, one sympathises with him entirely as he becomes violent, menacing and given to fits which he can’t remember.
Joan Coates
George Curzon Robert Gray
Laurence Payne Charles Wingrove
Ronald Howard Adrian Childe
Anthony Dawson Judy Childe
Ann Castle
Lady Must Sell
The article for sale in this comedy play is a mink coat.
Dorothy Ireland
Joan Miller Adrian Ireland
Hugh Sinclair James Lloyd
Brian Oulton Annie
Vi Stevens Sybil Lloyd
Joan Carol Inspector Padbury
Campbell Singer Mrs Fred Deacon
Peggy Thorpe Bates Rodney Ireland
William Simons Winkle Ireland
Jill Williams Police constable
Peter Cozens Host
Neal Arden
The General’s Mess
Written by Giles Cooper.
Leslie Henson
Sam Kydd
Joan Sims
Fighting Chance
Jimmy (Stephen Boyd) is a professional boxer who is tempted by his crooked brother-in-law to throw a fight.
Betty Day
Eleanor Summerfield Jimmy Day
Stephen Boyd Mickey Day
James Kenny Mickey Day as a child
Fraser Hines Syd
John Arnatt Frank
Charles Lamb Ted
Arthur Lovegrove Mendoza
Richard Leech Matthews
Harry Lane Jack
Tom Bowan Max
Jim O’Brady Bookmaker
Sydney Brahms Harper
Teddy Gee Johnson
Alf Lay Mickey’s first opponent
Joe Barnham Mickey’s second opponent
Fred King Len
Len Sharpe Boxing Board Control man
Royal Russell Commentator
Alan Weekes 1st referee
Billy Wells 2nd referee
Paddy Hayes
The Man Who Liked Christmas
Written by Reuben Ship.
David Kossoff
Estelle Brody
Sheldon Lawrence
Neil McCallum
Adeline Girard
Fay Compton
Maureen Pryor
Harold Scott
Richard Thorp
Roger Delgado
Two Letters: Yesterday’s Mail/No Other Wine
Reed de Rouen
Alan Gifford
Joan Miller
Sam and the Great Unveiling
Sam Bowler (Reginald Beckwith) is a well-respected bookie who has just crowned a lifetime of service by raising the money for a new children’s home.
But some facts about his private life have been overlooked, and unfortunately, it is not in the nature of the implacable Lady Battleby (Noel Hood) to overlook anything – and she holds the purse strings.
Written for television by Gwyneth Jones.
Sam Bowler
Reginald Beckwith John Postgate
Richard Wattis Mayor Todd Fletcher
Francis de Wolff Lady Battleby
Noel Hood Mavis
Pat Hornsby Doris
Jennifer Phipps Elaine McKinnon
Sally Lahee Ann Postgate
Shirley Cooklin Dr McKinnon
Michael O’Halloran Grace
Megs Jenkins Sheila
Catherine Finn Moira
Catherine Jupp MrsGregg
Joan Hickson Maudie
Irene Handl Reporter
Patrick Westwood Chief Constable
Jack MacNaughton
The Guv’nor
A 999 call sends police racing through a deserted Piccadilly at dawn on the trail of a stolen car: The Guv’nor has struck again.
But as Inspector Bailey (Richard Caldicot) remarks to a visiting American police chief, no matter how well The Guv’nor plans his crimes, some small detail will trip him up in the end. Written by Tudor Gates.
Mr Frisby
Michael Hordern Amanda Pinkerton
Coral Browne Buxton
Jimmy Hanley Sgt Darcy
Nigel Davenport Det Insp Bailey
Richard Caldicot Constable
Edward Mulhare Frederick
Sydney Vivian Charles
Sam Kydd Martin Flashman
Robin Ray Fragalli
Alan Gifford
The Sun Divorce
Written for television by Margot Bennett.
Wish on the Moon
Ruth (Julia Worth) longed to see her name in lights. Olivia (Margaret Allworthy) wanted a husband, but London remodelled the lives of each and put both girls on the road to success.
Ruth Barclay
Julia Worth Olivia Beech
Margaret Allworthy Roy Wayne
Brian Nissen Barney Goodwyn
Leo Franklyn David Thorne
Hugh Latimer Mr Allbright
James Dyrenforth Miss Boyce
Glen Alyn Hal Peterson
Bill Nagy Mr Duval
John Vere Secretary
Diana Lambert Miss Jones
Jill Melford
Margaret Moves On
Margaret (Mary Merrall) is a widow in her sixties and has a genius for losing friends and exasperating people. Comedy and drama follow when she moves into the hard-pressed household of her son David (Patrick Barr).
David
Patrick Barr Margaret
Mary Merrall Ann
Ursula Howells Peter
Jonathan Swift Barbara
Iris Russell Tony
Roderick Lovell Mrs Pothecary
Dandy Nichols Mrs Clark
Gladys Boot Mr Clark
Richard Caldicot Nurse Castle
Barbara Ogilvie Sergeant
Leonard Williams William Steadman
Henry Longhurst
Goodbye Jonah
A west country comedy by John Beaumont about the ruthlessness of the big businessman pitted against the guile and experience of the countryman. The big shot tried to buy the farmers out and impose modern methods, but after an immense amount of grumbling in the local village pub, everybody was reconciled.
Welsh character actor Enyon Evans was crafty West Country Reuben (with a trace of his Welsh accent coming through) and Roddy Hughes was amusing as an inefficient efficiency expert.
Reuben
E Eynon Evans Stokes
Richard George Craig
William Lucas Major Gray
Gerald Case Brian Shaw
Nigel Davenport Diana Doyle
Ann Stephens Eccles
Roddy Hughes Mrs Crabthorne
Margot Lister Jack Forge
Leo Franklyn
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