Plater’s six Trinity Tales (1975) were swapped by latter-day pilgrims not on the road to Canterbury but aboard a bus taking them from Hull to the Rugby League final in Wembley. Also in that slot came Rudkin’s magical masterwork Penda’s Fen (1974), not only set in the Malvern hills but recorded with lightweight cameras at the precise locations. The latter series had as its starting point The Black Stuff (1980), produced by Rose as a Play for Today. Second City Firsts (1973-78) was a rather intimidating title for an anthology of short plays from all quarters, including a striking debut, Early to Bed (1975) by Bleasdale, who would go on to write The Boys from the Blackstuff. He based himself in Birmingham but cast his net widely. After a spell in charge of television training (1969-71), he was the logical choice to fill the newly created post of head of regional television drama (1971-81).ĭavid Rose was senior commissioning editor, then head of drama, at Channel 4 in the 1980s. Though Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland might be allowed to shoot a few plays, in other respects drama was centralised, and Rose was not alone in questioning this policy. He then launched Softly Softly (1966-67), relocating Johns and Windsor to a police regional crime squad.Īnother series set in the north of England, The First Lady (1968-69), with Thora Hird as a crusading local councillor, had scripts by Plater. This was where Rose came in for the first three years, his task not eased by the need to transmit the show live from the BBC studios in London, 200 miles from the actual location. If continuity and style were to be preserved, there had to be someone to supervise every detail of the series, which eventually ran for 16 years as well as spawning various spin-offs. No one director or pair of writers could do it. The sheer pressure of rehearsing, recording and editing the equivalent of a brisk little movie every week, however, was formidable. Within a month it was attracting an audience of 15 million. It was also revolutionary in the pace and range of the action, despite a sparing use of film inserts. The black eye her husband had given her was an early indication that this was to be a warts-and-all picture of policemen rather than the cosy Dixon of Dock Green image. John McGrath, director of the first episode, on 2 January 1962, was responsible for the inspired casting - James Ellis, Brian Blessed, Jeremy Kemp, Joseph Brady, Stratford Johns, Frank Windsor and, as wife of one of the coppers, Dorothy White. Kennedy Martin and a fellow writer, Allan Prior, were sent there to live among the local populace. The concept was eagerly taken up by the assistant head of drama responsible for the documentary strain, Elwyn Jones, who sought the cooperation (quickly withdrawn) of Lancashire police, and incidentally learned the code names for the cars with which they policed the urban sprawl north of Liverpool. The idea of Z Cars came from the writer Troy Kennedy Martin, who during a brief illness in 1961 had idly eavesdropped on police messages using his newly acquired VHF radio.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |