The Devil’s Disciple

Summary

1987 BBC Television production of Shaw’s melodrama The Devil’s Disciple.

Theatre play

The Devil’s Disciple by [George] Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) [more information]

Play synopsis

The action of G. B. Shaw’s comic melodrama The Devil’s Disciple takes place in a small New Hampshire town in 1777 during the American War of Independence. John Wyver writes (on the Screen Plays blog): ‘The charming, rogue-ish and instantly sympathetic Dick Dudgeon returns to the community to inherit his father’s estate just as the British soldiers arrive. In a case of mistaken identity, Dick allows himself to be arrested and threatened with the gallows instead of Pastor Anderson. Neither he nor we are quite sure why he does this (which is part of how smart Shaw is) but his reasons certainly include his feelings for Anderson’s wife, Judith’.

Production history

The Radio Times, 20 July 1956, p.15 states that the play was publicly performed for the first time in New York in 1897; before that there had been a single performance, in which Shaw himself acted, in order to establish copyright.

Date of transmission

Sunday 17 May 1987

Time

7.45-9.45pm

Series

Theatre Night

Channel

BBC2

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

David Jones

Producer

Shaun Sutton

Lighting

Howard King

Playwright

[George] Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Composer

Stephen Oliver

Designer

Tony Burrough

Costume Designer

Odette Barrow

Script Editor

Stuart Griffiths

Cast

John Cater	Uncle Titus Dudgeon
June Ellis	Mrs Titus Dudgeon
Patrick Godfrey	Lawyer Hawkins
Mike Gwilym	Richard Dudgeon
Timothy Kightley	Chaplain
Larry Lamb	Sergeant
Cheryl Maiker	Essie
Patrick Newell	Uncle William Dudgeon
Ian Richardson	General Burgoyne
Freda Rodgers	Mrs William Dudgeon
Elizabeth Spriggs	Mrs Dudgeon
Patrick Stewart	Anthony Anderson
Graham Turner	Christy Dudgeon
Benjamin Whitrow	Major Swindon
Susan Wooldridge	Judith Anderson

Additional details

Play tags

18th-century setting; America, as theme or setting; comedy; melodrama; wartime, as theme or setting

Audiovisual sources

Title

The Devil’s Disciple (BBC, 1987)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

'Classics on TV: Edwardian Drama on the Small Screen’, a BFI Southbank season + Screen Plays symposium, May 2014 (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/edwardian-drama-on-the-small-screen, published 24 March 2014

Title

On DVD: ten plays from George Bernard Shaw (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/on-dvd-ten-plays-from-george-bernard-shaw, published 24 June 2011

Title

Radio Times, 14 May 1987 (Magazine)

Linking notes

long article, with images, p. 14; listing, with image, p. 42

Title

Television: Severed Heads (Magazine review)

Author/creator

David Pownall (Reviewer)

Reference

The Listener, 21 May 1987, p. 40

Title

The Edwardians: Theatre Night: The Devil’s Disciple (BBC, 1987) (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/theatre-night-the-devils-disciple-bbc-1987, published 7 May 2014