The Magistrate

Summary

1946 BBC live studio production of Arthur W. Pinero’s farce The Magistrate.

Theatre play

The Magistrate by Arthur W. Pinero (1855-1934) [more information]

Play synopsis

A farce in which, at the prompting of his stepson, a respectable man, the magistrate Mr Posket, is caught up in a series of scandals. At one point he finds himself passing a severe sentence on his own wife. This was Pinero’s first attempt at farce after a number of serious plays.

Production history

Premiere performance: Court Theatre, London, 1885. Published in 1892.

Date of transmission

Friday 5 July 1946

Time

8.30-10.00pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Fred O’Donovan (1889-1952)

Playwright

Arthur W. Pinero (1855-1934)

Cast

Alban Blakelock	Mr Wormington
Newton Blick	Sergeant Lugg
Edgar K. Bruce	Mr Bullamy
Alan Crawley	Constable Harris
George de Warfaz	Achille Blond
Anthony Drake	Captain Horace Vale
James Kenney	Cis Farringdon
Patricia Laffan	Charlotte Verrinder
Olga Lindo	Agatha Posket
Andrea Malandrinos	Isidore
Tilsa Page	Beatie Tomlinson
Leonard Trollope	Inspector Messiter
Richard Turner	Wyke
Desmond Walter-Ellis	Mr Posket
Mackenzie Ward	Colonel Lukyn

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 3.00pm on Monday 8 July 1946

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

19th-century setting; Edwardian drama; farce

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 28 June 1946 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 27 and brief article, p. 24