Desert Duel

Summary

BBC Television production of Colin Morris’ Desert Duel.

Theatre play

Desert Duel by Colin Morris (1916-1996) [more information]

Play synopsis

Desert Duel is ‘based on a jeep reconnaissance party made [in Libya] in 1942, which the author Colin Morris accompanied as an official observer’: ‘it brings together a typical assortment of officers and men who are caught in the violent eddies on the fringes of the main stream of battle’ (Radio Times, 8 June 1956, p. 145.

Production history

Henry Sherek produced this, under the title Desert Rats on 26 April 1945 at the Adelphi Theatre, London.

Date of transmission

Sunday 10 June 1956

Time

8.15pm (90 mins)

Series

Sunday-Night Theatre

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Andrew Osborn

Playwright

Colin Morris (1916-1996)

Designer

Stephen Bundy

Cast

David Aylmer	Lieutenant Eccleston
Derek Aylward	Captain Davies
Michael Brennan	Sergeant Hooper
Barry Foster	Trooper Bates
William Fox	Major Lloyd-Hope
Paddy Joyce	Trooper O’Neill
Gertan Klauber	German Private
Eric Lander	Captain Anthony Palmer
Gerald Onn	German Officer
Richard Pasco (1926-)	Captain David Scott
Howard Pays	Lance Corporal England

Additional details

Play tags

adultery / infidelity; Libya, as theme or setting; military / army / navy / air-force; North Africa, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

BBC Television: Desert Duel (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 11 June 1956, p. 5

Title

Radio Times, 8 June 1956 (Magazine)

Linking notes

pp. 14-15