Caesar’s Friend

Summary

1939 BBC studio production of Caesar’s Friend, Campbell Dixon and Dermot Morrah’s re-telling of the story of Pontius Pilate.

Theatre play

Caesar’s Friend by Campbell Dixon and Dermot Morrah [more information]

Play synopsis

The story of Pontius Pilate told in modern dialogue, with Pilate depicted sympathetically as the central character.

Production history

First produced at London’s Westminster Theatre in 1933 in a production that transferred to the Piccadilly.

Date of transmission

Sunday 2 April 1939

Time

9.05-10.35pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

George More O’Ferrall (1907-1982)

Playwright

Campbell Dixon

Playwright

Dermot Morrah

Cast

Robert Atkins (1886-1972)	Caiaphas
Eileen Bennett	Marcella
D. A. Clarke-Smith	Pontius Pilate
Joan Clement-Scott	Zillah
Aubrey Dexter	Balbus
Lionel Dixon	Damon
Donald Fergusson	First Dercurion
Michael Martin Harvey	Gamaliel
Peter Henschel	Malchus
Eugene Leahy	Peter
Elspeth March	Mary,a woman of Magdala
Brian Oulton	Joseph of Arimathea
Mary O’Farrell	Claudia Procula
Billy Shine	Sentry
Abraham Sofaer	Annas
Desmond Tester	Lucius
Alan Wheatley	Judas

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Notes

In both the original Westminster Theatre production and in its transfer to the Piccadilly in 1933, D. A. Clarke-Smith played Pontius Pilate and Mary O’Farrell took the role of Claudia Procula. The producer of this television version played Lucius Licinius Cotta in the West End transfer.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

ancient Rome and colonies; biblical stories; Christianity; religion, as theme or subject

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 25 April 1947 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article by ‘The Scanner’, p. 5

Title

Radio Times, 31 March 1939 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 14

Title

Televised Drama: Caesar’s Friend (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Anon. (Author)

Reference

The Times, 6 April 1939, p. 10

Notes

'The more conversational passages [...] showed that the new medium may permit of a greater subtlety both of tone and of facial expression than the stage; [...] The trial scene, on the other hand, showed some of the limitations of television in its present state. The field of view of the cameras was awkwardly narrow.'