Simple Spymen [extract]

Summary: This BBC presentation of a 45-minute excerpt from John Chapman’s new Whitehall farce Simple Spymen was televised directly from the Whitehall Theatre, London.
Theatre play: Simple Spymen by John Chapman [more information]
Play synopsis: 'Two street musicians are dragged into the War Office for causing a disturbance of the peace in Whitehall. Unwittingly they utter a phrase which is the secret password for the day, and are mistaken for M15 agents in disguise. They are immediately signed up for a hazardous mission to intercept an atomic scientist when he arrives in Dover. Thereafter, they make endless attempts as different characters to gain access to the scientist’s hotel and secure the formula for the British Government. They display courage, ingenuity, and more than lint of lunacy’ (source: http://www.filmrights.ltd.uk/Chapman.htm).
Production history: First staged on 19 March 1958 at the Whitehall Theatre, London.
Date of transmission: Thursday 10 April 1958
Time: 9.00pm (45 mins)
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Director

Wallace Douglas

Television Presentation by

Alan Chivers

Playwright

John Chapman

Sets / Settings

Rhoda Gray

Cast

Title: Cheery Note in Simple Spymen: Whitehall Farce True to Pattern (Newspaper review)
Reference: The Manchester Guardian, 20 March 1958, p. 9

This record has been viewed 469 times.

British Universities Film & Video Council