The Winslow Boy

Summary

1949 BBC live studio production of Terence Rattigan’s drama The Winslow Boy.

Theatre play

The Winslow Boy by Terence Rattigan (1911-1977) [more information]

Play synopsis

'Set against the strict codes of conduct and manners of the age, The Winslow Boy is based on a father’s fight to clear his son’s name after the boy is expelled from Osborne Naval College for stealing a five-shilling postal order. To clear the boy’s name was imperative for the family’s honour; had they not done so, they would have been shunned by their peers and society. Similarly, the boy’s life would have been wrecked by an indelible stain on his character which would have followed him throughout adulthood. The play was inspired by an actual event, which set a legal precedent: the case of Stonyhurst College alumnus George Archer-Shee, a cadet at Osborne in 1908, who was accused of stealing a postal order from a fellow cadet.' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winslow_Boy.

Production history

London premiere staged in 1946.

Date of transmission

Sunday 18 December 1949

Time

8.30-10.30pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Royston Morley

Playwright

Terence Rattigan (1911-1977)

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Cast

Derek Blomfield	John Watherstone
Walter Fitzgerald	Arthur Winslow
Thora Hird	Violet
Roger Livesey	Sir Roger Morton
Betty Marsden	Miss Barnes
Freddie Mason	Ronnie Winslow
Ruth Taylor	Grace Winslow
Russell Waters	Desmond Curry
Jack Watling	Dickie Winslow
Valerie White	Catherine Winslow

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 8.00pm on Thursday 22 December 1949.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

court-room drama; military / army / navy / air-force; schools, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 16 December 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 46; article by Lionel Hale, ‘The Case of Ronnie Winslow’, p. 45; brief article p. 44