Miss Mabel

Summary

1949 BBC live studio production of R. C. Sherriff’s Miss Mabel.

Theatre play

Miss Mabel by R. C. Sherriff (1896-1975) [more information]

Play synopsis

'Miss Mabel deals with the gentle and kindly old lady who (sweetly and for all the best motives) poisons her own sister with a sauce compounded of toadstools, and then proceeds (again from the best motives) to forge her will. All this Mr. Sherriff discloses in the first Act. Where he shows his craft, apart from his beautiful conception of Miss Mabel herself, is in the construction and tension of the rest of his play. You might re-christen the whole affair Toadstools and Old Lace. But I think it is very difficult not to be charmed by it’ (Lionel Hale, ‘Christmas Week in Television’, Radio Times, 23 December 1949, p. 45).

Production history

Produced at the Duchess Theatre, London in 1948 and published by Victor Gollancz in 1949.

Date of transmission

Thursday 29 December 1949

Time

8.45-10.35pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Kevin Sheldon

Playwright

R. C. Sherriff (1896-1975)

Cast

Cyril Hardingham	Constable
W. E. Holloway	Vicar
Mary Jerrold	Miss Mabel
Ronald Marriott	Peter
Mary Matthews	Mary
Josephine Middleton	Vicar’s Wife
Clive Morton	Lawyer
Herbert C. Walton	Gardener
Richard Warner	Doctor
Anne West	Maid
Rowland Winterton	Police Inspector

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Revived at 8.00pm on Sunday 26 March 1950.

Notes

In the 1950 revival the part of the Constable was played by Anthony Farmer.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

murder

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 23 December 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 47, article, p. 45

Title

Radio Times, 24 March 1950 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 44, article, p. 42