The Man Who Was Thursday

Summary

1947 BBC live studio production of by Ralph Neale and Cecil Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday, the theatre adaptation of G. K. Chesterton’s novel.

Theatre play

The Man Who Was Thursday by Ralph Neale and Cecil Chesterton [more information]

Play synopsis

A strange tale of a secret society whose members are named after the days of the week.

Production history

The theatre adaptation of G. K. Chesterton’s novel, published as a play by Benn in 1926.

Date of transmission

Sunday 13 July 1947

Time

8.45-10.00pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Jan Bussell

Playwright

Cecil Chesterton

Playwright

Ralph Neale

Adapted for Television by

Jan Bussell

Original Book by

G. K. Chesterton

Cast

Peter Bull	President (Sunday)
[J. B.] Stringer Davis	Comrade Witherspoon
Arnold Diamond	Colonel du Croix
Wilfred Fletcher	Secretary (Monday)
Don Gemmell	Gogol (Tuesday)
Richard Goolden	Professor de Worms (Friday)
Brian Haines	Comrade Buttons
Victor Platt	Ambassador
Alan Reid	Doctor (Saturday)
Leonard Sachs	Gregory
Harold Scott	Gabriel Syme (Thursday)
Campbell Singer	Marquis (Wednesday)
Morris Sweden	Old Man

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 3.00pm on Tuesday 15 July 1947.

Notes

For his adaptation for television, Jan Bussell drew mainly on the Prologue and Acts I and II of the stage play and also included the last scene devised by Ronald Barton for his radio version. (Source: The Scanner, ‘From Picture Page to Ibsen’, Radio Times, 11 July 1947. p. 29.)

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

adaptation of novel

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 11 July 1947 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 31; article, p. 29