Murder in the Cathedral

Summary

1947 BBC live studio production of T. S. Eliot’s drama Murder in the Cathedral.

Theatre play

Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) [more information]

Play synopsis

Radio Times listing, 7 December 1936: ‘The play deals with the last month of [Thomas] Becket’s life. The dialogue is written almost entirely in rhyming verse and the chorus—more than anything else, the play is Greek in form—is in free verse’.

Production history

First performed as part of the Canterbury Festival in 1935, in a production by E. Martin Browne in the Chapter House, Canterbury Cathedral. Robert Speaight, G. R. Schjelderup and E. Martin Browne played in a radio production broadcast in January 1936 (source: Radio Times, 7 December 1936).

Date of transmission

Sunday 9 November 1947

Time

8.55-10.00pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

George More O’Ferrall (1907-1982)

Playwright

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)

Cast

E. Martin Browne (1900-1980)	Fourth Tempter
Hugh Butt	Third Knight
Yvonne Coulette	Woman of Canterbury
Aubrey Dexter	Third Tempter
Frank Foster	Second Priest
Violet Gould	Woman of Canterbury
Joy Harington	Woman of Canterbury
Alan Judd	Second Knight
Stanley Lawson	A Herald
Victor Lucas	First Knight
Anthony Sharp	Fourth Knight
Robert Speaight	Archbishop Thomas Becket
Helen Stephens	Woman of Canterbury
John Stuart	Second Tempter
Eileen Thorndike	Woman of Canterbury
Norman Tyrrell	First Priest
Eileen Vine	Woman of Canterbury
Mackenzie Ward	First Tempter

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 3.00pm on Tuesday 11 November 1947.

Notes

The production was presented as part of the BBC’s 25th anniversary celebrations, marking the start of broadcasting in 1922. This was chosen as ‘the first important play to be televised from Alexandra Palace’ (The Scanner, ‘Landmarks in Radio History’, Radio Times, 7 November 1947, p. 37).

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

12th-century setting; Christianity; historical drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 7 November 1947 (Magazine)

Linking notes

brief article, p. 37; illustrated article by Robert Speaight, ‘The Meeting of a Soul with God’, p. 38; listing, p. 39

Title

Television: The Royal Wedding (Magazine review)

Author/creator

Harold Hobson (Author)

Reference

The Listener, 27 November 1947, p. 950

Notes

Brief review with two production photographs