The Admirable Crichton

Summary

1950 BBC live studio production of J. M. Barrie’s late Victorian comedy The Admirable Crichton.

Theatre play

The Admirable Crichton by J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) [more information]

Play synopsis

Late Victorian comedy. ‘Act One is set in Loam Hall, the household of Lord Loam, a British peer, Crichton being his butler. Loam considers the class divisions in British society to be artificial. Crichton particularly disapproves, considering the class system to be "the natural outcome of a civilised society". At the beginning of Act Two, Loam, his family and friends, and Crichton are shipwrecked on a deserted tropical island. The resourceful Crichton is the only one of the party with any practical knowledge, and he assumes, initially with reluctance, the position of leader’ (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Admirable_Crichton; accessed 18 September 2014).

Production history

Written in 1902 and produced later that year at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

Date of transmission

Sunday 11 June 1950

Time

8.00-9.45pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Royston Morley

Playwright

J. M. Barrie (1860-1937)

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Cast

Archie Angus	Thomas
Pamela Barnard	Jane
Jane Barrett	Tweeny
Derek Blomfield	Lord Brocklehurst
Richard Carr	Monsieur Fleury
Edmund Clowes	Rolleston
Jean Compton	Lady Catherine Lasenby
Joan Hopkins	Lady Mary Lasenby
Raymond Huntley	Crichton
Daphne Laurence	Gladys
Alvys [or Alvis] Maben	Lady Agatha Lasenby
David Markham	The Hon. Ernest Woolley
Victor Platt	John
Gina Rohan	Mademoiselle Jeanne
Frederick Ross	Tompsett
Cara Stevens	Simmons
James Tilling	Naval Officer
Una Venning	Countess of Brocklehurst
Geoffrey Wearing	Rev. John Treherne
Grace Webb	Mrs Perkins
Harcourt Williams (1880-1957)	Earl of Loam
Virginia Winter	Fisher

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 8.00pm on Thursday 15 June 1950.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

19th-century setting; class issues / differences; comedy

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 9 June 1950 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 38; article by Lionel Hale, ‘The Peer and the Butler’, p. 37; article, p. 36