This Land of Ours

Summary

1950 BBC live studio production of Lionel Brown’s play This Land of Ours about rural life.

Theatre play

This Land of Ours by Lionel Brown [more information]

Play synopsis

'The scene is a Shropshire farm, and the play covers the period of 1938 to 1944. 1938 is a year of slump for the Kentishes. The father of the family, who owns Sweetmeadow Farm, is of the old school: he loves his horses as much as he hates tractors. ' The Kentishes have farmed here,' he says, ' for 160 years, and our roots are deep in Sweetmeadow.' But times are bad for old-fashioned farmers...' (Lionel Hale, ‘Farmers and Escapists’, Radio Times, 16 June 1950, p. 37)

Production history

Known to have been produced at the Little Theatre, Bristol, 1945-1946.

Date of transmission

Sunday 18 June 1950

Time

8.15-9.45pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Ian Atkins

Playwright

Lionel Brown

Sets / Settings

James Bould

Cast

Stephen Darlot	Geoffrey Horton
John Ebdon	Hiram Kentish
Harriette Johns	Eileen Kentish
Roderick Lovell	Will Kentish
Diane Watts	Jessica Kentish
John Witty	Colin Stuart
George Woodbridge	William Kentish

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 8.00pm on Thursday 22 June 1950.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

farming, and / or the agricultural life; Second World War, as theme or setting; wartime, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 16 June 1950 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing, p. 38; article by Lionel Hale, ‘Farmers and Escapists’, p. 37