The Cold Light

Summary

This BBC production was the first English presentation, in any medium, of Carl Zuckmayer’s German play Das kalte Licht.

Theatre play

The Cold Light [Das kalte Licht] by Carl Zuckmayer (1894-1944) [more information]

Play synopsis

A German physicist, fleeing from the Nazis, becomes involved in the US nuclear programme, where his troubled conscience leads him to feed secrets to the Soviets. The action of this play takes place between 1939 and 1950 in England, the US and on the Atlantic.

Production history

Stage premiere in Germany in 1955. Rudolph Cartier persuaded the playwright to allow him to give the play its British premiere on television.

Date of transmission

Sunday 29 July 1956

Time

8.30pm (105 mins)

Series

Sunday-Night Theatre

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Rudolph Cartier

Playwright

Carl Zuckmayer (1894-1944)

Adaptor of Script

Judith Kerr

Translator

Elizabeth Montagu

Designer

Stephen Bundy

Cast

Neville Crabbe	Frederick Lee
Roger Delgado	Jean-Marie Merminod
Anton Diffring	Buschmann, alias ‘Commissar Picrino’
Hilda Fenemore	First Nanny
Ilona Ference	Second Nanny
Margaret Flint	Barmaid
Vera Fusek	Hjoerdis Lundborg
Marius Goring	Crystof Wolters
David Hannaford	A Small Boy
Noël Hood	Dorothy Fitch
Rose Howlett	Landlady
John Longden	Sir Elwin Ketterick
Angela Malik	Tsebaya
Arnold Marlé	Friedlaender
John McCarthy	Roy
Martin Miller	Nicholas Loewenschild
Jeanette Phillips	A Small Girl
George Pravda	Jurew
John Robinson	Thomas Northon
Ewen Solon	Lacrosse
John van Eyssen	Angus Fillebrown
Paddy Webster	Precious Fillebrown

Additional details

Play tags

espionage

Print sources

Title

BBC Television: The Cold Light by Carl Zuckmayer (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 30 July 1956, p. 3

Title

BFI Screenonline: Cold Light (1956) (Website)

Author/creator

Oliver Wake (Author)

Reference

BFI Screenonline at http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/1218604/index.html (accessed 27 September 2013)

Title

Radio Times, 27 July 1956 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing on p. 14 and article on p. 15

Title

The Cold Light (Audience Research Report)

Archive

BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC) [more information]

Address

Peppard Road
Caversham Park
Reading
Berkshire
RG4 8TZ
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)118 948 6281

Email

heritage@bbc.co.uk

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/wac

Access

The WAC is open from 9.30am to 5.00pm on Wednesdays to Fridays throughout the year to academics, postgraduate students and writers by appointment.

Reference

Report reference VR/56/39[7?], held in file R9/7/23