The Morning Star

Summary

1952 BBC live studio production of The Morning Star, Emlyn Williams’ drama of London during the Blitz, presented on the evening of Remembrance Sunday.

Theatre play

The Morning Star by Emlyn Williams (1905-1987) [more information]

Play synopsis

Life during wartime in a Chelsea house in the Blitz of 1940. Among an assorted group of characters doing their best to survive is a young doctor, Cliff, whose marraige and research has been ruined by the war, but who has written a successful novel and now has to decide whether to leave London for the allure of Hollywood.

Production history

Performed at the Globe Theatre, London, in 1941.

Date of transmission

Sunday 9 November 1952

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Eric Fawcett

Playwright

Emlyn Williams (1905-1987)

Sets / Settings

James Bould

Cast

Patrick Barr	Cliff Parrilow
Diana Calderwood	Wanda Baring
Isabel Dean	Alison Parrilow
Gladys Henson	Mrs Lane
David Horne	Sir Leo Alvers
Roddy Hughes	Brimbo Watkyn
Percy Marmont	Dr S. D. Datcher
Gladys Young	Mrs Parrilow

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 7.30pm on Thursday 13 November 1952.

Notes

Gladys Henson, who plays the part of Mrs Lane, took the same role in the original theatre production in 1941.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

Second World War, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 7 November 1952 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing; photograph and article by Lionel Hale, ‘Blitz Days and Banging Nights’, p. 44