The Public Prosecutor

Summary

1953 BBC live studio production of The Public Prosecutor by Fritz Hochwälder, which was featured with a full-page photograph on the front cover of Radio Times.

Theatre play

The Public Prosecutor [Der öffentliche Ankläger] by Fritz Hochwälder (1911-1986) [more information]

Play synopsis

The play is set in Paris during the French revolution. Public Prosecutor Fouquier Tinville has countless numbers of death sentences on his conscience. He acts out every order he gets from the ones who are in power. Without suspecting anything he signs his own death sentence.

Production history

First performed in 1947.

Date of transmission

Sunday 4 October 1953

Time

8.30-10.15pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Dennis Vance

Playwright

Fritz Hochwälder (1911-1986)

Adapted for Television by

Kitty Black

Translator

Kitty Black

Sets / Settings

Barry Learoyd

Cast

John Ford	Guard
Jack Hawkins	Fouquier-Tinville
Thomas Heathcote	Fabricius
Gerald Limbrick	Guard
John Moffatt	Grebeauval
Esmé Percy	Sanson
Harry Ross	Heron
Wiliam Sylvester	Tallien
Ernest Thesiger	Montané
Googie Withers	Theresia Tallien

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 7.15pm on Thursday 8 October 1953.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

18th-century setting; France, as theme or setting; historical drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 2 October 1953 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and brief article, p.14; cover photograph