Clive of India

Summary

BBC Television production of Clive of India by W. P. Lipscomb and R. J. Minney

Theatre play

Clive of India by W. P. Lipscomb and R. J. Minney [more information]

Play synopsis

Set in mid-18th-century India and England, the play tells the story of how Robert Clive excels in the military arm of the East India Company, making both wealth and enemies along the way. It chronicles twenty-five years in the life of Robert Clive.

Production history

'First produced by the village players of Gt Hucklow in [...] 1933’ and ‘filmed by 20th Century Fox, 1934’ (source: http://minney.org.uk/rjminney.htm).

Date of transmission

Sunday 30 December 1956

Time

8.30pm (100 mins)

Series

Sunday-Night Theatre

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Rudolph Cartier

Playwright

W. P. Lipscomb

Playwright

R. J. Minney

Designer

Norman James

Cast

Arthur Bentley	Sentry
Michael Bird	Warburton
Richard Caldicot	Governor Pigot
Frances Cohen	Betty, maid
John Fabian	Vincent
Roger Gage	Major Kilpatrick
Marius Goring	Robert Clive
Walter Gotell	Mir Jaffar
Allan Jeayes	Lord Chatham, the Prime Minister
Harold Kasket	Pemberton
Madelaine Kasket	Indian Fruit Seller
Vincent Lawson	Manning
Enid Lindsey	Mrs Clifford, housekeeper
Philip Morant	Captain Walsh
Roy Pattison	Johnson
Victor Platt	Sergeant Clark
Graham Rowe	Stringer
Vernon Smythe	The Doctor
Vida St Romaine	Ayah
Jeannette Sterke	Margaret Maskelyne
J. Trevor-Davis	Butler
André Van Gyseghem	General Burgoyne
Stanley Vine	Kent
Richard Waring	Edmund Maskelyne
Frank Williams	Miller
George Woodbridge	Admiral Watson

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

18th-century setting; India, as theme or setting; military / army / navy / air-force

Print sources

Title

BBC Television: Clive of India (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 31 December 1956, p. 3

Title

Christmas past at the BBC: the second half of the 1950s. Part 1 (Blog article)

Author/creator

Amanda Wrigley (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/christmas-past-bbc-1950s-1, published 28 December 2012

Title

Clive of India: Fine Performance by Marius Goring (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Manchester Guardian, 31 December 1956, p. 2

Title

Indian Ink (Magazine review)

Author/creator

J. C. Trewin (Reviewer)

Reference

The Listener, 3 January 1957, pp. 34-35

Linking notes

with a photograph from the production

Title

Radio Times, 28 December 1956 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing on p. 14 and article, illustrated by a photograph of actors in roles, on p. 15