Yellow Sands

Summary

This production of Yellow Sands, a comedy set in south Devon, was transmitted ‘From the BBC’s West of England Television Studios’ (Radio Times, 9 September 1955, p. 14).

Theatre play

Yellow Sands by [Mary] Adelaide Eden Phillpotts (1896-1993) and Eden Phillpotts (1862-1960) [more information]

Play synopsis

Set in the south Devon fishing village Yellow Sands, this comedy focuses on the ‘idiosyncrasies of the Varwell family’, members of whom are individually concerned with their prospects in the will of eighty-year-old Jenifer Varwell (Radio Times, 9 September 1955, p. 14).

Production history

Written in 1926, and premiered at the Haymarket Theatre, London on 3 November that year.

Date of transmission

Sunday 11 September 1955

Time

8.30pm (90 mins)

Series

Sunday-Night Theatre

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Brandon Acton-Bond

Playwright

[Mary] Adelaide Eden Phillpotts (1896-1993)

Designer

Desmond Chinn

Cast

Stephen Boyd	Joe Varwell
Barbara Cavan	Mary Varwell
Paul Eddington	Arthur Varwell
Elizabeth Havelock	Lydia Blake
Kathleen Helme	Nellie Masters
Roger Livesey	Richard Varwell
Frederick Piper	Mr Baslow
Pat [Patricia] Pleasance	Emma Major
Susan Richmond	Jenifer [sic] Varwell
Joan White	Minnie Masters
George Woodbridge	Thomas Major

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; Devon, as theme or setting; inheritance

Print sources

Title

Mum’s Mink (Magazine review)

Author/creator

Philip Hope-Wallace (Reviewer)

Reference

The Listener, 15 September 1955, p. 437

Title

Radio Times, 9 September 1955 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and article on p. 14; article is illustrated with an image of actors Susan Richmond and Roger Livesey in character