Death of a Salesman, Part 1

Summary

This five-part BBC production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was produced for the English File series and transmitted in 30-minute parts during the day for schools.

Theatre play

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller [more information]

Play synopsis

'Death of a Salesman relates the story of Willy Loman, a down-on-his-luck traveling salesman. In order to cope with his failures in life, he retreats to the past in his mind and seems to be losing touch with reality. He tries to relive the good times, but keeps coming up against things that went wrong. His family try to help him by lying about their prospects, but when Loman loses his job, after a lifetime with the same company, he becomes desperate. His depression is exacerbated by the guilt he feels from a past infidelity which has estranged him from his older son, Biff. Rather than accept that his life has been a failure, and that Biff is not interested in big business, Loman decides to commit suicide in hopes that the insurance money will help Biff become successful. The play ends with his family and only friend, Charley, grieving by his graveside’ (http://www.ibiblio.org/miller/works.html, accessed 18 January 2013).

Production history

Death of a Salesman premiered in America and Britain in 1949.

Date of transmission

Friday 19 April 1996

Time

12.00pm

Series

Schools; English File

Channel

BBC2

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

David Thacker

Lighting

Duncan Brown

Playwright

Arthur Miller

Composer

Adrian Johnston

Designer

Bruce Macadie

Properties Buyer

Katie Spencer

Graphic Design

Laurence Henry

Costume Designer

Lyn Avery

Make-up

Darren Phillips

Script Editor

Annika Bluhm

Executive Producer

Richard Langridge

Cast

Juliet Aubrey	Miss Forsythe
Sarah Baker	Operator
Katy Carmichael	Letta
Pam Ferris	Woman
Iain Glen	Biff
James Grout	Charley
Rosemary Harris	Linda
Ian Hogg	Ben
Toby Jones	Stanley
Matthew Marsh	Howard
Warren Mitchell	Willy Loman
Owen Teale	Happy

Additional details

Origination

Recorded in studio

Later transmissions

BBC2 repeated this five-part series in autumn 1996.

Play tags

American drama

Programme context tags

schools television programming

Audiovisual sources

Title

Death of a Salesman (BBC, 1996)

Archive

BBC Information and Archives [more information]

Address

White City
London
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)20 8008 2288

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/informationandarchives/

Access

BBC Information and Archives is not open to the public.

Print sources

Title

Arthur Miller on the small screen 1: Death of a Salesman (Blog article)

Author/creator

Amanda Wrigley (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/arthur-miller-1-death-of-a-salesman, published 10 February 2013

Title

Choice: Death of a Salesman (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 17 May 1996, p. 47

Title

English File: Death of a Salesman (Newspaper listing and review)

Reference

The Times, 19 April 1996, p. 47

Notes

With b&w image of Rosemary Harris and Warren Mitchell.

Associated programmes

Death of a Salesman, Part 2 (BBC, 1996)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
BBC2 (Schools; English File)

Death of a Salesman, Part 3 (BBC, 1996)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
BBC2 (Schools; English File)

Death of a Salesman, Part 4 (BBC, 1996)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
BBC2 (Schools; English File)

Death of a Salesman, Part 5 (BBC, 1996)
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
BBC2 (Schools; English File)