When We Are Married

Summary

This BBC Television production of J. B. Priestley’s hit comedy When We Are Married was the first live outside broadcast from a West End theatre (London’s St Martin’s Theatre, where the play had premiered just the month before).

Theatre play

When We Are Married by J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) [more information]

Play synopsis

The action takes place in 1908 in Yorkshire: ‘A group of old friends, all married on the same day in the same chapel, [gather] at the Helliwells’ home to celebrate their silver anniversary. When they discover that they are not legally married, each couple initially reacts with proper Victorian horror - what will the neighbours think? - but soon all three couples find themselves reevaluating their marriages. In the end, of course, everything turns out well, and the play ends on a happy note’ (http://www.stageagent.com/Shows/View/4899).

Production history

Premiered at London’s St Martin’s Theatre in October 1938.

Date of transmission

Wednesday 16 November 1938

Time

8.30-10.40pm (with breaks)

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Theatre Director

Basil Dean

Playwright

J. B. Priestley (1894-1984)

Cast

Mai Bacon	Lottie Grady
Ernest Butcher	Herbert Soppitt
Ethel Coleridge	Clara Soppitt
Betty Fleetwood	Nancy Holmes
Muriel George	Maria Helliwell
Alexander Grandison	Fred Dyson
Patricia Hayes	Ruby Birtle
Raymond Huntley	Counsellor Albert Parker
H. Marsh Dunn	Mayor of Clecklewyke
Lloyd M. Pearson	Alderman Joseph Helliwell
Frank Pettingell	Henry Ormonroyd
Helena Pickard	Annie Parker
Beatrice Varley	Mrs Northrop
Richard Warner	Gerald Forbes
Norman Wooland	Rev. Clement Mercer

Additional details

Origination

Live from theatre

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; marriage; north of England, as theme or setting

Print sources

Title

In the beginning: When We Are Married (BBC, 1938) 1 (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/in-the-beginning-when-we-are-married-bbc-1938-1, published 22 September 2011

Title

In the beginning: When We Are Married (BBC, 1938) 2 (Blog article)

Author/creator

John Wyver (Author)

Reference

http://screenplaystv.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/in-the-beginning-when-we-are-married-bbc-1938-2, published 23 September 2011

Title

Radio Times, 11 November 1938 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing on p. 20; article and pohotograph, p. 18

Title

Radio Times, 18 November 1938 (Magazine)

Linking notes

mentioned briefly in an article by ‘The Scanner’ entitled ‘Television Goes High Hat’, p. 26

Title

Television in the Theatre: Experiment with Three Cameras (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 17 November 1938, p. 12

Title

The Intimate Screen: Early British Television Drama (Book)

Author/creator

Jason Jacobs (Author)

Reference

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000

Linking notes

pp. 34-35

Title

We Go to the Theatre (Magazine review)

Author/creator

Peter Purbeck (Reviewer)

Reference

The Listener, 24 November 1938, p. 1151

Title

When We Are Married, 1948 (Archive file)

Archive

BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC) [more information]

Address

Peppard Road
Caversham Park
Reading
Berkshire
RG4 8TZ
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)118 948 6281

Email

heritage@bbc.co.uk

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/wac

Access

The WAC is open from 9.30am to 5.00pm on Wednesdays to Fridays throughout the year to academics, postgraduate students and writers by appointment.

Reference

T14/1072