Not in the Book [scene]

Summary

1958 BBC Television production of Not in the Book by Arthur Watkyn, televised directly from the Criterion Theatre, London, by arrangement with Henry Sherek.

Theatre play

Not in the Book by Arthur Watkyn (1907-1965) [more information]

Play synopsis

A comedy. ‘Pedro arrives from South America with plans to blackmail Andrew Bennett about his murky past. Andrew has been given the script of a murder mystery and he sees a way out from his predicament. He puts poison in Pedro’s coffee and he dies. The police investigate and things look bad for Andrew. Then it turns out that Pedro was blackmailing someone else as well and this other person had poisoned him - Pedro had not drunk any of his coffee’ (source: http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsW/watkyn-arthur.html#36315).

Production history

First produced at the Hippodrome Theatre, Bristol in 1958.

Date of transmission

Tuesday 16 December 1958

Time

8.00pm (45 mins)

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Nigel Patrick

Television Presentation by

John Vernon

Playwright

Arthur Watkyn (1907-1965)

Designer

Hutchinson Scott

Cast

Peter French	Michael
Philip Guard	Timothy Gregg
Charles Heslop	Colonel Barstow
Avice Landone	Sylvia Bennett
Michael Nightingale	Doctor Locke
Sydney [or Sidney] Tafler	Pedro Juarez
Wilfrid Hyde White	Andrew Bennett
Martin Wyldeck	Inspector Malcolm

Additional details

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; poetry and literature, as theme

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 12 December 1958 (Magazine)

Linking notes

listing and article, p. 11

Title

Stuff of Light Comedy: Not in the Book (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Philip Hope-Wallace (Reviewer)

Reference

The Manchester Guardian, 3 April 1958, p. 5

Linking notes

n.b. this is a review of the stage production, not the televised excerpt.