Libel

Summary: 1938 BBC Television studio production of Edward Wooll’s court-room drama Libel.
Theatre play: Libel by Edward Wooll [more information]
Play synopsis: 'Well sustained story of double identity, with a unique court scene, and a situation fraught with implications which keep one on the toes. A man has been shell-shocked and the past has been virtually wiped out. He gets in the hands of some schemers, who wait until he has married and gone into Parliament to bring suit against him for posing as someone to whose identity he has no claim.' (Kirkus Review, 1936, available online https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/edward-wooll/libel/; accessed 12 February 2014.)
Production history: First produced at the Playhouse Theatre, London in 1934 and then on Broadway in December 1935. Published London: Samuel French, 1936.
Date of transmission: Sunday 21 August 1938
Time: 9.05-10.35pm
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Origination: Live from studio
Vision original: Monochrome
Later transmissions: Presented again at 9.00pm on Thursday 1 September 1938, and presented twice more in 1939, at 9.00pm on Wednesday 15 March and at 3.00pm on Monday 20 March.
Notes: Original cast members who reprised their roles in the 1939 productions included Leon M Lion, Wyndham Goldie, Mario Francelli, Corney Grain, Stuart Bull, Jean Gary, Paul Chesterton and John Fraser,

New cast members were Judith Gick, Ivan Samson, George Pughe, Bryan Powley, George de Warfaz, Sandra Lawson, John Salew, Ann Cooper, Michael Balfour, Lewis Stringer, Michael Nono and Harold Boyer.
Extant status: No archival copy is known to exist.
Play tags: American drama; court-room drama; politics

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