Associated Television

French Lessons
A-R's first series on France was La Dordogne: The Story of a River which started on Monday September 30th 1958, 2.43pm to 3.11, repeated immediately at 3.23pm- part one was The High Country. It was scripted by Martin Worth, a joint production with Paris Television.
From 1960 to 1962 they produced the French drama lesson Chez Les Dupre.
This was succeeded by Notre Ville from 1962 to 1966.
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The Equity dispute affected production in late 1961/ Spring 1962. For the Summer term 1962 A-R produced The Pickwick Papers, a study of the characters introduced by Redvers Kyle.

Romeo and Juliet (Autumn Term 1962)

details currently on Lost Treasures page
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Twelfth Night
One of A-R's first and most ambitious schools' drama productions was this Shakespeare adaptation shown on Wednesday March 18th 1959 from 2.43 to 4.00pm.
The director was Roger Jenkins.
The cast: Laurence Hardy as Sir Toby Belch, John Wood as Malvolio, Emrys James as Feste, Murray Hayne as Orsino, Bernard Horsfall as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Geoffrey Taylor as Antonio, Ingrid Hafner as Olivia, Sally Home as Viola, Hilda Braid as Maria, with other parts taken by Hugh Cross, Edward Rhodes and Keith Taylor.

This was the culmination of the weekly series, each programme lasting 28 minutes, that had begun on January 21st 1959, examining aspects of the play. Scripts by Martin Worth and introduced by John Westbrook.
For example, the first programme, entitled His Very Genius, introduced some of the characters in Twelfth Night, concluding with Scene 3 from Act 2, in which Malvolio interrupts the revellers. For this extract the cast were George A Brown as Sir Toby, Peter Vaughan as Malvolio, Terence Soall as Feste, Geoffrey Bayldon as Sir Andrew, Gillian Raine as Olivia and Prunella Scales as Maria.

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The Angry Gods
starting January 18th 1961, (3.15-3.45pm)
A study of guilt and retribution in Aeschylus and Shakespeare, with commentary and script by Martin Worth.
Extracts from plays including:
2 The Crimson Path (January 25th 1961) narrated by Michael Hawkins. Directed by Pat Baker. Synopsis: Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War with the prophetess Cassandra, to find that his wife has waited all these years to avenge the sacrifice of her daughter Iphigenia. Cast: Michael Beint as Watchman, Bernard Brown as Aegisthus, Jill Balcon as Clytemnestra, Nigel Green as Agamemnon, Zoe Caldwell as Cassandra, and chorus: Clive Graham, Robin Culver, John Macleod, William Buck, Powell Jones and Robert Sidaway.
3 The Black Furies (Feb 1st 1961), introduced by Michael Hawkins. Cast: Jill Balcon as Clytemnestra, Avril Elgar as Electra, Neville Jason as Orestes, Julian Glover as Pylades, Marjorie Hawtrey as Nurse, Bernard Brown as Aegisthus, and in the chorus: Marian Worsdale, Janine Hill, Betty Mayne, Jeanne Rees, Anne Lister and Kirsty Thomas. Director: Pat Baker.
4 The Judgment (Feb 8th 1961), introduced by Michael Hawkins. Cast: Jill Balcon as Clytemnestra's Ghost, Neville Jason as Orestes, Veronica Turleigh as Priestess, David William as Apollo, Diana Fairfax as Athene, and in the chorus: Marian Worsdale, Janine Hill, Betty Mayne, Jeanne Rees, Anne Lister and Kirsty Thomas. Director: Pat Baker.
8 The Oracle is Fulfilled (March 22nd 1961), introduced by Michael Hawkins. Cast: Timothy Bateson as Autolycus, Edward Harvey as Camillo, Christopher Gilmore as Florizel, Jane Merrow as Perdita, Timothy Harley as Clown, Dudley Jones as Shepherd, John Church as Cleomines, Nigel Green as Leontes, Rachel Gurney as Paulina, Julian Glover as First Lord, Bernard Brown as Polixenes and Jill Balcon as Hermione. Director: Pat Baker.
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Hamlet

First screened Thursday September 21st 1961 3.20-3.45pm repeated the following day at 3pm. The whole series was reshown in the Autumn Term 1963.
Introduced by Ernest Clark. Commentary by Martin Worth. Directed by Prudence Nesbitt.
To prove this was no cheapskate production, the cast included William Russell as Hamlet, Clive Morton as Polonius, Mark Dignam as Claudius, Margaretta Scott as Gertrude, Bernard Kay as Horatio, Henry Oscar as the Ghost, Allan Mitchell as Francisco, James Sharkey as Laertes, Kenneth Gilbert as Bernardo, Michael Spice as Marcellus.
Part 1: Foul Deeds Will Rise. Part 2: The Trail of Policy. Part 3: The Play's The Thing. Part 5: The Readiness of it All.
After these introductory programmes, in the second half of the term, the play was shown in five parts with a different cast: Barry Foster was Hamlet The Prince of Denmark, Sydney Tafler as Claudius, Patricia Jessel as Gertrude, Jennifer Daniel as Ophelia, wirh Nicholas Hawtrey as Guildenstern, Thane Bettany as Rosencrantz, Bernard Brown as Fortinbras, Neville Jason as Horatio, David Sumner as Laertes. Director: Tania Lieven.
Part 1 (Nov 2nd 1961) also with Michael Aldridge as Polonius, Christopher Gilmore as Marcellus and Peter Copley as Ghost.
Part 2 (Nov 9th 1961) also Michael Aldridge, Alan Edwards as First Player, William Marlowe as Player King, Anthony Gardner as Player Queen and Colin Pinney as Fourth Player.
The final episode was on Friday November 30th 1961. Also with Peter Cellier as Osric.

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NOTRE VILLE (Associated Rediffusion, 15 minutes long)
Elementary French for the second or third year of study. "This series is designed to enable pupils to hear French spoken by native French speakers, and to convey something of the atmosphere of the country. Each episode is a self contained story." The series ran for four academic years from 1962/3 to 1965/6. Each year for the first three years, there were ten programmes each in the Autumn and Spring Terms and six in the Summer, the final 1965/6 season had no summer programmes, so there were a total of 98 programmes.
Well known French names in English programmes can be found in many of these stories, including
Andre Maranne as Marcel (series 1-8, he also plays a different character in one story in series 11),
Elma Soiron as Madame Vergennes (series 2 to 11),
Jacques Cey as Jules (series 2-6) and
John Serret who starts in series 2 but then has a bigger role as M Sourget in series 7 and 8.
A few English, presumably brave enough to speak good French, did appear also.

Repeated stories in later years:
Le Nouveau Restaurant (rpt from 7.6, screened September 20th 1966).
Le Voyage (rpt from 7.7 September 27th 1966).
La Vaisselle (rpt from 8.3 Oct 11th 1966).
Le Proces (rpt from 8.9 Oct 25th 1966 and Nov 1st 1966 half term repeat).
La Confidente (rpt from 7.10 Nov 8th 1966).
La Malle (rpt from 9.1 Nov 15th 1966).
La Fete (rpt from 9.6 Nov 29th 1966).
A second group of repeats were shown in the summer term 1968.
Les Premiers Clients (rpt from 10.1 screened April 30th 1968).
Paiement Par Cheque -part 1 (rpt from 10.3, May 7th 1968).
Paiement Par Cheque -part 2 (rpt from 10.4, May 14th 1968).
La Fortune!... Quel Reve! (rpt from 10.6 shown June 11th 1968).
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