UK, 20 October 1965
videotape, black and white, 4:3
mono, English
Series: The Wednesday Play (1964-1970)
A British science fiction television play directed by Brian Parker.
Plot Summary
A detective pursues a former astronaut who may have murdered a nightclub singer.
Credits
Crew
Director: Brian Parker
Producer: James MacTaggart
Script: Peter Everett
Cast
Dudley Foster (Antrobus)
Norman Rodway (Cage)
Isobel Black (Victory Du Cann)
David Dodimead (Cafrita)
Kevin Stoney (Vonnegut)
John Bryans (Lederman)
Judith Smith (Xenia)
Maurice Podbrey (sergeant)
Mary Barclay (Marina)
Geoffrey Hinsliff (Gogol)
George Betton (Toms)
Press
1965
The Sun 21 October 1965
“Brian Perker’s direction cannot be faulted. It was a brilliantly-engineered job, a succession of beautifully photographed and composed pictures. Behind the images, The music of Cornelius Cardew jerked and flowed. But how deep did the play go? I confess I don’t know. It certainly glittered hypnotically, but without seeing it at least once more – which would be a pleasure – I’m not prepared to add up all its propositions and summarise them in a paragraph.” – from a review (Adrian Mitchell’s View: A hypnotic glimmer – but I’d like to see it again) by Adrian Mitchell
The Observer 24 October 1965
“It had an ingenious play […] But a lot of the embroidery was so corny and illogical that I had to move over to the padded viewing-room. The dialogue was rich in that new advertising copywriter’s style which is becoming the rage among TV playwrights. My prize line was: “She liked the smell of outer space on her men.”” – from a review by Maurice Richardson
Sunday Telegraph 24 October 1965
“To concede the play’s merits straight away, let me also say that it was the first TV play I’ve seen to try to capture some of the romance, the prodigious adventurousness, of space exploration, The first, apart from a Thurber lampoon, to question the role of the astronaut as a superman: the first to mock the circus atmosphere of a launching, with families of gawpers picknicking outside the barbed wire as they await the blast-off. And there was one truly imaginative touch in the person of a veteran astronaut, his face horribly scarred by a solar flare, who acted as a sort of Ancient Mariner to the rocket establishment. Against all this must be put the fact that the piece once the initial particularity of had worn off its performance produced only a mounting irritation. Partly this was due to the physical expediency which the mean budgets of TV drama impose.” – from an illustrated review (With it – but behind) by Philip Purser
References
Periodicals
Time Screen no.7 (revised) p.24 – note
Newspapers
The Observer 24 October 1965 – review (by Maurice Richardson)
The Sun 21 October 1965 – review (Adrian Mitchell’s View: A hypnotic glimmer – but I’d like to see it again by Adrian Mitchell)
Sunday Telegraph 24 October 1965 – illustrated review (With it – but behind by Philip Purser)
Books
The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction (3rd edition) pp.653-654 – credits
