Four weeks into lock down, and while we all try and remember the last time we went this long without setting foot in a pub, we also marvel at how quickly we adapt to the new normal and wonder if things will ever truly return to how they were, or if they even should. The … Continue reading Enter freely and of your own free will! #1: Mystery and Imagination: Dracula (1968)
Arguably the most influential post-War writer doesn't need much by way of introduction. By the mid 60s Harold Pinter was past the disaster that was the opening of The Birthday Party (1958) and the phenomenal success that was The Caretaker (1960). Five of his plays had been broadcast on ITV and lasting fame was secured. … Continue reading The Value of Myth #5: The Largest Theatre in the World: Tea Party (1965), Theatre 625: The Basement (1967)
Paddy Russell's death on 2 November saw the end of one of television's true pioneers, the first female floor manager at the BBC and the first woman to direct Doctor Who. You can read Toby Hadoke's obituary for Paddy in The Guardian here. She cut her teeth under legendary television producer and director Rudolph Cartier on … Continue reading Foreign Countries #14: Late Night Horror: The Corpse Can’t Play (1968)
As it's the Pride in London Parade this Saturday, my latest Value of Myth post examines gay-themed TV drama in the years before the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalised private homosexual acts between consenting men over the age of 21, in England and Wales anyway. Homosexuality in Scotland wasn't decriminalised until 1980. In Northern … Continue reading The Value of Myth #3: Play of the Week: South (1959), On Trial: Oscar Wilde (1960)
"Talent borrows, genius steals" said Oscar Wilde ("and Doctor Who writers get it wholesale off the back of a lorry, no questions asked" added Doctor Who writer Ben Aaronovitch, but I digress). Great TV and film make their mark, they change the landscape that future productions operate in. Most obviously nothing was the same for … Continue reading Foreign Countries #7: The Corridor People (1966)
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