Australian TV Plays: The Road (17 June 1964)

Australian TV does Nigel Kneale. Some rare sci fi.

Premise

It is the late 18th century. A small English village is haunted by ghostly apparitions. Sir Timothy Hassall, accompanied by his friend Gideon Cole, investigate.

The apparitions come from the future when the world is about to be destroyed via nuclear war.

Cast

Norman Kaye as Sir Timothy Hassall
Alexander Archdale as Gideon Cobb
Martin Magee as Sam Towler
Ernest Parham as Jethro
Joy Mitchell as Livinia
Judith Arthy as Tetsy
Ernie Bourne
Neville Thurgood
Blaise Antony
Ray Angel
William Lloyd

Original play

It was based on a 1963 British television play by Nigel Kneale. It was broadcast as part of the BBC Television anthology drama series First Night.

Kneale is a legend among British sci-fi aficionados - mostly due to the Quatermass series. Deservedly so. It's an excellent play. The original production however was wiped.

Production

It was shot in Melbourne.

Director Patrick Barton said "the utopian rationalism of Cobb matched against the semi credulous tumbling semi scientific mind of Hassall are an example of two forces alive in the 18th century."

John Cameron, a writer (Outpost, etc) and ABC crew member, wrote about the production in his memoirs:

Perhaps the greatest stir in the dramas produced in Melbourne arose from an overseas script set in the 18th century. It revolved around investigations into psychic phenomena at a particular location. People reported hearing sounds of the headlong rush of a large and frightened crowd. It was thought to be the sound of Boadicea’s troops being massacred by the Romans, and although the characters in the play proved this not to be the case, they were unable to establish what it was. The viewers, however, realised that it was not a flash back in time but a leap forward; the rush was in the fifteen minutes between the launch of ballistic missiles in World War 3 and their arrival on target.

The stir was not in the play or its subject, but in the equipment used by the investigating scientist. His central device was a cat’s head whose whiskers sensed the psychic phenomona. As the equipment was to be seen in close-up and had to be convincing, there was no way we could get away with a toy pussy. We contacted a local vet, and asked if he would let us have the head of the next cat that he had to put down. We arranged for the head to be sent to a taxidermist and stuffed. When pussy finally arrived in Staging, it was a joy to behold, and everyone was delighted. Well, not everyone. Someone gave the story to the Press, and they ran it big. The ABC was killing cats for television. Every cat lover in Melbourne wrote to the papers or rang the ABC. When we admitted that we had a real cat’s head, Management ordered us not to use it. Over our protests, our prize possession stayed in the Props Store fridge, and a toy cat’s head ludicrously featured in the production.

Reception

The Sydney Morning Herald review complained that the story was "too feeble to stand up to scrutiny".

The Bulletin said:

“The Road”, last week’s ABC tele vision drama on Channel 2, Sydney, was a “time play” with an unusual approach. Set in 18th century England, it told of a ghost-hunting expedition organised by a rural squire, one of whose villagers has heard terrifying noises in the woods at night. The expedition, equipped with lightning conductors and other paraphernalia (for the squire is an amateur scientist), ends in a brief, nightmarish vision of the 20th century world to the accompaniment of crashing bombs, air raid sirens and a manic babble of fright ened human voices. An excellent idea, yet somehow the Melbourne production of the play never really got off the ground until the last few minutes. Instead of generating steadily-mounting tension it lumbered along, bowed down, it seemed, by the weight of the lines. The central weakness was Alexander Archdale’s portrayal of the rationalist from London whose smug 18th century philosophy of “enlighten ment” explodes in his face at the end. Archdale is an actor of power rather than subtlety. He turned the rationalist into a contemptuous roarer when he would have been far more convincing as a cold blooded sneerer. Competent perform ances came from Norman Kaye as the squire and Martin Magee as the young yokel whose experiences started the whole business. GEOFFREY SCOTT