Transmitted : 13th October 1965 Script : Dennis Potter Director : Gareth Davies

Transmitted : 20th October 1965 Script : Peter Everett Director : Brian Parker

Publicity : The Girl Who Loved Robots - Tony Garnett, story editor, introduces tonight's play by Peter Everett: Peter Everett sounded fascinating - young, very hop, and we knew his novels. They were wild, brilliant, and won coveted prizes. He seemed to be our kind of man - but would he write a play for us? My fellow story editor, Ken Trodd, tracked him down in Camden Town. Everett was just off to Spain to make a film with the eminent director Claude Chabrol. His inventive mind was already turning over an exciting idea which he was eager to turn into a television play. He talked about it. We listened. We were right. He was our kind of man. His play opens with a girl. Her name is Victory du Cann. She is nineteen years old. She is a nightclub hostess. She is beautiful. She is dead. Cause of death: murder. Time: a few years from now. Place: unspecified. Motive: obscure. Assassin: unknown. Another casebook opens for Inspector Antrobus, and yet another sordid crime. It is all very unpleasant. Antrobus turns from the body to the window, and to another world. Glittering in the heat-haze, remote but challenging, is a fabulous alloy empire. Thrusting into the air is the massive rocket which will tomorrow urge three men to the moon. Three supermen, chosen, trained, and turned into perfect human machines, coolly await the final count-down. Antrobus turns away. It is nothing to do with him. He is a copper, with a job to do. He begins his investigations. They lead him into secret and threatening territory. There is a strange story behind the bare fact of that girl's body, dead on the floor. The Girl Who Loved Robots stars Dudley Foster, Norman Rodwat, and Isobel Black, and is directed by Brian Parker. (Radio Times, October 14, 1965).

Cast : Dudley Foster (Antrobus), Isobel Black (Victory du Cann), Norman Rodway (Cage), Michael Guffy (The Doctor), Maurice Podbry (The Sergeant), Mary Barclay (The Marina Owner), George Betton (Toms), David Dodimede (Cafritz), Judith Smith (Xenia), John Bryant (Lederman), Geoffrey Hinsliff (Gogol), Billy Dean and Peter Newton (The Guards), Kevin Stoney (Vonnegut) and Howard Charlton (The Minister).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy-five minutes and was transmitted from 9:00pm to 10:15pm.

Music for this episode was composed by Cornelius Cardy.

This episode is one of only three in the third season of The Wednesday Play which do not exist.

Transmitted : 27th October 1965 Script : Julia Jones Director : Brian Parker

Transmitted : 3rd November 1965 Script : Nell Dunn Director : Kenneth Loach

Publicity : Up The Junction by Nell Dunn - "It is not a play, a documentary, or a musical. It is all of these at once": "The real thing" "Highly accomplished … truthful and likeable" "Remorseless observation" "A new and exciting young writer with an ear for the authentic idiom of the Smoke" "Razor quick, abrasive, hugely comic …". Those are some critics raving. They were going mad about a little book of a hundred pages by an unknown girl called Nell Dunn - Up The Junction. Three girls go up the Junction - Clapham Junction. This is their story and they happen to live and work in Battersea, although it could be lots of places. A place of dead-end jobs, crumbling houses, dirty streets and, for the sensitive observer, an overwhelming sense of you-never-had-it-so-bad. Whether you like ti or not, this is here, now, 1965. Go to any big city and the human waste will horrify you, because the people you will see tonight are exploited, given a raw deal, or just conveniently forgotten by the rest of us. You would expect them to be "down" - and they have every right to be. But they are not. All of them - all ages - are irrepressibly alive. And the young people, like Rube, Sylvie, Eileen, and their friends in tonight's play, have a personal style and sophistication which put to shame the self-promoting "in-groups" with their trendy clothes and their colour supplements. How to bring this to the screen? So many conventional plays seem unreal, and real people in documentaries often look and talk like actors. I said the other week that we on The Wednesday Play would have to break some rules to tell the truth as we see it. So we told our director, Kenneth Loach, that none of the sacred cows of television drama need stand in his way. There were many risks involved in this freedom and he has embraced them with relish. This is a show which defies the categories. It is not a play, a documentary, or a musical. It is all of these at once. It is something new - but, more important, it is something true. If you watch it we can promise you something that will stay in your mind for a long time. (Radio Times, October 28, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Cast : Carol White (Sylvie), Geraldine Sherman (Rube), Vickery Turner (Eileen), Tony Selby (Dave), Michael Standing (Terry), Ray Barron (Ron), Rita Webb (Mrs Hardy), George Sewell (The Tallyman), Pauline Halford, Elizabeth Valentine, Ronald Alexander, Winifred Sabine, Doreen Herrington, Myrtle McKenzie, Hilda Barry, Sheila Grant, Cleo Sylvestre, Adrienne Frame, Winifred Dennis, Sidney Gatcum, Margaret Flint, George Webb, Grace Dolan, Gilly Fraser, Ann Lancaster, Susan Hanson, Ann Mitchell, Frank Jarvis, Rose Howlett, Alec Coleman, Ben Howard, Jessie Robins, Alan Selwyn, George Tovey, Rita Smythe, Maurice Peckman, Ronald Clarke, Wally Patch, David Baxter, Nicholas Edmett, Richard James, Will Stampe, Anna Wing, Anthony Woodruff, Emmett Hennessy, Julie May, Terri Ansell, Gladys Dawson and The Norton York Trio.

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy minutes and was transmitted from 9:40pm to 10:50pm.

Songs performed in this episode were written by Russ Parker and performed by Winifred Helliwell and Marie Cleve. "Bad Girl" was written by Stanley Myers and Nell Dunn. Title Music featured in this episode was performed by Paul Jones. Title Music featured in this episode was arranged by Mike Vickers.

This episode enjoyed repeat broadcasts on August 14th, 1977 and July 14th, 1993.

Transmitted : 10th November 1965 Script : Alan Seymour Director : Peter Duguid

Publicity : The Trial And Torture Of Sir John Rampayne - The Wednesday Play stars Jack Hawkins in the title-role: "He stood next to Churchill in our national esteem" "RAMPAYNE (I'd ban the beat groups) DEAD" "A distinguished and devoted public servant of our time" "An enemy of the people". The death notices are written. They are ready to roll. Which paper will you believe? Of course we have all heard of Sir John Rampayne, and most of us could recall the occasional public storm when he hit the headlines. But this does not often happen. He prefers to be a discreet power behind the news. For he is one of that handful of men who went to the right school and belong to the right clubs, and he feels he has the right to rule. And perhaps he has. After all, he was born and trained to be a Top Person, and has been one all his life, making decisions which affect all our lives. But how much do you really know about him? Which of the papers is right? What is the truth about Sir John Rampayne? What kind of a man is he when the public mask is stripped off? Because behind the mask there is a human being, a fascinating one - and maybe not quite the one you expect to find … Something very odd is going to happen to Sir John Rampayne tonight. He does not know what it is yet, but he will never forget it - if he survives. Jack Hawkins, making one of his rare television appearances, stars as Sir John Rampayne, with Ian McKellen and Faith Brook. The play is directed by Peter Duguid. (Radio Times, November 4, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Cast : Jack Hawkins (Sir John Rampayne), Ian McKellen (Wolf), Faith Brook (Eleanor Brinson), Mary Hinton (Lady Rampayne), Meredith Edwards (Roland Sloane), Robert James (Denzil Trafford), Morris Perry (Chief Superintendent James), Sheila Ballantyne (Doctor Scott-Studley), Richard Coe (The Reporter), John Line (Derrick Tandem), Alan Mason (The Airline Clerk), Rex Robinson (Boland), Milton Johns (March), Harry Baird (Manao), Myrtle Rees (Louise), Ian Hamilton (The Guitar Player), Bill Lyons (The First Student), Paul Robert (The Second Student), Marigold Russell (Rosine), Rufus Frampton (Sir John As A Boy), Kenneth Benda (Sir John's Father), Dorothea Phillips (The Nanny), Nicholas Young (The Fagmaster), Tim Hardy (Sir John As A Young Man), Penelope Lee (Dita), Dorothy Primrose (Nancy), George Curzon (The Great Man) and Richard Kay (The BBC Journalist).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy-five minutes and was transmitted from 9:45pm to 11:00pm.

Music for this episode was composed by Stanley Myers. Title Music for this episode was by Paul Jones. Title Music for this episode was arranged by Mike Vickers.

Transmitted : 17th November 1965 Script : Christopher Logue and Stanley Myers Director : Kenneth Loach

Publicity : The End Of Arthur's Marriage - Tonight's off-beat musical is introduced by its story editor, Roger Smith: I thought Christopher Logue was the man to write a television musical that would break away from conventional dream-spinning and phoney realism. I knew his poems, the songs he wrote for Annie Ross, his stage musical The Lillywhite Boys, and his bizarre True Stories in Private Eye. The combination of his wit, lyricism, and critical eye was just what I was looking for. He had never written for television before and like many writers was very skeptical at first, but he started to get interested and came up with a True Story that looked a great subject. What we both wanted was to achieve a realistic background with plenty of film locations. I said that we would do everything possible to realise his ideas and told him to go ahead. Apart from a disappointment over an elephant we managed to do everything. The result was location films ranging from Fortnum and Masons to a strange gas-works in the East End of London. I think we have certainly come up with something that television has never tried before. The music is by Stanley Myers, composer for numerous films and television plays. One of director Ken Loach's many problems was to find the two leads. He needed a young girl without any of the drawbacks often associated with child actors. He found Maureen Ampleford at a London school. She had never acted before, and the gamble paid off. She comes over fresh, spontaneous, and quite unselfconscious. Playing her father is that clever and under-rated actor Ken Jones. The End Of Arthur's Marriage is about a man who loves his daughter more than security, prefers spending to saving, and a few hours' happiness to a lifetime's boredom. (Radio Times, November 11, 1965 - Article by Roger Smith).

Cast : Ken Jones (Arthur), Maureen Ampleford (Emmy), Charles Lamb (Dad), Winifred Dennis (Mum), Robert Douglas (The Newsreader), Janie Booth (Mavis), Hugh Paddick (The House Agent), Joanna Dunham (Mrs Thurloe), Edward De Souza (Mr Thurloe), Ian Ellis (Mark), Derek Royle (The Taxi Driver), Howell Evans (The Angry Driver), Alec Coleman (The Shaving Man), Kenneth Allen (The Interviewer), Fanny Carby (Connie), Toni Palmer (Janet), Elizabeth Morgan (The Mother), John Fortune (The Server), Lucy Griffiths (The Elderly Lady), Nicholas Courtney (The Husband), Clare Owen (The Wife), Jonathan Adams (The First Policeman), Neville Smee (He), Tracy Rogers (She), Lionel Wheeler (The Second Policeman), Alan Selwyn (The Man At Zoo Gate), Dickie Owen (Keeper Bent), Kim Peacock (The Governor), Alan Styles (Adam), Ashling Raynor (Eve), Christine Holmes (Lily), Brendan Collins, Delia Abraham, Wendy Marshall, Yvette Rees, Anne Evans, Margery Campi, Vera Lennox, Vernon Drake, Sheila Beckett, Gladys Dawson, Perin Lewis, Donald Symons, Lisa Madron and David Vellerman.

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy minutes and was transmitted from 9:40pm to 10:50pm.

Songs featured in this episode were performed by Christine Holmes, Long John Baldry, Samantha Jones, Rita Williams, Lesley Wood, Pat Whitemore, Charles Young, Patricia Hogan, Fred Lucas, James Griffett, Nick Curtis, Marian Davies, Jimmy Walker, Yvonne Newman, Maggie Stredder, Gloria George and Barbara Moore. Title Music for this episode was composed by Stanley Myers. Title Music for this episode was arranged by Mike Vickers.

Transmitted : 24th November 1965 Script : Fred Watson Director : James Ferman

Publicity : James Chase as Jimmy Gorbet and Janina Faye as Sheila - Tomorrow, Just You Wait - Tonight's play is introduced by the story editor Tony Garnett: "Jimmy" … "I love you, Sheila …" "Don't …" "I think of you all the time, morning and late at night …" "I love you Jimmy …". He is nineteen. She is sixteen. If you are under twenty you know how they feel. The rest of us can remember. Thinking of the other all the time. Only feeling really alive when you are together. The ache when your hands touch or your eyes meet. It is very painful and very beautiful - and there will be nothing quite like it ever again. Tonight we follow their love affair and catch a glimpse of their future. Jimmy's father is always remembering when England was great. His mother cannot forget the air-raids. And his brother was educated and married above himself. Jimmy does not want to be like any of them. He is young, picking up good money, and he has got a smashing bird. What more could a man want? As Fred Watson's play, directed by James Ferman, unfolds you realise a man could want a great deal more. But the cards are stacked against him in a way he is only just beginning to understand. The world is a great place, though. And very funny. I mean, a man can work all day on his machine and not know what he is making. What bare they going on about automation for? They've got it, haven't they - using mechnical men. As Jimmy's workmate says, "Sounds a right comedy". (Radio Times, November 18, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Cast : James Chase (Jimmy Gorbet), Janina Faye (Sheila), Amelia Baynton (Ada Gorbet), Tony Selby (Harry), Charles Lamb (Henry Gorbet), Joss Ackland (Tom Gorbet), Judy Parfitt (Dorothy Gorbet), Aila Mills (Inger), Carmen Blanck-Sichel (Mrs Gronki) and Gabor Baraker (Mr Gronki).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy-five minutes and was transmitted from 9:00pm to 10:15pm.

Transmitted : 1st December 1965 Script : Dawn Pavitt and Terry Wale Director : Mary Ridge

Publicity : The Wednesday Play - The Bond starring Hannah Gordon and Barry Lowe: Chris and Sally have everything. They are young, attractive, and about to be married. But more than that they are the new Britain. Every politician woos them. Anyone with something to sell, from glossy magazines to commercial television, tries to seduce them. They are the new middle-class. Their parents are working-class. Their future is rosy. This is their world. They have got on. Most other people are thought to enby them. They are the coming Mr and Mrs 1970 - the Joneses we are invited to keep up with. A white wedding, a Paris honeymoon, and a beautiful London home. They have glamorous careers. Their friends are smart and successful. They are full of good taste. They know where they are going. They love each other. Tonight we look at these people, not as the advertisers and politicians do, but as they are. This is a play by a young married couple about a young married couple and it is important to all of us. Because most of us either have fallen in love and have married - or will do. And trying to make marriage work is a moving, difficult, and hysterically funny experience. Those who want to be Mrs 1970 will find Chris and Sally a disturbing pair. Those who think conventional marriage a drag will find them priggish and self-righteous. What will you think? This is Dawn Pavitt and Terry Wales' first play and it is directed by Mary Ridge. (Radio Times, November 25, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Cast : Hannah Gordon (Sally), Barry Lowe (Chris), Susan Williamson (Brenda), Clifford Parrish (Stan), Nancie Jackson (Madge), Julie Booth (Yvonne), Elsie Wagstaff (Gran), Campbell Singer (Norman), Joan Young (Edie), William Marlowe (Jeff), Edmind Gray (The Vicar), Rosalie Westwater (Sybil), William Moore (Len), Annette Crosbie (Liz), John Downing (Brian), Angus Mackay (Ernest), Brenda Cowling (Gwen), Maureen O'Reilly (Peggy), George Selway (Frank), Pauline Devaney (Val), Geoffrey Cheshire (Barry), Ian Frost (Richard), Carol Austin, Jacqueline Blackmore, Hal Dyke, Annette Hunt, Fern Warner, Nicholas Critchley, John Flint, Peter Forbes-Robertson, Anthony Gardner, Donald Groves and Kenton Moore.

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy-five minutes and was transmitted from 9:45pm to 11:00pm.

Vocalist for this episode was Rita Williams. Incidental Music for this episode was arranged and conducted by Dudley Simpson. Title Music for this episode was by Paul Jones. Title Music for this episode was arranged by Mike Vickers.

This episode is one of only three in the third season of The Wednesday Play which do not exist.

Transmitted : 8th December 1965 Script : Dennis Potter Director : Gareth Davies

Publicity : Stand Up Nigel Barton - Story editor Tony Garnett introduces the first of two plays by Dennis Potter starring Keith Barron: Nigel Barton is a very clever lad. He loves to listen to himself. He knows that he is good-looking, occasionally witty, desperately eager to succeed - part of the cream of the first Free Milk generation. One of the Chosen Few. Everything is on his side, if only he would stop looking back over his shoulder. "You'll get on Nigel. You'll succeed!" coos his old teacher as she raps the knuckles of the village boys and girls who are already destined for the slag-heap. Boys and girls who bully good little, smug little Nigel, as if they already knew he was destined for better things. His boots will one day be cleaned by college servants. He can choose between sweet and dry sherry without flicking an eye. "I'll bet he even picks his nose with his hanky" says his coal-miner father, acknowledging the benefits of a first-class education. But Nigel is too well aware of the fashionable potency of being both brilliant and working class. He wants everyone to know about the coal dust and, to get a job in the telly, he is even prepared to exploit the inevitable tensions between himself and his parents. The trouble is that Nigel genuinely feels the anguish, genuinely distrusts his emotions, genuinely entangles himself in a web of memories. His glamorous new experiences are not quite seductive enough to win his complete allegiance. He cannot simply go back and suffocate in the coal dust, and he cannot blandly progress towards a heroic status in the colour-supplement world. Perhaps politics are the answer? It seems worth trying. Tonight he sets out into the big wide comic world and begins to learn what it is all about. He discovers how to laugh until it hurts. Next week in Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton he can laugh some more. (Radio Times, December 2, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Cast : Keith Barron (Nigel Barton), Jack Woolgar (Harry Barton), Barbara Keogh (Mrs Taylor), Janet Henfrey (Miss Tillings), Terence Soall (Scout), Johnny Wade (Georgie), Godfrey James (Bert), Vickery Turner (Jill), Charles Collingwood (Tim), Robert Mill (Adrian), Katherine Parr (Mrs Barton), Charles Lewsen (President Of The Union), Peter Madden (Jordan), Alan Lake (Arthyr), Brian Hankins (Conrad), Edward Palmer (Ernie), P J Kavanagh (The Reporter), Llewellyn Rees (The Senior Proctor), Brian Badcoe (The Junior Proctor), David Scheuer, Ian Fairbairn, Harriet Harper and Pamela Withers (The Children), Michael Burrell, Jonathan Dennis, Michael David, Bridget Wood and Sheila Dunn (The Undergraduates).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of seventy-five minutes and was transmitted from 9:40pm to 10:55pm.

This episode enjoyed two repeat transmissions, on September 19th, 1966 and August 19th, 1987.

Dennis Potter appeared on Late Night Line-Up on BBC-2 on December 7, 1965, to discuss the Nigel Barton Plays. He also appeared on Look East the following day to discuss the same material.

Transmitted : 16th December 1965 Script : Dennis Potter Director : Gareth Davies

Publicity : Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton - Tonight's play is a comedy about a reluctant candidate in a by-election: Tonight's play deals with the kind of subject which is more likely to turn up in Gallery and Panorama than in a comedy. With poll cards, party agents, slumping majorities, and gay rosettes we are in the world of politics. Politics but not Westminster, not the seat of power. For this is what the pundits call grass-roots politics, the deep-dyed rural constituency of West Barsetshire where the sitting member, Sir Harry Blakerswood, Bart, is killed in a hunting accident (and tragically they have to shoot his horse as well!). To Nigel Barton (Keith Barron) - idealistic, intellectual, young - falls the lot of once more standing as candidate for the by-election, and he knows that, West Barsetshire being what it is, he must again lose, and lose heavily. His wife Anne (Valerie Gearon) says he should not stand; she despises the whole dirty business of party politics. Perhaps she might have persuaded Nigel but into his other ear comes the insistent, cynical tones of Jack hay (John Bailey), his hardened election agent. ("Yes, Nigel, I thought you might be a bit peeved … but this could be your big chance, old mate … lots of public interest in a by-election … Ah, I knew you'd see it my way). So the campaign trundles into action and Barton is off on the tired round of doorstep canvassing, pep talks to party stalwarts, and tub-thumping speeches. And as the dreary days pass, his will to do what every politiucian has to do gets weaker and weaker until he does what no politician can ever afford to do. This is the second television play by Dennis Potter, who wrote The Confidence Course, and the subject is one dear - or at least close - to his heart because he himself has been a parliamentary candidate. And so after much travail we come to Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton. Our hero has been well prepared for the limelight with a highly successful Oxford education grafted on to an impeccable working-class background. "A potential Cabinet Minister if ever I saw one," says his Party agent Jack Hay. "Dishonest in a way which seems embarrassingly frank. Upright when creeping. And dignified when at his most stupid". This is the raw, comic "inside story" of an important by-election. Nigel Barton is beginning to make a big name for himself. He has a beautiful, well-bred wife and a good job as a journalist. Now perhaps he is a mere three weeks away from the comfortably padded benches of the Best Club in the World. A glittering future beckons. But clever lad though we have seen him to be, our Nigel lets the past catch up with him and finds himself on every front page in a way he certainly had not planned. Dennis Potter's witty and fast-moving play hurls itself to an excitinbg and perhaps shocking climax. It completes - for the time being at least - the vivid story of Nigel Barton, miner's son, on the slippery ladder of success. The play has been directed by Gareth Davies. Keith Barron plays Nigel, John Bailey the shrewd political agent and Valerie Gearon his wife. (Radio Times, June 17, 1965 and Radio Times, December 9, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Synopsis : Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton is the battle call for one of the candidates in the West Barsetshire by-election, but his wife Anna, knowing that he cannot win is determined that he shall not stand.

Cast : Keith Barron (Nigel Barton), Valerie Gearon (Anne Barton), John Bailey (Jack Hay), Cyril Luckham (Archibald-Luke), Barbara Atkinson (The First Hunting Woman), Agatha Carroll (The Second Hunting Woman), Donald Hewlett (The First Hunting Man), Russell Forehead (Sir Harry Blakerswood), Huw Thomas (The Newsreader), Betty Bowden (Lady Chairman), Margaret Diamond (Lady Secretary), Madge Brindley (Mrs Thompson), Michael Segal (The First Questioner), Raymond Witch (The Second Questioner), Charles Rea (The Pedestrian), Dorothea Rundle (The Woman), Sonia Graham (Mrs Phillips), Aimee Delamain (Mrs Morris), Walter Hall (Mr Smith), Keith Campbell (The Male Nurse), Edmund Bailey (Eddie), George Desmond (Mr Harrison), Fred Berman (The Toastmaster), John Evitts (The Journalist), Alan Lawrance (The Fat Man) and Arthur Ridley (The Mayor).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of eighty minutes and was transmitted from 9:45pm to 11:05pm.

Music for this episode was provided by Ronnie Hazlehurst. Film Cameraman for this episode was James Balfour. Film Editor for this episode was Bill Brind. Story Editor for this episode was Roger Smith.

This episode had originally been scheduled for transmission on June 23, 1965, but was withdrawn from the second series of The Wednesday Play by outgoing Story Editor Roger Smith. Incoming Story Editor Tony Garnett, recognising the strength of the play, commissioned Dennis Potter to writer a prequel to the story, both of which were transmitted in respective weeks in the third season.

This episode enjoyed two repeat transmissions, on September 19th, 1966 and August 19th, 1987. Dennis Potter appeared on Line-Up Review on December 17, 1965 to discuss the Nigel Barton plays.

The Old Vic Company staged Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton as a four-week theatrical enterprise at the Theatre Royal, Bristol froim November 27th, 1968. In that production, Frank Barrie played Nigel Barton, with Patricia Maynard as Anne Barton, and the play was directed by Antony Tuckey.

Dennis Potter was gifted the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for this edition of The Wednesday Play.

Transmitted : 22nd December 1965 Script : James O'Connor Director : Kenneth Loach

Publicity : The Coming Out Party - The season of Wednesday Plays produced by James MacTaggart ends tonight: Twelve months and thirty-five plays ago, James MacTaggart, Roger Smith, Ken Trodd, and myself began one of the most exciting years of our lives. The freedom of the screen was ours and we were determined to use that freedom. We were bored with the conventional ways of making plays - and wanted to give a number of new writers, who had something to say about the world, a chance to say it without pulling any punches or going soft. But above all we wanted to try to entertain and stimulate a large audience. If it has sometimes been a rough ride it has also been rewarding and enjoyable. We hope you agree. You have usually been a lively audience - at times even a stormy one. But always encouragingly large. We end as we began with a play by James O'Connor. On January 6, 1965, Tap On The Shoulder marked the beginning of a career which has flourished throughout the year. Three Clear Sundays, Mr O'Connor's second play, was a big hit, and he is now busy writing the film The Great Train Robbery for a major Hollywood company. Tonight's play The Coming Out Party is a simple tale set in that part of London known as Notting Dale where the author himself grew up and still lives. It is almost Christmas, and a little boy begins a search - a sad search which leads him into trouble. But on the way there is a glorious knees-up comedy which should put us all in a Christmas spirit. Kenneth Loach, who has directed all James O'Connor's work as well as The End Of Arthur's Marriage and Up The Junction, has gathered together a number of old favourites. The little boy, Scimpy, is played by Dennis Golding who has never been in front of a camera before. Another season of Wednesday Plays, produced by Peter Luke, will begin in the New Year. (Radio Times, December 16, 1965 - Article by Tony Garnett).

Cast : Toni Palmer (Rosie), George Sewell (Ricketts), Dennis Golding (Scimpy), Jayne Muir (Sister Bridget), Wally Patch (Grandad), Will Stampe (The Scrap Merchant), Carol White (The Princess), Hilda Barry (Granma), Alec Ross (Police Constable Nicholls), Julie May (Wendy), Penelope Parry (The Prison Officer), Edwin Brown (The Police Sergeant), Alister Williamson (Inspector Brisby), Tommy Godfrey (Jimmy The Gent), Rita Webb (Floss), Andrea Lawrence (Sandra), Griffith Davies (The Pretty Boy), George Tovey (Tug Wilson), Dickie Owen (Big Al), Aubrey Richards (The Governor), Ted Peel (Harry), Fanny Carby (Liz Kelly), Alec Coleman (Snuffy), Eunice Black (Audrey), Howell Evans (The Prison Gatekeeper), Ray Barron (Fidgetty Joe), Frank Jarvis (Odd Ears), Bernard Stone (Jack The Butcher), Winifred Sabine (The Customer), Tommy Fulbrook (Tommy), Dermot McDowell (The Customer), Heather Barbour (The Salvation Army Girl), Patrick O'Connell (Nobby), John Formosa, Tommy Gent, Barry Payne, Trevor Roger and Roy Thomas (The Boys).

Notes & Trivia : This episode had a running time of sixty minutes and was transmitted from 9:00pm to 10:00pm.

Lyrics featured in this episode were by Nemone Lethbridge. Music for this episode was provided by Stanley Myers. Carols for this episode were performed by Alan Sojka and fellow pupils of Christopher Wren School and Isaac Newton School. Title Music for this episode was by Paul Jones. Title Music for this episode was arranged by Mike Vickers.

This episode of The Wednesday Play was repeated on August 10th, 1966 as part of a series of selected editions chosen for re-transmission.

Please note synopsis are taken from the original Radio Times listings for the day of transmission.