David Edward Rose: 22nd Nov 1924 – 26th January 2017
Below is an excerpt from David Rose’s obituary in The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/01/31/david-rose-producer-z-cars-obituary/ .
David Edward Rose: 22nd Nov 1924 – 26th January 2017
Below is an excerpt from David Rose’s obituary in The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/01/31/david-rose-producer-z-cars-obituary/ .
Here are some grabs from Jack Flea’s Birthday Celebration, a Second City First transmitted in April 1976. It is a very strange and disturbing play by Ian McEwan, about the oppressive relationships that both Jack Flea’s mother and partner, have with him. It was shown in April 2016 at the mac, as part of the Flatpack Film Festival.
Here is the entry from the Radio Times, courtesy of the BBC Genome project, http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/689430d99ef64c58a1b6c3c947b854fc
Cast:
Ruth: Sara Kestelman, David: David Wilkinson, Mrs Lee: Eileen McCallum, Mr Lee: Ivor Roberts”
The Flatpack Film Festival are going to be screening six 30 minute dramas made at Pebble Mill by the English Regions Drama Department, in April 2016 at the Midlands Arts Centre, Edgbaston:
“SECOND CITY FIRSTS
During the 1970s, a key strength of the drama department at BBC Pebble Mill was its ability to unearth new talent; not just through flagships like Play For Today, but also the entry-point offered by the likes of Second City Firsts. Running from 1973 for ten series, this half-hour slot took a chance on a spectacular range of ‘regional talent’ including Willy Russell, Julie Walters, David Rudkin, Brian Glover and many others. Just as importantly, it offered a diversity of representation that often compares favourably with today’s TV drama.
Volume One:
A Touch of Eastern Promise; Girl; Early to Bed
A Touch of Eastern Promise (1973), is not officially a Second City First, though it emerged from a very similar slot. Written by Tara Prem, it’s the tale of a daydreaming shop-boy who has the opportunity to meet his favourite star. Partly shot in Balsall Heath, all the cinema scenes were captured at the now-demolished Imperial on Moseley Road. To follow, an Alison Steadman double-bill: studio-shot military drama Girl (1974), which features the first lesbian kiss seen on British TV; and then Early to Bed (1975), with Steadman smouldering on location in a depressed mill town. This claustrophobic tale of infidelity was the first television script by Alan Bleasdale, who later went on to Boys From the Blackstuff and GBH.
Volume Two:
The Permissive Society; Club Havana; Jack Flea’s Birthday Celebration
It was at the Midlands Arts Centre where Mike Leigh first embarked on his unique approach to devising scripts, and Pebble Mill which commissioned much of his early TV work. Made a year before camping comedy Nuts in May, The Permissive Society (1975) is an overlooked gem. Also confined to a single set, Club Havana (1975) is a tense portrait of a Handsworth speakeasy by playwright Barry Reckord, featuring Don Warrington as the landlady’s son newly arrived from Jamaica and an incredibly young Julie Walters as the barmaid. We conclude with Jack Flea’s Birthday Celebration (1976), a psychosexual nightmare from the pen of Ian McEwan which is very much in keeping with his short stories of the time.”
The BFI are screening two Pebble Mill Second City Firsts, Early to Bed and Jack Flea’s Birthday Celebration as part of a series of forgotten dramas. The screening is to be held on Tuesday 3rd February, at 6.10pm at the BFI Southbank, NFT3. You can book tickets online: https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=CBAD85AB-44CD-4D30-ACE5-F25672CFAB42&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=4159993E-A281-42E4-A299-3431E39987B4
Early to Bed was Alan Bleasdale’s first television play. It was directed by Leslie Blair, and starred David Warwick, Alison Steadman, Johnny Meadows and Patricia Leach. The 1975, ‘Second City First’ is set in a Lancashire mining village, it tells the story of an eighteen year old, played by David Warwick, who has an affair with his married, next door neighbour – Alison Steadman. Bleasdale thought that Blair’s direction turned an average script into a very watchable play.
Here is the link to the synopsis of Jack Flea’s Birthday Celebration from the BBC Genome project: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/689430d99ef64c58a1b6c3c947b854fc