"Campaign for One" is a 1965 Australian television film. A remake of an episode of the BBC series ''Wednesday Play'', it aired in a 60-minute time-slot on ABC on 24 November 1965 in Melbourne, Sydney, and on 5 January 1966 in Brisbane. as part of ''

Wednesday Theatre ''Wednesday Theatre'' is a 1960s Australian anthology show which aired on the ABC. Many of the episodes were imported from the BBC. However a number of episodes were made locally. Episodes 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 Wednesday Theatre ...

''. It was not unheard of during the 1960s for British anthology episodes to be remade for Australian television.

Plot

Set in 1967, an English astronaut, Phil Osborne, is in orbit for the Allied Commission of German, English and American specialists. After completing a spacewalk, he announces that he has no intentions to return to Earth, due to his wife leaving him, and would prefer to die in space.

Partial cast listing

* Stanley Walsh as Phil Osborne *Lynne Flanagan as Osborne's wife *

Michael Duffield Michael Duffield (1915 – June 1986) was an English-born character actor who worked in Australia for many decades. He was nominated for the 1979 AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his role in ''The Last of the Knucklemen'', a r ...

*Carl Bleazby *

Mark Albiston Mark Albiston (born 19 March 1972) is a New Zealand film, television and advertising director. He graduated from University of Canterbury in Christchurch in 1992 with a degree in Fine Arts. Career In 2000, Albiston started the production comp ...

* Edward Howell

Production

It was shot in Melbourne. Faull said, "There was real suspense and a true-to-life drama about it. One couldn't help but feel that the situation could arrive sometime. We were producing ''Campaign for One'' at the same time space projects were going on at Cape Kennedy, and with all the news reports about, there was a feeling that the play was the real thing." A large seesaw rig was used to simulate walking around outside an orbiting capsule.

Reception

Reception was mixed. '"Canberra Times called it "an undistinguished play" and said it had a "preposterous pommy script". By comparison ''Australian Women's Weekly'' (see section ''Death Wish in Space'') called it "one of the best local TV productions for ages" and said the spacewalk sequence was "most skillfully produced". The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' called it "brilliant" with "sustained tension, highly competent performances by a well-knit cast and whipped-up direction which left no one time to wonder what to do with his hands... a most exciting and professional job by any standards." The Sunday ''Sydney Morning Herald'' called it "a nice, taut, well-produced bit of space drama... a gripping and highly credible thriller."

References

External links