''Fable'' is a British

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...

, shown on 27 January 1965 as an episode of ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramati ...

'' series on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

. Written by John Hopkins, the play is set in a parallel totalitarian Britain where those in authority are black people, and white people are their social underdogs - a reversal of the situation in contemporary

apartheid South Africa Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. It was directed by

Christopher Morahan Christopher Thomas Morahan Order of the British Empire, CBE (9 July 1929 – 7 April 2017) was a British stage and television director and production executive. Biography Early life and career Morahan was born on 9 July 1929 in London, the son ...

and produced by

James MacTaggart James MacTaggart (25 April 1928 – 29 May 1974) was a Scottish television producer, director and writer. He worked in London from 1961. Early life MacTaggart was born in Glasgow and served in the Royal Army Service Corps from 1946, rising to ...

Cast

Eileen Atkins Dame Eileen June Atkins, (born 16 June 1934), is an English actress and occasional screenwriter. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Aw ...

- Joan *

Ronald Lacey Ronald William Lacey (28 September 1935 – 15 May 1991) was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30-year period. His roles included Harris in ''Porridge'' (1977), Frankie in the Bud Spencer comedy '' Ch ...

- Len *

Thomas Baptiste Thomas Baptiste (17 March 1929 – 6 December 2018) was a Guyanese-born British actor and opera singer. Biography Baptiste was born in British Guiana (now Guyana) as the son of a wealthy landowner. He moved to Britain in the late 1940s. His on ...

- Mark * Barbara Assoon - Francesca *

Carmen Munroe Carmen Esme Munroe, (born 12 November 1932)

- Lala *

Keith Barron Keith Barron (8 August 1934 – 15 November 2017) was an English actor and television presenter who appeared in films and on television from 1961 until 2017. His television roles included the police drama ''The Odd Man'', the sitcom ''Duty Free ...

- Narrator *

Rudolph Walker Rudolph Malcolm Walker (born 28 September 1939) is a Trinidadian-British actor, known for his sitcom roles as Bill Reynolds in '' Love Thy Neighbour'' (1972–76) and Constable Frank Gladstone in '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–96). Since 2001 ...

- Policeman *Leo Carera - Editor *Bari Johnson - Deputy Editor *Dan Jackson - Overseer *Sally Lahee - Lilian *George Roderick - Laughton * Trevor D. Rhone - Assistant Editor *John Rapley - Michael *André Dakar - Head Of State *Frank Singuineau - Minister *

Charles Hyatt Charles Eglerton Hyatt (14 February 1931 – 01 January 2007) was a Jamaican actor, playwright, director, author and broadcaster. Hyatt was best known as a character actor and comedian who appeared in numerous films and television shows, beginni ...

- Newsreader *Thor Pierres - Secretary *Kenneth Gardnier - Interrogator

Commentary

Hopkins had anti-racist intentions in writing the play.

Carmen Munroe Carmen Esme Munroe, (born 12 November 1932)

has said that for the actors the production was a frightening experience "because suddenly you were being asked to perform the sorts of acts that were performed against you in real life". The programme's original screening, scheduled for 20 January 1965, was postponed by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Cast

Commentary

See also

References