"The Affair" is a 1965 Australian television play based on

the novel ''The Novel'' (1991) is a novel written by American author James A. Michener. A departure from Michener's better known historical fiction, ''The Novel'' is told from the viewpoints of four different characters involved in the life and work of ...

C. P. Snow Charles Percy Snow, Baron Snow, (15 October 1905 – 1 July 1980) was an English novelist and physical chemist who also served in several important positions in the British Civil Service and briefly in the UK government.''The Columbia Encyclope ...

. It starred

Roger Climpson Roger Climpson (born 18 October 1932) is an English-born Australian retired media personality who served a lengthy career in both radio and television, as a journalist, announcer, newsreader and presenter. He is best known for his time at ''S ...

Richard Meikle Richard Meikle (10 October 1929 – 2 June 1991) was an Australian actor who worked extensively in film, theatre, and radio. He was the father of writer Sam Meikle. Career Meikle began his career as a stage actor. His first recorded role was in ...

and

Anne Haddy Anne Haddy (5 October 1930 – 6 June 1999), credited also as Anne Hardy, was an Australian actress, television presenter and voice artist, who worked in various facets of the industry including radio, stage and television. She was married ...

and aired on the ABC as part of ''

Wednesday Theatre ''Wednesday Theatre'' is a 1960s Australian anthology show which aired on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC. Many of the episodes were imported from the BBC. However a number of episodes were made locally. Episodes 1965 1966 1 ...

''. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time.

Plot

A young Cambridge scientist, Donald Howard, introvertive and unpopular, is accused of fraud and dismissed from his fellowship. The twenty fellows attempt to dismiss their feelings of unease by calling him guilty. His wife campaigns for him, splitting the college into two factions, one which sticks by the original verdict the other which seeks to re-try him.

Cast

as Donald Howard * Brian James as Sir Lewis Eliot *

as Laura Howard *

Alexander Archdale Alexander Mervyn Archdale (26 November 190513 May 1986) was a British actor, manager and theatre producer. He had a very long career in both the theatre and in film, stretching from the 1930s to the 1980s. He spent the latter part of his life an ...

Raymond Westwell Raymond Westwell (6 January 1919 – 23 November 1982) was a British actor and director who worked for many years in Australia. He made his Australian TV debut in ''The Angry General''. He worked as a director of theatre, notably ''Camelot''. Sel ...

as Gibert Dawson-Hill *

John Brunskill John Hanfield Brunskill (17 April 1875 – 21 July 1940) was an Irish cricketer. A left-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler, he played one match for Ireland, against the MCC in May 1895. He also played four first-class matches for ...

as the master *

Ron Haddrick Ronald Norman Haddrick (9 April 1929 – 11 February 2020) was an Australian actor, cricketer, narrator and presenter. In 2012, he received the Actors Equity Lifetime Achievement Award for his long and distinguished career in media, spanning s ...

as Skefflington * Richard Parry *

Atholl Fleming Atholl Fleming MBE (6 December 1894 – 6 May 1972) was a British actor and an Australian radio personality. Early life He was the third of nine children of the Rev R. S. Fleming, a Scottish Baptist minister of Pitlochry and later Beckenham in ...

* Frank Taylor * Charles Tasman *

Wendy Playfair use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , nationality = , other_names = , citizenship = , education = , ...

Lou Vernon Lou Vernon (26 June 1888, Brisbane – 22 December 1971, Sydney) was an Australian actor of stage, radio and screen and producer. He started his career in musical comedy, and was particularly noted for his versatility and ability as a character a ...

Production

The script was based on the

Dreyfus Case The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

. The production was filmed at the ABC's studios in Gore Hill, Sydney. It was the third in a trilogy of stories set at Cambridge.

Reception

The ''Woman's Weekly'' called it "a milestone in local drama. It was good, world-class TV, not a production that can be tarnished by the tag "good for an Australian one." It was a wonderful play... The cast did well, and the producer did wonders." The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' thought it was "outstandingly cast and intelligently produced" but thought the story had flaws.

References

External links

*
''The Affair''
at Milesago 1965 television plays 1965 Australian television episodes 1960s Australian television plays Wednesday Theatre (season 1) episodes {{tv-episode-stub