''The White Rabbit'' is a 1967 British four-part TV series starring
Kenneth More. It is based on
the book by
Bruce Marshall. It is the last of three mini series More starred in for BBC2 in succession.
Premise
The series is based on the story of Wing Commander
F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas
Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas, (17 June 1902 – 26 February 1964), known as "Tommy", was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "Seahorse" and "Shelley" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas ...
who fought for the
French Resistance in
World War Two. He is captured and tortured by the Gestapo.
Cast
*
Kenneth More as Wing Cmdr. Forest Frederick Edward “Tommy” Yeo-Thomas
*Denise Buckley as Barbara, his girlfriend
*Frank Duncan as Commentator
*Christopher Benjamin as Cadillac
*Stephen Bradley as Ernst
*Robert Bruce as Col. Robinson
*David Collings as Horace
*Annette Crosbie as José Dupuis, Yeo-Thomas' resistance contact
*George Hagan as Pierre Brossolette
*Alan MacNaughtan as Rudi (Gestapo interrogator)
*Roy Purcell as Col. Brierley
Episodes
#.Absalom (16 Sept 1967, repeated 20 Sept 1967)
#.The Raising Up (23 Sept 1967, repeated 27 Sept 1967)
#.The Faith (30 Sept 1967, repeated 4 Oct 1967)
#.The Beginning (7 Oct 1967, repeated 11 Oct 1967)
Production
Michael Deeley
Michael Deeley (born 6 August 1932) is an Academy Award-winning British film producer known for such motion pictures as ''The Italian Job'' (1969), ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and ''Blade Runner'' (1982). He is also a founding member and Honora ...
got hold of a feature film script based on the book and managed to get
Kenneth More interested. Deeley spoke to
John Boulting about it and Boulting got the rights before Deeley could secure them. More loved the script and claimed he spent a year trying to make the film - at one stage they were set to start filming in July 1961 and in December 1961 ''Variety'' announced the film would be made by 20th Century Fox. However they could not clear up the rights. "Shouldn't think it would ever be made now," he said in 1962
This detail is omitted in More's memoirs. According to those, he read a copy of the book while in Jamaica making ''
Dark of the Sun''. He took it to
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
, head of features at the
BBC, and suggested it would make an ideal four-part series.
Film rights were held by American producer
Hal Chester
Hal E. Chester (born Harold Ribotsky; March 6, 1921 – March 25, 2012), was an American film producer, writer, director, and former juvenile actor.
Early life and career
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he was the youngest of seven child ...
, but the BBC were able to make it provided they never repeated the program or sold it elsewhere. The BBC was willing to do this because More had been in the very successful series ''
The Forsyte Saga''.
According to newspaper reports, the BBC announced it was going to film the book with More in September 1966. More called it "a realisation of a dream... I thought the chance had gone forever."
Filming started 27 July 1967.
The series was never sold and had to be destroyed within 28 days of broadcast.
Reception
The ''Evening Post'' called it "the best thing ever done by BBC-2."
The ''Guardian'' felt it was "too sadistic." The ''Daily Telegraph'' thought the character of Yeo Thomas "does not come clearly into focus."
References
External links
*
1960s British drama television series
{{BBC-tv-prog-stub