''The Road'' is a 1963 British television play by

Nigel Kneale Thomas Nigel Kneale (28 April 1922 – 29 October 2006) was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British S ...

. It was broadcast as part of the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

anthology drama series ''

First Night First Night is a North American artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors ...

''. An

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n remake was aired the following year. No recordings of the production on either video or audio are known to exist. The script for ''The Road'' was published alongside those for Kneale's teleplays ''

The Year of the Sex Olympics ''The Year of the Sex Olympics'' is a 1968 television play made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 as part of ''Theatre 625''. It stars Leonard Rossiter, Tony Vogel, Suzanne Neve and Brian Cox, and was directed by Michael Elliott. The wr ...

'' and ''

The Stone Tape ''The Stone Tape'' is a 1972 British television horror drama film written by Nigel Kneale and directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. It was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ...

'' under the title ''The Year of the Sex Olympics and Other TV Plays'' in 1976.

Premise

It is the late 18th century. A small English village is haunted by ghostly apparitions. Sir Timothy Hassall, accompanied by his friend Gideon Cole, investigate.

Cast

* Gideon Cobb — John Phillips * Sir Timothy Hassell — James Maxwell * Lavinia —

Ann Bell Ann Forrest Bell (born 29 April 1938) is a British actress, best known for playing war internee Marion Jefferson in the BBC Second World War drama series '' Tenko'' (1981–84). She was born in Wallasey, Cheshire, the daughter of John Forrest B ...

* Sam Towler —

Rodney Bewes Rodney Bewes (27 November 1937 – 21 November 2017) was an English television actor and writer who portrayed Bob Ferris in the BBC television sitcom ''The Likely Lads'' (1964–66) and its colour sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'' ...

* Tetsy —

Meg Ritchie Margaret "Meg" Elizabeth Stone (née Ritchie, born 6 July 1952) is a retired Scottish discus thrower and Shot putter. She reached the Olympic finals at discus in Moscow 1980 (9th) and Los Angeles 1984 (5th). She also won the 1982 Commonwealth ...

* Lukey Chase —

Victor Platt The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

* Big Jeff — David King * Landlord — Reg Lever * Villagers —

Richard Beale Richard Henry Beale (13 May 1920 – 27 March 2017) was a British actor. He had a long career in television, stage and film, dating back to the 1950s. Early years Born in Hackney, London, England, Beale was the son of Henry and Constance ...

, Beaufoy Milton

Significance

"The Road", initially presented as a

ghost story A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature'' ...

, has a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

twist ending Twist may refer to: In arts and entertainment Film, television, and stage * ''Twist'' (2003 film), a 2003 independent film loosely based on Charles Dickens's novel ''Oliver Twist'' * ''Twist'' (2021 film), a 2021 modern rendition of ''Olive ...

, making it ultimately a story of

science fiction horror This is a list of science fiction horror films. 0-9 *''4D Man'' (1959) *'' 9'' (2009) *'' 9'' (2019) A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O *''The Omega Man'' (1971) *'' Outland'' (1981) *''Outpost'': **'' Outpost'' (2008) ...

. The original 1963 BBC production has been called "one of the great missing masterpieces of British television." Having been

wiped Lost television broadcasts are mostly those early television programs which cannot be accounted for in studio archives (or in personal archives) usually because of deliberate destruction or neglect. Common reasons for loss A significant prop ...

by the BBC, it is unknown if a copy of the play exists.

1964 Australian Version

The play was filmed the following year for Australian TV. As with the original British production, all recordings are thought to have been destroyed after transmission. Australian TV drama was relatively rare at the time and only occasionally produced science fiction. Other examples of Australian science fiction on TV include ''

The End Begins ''The End Begins'' is the third studio album by American rock band Tantric. It is the first one recorded without the band's original members Todd Whitener, Matt Taul, and Jesse Vest. Vocalist Hugo Ferreira, the only remaining original member, ...

'' (1961), '' Tomorrow's Child'' (1957) and '' The Stranger''. Of the play, director Patrick Barton said "the utopian rationalism of Cobb matched against the semi credulous tumbling semi scientific mind of Hassall are an example of two forces alive in the 18th century."

Cast

Norman Kaye Norman James Kaye (17 January 1927 – 28 May 2007) was an Australian actor and musician. He was best known for his roles in the films of director Paul Cox. Early life and education Kaye was born in Melbourne and won a scholarship to study at ...

as Sir Timothy Hassall *

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 ...

as Gideon Cobb *

Martin Magee Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

as Sam Towler *

Ernest Parham Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People * Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor * Ernest, ...

as Jethro *

Joy Mitchell The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness. Dictionary definitions Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense of ...

as Livinia *

Judith Arthy Judith Anne Arthy (born 12 November 1940 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is an Australian actress, now retired, and writer. Judith Arthy began her theatrical career in a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible with the Brisbane Repertory Th ...

as Tetsy

Reception

The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' review complained that the story was "too feeble to stand up to scrutiny".

Radio play adaptation

A BBC Radio 4 audio adaptation, written by

Toby Hadoke Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

and directed by Charlotte Riches, aired on 27 October 2018. The production starred

Mark Gatiss Mark Gatiss (; born 17 October 1966) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series ''Doctor Who'', '' Sherlock'', and '' Dracula''. Together with ...

as Gideon Cobb,

Adrian Scarborough Adrian Philip Scarborough (born 10 May 1968) is an English actor. He has appeared in films including ''The Madness of King George'' (1994), ''Gosford Park'' (2001), ''Vera Drake'' (2004), ''The History Boys'' (2006), ''The King's Speech'' (2010 ...

as Sir Timothy Hassall and

Hattie Morahan Harriet Jane Morahan (born 7 October 1978) is an English actress. Her roles include Sister Clara in ''The Golden Compass'' (2007), Gale Benson in ''The Bank Job'' (2008), Alice in ''The Bletchley Circle'' (2012–2014), Ann in ''Mr. Holmes'' ( ...

as Lady Lavinia Hassall.

References

External links

*
Original BBC production
at

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Road, The 1963 British television episodes 1964 television plays 1960s Australian television plays Lost BBC episodes BBC science fiction television shows