''Mrs Dale's Diary'' (known as ''The Dales'' from 1962 to 1969) was the first significant
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
serial drama. It was first broadcast on 5 January 1948 on the
BBC Light Programme
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...
, later
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...
, running until 25 April 1969. A new episode was broadcast each weekday afternoon, with a repeat the following morning. The programme revolved around a doctor's wife, the eponymous Mrs Dale, and her life in middle class suburbia with her husband, Dr Dale.
The main scriptwriter for many years was Jonquil Antony, and her first collaborator (under a pseudonym) was
Ted Willis
Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis (13 January 1914 – 22 December 1992) was an English playwright, novelist and screenwriter who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. He created several television serie ...
, later to create ''
Dixon of Dock Green
''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...
''. Mrs Dale was played by Ellis Powell until she left the show in 1963, and was replaced by
Jessie Matthews
Jessie Margaret Matthews (11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, suc ...
.
Popular with audiences, it became "a national institution", and the
Queen Mother
A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the monarch, reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also ...
reportedly said of the programme, "It is the only way of knowing what goes on in a middle-class family."
History
An innovative characteristic of the programme was that a brief introductory narrative in each episode was spoken by Mrs Dale as if she were writing her diary. The original harp theme was by
Marie Goossens. The programme was broadcast at 4.15pm.
The serial centred on Mrs Mary Dale, a
doctor
Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to:
Titles and occupations
* Physician, a medical practitioner
* Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree
** Doctorate
** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...
's wife, and her husband Jim, and the comings and goings of a
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...
society. The Dales lived at Virginia Lodge in the fictional
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
Metro-land
Metro-land (or Metroland – see note on spelling, below) is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north-west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century th ...
-style suburb of Parkwood Hill. They had moved there from the real area of
Kenton, which straddles the border between the London boroughs of
Brent and
Harrow. Later in the series, to modernise the programme and its setting, the producers relocated the family to the fictional
new town
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz
* New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013
* New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...
of Exton New Town.
Mrs Dale's mother was Mrs Rosemary Freeman, whom Jim always called, rather gravely, "mother-in-law". Dr and Mrs Dale had a daughter, Gwen, and a son, Bob, who worked in the motor trade. He was married to Jenny; they had twins. Gwen was widowed after her husband David was killed in a water-skiing accident in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...
where he was holidaying with his rich mistress. Mary Dale's sister, Sally, (which she always pronounced "Selly") lived in
Chelsea and moved in exotic circles. The Dales and their friends (along with Captain, Mrs Freeman's cat, apparently named after the rank of her late husband, who had been killed in the
First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
) got along in almost perfect harmony. It was all respectable, comfortable and middle-class.
Treatment of homosexuality
The programme is thought to be the first British mainstream drama which depicted a character known to be
homosexual
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...
sympathetically in a leading part: Richard Fulton (portrayed by
David March), Sally's husband. At this time, homosexuality was still illegal in the United Kingdom. However, though he was apparently based on the homosexual writer
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, co ...
, Richard's history in the serial was heterosexual. He was, in fact, a character who had developed a lot, having been presented in the early days as a monster of petulance.
Changes to the format
On 26 February 1962, the serial was renamed ''The Dales''. The linking narratives by Mrs Dale were dropped. The reason was that the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
was conscious that the series was considered by the media to be twee and hopelessly old fashioned. The changes included a new theme tune composed by
Ron Grainer, composer of the theme music for ''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
''. "
Dance in the Twilight" from
Eric Coates
Eric Francis Harrison Coates (27 August 1886 – 21 December 1957) was an English composer of light music and, early in his career, a leading violist.
Coates was born into a musical family, but, despite his wishes and obvious talent, his parents ...
' ''
Springtime Suite'' also served as a signature tune for a time.
Jessie Matthews
Jessie Margaret Matthews (11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, suc ...
' biographer, Michael Thornton, later wrote:
On 19th February, 1963, a plump and embittered fifty-six-year-old character actress called Ellis Powell walked out of Broadcasting House
London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...
for the last time. She was not a star. In fact she had earned less than £30 a week. But her voice was as well-known in Britain as that of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
, for it was heard twice a day by seven million devoted listeners.
Miss Powell was Britain's most sacrosanct fictional paragon, Mrs. Dale, in the radio serial 'The Dales'. And now, after fifteen years in the role she had created, the B.B.C. had summarily fired her – partly because of her drinking habits, and partly because it was felt that the role, and also the entire programme, was in need of a facelift.
Thornton added:
Three months later, at the age of fifty-seven, she died in the National Temperance Hospital. The official cause of death was a cerebral haemorrhage, but her friends believed that she never recovered from the shock and distress of her summary dismissal by the B.B.C.
In the last weeks of her life she worked as a demonstrator at the Ideal Home Exhibition and as a cleaner in an hotel. She left only £15 6s., having carried around in her handbag for weeks a cheque for £600 – her pay-off from the B.B.C. She had never put it into her bank because she feared the money would be swallowed up by her overdraft.
On 7 March 1963, the news broke that Matthews would be playing Mrs Dale. The first episode featuring Matthews was recorded on 11 March, and transmitted on 18 March. She appeared in the programme until it ended, although suffered several periods of ill health, resulting in her role being temporarily recast. Matthews was off for six weeks in September and October 1963, during which Mrs Dale was played by former
''Coronation Street'' actress
Noel Dyson. In October 1966, the BBC announced that Matthews was ill, and would be out of the programme for at least a month. This time,
Ruth Dunning replaced her. Dunning also stepped into the role when Matthews was off-air for nine weeks, in an illness-related break which lasted from March to May 1967.
''The Dales''
In its last years, ''The Dales'' became more sensational. Mrs Dale became a councillor, a position she had to give up after she had caused a man's death by careless driving. A heart attack forced Dr Dale to retire from practice. Perhaps the most famous storyline was Jenny getting measles; listeners wrote in their thousands complaining that she had already had measles in 1949.
When it became ''The Dales'', the show did try to copy ''
The Archers
''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...
'', which was originally a medium to disseminate information to the agricultural community, and to give an insight into rural affairs to the public. In ''The Dales'' the plots now revolved around medical conditions and problems. When the series ran a story about the importance of women having regular
cervical smear tests and checking their breasts for
lumps, the junior health minister praised the programme, saying it had encouraged thousands of women to see their doctor.
The serial ran for 5,431 episodes, culminating with the engagement of Mrs Dale's daughter Gwen to a famous TV professor on 25 April 1969 (recorded on 16 April 1969). On the news of its demise,
Liberal MP
Peter Bessell attempted to introduce a reprieve for the series in
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, and there was a campaign to save the programme. However, while listening figures had peaked at six and seven million in the early 1960s, the average audience was 5.2m by September 1967, and 3.7m by 1969. The last episode drew four million listeners.
The
BBC Sound Archive
The BBC Sound Archive is a collection of audio recordings maintained by the BBC and founded in 1936. Its recordings date back to the late 19th century and include many rare items, including contemporary speeches by public and political figures, fol ...
holds only five complete episodes of ''Mrs Dale's Diary'', and seven complete episodes of ''The Dales''.
A few days after the final episode, a new serial drama, ''
Waggoners' Walk'', took over the time slot.
In January 2012,
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
broadcast ''I'm Rather Worried about Jim'', a documentary telling the story of the series, presented by
Penelope Keith
Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith (''née'' Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and '' To the ...
.
Cast
* Ellis Powell,
Jessie Matthews
Jessie Margaret Matthews (11 March 1907 – 19 August 1981) was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1920s and 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.
After a string of hit stage musicals and films in the mid-1930s, suc ...
,
Noel Dyson,
Ruth Dunning as Mrs. Mary Dale
* Douglas Burbidge, James Dale, Charles Simon as Dr Jim Dale
*
Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...
, Leslie Heritage,
Nicholas Parsons
Christopher Nicholas Parsons (10 October 1923 – 28 January 2020) was an English actor, straight man and radio and television presenter. He was the long-running presenter of the comedy radio show ''Just a Minute'' and hosted the game show '' S ...
,
Derek Hart as Bob Dale
* Julia Braddock, Shirley Dixon, Mary Steele, Sheila Sweet as Jenny Dale
* Virginia Hewitt,
Joan Newell, Beryl Calder,
Aline Waites as Gwen Dale/Owen
* Anthony James, Frank Partington, Gordon Morrison, John Spingett, Robin Lloyd, Lee Peters as David Owen
* Courtney Hope, Dorothy Lane as Mrs. Freeman (Mrs. Dale's mother)
* Thelma Hughes, Margaret Ward as Sally Lane (Mrs. Dale's sister)
* Thea Wells as Isobelle Fielding
*
Vivienne Chatterton as Mrs. Mountford
*
Jack Howarth as Mr. Maggs
* Grace Allardyce as Mrs. Morgan/Maggs
*
Hattie Jacques as Mrs. Leathers
*
Charles Lamb
Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...
as Monument (the gardener)
* Michael Harding as Milkman
Spin-offs
Over the years it ran, there were a number of books written around the characters, several authored in whole or part by Jonquil Antony, the most important scriptwriter at the beginning and for many years. In 1970, the year after the programme finished, she took back her former characters after a fashion, publishing ''Dear Dr. Dale'', a novel set after the end of the serial.
In the same year, Charles Simon, who had played Dr Dale in the Jessie Matthews era, did his own continuation of the story, going on tour in ''At Home With The Dales''. This show has its place in theatre history as the first professional venture of
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (born 17 October 1946) is a British theatrical producer and theatre owner notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "t ...
, later renowned for large-scale musicals. The play was written by Charles Henry, who was soon discovered to be Simon. Later dates in the tour were cancelled because the audience did not seem to be there. "It would have been different if Jessie had done the tour", Simon remarked a few months later (to actor Roger Sansom, with whom he was in a broadcast). He was, however, the only member of the radio cast to make the transition.
The play was published, but has seldom been revived. In 1972, it received an amateur production at
Rugby Theatre, with Bridget Watson as Mrs Dale and Harry Roberts as her husband the doctor. The only professional revival appears to have been in 1997 at the Kenneth More Studio Theatre in
Ilford
Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...
, when Angela Ellis and Roger Braban played the senior Dales.
Catchphrase
The phrase seized on by caricaturists as typical of Mrs Dale's narrative was "I'm rather worried about Jim...". Indeed, the phrase was a staple of many comedy programmes, radio and television, in the early 1960s aiming to poke fun at safe, staid and undemanding middle-class lifestyles. The last episode ended with Mrs Dale saying, "There's one thing that won't change – I shall always worry about Jim...".
Parodies
''Mrs Wilson's Diary''
''Mrs Dale's Diary'' was the inspiration for ''
Mrs Wilson's Diary
Prime Minister parodies are a long-running feature of the British satirical magazine ''Private Eye'', which have been included in the majority of issues since the magazine's inception. The parodies consist of one arch satirical personification of ...
'' in the fortnightly satirical magazine ''
Private Eye
''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...
''. The writers (primarily
John Wells) portrayed
Mrs Wilson (the wife of prime minister
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx (11 March 1916 – 23 May 1995) was a British statesman and Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from 1964 to 1970 and again from 197 ...
) as seeing herself as comfortably middle class, in contrast to the working class pretensions (and middle class actuality) of her husband: for example, with the
Wincarnis
Wincarnis is a brand name of a British tonic wine, popular in Jamaica and some other former British colonies. The name is derived from "wine ''carnis''", from the Latin meaning "of meat." It is a fortified wine (17%) now made to a secret recipe o ...
(a brand of tonic wine) and the
worsted
Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...
suits with two pairs of trousers (Wilson was from
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
, a town known for the manufacture of worsted cloth).
''The Goon Show''
The show was mentioned in the following episodes of ''
The Goon Show
''The Goon Show'' is a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series, broadcast from 28 May to 20 September ...
'':
* In an untitled episode (series 2, episode 1: 22 January 1952), listeners are given an example of how ''Mrs Dale's Diary'' would sound as produced by Americans. It includes over-hyped music, multiple in-show advertisements for bizarrely named products, and ends with several murders.
* In "The Man Who Tried To Destroy London's Monuments", (series 4, episode 2: 9 October 1953), Eccles regains consciousness and is told he is in ''Mrs Dale's Diary''.
* "Nineteen Eighty-Five", (series 5, episode 15: 5 January 1955), in which mention is made of ''Mrs Dale's Real Diary'', when the character Bluebottle is reading a book:
:''Seagoon'': I want to read it. What's it called?
:''Bluebottle'': It's called Mrs Dale's ''Real'' Diary.
:''Seagoon'': Mrs Dale's...?? Heavens — would the BBC stop at nothing? So this was how they kept the masses from thinking.
:''Bluebottle'': Eheehee! Look at this page! Eheehee! It's a Three-D picture of Mrs Dale in her nightshirt being chased by
Richard Dimbleby
Frederick Richard Dimbleby (25 May 1913 – 22 December 1965) was an English journalist and broadcaster who became the BBC's first war correspondent and then its leading TV news commentator.
As host of the long-running current affairs pro ...
... Eheehee! Eheeheehee! Eheeheeoooooughhhh... pauses to wipe drool off chin.
It was also one of the recordings used for torture in the BBC Listening Room, that episode's parody of
Room 101
The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell.
The use of contradictor ...
.
* "The History of Pliny the Elder" (series 7, episode 25: 28 March 1957):
:''Seagoon'': Fear not! We shall fight them up hill and down Mrs Dale!
''Round the Horne''
* The programme was often a 'target' (albeit an affectionate one) on the
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...
comedy ''
Round the Horne
''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The f ...
'', referred to as "''Mrs Dire's Dreary''", with the part of Mrs Dire being played by
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams (22 February 1926 – 15 April 1988) was a British actor and comedian. He was best known for his comedy roles and in later life as a raconteur and diarist. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the 31 ''Carry ...
.
References
External links
''Mrs Dale's Diary''at Whirligig
Published references
* ''Mrs Dale's Diary: Gwen's Love Story'' (No writer given) Pub:Chambers, 1951
* ''BBC Year Book For 1952'' Pub: British Broadcasting Corporation 1951
*''Mrs Dale At Home'' Jonquil Antony Pub: Macdonald, London, 1952
* ''Mrs Dale'' Jonquil Antony & Robert Turley Pub: The World's Work 1958
* ''The Dales of Parkwood Hill'' Jonquil Antony & Robert Turley Pub: The World's Work 1959
* ''Mrs Dale's Friendship Book'' Jonquil Antony Pub: Arlington Books 1961
* ''The Dales'' Rex Edwards Pub: British Broadcasting Corporation 1969
* ''Dear Dr Dale'' Jonquil Antony Pub: Corgi 1970
* ''Pulling Faces For A Living'' James Dale Pub: Victor Gollancz 1970
* ''At Home With The Dales'' Charles Simon Pub: Samuel French 1971
* ''Evening All: Fifty Years Over A Hot Typewriter'' Ted Willis Pub: Macmillan 1991
* ''Broadcasting It'' Keith Howes Pub: Cassell 1993
{{BBC Radio 2
British radio soap operas
Fictional diaries
1948 radio programme debuts
1969 radio programme endings
BBC Radio 2 programmes
BBC Light Programme programmes
Fiction about medicine and health
1940s British radio programmes
1950s British radio programmes
1960s British radio programmes