"Joe's Ark" is the second episode of fourth season of the British

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 ...

anthology TV series ''

Play for Today ''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...

''. The episode was a television play that was originally broadcast on 14 February 1974. "Joe's Ark" was written by

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978) and '' The Singing Detective'' ...

, directed by

Alan Bridges Alan Bridges (28 September 1927 – 7 December 2013) was an English television and film director. In 1967 Bridges directed a television adaptation of Charles Dickens' ''Great Expectations'' starring Gary Bond as Pip. He won the '' Grand Pr ...

, produced by Graeme McDonald, and starred

Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for ...

Plot

In rural Wales, Lucy (

Angharad Rees Angharad Mary Rees, The Hon. Mrs David McAlpine, CBE (16 July 1944 – 21 July 2012) was a British actress, best known for her British television roles during the 1970s and in particular her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC TV costume d ...

), the daughter of formerly god-fearing pet shop owner Joe (

) has returned home from her studies at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

suffering from terminal cancer. Joe's crisis of belief estranges him from his neighbours in the small community and he quarrels with the priest at the local chapel during Sunday communion. Meanwhile Joe's ostracised son Bobby (

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the ...

), a touring comedian with a tawdry act, is contacted at Lucy's insistence by John, an Oxford contemporary who loves her, but Lucy is much more interested in being reunited with her brother. Bobby though, returns to the pet shop moments after Lucy has died.

Production and reception

"Joe's Ark" was commissioned by ''

'' script editor Ann Scott in January 1971, with the brief outline "a suburban Noah prepares for the end of the world". The play which emerged Potter described as: "it's simply that ordinary feeling of being abandoned and betrayed and left to endure". Potter was only able to attend one rehearsal, an experience of which he observed that "almost everyone concerned seemed intent on excavating the solemnity rather than the intrinsic comedy of the piece, but I was at that time either too ill or too diffident to do much about it". The production was directed by

. John R. Cook in his book about Potter notes that "the play does not so much come down on one side or the other" in the debate about the validity of a faith in God "as hold both possibilities in taut suspension". It was the last of the six Potter plays produced by

Graeme MacDonald Graeme Patrick David MacDonald (30 July 1930 – 30 September 1997), sometimes credited as Graeme McDonald or Graham McDonald, was a British television producer and executive. Early life MacDonald was educated at St Paul's School, London an ...

. "That's the one I was most proud of", MacDonald told Potter biographer W. Stephen Gilbert.Gilbert, p. 213, 213n. For unknown reasons, production of the play was delayed. The BBC's two-year copyright window had expired, and had to be reacquired before the project could be completed.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Play for Today 1974 British television episodes 1974 television plays British television plays Play for Today Television shows written by Dennis Potter