Bettie's Books

bookshelves: britain-england, fraudio, glbt, play-dramatisation, women

Saturday Play: The Killing of Sister George 25-04-2009

John Tydeman's adaptation of the stage play by Frank Marcus. The audience ratings for the popular daily serial Applehurst are on the slide. Will the leading character have to be sacrificed to save the show?


From The Telegraph

This play caused shock, scandal, laughter and admiration in roughly equal quantities when, starring Eileen Atkins and Beryl Reid, it first hit the stage in 1964 and, again in 1969, when it appeared as a film. Written by Frank Marcus, once The Sunday Telegraph’s distinguished drama critic, it’s about a power struggle. BBC executive Mrs Mercy Croft (Anna Massey) has a problem. The daily radio serial, Applehurst, is on the slide. Its heroine, Sister George (Sarah Badel), has been hugely popular but is difficult to manage. She’s also gay, not something the BBC is keen to have in the papers. John Tydeman, BBC veteran, master of Chekhovian emotional gradations, directs its radio premiere.

-- Gillian Reynolds


June Buckridge (Sister George) ................. Sarah Badel
Alice 'Childie' McNaught ...................... Lucy Whybrow
Mrs Mercy Croft ................................ Anna Massey
Madme Xenia ................................. Frances Jeater
Bill ............................................. Tom Bevan
Fred ......................................... Keith Drinkel

Directed by John Tydeman.