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Pyre for Private James

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"Pyre for Private James"
The Wednesday Play episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 24
Directed byGilchrist Calder
Teleplay bySimon Raven
Production codeBBC
Original air dateNovember 30, 1966 (1966-11-30)
Running time43 mins

Pyre for Private James is a 1966 episode of The Wednesday Play for British television.

Premise

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Major Andrew Carlyle faces a court martial for murder after shooting to death Private Trevor James during a jungle patrol.

It is revealed Carlyle was an obsessed man who killed his injured driver.

Cast

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  • Basil Henson as Major Andrew Carlyle
  • Percy Herbert as Colour Sergeant David Mackison
  • Dudley Sutton as Corporal Tom Oates
  • David Conville as Captain Jeremy Dilston
  • Grant Taylor as Colonel Lloyd Beacher, Prosecuting Officer
  • John Bailey as Humphrey Wiles, Counsel for Defence
  • William Fox as Judge Advocate
  • Basil Dignam as President of Court Martial
  • Nick Tate as Private Trevor James

Production

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It was one of Nick Tate's first appearances after arriving in Britain.[1]

Reception

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The Guardian said "all the episodes introduced in the telling of the story were handled with a strong sense of the dramatic."[2]

The Leicester Mercury critic thought "the dramatic climax never came" although he enjoyed the acting and handling.[3]

The Daily Mirror called it "slow moving but often dramatically sure".[4]

The Observer thought "nearly everybody was hamming it up in the jungle scenes."[5]

References

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  1. ^ "TV Topics". Grimsby Evening Telegraph. 11 November 1966. p. 11.
  2. ^ Crozier, Mary (1 December 1966). "A Pyre for Private James". The Guardian. p. 7.
  3. ^ "Compelling play - but where was the big climax?". Leicester Mercury. 1 December 1966. p. 9.
  4. ^ "Last night's TV". Daily Mirror. 1 December 1966. p. 16.
  5. ^ "Jungle ham". The Observer. 4 December 1966. p. 24.
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