Dickon Reed Radio Plays

Dickon Reed is former Head of Drama on BBC World Service. A few of the plays which he produced are listed below, with brief descriptions. There are more of his productions on our listing of the World Service Drama Archive .


MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL....1981
By T.S.Eliot; adapted for radio by David Self.

From Wikipedia:
....A verse drama that portrays the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170, first performed in 1935. Eliot drew heavily on the writing of Edward Grim, a clerk who was an eyewitness to the event.

The play, dealing with an individual's opposition to authority, was written at the time of rising Fascism in Central Europe, and can be taken as a protest to individuals in affected countries to oppose the Nazi regime's subversion of the ideals of the Christian Church.

CAST
Thomas Becket ... Michael Williams
The Chorus ... Margaret Robinson, Jenny Lee, Catherine Parr and Gladys Spencer
The Priests Edward Seckerson, Michael N. Harbour and Dennis Graham
1st Tempter / 1st Knight ... David Horovitch
2nd Tempter / 2nd Knight ... John Forbes-Robertson
3rd Tempter / 3rd Knight ... Christopher Benjamin
4th Tempter ... Michael Williams
4th Knight ... Neville Jason
The Messenger ... David Bradshaw

Recorded on location in St Giles Church, Cripplegate. Organ music composed and played by Mike Steer. Directed by Dickon Reed. A BBC World Service Drama production, 1981.

THE JOURNAL OF VASILIJ BOGDANOVIC ....1981
1981, R4. By Alan Plater. This is the story of a Yugoslavian footballer who is bought by a struggling English football team. Can he help restore their fortunes? Amusing comedy by Alan Plater. With S. Ellis, Graham Roberts, Henry Livings, Nicholas Owen. SM Geoffrey Wilkinson. WS, producer Dickon Reed.

THE LADY FROM THE SEA....1978
13/01/1978 By Henrik Ibsen. Starring Anna Calder-Marshall and Joss Ackland. Directed by Dickon Reed.

HEIL CAESAR....1977
16/11/1977 Written by John Bowen. Starring Martin Jarvis, Michael Aldridge, Jack May and David Buck. Adpated, produced and directed by Dickon Reed.

THE CIRCLE....1977
03/11/1977 By Somerset Maugham. With Christopher Cazenove, Michael Aldridge and Rosalind Ayres. Directed by Dickon Reed.

OEDIPUS REX....1977
23/07/1977 By Sophocles. Starring Michael Jayston, David King, Maurice Denham and Mary Wimbush. Produced and directed by Dickon Reed.

CITY SUGAR ....1977
10/07/1977 Written by Stephen Poliakoff. Starring Julie Cullington, Michael Feast and John Shrapnel. Adapted and directed by Dickon Reed.

THE ERPINGHAM CAMP....1977
04/07/1977 By Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni, a celebrated Venetian playwright. Directed by Dickon Reed.

DEAR LOVE....1977
29/06/1977 Director Dickon Reed introduces the love story based on the poems and letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, by Jerome Kilty. Starring Jill Balkan...

TREATS....1977
13/05/1977 By Christopher Hampton. Starring George Cole, Sarah Badel and Julian Glover. Director: Dickon Reed.

HEDDA GABLER....1976
18/10/1976 By Henrik Ibsen. Starring Dorothy Tutin and Peter Egan. Directed by Dickon Reed.

REBECCA....1976
04/07/1976 By Daphne du Maurier. With Martin Jarvis and Anna Calder-Marshall. Directed by Dickon Reed.

THE FALL AND REDEMPTION OF MAN....1975
10/12/1975 John Burns' reworking of the Mediaeval English mystery plays, adapted for sound by Dickon Reed.

THE WINSLOW BOY....1975
27/11/1975 By Terence Rattigan. Starring Stephen Murray. Produced by Dickon Reed.

LYSISTRATA....1975
19/07/1975 By Aristophanes. Translated by Patrick Dickenson. Directed by Dickon Reed.

EDWARD II ....1975
16/03/1975 By Christopher Marlowe. With Charles Kay. Adapted for radio and produced by Dickon Reed. WS.

THE STRODE VENTURER....1974
Set in 1963.... Leaving the Navy, Geoffrey Bailey is a man in search of a new job... a new life. Then Strode & Company, City shipowners, make him a curious offer: find Peter Strode, the family black sheep, and make sure he returns to the fold. Bailey's acceptance of this assignment plunges him into a world where the smiling face of the Maldive Islands masks unseen terrors. But the lethal dangers of the coral reefs and the remote islands are pale in comparison with the civilised jungle of high financial warfare. And the directors of Strode & Company have too much to lose, and too few scruples, to care about one man's life - or his death. With Martin Jarvis [Peter Strode, Henry's Half-Brother], John Shrapnel [Commander Geoffrey Bailey], Colin Douglas [Harry Deacon, Captain of the Strode Venturer], Heather Bell [Mrs. Ida Roche, Peter's Sister, a Widow], David Briley [Arthur Fields, First Officer of the Strode Venturer], Vernon Joyner [Hans Straker, a Seismographer / Group Captain Canning, the R.A.F. Station Commander at Gan], Alan Rowe [Henry Strode, Chairman and Managing Director of Stode & Company / The Radio Operator], Peter Pacey [David Llewellyn Reece, the Commander of Strode Trader / The Steward], Geoffrey Matthews [Dick Whimbrill, Strode's Secretary / Mr. Alexander, an Agent for Strode Orient], Timothy Bateson [Lawrence Turner, Peter's Solicitor], Sam Dastor [Don Mansoor, an Adduan Navigator], John Bull [Lennie Porter, 2nd Officer of the Strode Trader / R.A.F. Officer], and Emily Richard [The Stewardess / Waitress]. Produced by Dickon Reed.


THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS....1971
8 Oct 71; Radio 4. 11.20am; 20 min. BBC Education: listening and writing. By Ray Bradbury; adapted by Nesta Pain; producer Dickon Reed.

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