We Will Know Them
by Gordon McKerrow
Gordon McKerrow - We Will Know Them
BBC Radio 4: Saturday Night Theatre
Broadcast: Saturday 21st November 1981 @ 8:30 p.m.
'We will know them. The cunning hypocritical rascals who would do anything rather than serve the land which has given them birth and
protection. And we can easily picture them with their sloping foreheads and receding chins. With sorrow and shame we admit they are to be
found nowhere else in Europe than in England. The duty of the Tribunals is plain. They must be rigid in their policy of inclusion. They must let
none escape who is capable of performing an enforced service. To those who stay behind to indulge the whim called conscientious
objection, we should show no mercy."
Teddy and Molly first meet in September 1914 during a Women's Suffragette meeting and soon the young couple fall in love. Molly, though,
has kept their relationship a secret from her parents, staunch supporters of the Empire, who would not understand Teddy's pacifism and the
fact that he didn't sign up when World War One broke out. But then conscription was introduced to the United Kingdom government in
January 1916.
On 14th March 1916, Teddy takes Molly to a Tribunal of His Majesty's Armed Forces where Clifford Allen is presenting his grounds for
claim of exemption of military service. Teddy is impressed by Clifford's actions even though he would lose his claim. When Teddy is drafted,
he also stands in front of the Tribunal as a conscientious objector, something that will cost him dearly. Molly soon joins the No-Conscription
Fellowship who, in March 1916, begin a weekly newspaper called The Tribunal to fight against the British government and their propaganda
machine for the rights of conscientious objectors and to find a way to end the war.
With Francesca Annis [(Mary ('Molly') Hibbert], Richard Derrington [Edward ('Teddy') Timothy Mayhew], Fiona Walker [Lydia Smith,
Member of the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF)], Caroline Mortimer [Joan Beauchamp, Member of the No-Conscription Fellowship
(NCF)], Pauline Letts [Catherine E. Marshall, Member of the No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF)], Hilda Kriseman [Molly's Mother],
Michael Spice [Molly's Father], Sion Probert [Samuel Street, a Printer], David McAlister [(Reginald) Clifford Allen, Member of the
No-Conscription Fellowship (NCF)], Ronald Herdman [Detective Inspector Cole], Alexander John [The Landlord], Andrew Secombe
[The Army Captain], John Webb [The Policeman], Roger Hammond [The Major], Spencer Banks [The Librarian, Molly's Boss], and
Danny Schiller [The Editor of the Daily Express - the Voice of the Press].
Other parts were played by Diana Bishop, Judy Franklin, John Livesey, and Theresa Streatfeild.
Directed by Penny Gold
90 minutes
Jim
