J B Priestley
John Boynton Priestley was one of the great figures in British theatre in the mid-twentieth century. Even in the twenty-first century he had two plays running in London: DANGEROUS CORNER, his first stage play, and AN INSPECTOR CALLS, probably his most famous play. Both have been produced repeatedly on radio, the former most notably in 1968, when Flora Robson again played the part she created in 1932, the latter most recently on the World Service, with Bob Peck as the eerie Inspector.
Priestley' plays have featured on radio since the 1930s and his major stage plays have been revived repeatedly: EDEN END; WHEN WE ARE MARRIED; I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE. His novels have been adapted and some of his least-known plays have found a wider audience. BRIGHT DAY and ANGEL PAVEMENT have figured both as plays and serials, and there have been four versions of THE GOOD COMPANIONS, his first bestseller. LOST EMPIRES, the late novel about the music halls, was one of the successes of a centenary season in 1994, with Tom Baker as Ganga Dun, the Maharaj of Mystery.
The less famous titles include the neglected comedy, BEES ON THE BOATDECK; an emotional drama, PEOPLE AT SEA; a play about the theatre, and JOHNSON OVER JORDAN, the experimental play that begins with the death of its protagonist. A delightful short comedy, THE DEMON KING, was a Christmas treat in 1962, with Ian Wallace and Marjorie Westbury on top form, singing and acting as if their lives depended on it.
Besides the centenary season, there was a Priestley Festival in 1955, culminating in a new play called THE GOLDEN ENTRY, about a beleaguered patron of the arts, played by Paul Rogers. Two other of Priestley's plays have been produced only on radio: END GAME AT THE DOLPHIN (1956), an intricate comedy- thriller that deserves revival; and SALT IS LEAVING, a clever detective play performed in 1975.
Barry Pike
-------
BBC BROADCASTS:
| Desert Highway | Home | 15.4.1944/2120 |
| The Good Companions/Martyn C. Webster | Home | 7.7.1945/2120 |
| Dangerous Corner | Home | 10.11.1945/2120 |
| Laburnum Grove/Lance Sieveking | Home | 9.3.1946/2120 |
| Cornelius /Mollie Greenhalgh | Home | 10.7.1948/2120 |
| When We Are Married | Home | 27.11.1948/2120 |
| Home Is Tomorrow | Home | 12.11.1949/2115 |
| Eden End | Home | 4.11.1950/2115 |
| I Have Been Here Before/Martyn C. Webster | Home | 12.7.1952/2115 |
| People At Sea Peggy Wells | Home | 5.9.1953/2115 |
| Jenny Villiers | Home | 16.1.1954/2115 |
| Three Men In New Suits/Peter Watts | Home | 12.11.1955/2115 |
| End Game At The Dolphin | Home | 26.12.1959/2115 |
| The Key Man J. MacLaren-Ross | Home | 6.8.1960/2115 |
| An Inspector Calls | Home | 12.11.1960/2030 |
| When We Are Married | Home | 12.6.1965/2030 |
| Bright Shadow | Home | 6.11.1965/2030 |
| Eden End | Home | 23.9.1967/2030 |
| Dangerous Corner | R4 | 1.6.1968/2030 |
| Bright Day | R4 | 12.10.1968/2030 |
| Time & The Conways | R4 | 1.2.1969/2030 |
| Laburnum Grove | R4 | 8.4.1972/2030 |
| Eden End | R4 | 7.9.1974/20 |
| Salt Is Leaving | R4 | 27.9.1975/2030 |
| The Linden Tree | R4 | 23.7.1977/2030 |
| The Carfitt Crisis | R4 | 12.11.1977/2030 |
| The Thirty-First Of June | R4 | 28.5.1983/2030 |
| Dangerous Corner | R4 | 8.9.1984/2030 |
| Time & The Conways | R4 | 15.9.1984/2030 |
| I Have Been Here Before | R4 | 22.9.1984/2030 |
| When We Are Married | R4 | 10.9.1994/1950 |
| Time & The Conways | R4 | 17.9.1994/1950 |
| When We Are Married | R4 | 18.11.1995/1950 |
compiled from info. supplied by Roger Bickerton
THE DEMON KING....1962
By J.B.Priestley; dramatised by Michael and Mollie Hardwick, directed
by Charles Lefeaux. With Ian Wallace, Marjorie Westbury, Sheila Grant
and George Merritt. Originally broadcast 26 Dec 1962; repeated 14 Dec
2003 on BBC7. A washed up actor arrives in a northern town to play The
Demon King in pantomime. But when he fails to turn up for the
performance, he has one hell of an understudy! ....(Greg Linden)
An Inspector Calls....1998
BBC7 repeat, Feb 2007........This play is Jane Anderson's Saturday Choice in next week's Radio Times and stars one of my all time favourite actors, the late Bob Peck, who "imparts a distincly eerie quality to Inspect Goole." As the well heeled Birling family celebrate an engagement, a sinister Police Inspector arrives to bring them some disturbing news, which effects each and every one of them. Stars Bob Peck, John Woodvine, Maggie Steed Sarah-Jane Holm, David Antrobus and Jo Stone-Fewings. Adapted by John Foley and directed by Rosalynd Ward. First broadcast on the World Service in 1998.
