Tunes of Glory
by James Kennaway
James Kennaway - Tunes of Glory
BBC Radio 4: Cinema 100 Season
Broadcast: Saturday 9th December 1995
Set in the aftermath of WWII, Major Jock Sinclair finds himself the Acting Colonel at the castle-based HQ of a Scottish regiment. Sinclair
had been in command since their colonel was killed in action during World War II, leading the battalion for the rest of the war. A hero at El
Alamein, the wild and stormy Jock had worked his way through the ranks the hard way to command his beloved regiment. But the rough
and ready style of Jock's command comes to a sudden end after 4 1/2 years when he is replaced by Colonel Basil Barrow, considered by
Brigade HQ to be a more appropriate peacetime commanding officer.
An ex-public school/Sandhurst veteran of a WWII Japanese POW camp, Barrow is a "work-by-the-book" officer, devoted to restoring
the faded glory of this undisciplined regiment. Sinclair resents the fact that he is being replaced by a "stupid wee man", and appears
determined to regain control of the battalion by beginning a social and psychological campaign against the new Colonel, leading to tragic
results for both ...
Dramatised by Trevor Royle from James Kennaway's 1956 novel, "Tunes of Glory".
With Bill Paterson [Acting Colonel Jock Sinclair], Alexander Morton [Colonel Basil Barrow, Battalion Commander], Paul Young [Major
Charlie Scott, Battalion Executive Officer], Tom Smith [Captain Jimmy Cairns, the Battalion Adjutant], Cara Kelly [Miss Mary Titterington,
an Actress], Julie Duncanson [Morag Sinclair, Jock's Daughter], Andrew Conlan [Lieutenant Eric Simpson], Douglas Russell [Lieutenant
Alec Rattray], Gregor Powrie [2nd Lieutenant Roy Mackinnon], David Mckail [Regt. Sergeant-Major Tom Riddick], Norman Maclean
[Pipe Major Maclean], and Matthew Zajac [Corporal Piper Ian Fraser].
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
The Pipers were Pipe Major Stuart Samson and Pipe Sergeant James Stout of the Highlanders.
Directed by Patrick Rayner in Edinburgh.
90 minutes.
Jim
