"Fable" is a British

television play A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...

, shown on 27 January 1965Sarita Mali
''Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television''
London: SAGE Publishing, 2002, pp. 138–139. Some sources suggest the play went out on 20 January, including the BFI's Screenonline article below, but the Leyton by-election was held on 21 January 1965. as an episode of ''

The Wednesday Play ''The Wednesday Play'' is an anthology series of United Kingdom, British television plays which ran on BBC One, BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic ...

'' series on

BBC 1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. Written by John Hopkins, the play is set in a parallel totalitarian Britain where those in authority are black people, and white people are their social underdogs – a reversal of the situation in contemporary

apartheid South Africa Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. It was directed by

Christopher Morahan Christopher Thomas Morahan CBE (9 July 1929 – 7 April 2017) was a British stage and television director and production executive. Biography Early life and career Morahan was born on 9 July 1929 in London, the son of film production designer ...

and produced by

James MacTaggart James MacTaggart (25 April 1928 – 29 May 1974) was a Scottish television producer, director and writer. He worked in London from 1961. Early life MacTaggart was born in Glasgow and served in the Royal Army Service Corps from 1946, rising to ...

Cast

Eileen Atkins Dame Eileen June Atkins (born 15 June 1934) is an English actress. She has worked in the theatre, film, and television consistently since 1953. In 2008, she won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress and the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting ...

– Joan *

Ronald Lacey Ronald William Lacey (28 September 1935 – 15 May 1991) was an English actor. He made numerous television and film appearances over a 30-year period. His roles included Harris in ''Porridge'' (1977), Frankie in the Bud Spencer comedy '' ...

– Len * Thomas Baptiste – Mark * Barbara Assoon – Francesca * Carmen Munroe – Lala *

Keith Barron Keith Barron (8 August 1934 – 15 November 2017) was an English actor and television presenter who appeared in films and on television from 1961 until 2017. His television roles included the police drama '' The Odd Man'', the sitcom '' Duty Fr ...

– Narrator *

Rudolph Walker Rudolph Malcolm Walker CBE (born 28 September 1939) is a Trinidadian-British actor, best known for his roles as Bill Reynolds in ''Love Thy Neighbour'' (1972–1976) and Constable Frank Gladstone in '' The Thin Blue Line'' (1995–1996), as wel ...

– Policeman *Leo Carera – Editor *Bari Johnson – Deputy Editor *Dan Jackson – Overseer *Sally Lahee – Lilian *George Roderick – Laughton * Trevor D. Rhone – Assistant Editor *John Rapley – Michael *André Dakar – Head of State *Frank Singuineau – Minister * Charles Hyatt – Newsreader *Thor Pierres – Secretary *Kenneth Gardnier – Interrogator

Commentary

Hopkins had anti-racist intentions in writing the play. Carmen Munroe has said that for the actors the production was a frightening experience "because suddenly you were being asked to perform the sorts of acts that were performed against you in real life". The programme's original screening, scheduled for 20 January 1965, was postponed by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

for one week "to avoid accentuating the colour issue" during the Leyton by-election to be held on 21 January. In an era when negative responses to immigration were very highMark Dugui
"''Fable'' (1965)"
BFI screenonline audience research at the time of the original broadcast suggested that some whites in the audience saw the role reversal as threatening and reinforced their racist views.

References

External links

* 1965 television plays 1965 in British television Alternate history television episodes BBC television dramas Race-related controversies in television The Wednesday Play {{drama-tv-prog-stub

Cast

Commentary

See also

References

External links