''The Shadow of Doubt'' is a 1955 stage play written by Norman King. It had its world premiere at the King's Theatre, Glasgow in 1955.

Plot

A nuclear physicist seeks to return to his lab after serving five years in prison for breaching the

Official Secrets Act An Official Secrets Act (OSA) is legislation that provides for the protection of Classified information, state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security. However, in its unrevised form (based on the UK Official Secret ...

. Disgraced and friendless, he can only get work as a clerk. He is followed by MI5.

1957 Australian television version

A version for television aired on Australian broadcaster

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

. It was the second hour-long "live" drama ever broadcast on the ABC. Originally shown live in Sydney on 5 June 1957, it was kinescoped, and shown in Melbourne on 5 July 1957.

Cast

Bruce Beeby Bruce Edward Beeby (21 October 1921 – 20 October 2013) was an Australian actor who worked primarily in British films and television. He was probably best known for portraying Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell in the 1950s BBC radio serials '' Journ ...

as Manning, an MI5 official *

Don Crosby George Wallace Donald Crosby, Order of Australia, OAM (29 October 1924 – 3 December 1985) was an Australians, Australian actor of radio, stage, television and film, radio producer, stage manager, airman and trade unionist. Early life The fift ...

as the scientist, Dr Arthur Ross * Winifred Green *

Betty Lucas Betty Helen Lucas (31 May 1924 – 7 April 2015), also known as Betty Lucas Peterson, was an Australian character actress and theatre director, known for her numerous roles on stage and television, starting from the post-WWII years in 1945. Ear ...

* Reg Lye

Production

The show was rehearsed for 44 hours. ABC's head of drama Neil Hutchinson told the press:

TV actors have to forget all the traditions of the stage. Theatre audiences accept without question the convention that allows an actor to say 'I love you,' projecting his voice so that it is heard in the back row of the gods. Televiewers in their own living rooms won't accept this convention at all. They don't want to hear his emotions shouted at them; they want to see and hear at normal pitch. They also have to learn to cut down on gestures, to get their meaning across in the space encompassed by the eye of the camera.

Desmonde Downing Desmonde Florence Downing (26 November 1920 – 11 July 1975) was an Australian set and costume designer. Known as Desmonde Downing and sometimes Des Downing, she was mentioned in despatches for her war service in Papua New Guinea. Early life ...

, one of the leading theatre designers at the time, did the sets. It was the TV debut of Don Crosby.

References

External links

''Shadow of Doubt'' at IMDb''Shadow of Doubt''
at

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

''Shadow of Doubt''
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature) is a national bio-bibliographical database of Australian literature. It is an internet-based, ...