Campaign for One

Campaign for One is a 1965 Australian television film. A remake of an episode of the BBC series Wednesday Play, it aired in a 60-minute time-slot on ABC on 24 November 1965 as part of Wednesday Theatre.[6][7]

"Campaign for One"
Wednesday Theatre episode
Episode no.Season 1
Directed byBrian Faull
Teleplay byAnthony Church
Marielaine Double[1]
Original air date24 November 1965 (Melbourne, Sydney)[2][3]
5 January 1966 (Brisbane)[4]
Running time60 mins[5]

It was not unheard of during the 1960s for British anthology episodes to be remade for Australian television.

Plot

Set in 1967, an English astronaut, Phil Osborne, is in orbit for the Allied Commission of German, English and American specialists. After completing a spacewalk, he announces that he has no intentions to return to Earth, due to his wife leaving him, and would prefer to die in space.[8]

Partial cast listing
  • Stanley Walsh as Phil Osborne
  • Lynne Flanagan as Osborne's wife
  • Michael Duffield
  • Carl Bleazby
  • Mark Albiston
  • Edward Howell

Production

It was shot in Melbourne.[9] Faull said "there was real suspense and a true-to-life drama about it. One couldn't help but feel that the situation could arrive sometime. We were producing Campaign for One at the same time a space projects were going on at Cape Kennedy and with all the news reports about there was a feeling that the play was the real thing."[4]

A large seesaw rig was used to simulate walking around outside an orbiting capsule.[10]

Reception

Reception was mixed. Canberra Times called it "an undistinguished play" and said it had a "preposterous pommy script".[11] By comparison Australian Women's Weekly (see section Death Wish in Space) called it "one of the best local TV productions for ages" and said the spacewalk sequence was "most skillfully produced".[12]

The Sydney Morning Herald called it "brilliant" with "sustained tension, highly competent performances by a well-knit cast and whipped-up direction which left no one lime to wonder what lo do with his hands... a most exciting and professional job by any standards."[13]

The Sunday Sydney Morning Herald called it "a nice, taut, well produced bit of space drama... a gripping and highly credible thriller."[14]

See also
  • Ending It – 1939 BBC TV short remade for ABC TV in 1957.
  • Box for One – 1949 BBC TV drama remade for ABC TV in 1958
  • List of live television plays broadcast on Australian Broadcasting Corporation (1950s)

References
  1. "Eternal Orbit". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 November 1965. p. 14.
  2. "Studio Space Walk". The Age. 18 November 1965. p. 14.
  3. "TV Guide". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 November 1965. p. 15.
  4. "ABC Play Launches Its Own Astronaut". TV Times. 29 December 1965. p. 8.
  5. "Television". The Age. 24 November 1965. p. 14.
  6. "A famous author lived near Canberra". The Canberra Times. 22 November 1965. p. 17. Retrieved 25 July 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "MONDAY". The Canberra Times. 40 (11, 319). 22 November 1965. p. 18. Retrieved 20 March 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Eternal orbit". Sydney Morning Herald. 22 November 1965. p. 13.
  9. "TV Guide". The Age. 18 November 1965. p. 36.
  10. "Studio space walk". The Age TV lift out. 18 November 1965. p. 1.
  11. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105875003
  12. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51190883
  13. Cotton, Leicester (26 November 1965). "Sustained tension in television play". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 11.
  14. Marshall, Valda (28 November 1965). "Escapee who gets the girls". Sydney Morning Herald.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.