FROM 1950 UNTIL 1957, PETER CUSHING'S work with BBC Television was very prolific. Some twenty five or more television plays and radio dramasappearance in the legendary BBC television production of '1984', he set foot in another BBC play by Nigel Kneale that was also directed by 1984 director, Rudolph Cartier. The Kneale / Cartier relationship is probably best known for also originating the three Quatermass serials of the 1950s with the BBC, but there was another. Two years before Cushing appeared in a television play created by the same team, and should be seen as Cushing FIRST step into the realm of supernatural and frightening creatures, BEFORE the famous Hammer films, 'The Curse of Frankenstein' where Cushing would play the titled Baron in 1957. This lesser-known production was 'The Creature' from early 1955. It's primary reason for slipping out of the 'list' for most filmographies and horror genre books and neglect, is probably because the no recording exists of the play or broadcast, except for a handful of black and white photographs and a page of the BBC listings magazine, The Radio Times.! It was wiped, dumped and hit the skip along with thousands of other recordings during the BBC 'erase and/or dump' choice. So, unlike the BBC 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' which only survives by just one recording from it's second live broadcast and most of the episodes of the 'Quatermass' serials, it is no longer available to view.
THE FIRST THING TO REMEMBER IS, the early period of Cushing's career with the BBC, not ALL his work or shows was actually recorded. Many were broadcast live and very much like a theatre production of the time, it was a live only seen at that time live on television, with only it's viewers and crew at the studio watching... Peter Cushing's 1952 'Pride and Prejudice' and the 1954 'Beau Brummell' are good examples of this . .
OF THOSE THAT WERE RECORDED, they were part of a process that hung on the fate of many of those BBC television broadcasts.They were recorded with the prospect of MAYBE being added to some of the BBC output that could be sold, or rebroadcast overseas. A live recording may also have addition scenes like model work, location scenes that were recorded, edited to be cued and played live during the actual live broadcast.
The Radio Times Write Up for the episode from April 28th 1964
"NEW YORK some 200 years from now: a city of 14-million people living in one
vast domed hall, looking on the open countryside as dangerous territory.
Beyond is Spacetown, where the scientists from other worlds who have
subjugated Earth study the human species in the hope of saving it from
self-extinction. When one of their scientists is found murdered, the
'Spacers' issue an ultimatum. Unless the killer is found within forty-eight
hours, New York may be destroyed. The city's Deputy Commissioner of
Police, Elijah Baley, has the task of solving the case, with the aid of a
detective from Space Town, named R. Daneel Olivaw. The 'R' stands for
Robot. Dramatised by Terry Nation from the novel by Isaac Asimov,
The Caves of Steel is science fiction at its most intriguing.
Directed by Peter Sasdy, the play stars Peter Cushing as Elijah
Baley. Several times winner of television 'best actor' awards, he is
thoroughly at home in the realm of fantasy, having starred in such films
as The Flesh and the Fiend, The Mummy, and The Evil of
Frankenstein. Commissioner Enderby is played by Kenneth J. Warren, who appeared
recently in the comedy thriller Justin Thyme; while John Carson, whom
many viewers will have seen earlier this year in Murder in the
Cathedral, has the part of R. Daneel Olivaw."
IT IS IRONIC THAT at the time when the story of 'what had happened to much of the BBC out put over a 30 year period, broke to the public' it was input pre-recorded shots and scenes as maybe 30 second or more sequences that had survived.. without the whole production to now support it!
PETER CUSHING'S 'The Caves of Steel', is a very good example of this, 'THERE ARE ONLY BITS' nightmare. Unfortunately BBC film prints of 'The Caves of Steel' have long since
been junked during the the first "purge" in the 1970's,
and no copy of the whole play exists in the BBC's Film and Videotape Library. But at least four extracts have fortunately survived however, having been utilised
in later editions of Horizon, Tomorrows World and a BBC Visual
Effects Department promotional show reel from the early seventies. In seeing the clips, it makes the whole experience, frustrating and sad.
ALONG WITH MANY TITLES from Peter Cushing's substantial play and drama television work for the BBC during the 1950's and 60's, Nigel Kneal's 'THE CREATURE' is one that really makes you question the criteria, of the people who choose which titles got the skip treatment. Opinions are divided, as to if this broadcast was actually recorded, but as it was directed by Rudolph Cartier, of the BBC Cushing '1984' fame, and had numerous BBC credits including both series of the 'Quatermass' drama's to his credit. The episode also featured pre-recorded clips of land and snow scapes, and named cast member STANLEY BAKER, who even though was eight years away from his big screen hit, 'ZULU', like Cushing was a tv drama regular and had seven BBC Sunday-Night Theatre episode credits.
THIS EPISODE ALSO ATTRACTED the attention of Hammer films too, who could see the box office potential, in the script and three of cast, who held the structure of the company's box office hit, 'The Abominable Snowman' made just over a year later! The BBC unfortunately, didn't think it had the merit to either maybe record OR if they did, the shelf space was more valuable...
TODAY, EVERY FEW MONTHS, the cry goes out when someone makes the claim to have found a long thought lost recording of a 1950's or 60's comedy or drama or Doctor Who clip in a mouldy box, inside a long shut down annex of what was once a UK army or navy base in Europe, India or Canada! Thankfully, also tapes are turning up or rather, being surrendered, from 'collections' of chaps who were once keen BBC technicians, camera operators or editors, who thankfully back in the day, saw what was happening to their treasured efforts, thanks to the directives of suited pen-pushers and penny pinching executives and whipped the gems away, rather than wipe!
IT REMINDS US MAYBE, of the almost psychic theories and writing of once BBC writer, Douglas Adams, and his frightening visions of future red tape and bureaucracy gone crackers in his 'Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'. What Adams didn't tell us was, that most of it had already happened, in the BBC office... next to him!
#MarcusBrooks
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