Although radio has been
researched to an extent, television and currently theatre have been
the priorities to date. The intention is to look further into the
area of radio at a later date when we hope to expand on the
information provided on the Radio Listings page.
The first radio production
with Peter that we currently have details of is from July 1964,
however, I am fairly certain he had already been heard on the radio
several times before this. Love In A Village, a comedy with music,
was broadcast on the BBC’s Third programme. In this Peter took the
part of Mr Jack Eustace and sang two duets.
Moonstrike was a series on
the work of wartime agents on special operations in Occupied France.
Peter was in the eighth episode as André, broadcast on the Light
programme in April 1965.
In August the same year he
had a one-off role in Marriage Lines. This was a series “based on
the mutual love and mistrust of two newly-weds” played by Richard
Briers and Prunella Scales, which also became a popular television
series.
Then there is a gap in our
knowledge until Easter 1973 when Peter appeared in two very
different programmes on consecutive days. He was the narrator in
Assassinations, a drama about the 1882 Phoenix Park Murders in
Dublin. In complete contrast, the following day Peter and Jan Waters
did some readings in an entertainment show called Easter Monday.
Many well-known names appeared in this, including Ronnie Barker,
John Cleese, Ken Dodd, Sheila Hancock, June Whitfield, to name only
a few.
At some point, probably in
1972 or 1973 and almost certainly in connection with The Onedin
Line, Peter was interviewed on Pete Murray’s weekday Open House on
Radio 2.
Country Kate, first
broadcast in December 1974, won it’s author, Sheila Stewart, the
Writers’ Guild Best Radio Feature award. It told the events in the
young life of Kate Walker, born in a Cotswold village at the turn of
the century. Peter played Will Walker.
The recording which I would
most like to hear is Peter’s role as Detective Inspector Patrick
Petrella. Four episodes were broadcast in September 1976 and a fifth
in June 1979 on Radio 4, and he may well have done more. As can be
guessed from his character, the plays are about a detective and were
specially written for radio by Michael Gilbert.
We have details of two plays
broadcast in 1982. The first, The Daughter Of Time, is from the
novel by Josephine Tey. Peter
played Alan Grant, another policeman. The synopsis of the
dramatisation is as follows:
Laid
up in hospital with a broken leg, Inspector Grant decides to fill
his days by trying to solve the riddle of the murder of the two
princes in the Tower. Richard III’s name has become a synonym for
evil, but did the hated hunchback really murder his two nephews?
Or did they in fact outlive him?
©
Radio Times
Secondly, Café Society,
recorded for BBC Wales and broadcast in the Thirty-Minute Theatre
slot on a Saturday afternoon, in which Peter played opposite Jill
Bennett.
One thing we would love to
know is whether Peter has ever featured on Desert Island Discs.
I wonder which pieces of music he would choose?
The last radio play Peter
recorded that we are aware of is Agatha Christie’s The Murder of
Roger Ackroyd which was broadcast as part of the 1987 Crime At
Christmas season. The play is available to purchase on audio tape
(see Amazon, etc.).
DR,
April 2004
Radio
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