Tuesday 11 June 1963 Play Of The Week: THE SEVENTH WAVE by Elizabeth Dawson

Anthony Booth as Peter Miller and Patrick Wymark as Joe Brent

"Patrick Wymark gave a sound performance as the rough skipper with, of course, a heart of gold." Richard Sear Daily Mirror 12 June 1963.

Patrick Wymark stars as Joe Brent, skipper of the Barnoldby, a trawler fishing out of the port of Grimsby. Brent is forced to accept Peter Miller (Anthony Booth) as the ship's mate. He blames Miller for the death of his son on a fishing trip two years before. Brent learns that Miller has also been secretly meeting his daughter Sally (Ann Bell) and wants to marry her. Brent orders Miller off the bridge, and tells the Bosun (John Moffatt) that they will split the watches between them as the weather worsens.

The role of a trawler skipper was a demanding one. Depending on their character they could be hated or feared by the crew but still respected for their navigation and fish-finding knowledge on which the life and fortune of each man could hang (as this recent book on a Hull fishing disaster underlined ).

Patrick Wymark is said to have thrown himself eagerly into the role because the play was about Grimsby. Scriptwriter Elizabeth Dawson was born in Grimsby, where her grandfather was the owner of a fishing vessel. Following transmission of the play, columnist Frank Whitmarsh observed in The Grimsby Evening Telegraph that, "it was a jolly good tale with just the right amount of tension and laughs." The biggest criticism was the accents of the actors including Patrick Wymark which were criticised as inaccurate. Reports say the other actors adopted East Anglian accents and Wymark fell in with them.* However, that aside, Whitmarsh concluded that, "it was the type of play we ought to see more of on television instead of the dreary kitchen sink stuff that it dishes up week after week."

Writing in the Daily Mirror, Richard Sear felt that Tania Lieven, "Made a good job of the direction, especially the trawler bridge scenes." While acknowledging that, "Miss Dawson knows her Grimsby and her fishing (and) built a set of sea-going characters who had a fine salt flavour, " he couldn't resist adding that, "Most of the crew were still a woman's idea of men - gentlemen in oilskins."

Ann Bell as Sally Brent and Patrick Wymark as Joe Brent

In the Grimsby Telegraph Frank Whitmarsh quoted skipper Dennis Roberts as pointing out three inaccuracies: insert film of fishing operations when the Barnoldby was supposedly setting course for home, "the helmsman giving the wheel a couple of ineffectual turns when the ship was almost aground" and the men's oilskin's being dry when they were supposedly gutting fish on deck. However, he found the play retained interest throughout.

A letter to the same paper from Mrs E.L. Stamp, a skipper's daughter praised Elizabeth Dawson's, "authenticity and her wonderful understanding of the trawlermen and the faithful wives and families who wait for their men to return home from their arduous and hazardous work." Mrs Stamp said she was, "completely engrossed" and saw her own father reflected in the character of Joe Brent. "He too was a trawler skipper whose life ended in similar circumstances, though he was not fortunate enough to get home before the end and died on his ship."

* The Grimsby accent was distinct from both rural Lincolnshire and the broader Hull accent

Elizabeth Dawson -

Born in 1913, Elizabeth Dawson is all but forgotten in her home town of Grimsby today. She began writing radio plays in 1950, and continued to write for television and radio throughout the 1950's and early 1960's. In her later TV plays she often collaborated with Tania Lieven, director of The Last Wave , but preferred not to give up her job as secretary to a bank manager in Grimsby, saying she wrote best at night. She often wrote about young people saying she drew upon her experience doing welfare work among them shortly after the war. Several of her later TV plays, including The Last Wave were quickly adapted to BBC radio. Unfortunately, her TV plays were made by Rediffusion - probably transmitted live but in any event made for a company whose archive appears to have been scrapped in the 1968 merger with ABC to form Thames TV. In retrospect her output is remarkable considering she was writing in the evenings while holding down a full time job.

TV Plays

20 October 1955 London Playhouse (ITV) – Summer in Normandy

Directed by Alan Bromly, with Anton Diffring as Bergmann, Michael Craig as Michel and George Colouris as Henri.

1 November 1957 ITV Playhouse (Rediffusion) The Roof Garden Maxine Audley, Griffith Jones, Andre Morell

17 April 1959 ITV Playhouse (Rediffusion) -The Jukebox   Harry H Corbett, Miriam Karlin, Alan Bates

"She treats a tough subject with sensitivity," says the play's director, Tania Lieven, "and she shows a great insight in her characterisation

A gang has been fighting in Charlie Panetti's snack bar the night before "The Jukebox" opens. This was not the first time, nor will it be the last, but if Panetti calls the police, he might as well close down. "The Jukebox" stars Miriam Karlin and Harry H. Corbett who plays Panetti, the Cockney with a life-long dream of going to live in Italy. He plans to end his days in Tuscany, where his father was reared. Until now, he has ventured no farther than a visit once a year to his young daughter Nina (Wendy Hutchinson) in the country.

27 May 1960 ITV Playhouse(Rediffusion) The Ostrich Starring Leslie Dwyer as Joe Braithwaite, a master cabinet maker who takes pride in craftsmanship. Neil McCallum plays Tom Braithwaite, his nephew and business partner, who thinks he could do more with their furniture factory. Ever since Baxters factory brought modern production methods to the area, Braithwaite's business has been going downhill. Joe has been shutting his eyes to the truth and keeping the state of the business from Tom and his wife Cathie (Clare Owen), who also share his home. "There is an earthiness about the play that rings true," said star Leslie Dwyer. "Joe Braithwaite..belongs to a race which has made this country great." Unfortunately, the play received a waspish review from Philip Purser in the News Chronicle. Arguing that, "Old craftsmen were just as capable of producing nasty stuff as modern machines," Purser said, "Miss Dawson's play pulled and tugged at the truth in order to make its the little points."