Stormy Petrel (radio serial)

Stormy Petrel
Genredrama serial
Running time15 mins (6:40 pm – 6:55 pm)
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
SyndicatesABC
Written byRex Rienits
Original releaseDecember 1948 –
1949
No. of series1
No. of episodes70

Stormy Petrel is a 1948 Australian radio serial about the career of William Bligh by Rex Rienits. It aired Mondays to Thursdays at 6.40pm on the ABC.

It was very popular and was produced again in 1953[1] and 1959.[2][3]

Rienits sold it to the BBC.[4]

It was adapted into a 1960 mini-series and a novel.

Background

Rex Rienits was a writer who wrote a number of scripts set in Australia's past. Rienits said he believed Bligh "was a great man."[5]

He later said that Bligh had "been grossly maligned" and "that Hollywood did a terrible thing in representing him, in the person of Mr. Laughton, as a cruel and brutal despot... However, Bligh undoubtedly had a quick and blustering temper, and it was this temper, rather than any deep-seated viciousness that got him into trouble, both on the 'Bounty' and as Governor of New South Wales".[4]

The story of Bligh was told through the eyes of his wife Elizabeth, then John Hallet, then his daughter Mary.[3] It went for seventy episodes.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Just another quiz, but it's still rollicking". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 43, no. 2, 148. South Australia. 8 August 1953. p. 55. Retrieved 29 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Radio Actor". Port Lincoln Times. Vol. XXXIII, no. 1741. South Australia. 3 September 1959. p. 7. Retrieved 29 October 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ a b "Stormy, but the real Bligh identifier". ABC Weekly. Vol. 21, no. 18. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1959-05-06. p. 3.
  4. ^ a b ""The Stormy Petrel" – New A.B.C. Serial About Bligh". Features Section. South Coast Times and Wollongong Argus. Vol. LIII, no. 60. New South Wales, Australia. 1953-08-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-10-01 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Stars of the Air". The Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser. Vol. 81, no. 95. New South Wales, Australia. 1948-12-16. p. 4. Retrieved 2017-03-16 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Lane, Richard (2000). The Golden Age of Australian Radio Drama 1923-1960. ScreenSound Australia the National Screen and Sound Archive. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-642-70503-7.