The Great Escape (radio serial)

The Great Escape
Genredrama serial
Running time30 mins
Country of originAustralia
Language(s)English
Written byMorris West
Produced byGordon Glenwright
Narrated byPaul Brickhill[1]
Original release1954
No. of series1

The Great Escape is a 1954 Australian radio serial by Morris West based on the novel by Paul Brickhill produced by Gordon Grimsdale.

Grimsdale and West also did radio adaptations of Brickhill's books The Dam Busters and Reach for the Sky.[2][3] The three were all recorded in Sydney, where West had moved following the end of his first marriage.[4]

The Sydney Daily Telegraph said " it develops a pace and a tenseness that are rarely heard in a radio production. Most of the credit for this is due to the adapter, Mr. Morris West. . The actors— as generally happens when Australian actors are given the opportunity of a good script— are impeccablyin character."[5]

The Brisbane Telegraph called it "a really grand contribution to local radio. No pseudo heroics or passions- upon which so many of commercial r«.dio thrill spinners depend — just a drama so simply told and enacted as to make the throat achg with pity at the courage and the foolishness of men."[6]

The Adelaide Mail called it "an excellent follow-up for The Dambusters."[7]

Cast

References

  1. ^ ""Great Escape" From 5 AD Tomorrow". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 97, no. 29, 871. South Australia. 10 July 1954. p. 6. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "'Dam Busters' From 5 AD tomorrow". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 96, no. 29, 794. South Australia. 10 April 1954. p. 4. Retrieved 13 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "The Radar Story From 5AD". The Advertiser (Adelaide). Vol. 97, no. 29, 916. South Australia. 1 September 1954. p. 19. Retrieved 13 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Philp, Peter (2016). Drama in Silent Rooms: A History of Radio Drama in Australia from 1920s to 1970s. Eureka. p. 402-403.
  5. ^ "AROUND THE DIAL". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. XIX, no. 225. New South Wales, Australia. 9 December 1954. p. 11. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ ""Escape" fine radio serial". Brisbane Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 27 November 1954. p. 6 (LAST RACE). Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "IT'S A STREAMLINED ELLERY QUEEN". The Mail (Adelaide). Vol. 44, no. 2, 198. South Australia. 24 July 1954. p. 59. Retrieved 14 December 2023 – via National Library of Australia.