OTD in early British television: 11 July 1938
John Wyver writes: We have already seen how in May 1938 television’s love affair with Jane Austen began with a compacted adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. Less than two months later, the new medium first entered the world of Charles Dickens with the lawsuit scenes from The Pickwick Papers, billed as Bardell Against Pickwick. First shown on the evening of Wednesday 6 July, the production was played again on the afternoon of Monday 11 July.
The 37-minute adaptation was undertaken by producer Stephen Harrison who, as Radio Times‘ ‘The Scanner’ informed readers,
had had to write a few words here and there to maintain the continuity, but an examination of the script shows that Dickens might well have written the scene especially for television.
Cameron Hall took the role of Mr Pickwick, Jean Webster Brough was Mrs Bardell, and Alan Wheatley took on the cockney bootblack Sam Weller. Also in the cast were André Morell as Dodson and Mark Dignam as Mr Skimpin. ‘E.H.R.’ in The Observer, who was invariably positive about almost all drama from AP, was in this case underwhelmed:
Bardell Against Pickwick… was amusing in parts but not particularly well adapted for television. The portraying of Dickens characters is not easy when most of us have our own very definite ideas of how they should look and speak. Sam Weller came nearest to my own ideas and certainly we did not have enough of him.
The Jury yawned widely during counsels’ speeches and many viewers must have imitated them. This does not imply criticism of good acting but simply that Dickens is better to read than to act.
[OTD post no. 206; part of a long-running series leading up to the publication of my book Magic Rays of Light: The Early Years of Television in Britain in January 2026.]
Extracted dramatizations of Bardell Vs. Pickwick were a staple of the first few decades of British television, with fresh versions in 1946 (John Salew as Pickwick), 1955 (Towers of London for ITV, Roddy Hughes as Pickwick – one of the very first ITV programmes) and 1962 (but probably filmed a few years earlier – Towers of London again for their ‘Tales From Dickens’ anthology series, with John Salew back as Pickwick). It then comes back on 26 December 1996 as one of Simon Callow’s bravura ‘An Audience With Charles Dickens’ one man shows).
Incidentally, it is curious how, although Dickens is still happily very much still with us as a cultural presence, Pickwick has really fallen out of circulation as a cultural touchstone over the past two generations or so. The last British TV adaptation was in 1985.
Great comment, Billy – thank you. You’re absolutely right about the unfashionability of Pickwick, despite its huge significance in the history of the novel. Personally I have to say although I go back to Dickens’ novels regularly, I have never felt interested in revisiting Pickwick.
This new podcast is a good listen. Tim Worthington on the Pickwick phenomenon of the sixties – as stage show, Harry Secombe star vehicle, Original Cast Recording and 1969 BBC television production (which I really ought to get around to watching): https://timworthington.org/2025/08/15/goon-pod-pickwick/
The show only seems to have ever had one revival, a thirtieth anniversary Chichester-West End-touring production, with Secombe reprising his role. I wonder if anyone will think of doing it again?