A single boardroom meeting is the setting for this televised excerpt from the Westminster Theatre play.
The action is confined to a single location, the boardroom of a large company. The Chairman of the Board, Sir Norman Tullis (Raymond Huntley), presides over a meeting with his fellow directors, including the shrewd Geoffrey Harrison (John Barron), the calculating Julian Armstrong (Ralph Michael), and the steadfast Malcolm Turnbull (John Boxer). As the agenda moves to its final item, “any other business,” corporate rivalries and hidden tensions erupt, threatening the stability of the firm and the careers of the men who run it.
This broadcast was a direct relay from the Westminster Theatre, presenting a self-contained excerpt from the successful stage play by George Ross and Campbell Singer. In an era when television drama was still developing its own distinct language, lifting material directly from the stage was a common and effective practice, bringing established theatrical hits to a national audience. The production captured the claustrophobic intensity of the play’s single-room setting, a natural fit for the limitations of live studio television. The material was an excellent vehicle for its cast of distinguished character actors, particularly Raymond Huntley and John Barron, who both built formidable careers playing men of stern authority in similar corporate and bureaucratic worlds.
Broadcast: BBC, 1 Episode, 15 May 1958
Written by: George Ross, Campbell Singer
Producer: John Vernon
Director: Anthony Sharp
Main Cast: Raymond Huntley (Sir Norman Tullis), John Barron (Geoffrey Harrison), Ralph Michael (Julian Armstrong), Jennifer Wright (Joyce Anderson), John Boxer (Malcolm Turnbull), Trevor Reid (Harry Dodds), Oliver Johnston (Jonathan Travis), Richard Vernon (Charles Pleydon, M.P.)
