An experimental colour television broadcast from Alexandra Palace, adapting an Anton Chekhov story of jealousy and revenge.
Consumed by rage after discovering his wife’s infidelity, Fyodor Sigaev (John Salew) plots a terrible revenge. He visits a local gunsmith (Harry Locke) to purchase a revolver, intending to murder both his wife and her lover, Ivan Lazaritch (Wolfe Morris). As he prepares to confront the couple, his violent resolve is tested by his own conscience and the mundane reality of the world around him.
This short play is a curiosity of television history, notable not for its drama but for its technical function. Produced live from “Colour Studio A” at Alexandra Palace, it was broadcast multiple times at irregular hours over a single week in January 1958. These repeat transmissions were not intended for a mass audience; they served as engineering tests for the BBC’s experimental 405-line colour system. The production is a footnote in the development of colour broadcasting in the UK, a piece of software used to test the hardware, with its dramatic content secondary to its technical purpose.
Broadcast: BBC, 5 broadcasts, 6 January – 10 January 1958
Adapted by: Barry Thomas
From a story by: Anton Chekhov
Producer: Barry Learoyd
Main Cast: John Salew (Fyodor Sigaev), Wolfe Morris (Ivan Lazaritch), Harry Locke (Gunsmith), Jean Rimmer (Russian Peasant), Edward Wade (Russian Peasant)
