Homepage Television Heaven Logo
Alice in Wonderland TV play

Alice

1946 - United Kingdom

Very early BBC TV outing for Lewis Carroll's classic fantasy produced by George More O'Ferrall and transmitted live from Alexander Palace as a Christmas treat on 21 December 1946. Subtitled 'Some of her Adventures in Wonderland' this 40 minute broadcast was adapted by English novelist and playwright Clemence Dane (the pseudonym of Winifred Ashton) and shown twice (performed live) before disappearing into the ether forever. 

15 year-old Vivian Pickles (who went on to have a distinguished career and, at the time of writing is 87 years-old and living in London) played Alice and supporting cast included Erik Chitty (as White Rabbit), twenty years before he appeared as 'Smithy' in Please Sir! and a young Miriam Karlin (as Cook) some years before she starred as the stroppy shop steward who became something of a national institution in The Rag Trade. 

Published on November 27th, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus (source BBC Genome) for Television Heaven.

Read Next...

The Close Prisoner

"We are all conceived in close prison: in our mother's wombs, we are close prisoners all...and then all our life is but a going out to the place of execution, to death..." John Donne.

Also tagged Single Play

Freedom in September

A Soviet musician is missing from his hotel. He wanders through 1962 London trying to contact people he has met and known in Russia. Who are these people? What lies behind his desperate search?

Also tagged Single Play

Cold Equations

A teenager stows away aboard a rocket in order to visit her brother on another planet. But her actions put everyone else's safety in jeopardy.

Also tagged Single Play

The Rag Trade

Staff turn militant in an East End sweatshop.

Also starring Miriam Karlin

All Summer Long

Willie has tried to make his father aware of the danger to their house from flood water, but Dad thinks that Willie's fears are excessive. Willie decides to spend all summer long building a wall to keep out the river, but his efforts are in vain.

Also tagged Single Play

The Mating Machine

A series of seven stand-alone comedies featuring some of Britain's best sitcom writers and performers. The Mating Machine is united by a single theme - computer dating.

Also starring Miriam Karlin

First Night

First Night presented a series of new plays written for television with an emphasis on action and conflict. The series debuted on BBC with Alan Owen's The Strain on 22 September 1963 and ran through until 1964.

Also starring Miriam Karlin

For the Children

Just a year after experimental BBC television began broadcasting to a few hundred homes in London, a ten-minute show called For The Children made its debut.

Also released in 1937-1946