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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. 

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

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