All Summer Long

All Summer Long

1960 - United Kingdom

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. 

The fun of All Summer Long, starring Eddie Byrne (Star Wars), Barry Foster (Van Der Valk) and Ann Lynn (Just Good Friends), comes from a family's approach to the problem of an encroaching river. The water, which used to be a long throw from the porch, is now within "spitting distance" and a serious threat to their house. But only the son, 12-year old Willie (Denis Waterman, The Sweeney, Minder, New Tricks) is concerned enough to do anything practical about it, and labours all summer in his efforts. The only help Willie has comes from his crippled brother Don (Barry Foster). But Don could be more use by taking a job that would help pay for building a strong embankment. "Meanwhile," said Dubliner Eddie Byrne of his part, "Dad is maddeningly ineffectual. Where he too could be helping Willie prevent the house falling into the river, he prefers to paint it." The play, written by Robert Anderson, was adapted from Donald Wetzel's novel "A Wreath and a Curse." It had not been previously seen in the UK, although it was seen on Broadway a few years before. All Summer Long was directed by Peter Wood and Broadcast on ITV at 9:35pm on Tuesday 12th April 1960 as the Play of the Week

Published on November 28th, 2018. Adapted from the original TV Times article.

Read Next...

Saki: The Improper Stories of H.H. Munro

Hector Hugh Munro, better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirised Edwardian society and culture and he is considered a master of the short story.

Also tagged Single Play

You can't keep a good detective down and although this Amsterdam based investigator lacks diplomacy he has a knack of solving cases, which has been proven in multiple series and films

Also starring Barry Foster

The Gold Robbers TV series

Exciting series centred round the participants in a multi-million pound bullion robbery, and the CID officer who doggedly tracks them down.

Also starring Ann Lynn

The War Game

A Chinese invasion of South Vietnam triggers a new world war between East and West. In the town of Rochester, Kent, the anticipation of a nuclear attack leads to mass evacuations. This one-off drama proved to be so controversial that the BBC, who made it, refused to broadcast it for 20 years.

Also tagged Single Drama

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

Fall of Eagles TV series

1970s BBC historical dramatisation about the collapse of three great European dynasties: the Romanovs, the Habsburgs, and the Hohenzollerns.

Also starring Barry Foster

Alice in Wonderland TV play

The earliest television version of Lewis Caroll's fantasy masterpiece was broadcast before most people in Britain had televisions...

Also tagged Single Play

Another Saturday Night and Sweet FA

Every weekend, long-suffering referee Mr. Armistead wades into the melee to try to teach two sets of testosterone-fuelled maniacs the value of restraint, justice and fair play.

Also tagged Single Drama

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