The stars

SALLY SMITH

who plays Jennifer Corder.

Sally Smith, aged 20, with fair hair and blue eyes, is only five foot high, but her dynamic personality often makes her seem ten foot tall. Sally was dancing almost before she could walk and at the age of three went to ballet school. At twelve she made her first professional appearance. Now she has made three films and achieved considerable success in London’s West End theatres where currently she is starring in ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’. As Dr Corder’s wilful daughter, Jennifer, she is delightful.

Michael Johnson

MICHAEL JOHNSON

who plays Dr Jimmy Davis.

No problem for 23 year-old, 6 foot Michael Johnson when he told his parents that he wanted to be an actor, for his father, a school teacher, was already a leading light in the amateur dramatic society in Grimsby, where Michael was born. He was noticed in a small role in a film ‘Seven Keys’, and invited to test for the plum television part as Dr Davis, assistant to Dr Corder in ‘The Human Jungle’.

MARY STEELE

who plays Jane Harris, assistant to Dr Corder.

Aged 29, slender, with brown hair and blue eyes, Mary Steele was born in Hampstead and was evacuated to Cornwall during the war, where she went to school. After matriculating, she went to ballet school then to the Bristol Old Vic and five other repertory companies before graduating into films and the West End theatre. For her role as a psychiatric welfare worker in ‘The Human Jungle’, Mary has talked with people in that field, prison visitors and probation officers to gain background authenticity.

MARY YEOMANS

who plays Nancy Hamilton, Dr Corder’s secretary.

Mary Yeomans was born near Rubery, Worcs., 31 years ago, the daughter of a builder. When, after schooling in Birmingham, Mary asked to go to drama school, her parents were horrified.

As a compromise, she agreed to study to be a school teacher, but also studied acting part time at the Birmingham Repertory School.

The role of Nancy, the reliable bastion between Dr Corder and his patients is her biggest television opportunity to date.

Thin Ice

Dr Davis hugs Verity
'Dr Davis' (MICHAEL JOHNSON) clutches 'Verity Clarke' (JANINA FAYE) in his arms to save her from falling as she loses balance on the ice.
The Human Jungle

THIN ICE

At fourteen, Verity Clark is one of Britain’s leading amateur skaters. As she prepares for a championship event, she tells her mother, a forceful and possessive woman who has worked hard for Verity’s success, that she has had a dream. She was skating at speed when suddenly there was a great hole in the ice and she crashed. Her mother puts it down to nerves.

Her father, a busy man trying to build up a hire car concern against great competition, wishes her luck. He might find time to watch her on television.

At the crowded rink, Verity skates brilliantly. To the final applause of a packed audience, she streaks for the side of the rink, and crashes into a gap where a board had been removed. Ambulance men report that there doesn’t seem to be any damage to Verity’s leg, but she seems to be in great pain. Despite her mother’s pleading, she won’t go back to claim the title she has just won. She can’t face the ice again.

A month later, Verity is still not reacting to physiotherapy. There is no damage, but she complains that she can’t walk, can’t keep her balance.

When Dr Roger Corder sees her, he learns that she has travelled extensively with her mother. Fond of her father, she seems sorry that he should have been left out of it because of his business commitments. When it comes to the accident, Corder wonders why a skater of her experience should have crashed into a hazard of which she must have been aware. He decides to get her to go back to the ice.

Supported by Dr Jimmy Davis, Verity edges on to the rink, the music starts, but she doesn’t move. Even when Dick Elbine, the Canadian professional who manages the rink and taught her to skate, joins her, she can only take a few steps before collapsing. As she is carried off, her father appears with his solicitor. He is suing the rink for negligence.

Worried by the effect of a law suit, Elbine tells Corder that he is certain Verity is lying. Even when he had taken those few steps with her a few days before, he knew that she could skate if she wanted. He feels that she deliberately created the mishap.

When he learns that Verity has asked to go back to her old school, Corder visits her. She still insists that she can’t skate again. He learns, too, that one of the highlights of her time at school was when her father used to fetch her in one of his cars.

At Clark’s garage Dr Corder begins to suspect that Clark is not doing very well. The attendant tells him that business is tough. Clark is not a fit man. His wife is often away abroad at championships with Verity, and not able to help with the garage business.

Corder sees Clark’s solicitor. Is Clark suing the ice-rink because his business is in trouble? No need for that, the solicitor tells him. Clark is comfortably off. But there was the start of a case, a divorce case…

Corder has a long talk with the girl’s father, and arranges that Verity shall come and see him the following day. When she arrives, she finds herself alone with Dick Elbine, her old skating instructor. He’s there, he tells her, because Corder is trying to find him another job. Once the case comes up, he is bound to be fired. He leaves and the girl bursts into tears.

Corder goes in to her, and she tells him the truth. She has overheard her parents arguing, and the awful word ‘divorce’. She felt that she was to blame for causing her mother to travel around with her, thus breaking up the marriage. She had staged the accident so that she would no longer have to be away from home.

Outside, her parents wait. There is now no question of a split. Clark is selling out and will be there when Verity skates again.

Janina Faye and Sally Smith
JANINA FAYE as 'Verity Clarke' with SALLY SMITH as 'Jennifer Corder' have fun with a pair of headphones.

JOHN McLAREN as skating instructor ‘Dick Elbine’, JANINA FAYE as ‘Verity Clarke’ with her mother (JACQUELINE LACEY) and MICHAEL JOHNSON as ‘Dr Jimmy Davis’.

The Lost Hours

THE LOST HOURS

When Henry Gray and his wife Julia arrive at the house of his Chairman, the party is in full swing. Norman Williams, successful and popular, leads them into the midst of the noise to start introductions.

It is when Norman introduces Henry to an attractive blonde, that Julia breaks down. ‘Is this the one, Henry?’ Julia taunts him. He pretends not to hear. Have you found that he’s sly, attractive and forty-six? Has he told you I’m too skinny? Is that what you tell her, Henry?’

In the confusion which follows guests force her out to another room to lie down. But when Henry returns with a glass of water, Julia has slashed her wrists.

Visiting the hospital, Henry finds Julia still in a disturbed state. He tells the doctor that for months she has had this insane jealousy, but there is no other woman.

Julia is seen by psychiatrist Dr Roger Corder. Gently he questions her. No, there are no children, and now he has been stolen from her by this other woman. As she describes her, he finds that Julia is describing a person completely opposite to herself. Corder also finds that Henry is often late home, sometimes staying out all night.

Talking to Henry, the doctor learns of the ceaseless nagging over the other woman, the phone calls to the office, etc. And the late nights? ‘Strictly business’, says Henry.

Corder’s assistant, Jimmy Davis, thinks it is a clear case of transference. Unable to bear Henry children, Julia has started to hate herself, and is jealous of the woman she would like to have been. Corder is not sure that this is all.

Questioned by Corder about Henry, Norman Williams is surprised when the late nights are mentioned. A good executive. Henry always leaves on time. No vices. Lives like clockwork. It is Corder’s turn to be puzzled. Worried about Henry, Norman Williams watches him leave the factory, hesitate by his car, and then wander off down the road. Concerned, he follows him down to a railway bridge, where Henry watches the trains, plays with a couple of kids, and then, going into the station, vanishes. Corder joins Norman in the watch on Henry. Again it is the railway station, but this time they watch him leave his briefcase, jacket and tie at the Left Luggage Office. He moves off but once again they lose him.

Next day, in Corder’s consulting room, Henry, back to his normal self, is encouraged to talk about his early life. It was a hard one, no toys, just hard study to obtain a scholarship. At sixteen, he had to leave school and support his family. No, he is not resentful. But he has a sense of loss.

As Corder shows Henry out, they meet the doctor’s daughter, Jennifer. Later she tells her father that she has seen the man before. Where? At the ‘Cat’s Picnic’, a teenage Twist Club.

At the hospital, Dr Jimmy Davis and Jane Harris, Corder’s nurse, are having difficulty with Julia. Henry has not visited her-he has disappeared.

At the Club, they join the jostling crowd of kids, and suddenly spot their man. Clad in a black leather jacket, with a night’s growth of beard, Henry is in the middle of the throng. They watch as he tries to become one of the mob, watch his despair as he finds that they accept him as an ‘oddball’, but always on the outside.

In desperation Henry goes outside, joins the gang of ‘ton up’ leather-jackets around their shining bikes and as Jimmy and Jane follow, strides a machine and races off down the road, with other bikes in pursuit like a swarm of locusts. It is Jimmy Davis who rescues him as he crashes. At the hospital Henry lies in the men’s ward, his search for the youth he never had ended. So different in themselves, his illness and Julia’s have helped to drive them over the edge. Now with the guidance of Roger Corder and his team, they could help to cure each other.

Leonard Sachs
'Henry Gray' (LEONARD SACHS) tries to relive his lost youth at the Cat's Picnic, a teenage club.
The Human Jungle

‘Henry Gray’ (LEONARD SACHS) comforts his wife ‘Julia’ (URSULA HOWELLS).

Businessman ‘Henry Gray’ (LEONARD SACHS) tries to mingle with the youngsters outside a twist club.

1963 / FROM TRANSDIFFUSION