BBC Play of the Month - The Wild Duck (1971)

An old school pal of Hjalmar Ekdal returns after years away to visit his old friend. Hjalmar is a photographer married to Gina, who was once a former servant of the visitor Gregors Werle, and have a daughter Hedvig, who wiles away her time looking after injured animals, including a duck that her father recently winged while hunting. But the new visitor also has a secret which he plans to reveal to his friend, little realizing the tragedy that will unfold... Starring Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Leach, Derek Godfrey, Jenny Agutter, Mark Dignam, John Robinson, Stephanie Bidmead, Christopher Benjamin, John Kelland, Robert Sanson, Richard Burrell and Mischa De La Motte among the cast. This comes from the anthology series BBC Play of the Month and was originally broadcast nearly 55 years ago exactly on March 21st 1971. This was recently repeated on BBC4 as part of their Henrik Ibsen series and while I can't say I'm a particular fan of Ibsen, I know there will be people looking out for old shows and dramas like this. And this particular edition seems to be a favourite for many. While the lead stars are Denholm Elliott, Rosemary Leach and Derek Godfrey, it was young Jenny Agutter - fresh from her roles in The Railway Children and Walkabout - who got rave reviews for her portrayal of the loyal daughter Hedvig that is still talked about today.