Play For Today - The Evacuees (1975)

When war breaks out in 1939 two Jewish boys find themselves evacuated from their home in Manchester to Blackpool for their safety. But they find that their stay there is anything but homely under the care of Mrs Graham... Starring Maureen Lipman, Gary Carp, Steven Serember, Margery Mason, Ivor Roberts, Ray Mort, Paul Besterman, Margery Withers, Aubrey Edwards, Ian East, Christine Buckley, Ted Carroll, Laurence Coburn, Lewis Raines, Malcolm Hebden, Barron Casenov and John Williams. This is a play written by Jack Rosenthal about his experiences as an evacuee during World War Two. Originally broadcast on March 5th 1975, this proved so popular that it was repeated later that year on Christmas Day. As well as being a touching drama, it also has the unusual element of Rosenthal's real life wife Maureen Lipman playing her own mother in law on screen. This is from one of my recordings from when it was repeated sometime on BBC4, so apologies if there are any glitches.