Adrian Dunbar (John)
Sandy Ratcliff, Pete Postlethwaite, Hilary Sesta, Adrian Dunbar
Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen, no reproduction without permission.
A Box of Swan was a ‘Debut on Two’ drama produced at Pebble Mill, transmitted on 9th Oct 1990 on BBC 2. Alan David Price wrote the script, and it was produced by Vicky Licorish and Philippa Giles, Diana Patrick was the director.
The BFI database describes the drama as a:
‘Play about a young man brought back to his roots by the death of his father, a road sweeper for 27 years. John moved to London to further his career as an architect, but his ambivalent feelings towards his family are brought to a head when he returns home for the funeral.’
http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/445934
The film starred Pete Postlethwaite as Tony, Adrian Dunbar as John, Hilary Sesta as Mother, Sandy Ratcliff as Patricia and Bryan Pringle as Father.
Thanks to Dave Bushell, who was the lighting director, for identifying the drama from the photos. Dave remembers that there were six plays in all on ‘Debut on Two’, two filmed on location and four in Studio A. They were written by new writers with established actors. The locations for ‘Box of Swan’ included an Italian restaurant and a undertaker’s chapel-of-rest, in Bearwood, West Midlands.
The other ‘Debut on Two’ plays were Kingdom Come, Widow of Vulnerability, The Wake, Breast is Best, and the Conversion of St Paul. They were a similar idea to the ‘Second City First’ series of studio dramas from the 1970s, which also featured new talent, and particularly new writers.