Series 1 – Episode 15
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Marker
Major Reggie Dorning (alias John Dawkes) Mrs Warboys Susan Pretlove Mrs Joan Willis Mrs Eve Fisher Ross Mrs Ames Librarian (Judy Denham) Landlord (Cameron) Waiter Barman |
Alfred Burke
Barry Letts Mona Bruce Jane Barrett Shelagh Fraser Marion Mathie Haydn Jones Sally Bazely Lynne Ashcroft Richard Curnock Jack Niles Howard Charlton |
Uncredited cast:
People in cocktail bar/ People in library |
Marilyn Miller, Sheila Power, Cecilia May, Zena Blake, Joy Bennett, Oliver Bradshaw, George Galsworthy, Adam Verney, Joseph Phillips |
Production
Series based on an idea by Roger Marshall & Anthony Marriott
Theme Music composed by Robert Earley Story Editor: Richard Bates Floor Manager: William Lawford |
Stage Manager: Betty Crowe
Production Assistant: Christine Thomas Designed by Peter Le Page Producer: John Bryce Directed by Guy Verney |
Rehearsed from 10.30am on Friday 2 April 1965 at Rehearsal Room 2A, ABC Television Studios, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex
Camera rehearsed from Wednesday 14 April 1965 at Studio 1, Teddington
Recorded on Wednesday 14 (VTR inserts) and from 6.30pm to 8pm on Thursday 15 April 1965 at Studio 1, Teddington
Camera rehearsed from Wednesday 14 April 1965 at Studio 1, Teddington
Recorded on Wednesday 14 (VTR inserts) and from 6.30pm to 8pm on Thursday 15 April 1965 at Studio 1, Teddington
TV World Synopsis
2.30 p.m. Monday: Mrs. Warboys. Says she’s been done out of £700 by a military character called Dorning. Hope she has plenty more money – tracking down con men can be tricky.
Click here for detailed synopsis
Click here for detailed synopsis
Transmission
Saturday 24 April 1965, 10.10pm (Ulster)
Saturday 1 May 1965, 9.10pm (Southern)
Saturday 1 May 1965, 10.10pm (ABC Midlands, ABC North, ATV London, Border, Channel and Westward)
Sunday 18 July 1965, 11.05pm (Scottish)
Saturday 24 July 1965, 10.10pm (Tyne Tees)
Saturday 7 August 1965, 9.50pm (TWW)
Tuesday 14 September 1965, 10.35pm (Grampian)
Saturday 1 May 1965, 9.10pm (Southern)
Saturday 1 May 1965, 10.10pm (ABC Midlands, ABC North, ATV London, Border, Channel and Westward)
Sunday 18 July 1965, 11.05pm (Scottish)
Saturday 24 July 1965, 10.10pm (Tyne Tees)
Saturday 7 August 1965, 9.50pm (TWW)
Tuesday 14 September 1965, 10.35pm (Grampian)
Archive
Rehearsal script – held in the BFI Special Collections
Story Notes
The working title of this episode was Catch More Flies with Honey – words that are spoken by Marker when talking to the waiter near the end of the episode. Prior to recording, the title was changed to Have It on the House – which Marker says to Mrs Willis earlier in Act Three.
In the rehearsal script, Major Dorning is referred to as Major Reggie Davenport, alias Ronnie Davis, alias Davidson, alias John Dawkes. The first name John is given only in dialogue, when Marker serves the confidence trickster with a court summons, and does not appear in the cast of characters at the front of the script. In view of the character’s name change from Davenport to Dorning, I have also revised one of his aliases in the detailed synopsis for this episode, with Davidson (the name he gives to Mrs Ames in Act One) becoming Donaldson.
Richard Curnock’s character is called Cameron in the script, but was billed as Landlord in the ABC press release for this episode and in TV listings.
Lynne Ashcroft’s character is referred to as Judy Denham in the script and in ABC publicity material, but as Librarian in TV listings magazines.
Near the beginning of the script, Mrs Warboys’s late husband has a different surname to his widow – Major Dorning refers to him as Brigadier Willoughby-Grant. This suggests that, in an earlier draft, Mrs Warboys had been Mrs Willoughby-Grant.
In the rehearsal script, Major Dorning is referred to as Major Reggie Davenport, alias Ronnie Davis, alias Davidson, alias John Dawkes. The first name John is given only in dialogue, when Marker serves the confidence trickster with a court summons, and does not appear in the cast of characters at the front of the script. In view of the character’s name change from Davenport to Dorning, I have also revised one of his aliases in the detailed synopsis for this episode, with Davidson (the name he gives to Mrs Ames in Act One) becoming Donaldson.
Richard Curnock’s character is called Cameron in the script, but was billed as Landlord in the ABC press release for this episode and in TV listings.
Lynne Ashcroft’s character is referred to as Judy Denham in the script and in ABC publicity material, but as Librarian in TV listings magazines.
Near the beginning of the script, Mrs Warboys’s late husband has a different surname to his widow – Major Dorning refers to him as Brigadier Willoughby-Grant. This suggests that, in an earlier draft, Mrs Warboys had been Mrs Willoughby-Grant.
The newspaper article on the collapse of the company in which Mrs Warboys had supposedly been buying shares is dated 2 September 1961. Marker says this was four years ago, indicating that the story takes place in 1965.
The episode appears to be set close to the time of its original transmission – in late spring or early summer. In Act One, Marker consults his desk diary and notes that the weather is getting warmer. “Yes,” agrees Mrs Warboys, who is planning a holiday at the end of the month, “while it’s still reasonably quiet.” The time of year is also alluded to when Dorning tells Judy Denham, “You’ve got a lovely tan for so early in the season.” At the end of Act Two, Marker telephones police officer Ted Barry, who had been his client in Dig You Later, also written by Roger Marshall. Marker addresses Barry as “Inspector”, despite the policeman’s promotion to chief inspector at the end of that episode. |
When Mrs Warboys arrives at the hotel in Act Three of the script, she and Marker converse in the cocktail bar. However, a still photograph (see above) showing the two characters sitting on a couch as Marker checks his watch suggests that the scene may have been relocated to the hotel’s reception area. This is also where the two characters reconvene after Mrs Warboys has confronted Dorning.
Production Notes
This, the final episode of Series 1 to be committed to tape, was directed by Guy Verney (1915–1970). Born in Fulham, London, Verney began his career as an actor, working as a juvenile lead in the West End during the early 1930s. His first screen roles were for the BBC, where he appeared in numerous live plays from 1938 onwards, including Storm Over Wicklow, The Breadwinner and Hay Fever. Excused from active service, he continued acting during the Second World War and became involved, as a council member, with the actors’ union Equity. Verney later moved into theatre directing, successfully running the Worthing, Salisbury and Bromley repertory companies, as well as directing productions at the Arts Theatre in Westminster, London. He still acted, on the stage, in television programmes such as the BBC’s Robin Hood (1953, with Patrick Troughton in the title role), and films including David Lean’s This Happy Breed (1944) and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956). 1957 saw Verney’s final acting role, in an episode of ITC’s The Adventures of Robin Hood (this time starring Richard Greene), and his move into television directing. He joined ABC at this time, directing episodes of the anthology dramas Armchair Theatre and Hour of Mystery, the adventure serial McCreary Moves In, the light-hearted nautical series All Aboard, and the Pathfinders series of children’s science-fiction serials. He quickly became one of the most highly respected television directors in the country. In Television Today on Thursday 1 October 1970, Leslie Lawton (who played Detective Constable Broome in two 1969 episodes of Public Eye, both directed by Verney) said of him: “The term ‘an actor’s director’ can be referred to relatively few people working in television today. But one who deserved the accolade was Guy Verney … He had a great gift for brilliant casting and many fine actors have given some of their best performances in his productions. He had a long list of favourites and he affectionately referred to them as ‘my television repertory company’”. These included Alfred Burke, Miranda Connell, Barry Letts, William Lucas and Timothy West, to name but a few. Verney also produced series such as the ABC science-fiction serials Plateau of Fear (1961) and Dimension of Fear (1963). After Have It on the House, he went on to direct five further instalments of Public Eye, a total of six episodes of Redcap and many more of Armchair Theatre. He was still in his prime, directing programmes such as Mystery and Imagination and Special Branch for Thames Television, when he died suddenly at the age of 54.
The rehearsal script for this episode called for the set representing the ground floor of the Albemarle Hotel to be a composite (connected) set comprising reception area, lift and American bar. The latter refers to a bar that serves mixed or ‘American’-style drinks – more commonly known nowadays as cocktails. The American Bar at London’s Savoy Hotel is the longest surviving of these bars and one of the most renowned cocktail bars in the world. Other sets for the hotel included a corner alcove of the dining room, and the guest rooms used by Dorning and Mrs Willis. The same set may have doubled up to represent both guest rooms.
Three scenes were pre-recorded on Wednesday 14 April 1965. Two of these featured Barry Letts as Dorning, while the other involved Marker. Letts also took part in a photocall for shots of the ‘major’, some of which were used in the episode.
When Dorning looks at an obituary column in the public library in Act One, the rehearsal script indicates that the viewer should see an insert shot showing “A column of two or three obituary notices.” This close-up view is likely to have been captured ‘as live’ on another part of the set, to avoid the risk of the camera that was taking the shot being seen by another camera when the vision mixer cut to a wider angle. From Series 2 onwards, as videotape-editing technology improved, it would become more practicable for such shots to be achieved by recording out of sequence, picking up the close-up at either the start or end of a scene.
Two pieces of music were heard in the background of the cocktail bar: the 1931 song Goodnight Sweetheart, by Ray Noble, Jimmy Campbell and Reginald Connelly; and 1928’s A Garden in the Rain, composed by Carroll Gibbons with lyrics by James Dyrenforth. Both pieces were performed by Patrick Michael and his Orchestra on a library album.
With production of the series concluded on Thursday 15 April 1965, Alfred Burke headed off to work on other projects, assuming that this would probably be the last he would ever see of Frank Marker. How wrong he was…
Have It on the House was first transmitted on Ulster Television, on Saturday 24 April 1965 at 10.10pm. Southern was the next ITV region to screen it, on 1 May 1965 at 9.10pm. An hour later, the episode was seen on ABC, ATV London, Border, Channel and Westward. The episode brought the first series of Marker’s casebook to a close on Southern and ABC, after which it was replaced by another ABC production, Undermind. Meanwhile, ATV London and its associates continued with Public Eye, showing the episodes previously broadcast by ABC prior to mid-April.
The rehearsal script for this episode called for the set representing the ground floor of the Albemarle Hotel to be a composite (connected) set comprising reception area, lift and American bar. The latter refers to a bar that serves mixed or ‘American’-style drinks – more commonly known nowadays as cocktails. The American Bar at London’s Savoy Hotel is the longest surviving of these bars and one of the most renowned cocktail bars in the world. Other sets for the hotel included a corner alcove of the dining room, and the guest rooms used by Dorning and Mrs Willis. The same set may have doubled up to represent both guest rooms.
Three scenes were pre-recorded on Wednesday 14 April 1965. Two of these featured Barry Letts as Dorning, while the other involved Marker. Letts also took part in a photocall for shots of the ‘major’, some of which were used in the episode.
When Dorning looks at an obituary column in the public library in Act One, the rehearsal script indicates that the viewer should see an insert shot showing “A column of two or three obituary notices.” This close-up view is likely to have been captured ‘as live’ on another part of the set, to avoid the risk of the camera that was taking the shot being seen by another camera when the vision mixer cut to a wider angle. From Series 2 onwards, as videotape-editing technology improved, it would become more practicable for such shots to be achieved by recording out of sequence, picking up the close-up at either the start or end of a scene.
Two pieces of music were heard in the background of the cocktail bar: the 1931 song Goodnight Sweetheart, by Ray Noble, Jimmy Campbell and Reginald Connelly; and 1928’s A Garden in the Rain, composed by Carroll Gibbons with lyrics by James Dyrenforth. Both pieces were performed by Patrick Michael and his Orchestra on a library album.
With production of the series concluded on Thursday 15 April 1965, Alfred Burke headed off to work on other projects, assuming that this would probably be the last he would ever see of Frank Marker. How wrong he was…
Have It on the House was first transmitted on Ulster Television, on Saturday 24 April 1965 at 10.10pm. Southern was the next ITV region to screen it, on 1 May 1965 at 9.10pm. An hour later, the episode was seen on ABC, ATV London, Border, Channel and Westward. The episode brought the first series of Marker’s casebook to a close on Southern and ABC, after which it was replaced by another ABC production, Undermind. Meanwhile, ATV London and its associates continued with Public Eye, showing the episodes previously broadcast by ABC prior to mid-April.
Home and Away
To establish the setting of Bournemouth in Act One, the script called for stock footage of “People strolling along the front, the cliffs or the pier.” 16mm library film of the seaside resort was provided by Bournemouth Corporation for this purpose.
The only other exterior setting in this episode was the front door of Dorning’s former landlord, Cameron. This was realised in the television studio.
The only other exterior setting in this episode was the front door of Dorning’s former landlord, Cameron. This was realised in the television studio.
Many a Slip
Towards the end of the rehearsal script, Marker picks up the court summons and “starts out” of the American bar, with Ross following, despite the fact that their next scene sees both Marker and Ross still in the bar. A little later, when Dawkes asks Ross whether he has the contract, Ross replies, “It’s upstairs.” However, an earlier scene had established that the contract, together with two copies, is in the American bar. These inconsistencies may indicate that an earlier draft of the script had included a scene set in Ross’s hotel room, which was subsequently relocated to the bar. The action and dialogue in the detailed synopsis have been revised slightly to take account of this.
Who Wants to Be Told Bad News?The Kentish press took a keen interest in the burgeoning career of local theatre actress Lynne Ashcroft, regularly reporting on her TV appearances. Her role as librarian Judy Denham in Have It on the House was no exception. On Friday 23 April 1965, the East Kent Times and Mail noted that “Lynne Ashcroft, popular actress of the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, has been absent from the company for a few days in order to take part in the television series The Public Eye.” The following Friday, the newspaper issued a reminder, noting that Ashcroft “will appear in the television series The Public Eye tomorrow.” The Herne Bay Press also lent its support, announcing that “Blonde actress Lynne Ashcroft will be appearing in the television series The Public Eye tomorrow (Saturday).” The accompanying photograph of the RADA-trained actress (see right) is from an unrelated story that appeared in the Daily Mirror a few months later, on Saturday 12 June. Tragically, Ashcroft’s career would soon be cut short. In 1966, while rehearsing for a production at the Oxford Playhouse, she was taken seriously ill as the result of a bone disorder, finding herself unable to hold her head upright. She died in Highgate, London, on Tuesday 28 March 1967, aged just 23, as reported in The Stage two days later.
The press release for Have It on the House noted the inclusion among the cast of Sally Bazely, “who was formerly married to actor Peter Boyes, lives in Chelsea, and made her ABC debut in 1959 in the Armchair Theatre comedy Wedding Day.” She was also the subject of a small feature in the Women column of TV World (1–7 May 1965), which explained that Have It on the House was Bazely’s first acting job in more than a year, as she had been nursing her four-year-old son back to health following a heart complaint. The actress would return to Public Eye to play Lady Gatton in the following year’s series finale, What’s the Matter? Can’t You Take a Sick Joke?, also directed by Guy Verney. The programme listing in the Southern edition of TV Times was illustrated with a photograph of Alfred Burke and Mona Bruce (as Mrs Warboys). The two characters were also depicted in the Weekend TV and Radio column of the Manchester Evening News and Chronicle on Saturday 1 May 1965 (see below). The caption described Bruce’s character as “one of the victims” of a confidence trickster. “Please bring back private investigator Frank Marker in the Public Eye series,” implored John Bateman of Knighton, Leicester in the Your View column of TV World (5–11 June 1965), a month after the show had completed its ABC run. “I think it is one of the most realistic and intelligent series ever devised.”
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That same day, Stewart Lane of the left-wing newspaper the Daily Worker delivered his verdict on Public Eye. Though he did not feel that a series about an inquiry agent was “one of the most urgent, important needs of television … as ABC have, nevertheless, provided us with one, I am glad that it is reasonably intelligent and entertaining.” Noting that Alfred Burke was “one of our more interesting actors”, Lane commended the “very impressive job” he made of portraying Marker, a character who “has the manner of a man who is cynically aware that a private detective is something of a boil on the behind of society, but he is too bored with life to bother to change his job. I shall watch Marker’s adventures, I feel, with rather more interest than I usually display for television’s stock series.”
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Perhaps appropriately, given the number of aliases used by the conman character in Have It on the House, Peter Forth, in his Forth’s Choice panel in the Western Daily Press on Saturday 7 August, gave the writer’s name incorrectly as George Marshall. More accurately, the journalist’s preview of the TWW transmission noted that “Alfred Burke’s portrayal of the private detective, English version, is masterly. He may be an anti-hero, but he is very good indeed.”
Nobody Wants to Know
During Major Dorning’s opening speech, Mrs Warboys’s late husband has the letters MC and DSO after this name. These are military decorations awarded to officers of the British Armed Forces and, formerly, also those of other Commonwealth countries. The Military Cross (MC) is granted in recognition of exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy, while the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is awarded for highly successful command and leadership during active operations, typically during actual combat against the enemy. The MC and DSO were initially issued only to officers, but all ranks have been eligible since 1993. In Act Three, Dorning also refers to GHQ (General Headquarters) Malaya in KL (Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of the Federation of Malaya, now Malaysia).
When he arrives at the Albemarle Hotel, the con artist mentions Robbie Brightwell (1939–2022), a British track and field athlete and silver medallist. In 1964, the year before this episode was made, Brightwell had captained the men’s British Olympic Team in Tokyo, where he won a silver medal in the men’s 4 x 400 metres relay.
In Act Three, Dorning jokingly asks Susan Pretlove for directions to the Winter Gardens. The original Bournemouth Winter Gardens was a glass-clad theatre built in 1875 as an exhibition centre, but reopened in 1893 as a classical music venue. The building was demolished in 1935, six years after the construction of Bournemouth’s Pavilion, where concerts were to take place instead. Another Winter Gardens, a more conventional brick building, was erected in 1937. Originally intended as an indoor bowling centre, it proved to have excellent acoustics and was converted into a concert hall in 1946. The Bournemouth Winter Gardens became a popular rock music venue during the 1960s, with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix all performing there. The main building was closed in 2002 and demolished in 2006. The site is currently being used as a car park, but plans for its redevelopment include the construction of more than 350 flats, 600 parking spaces, and a new leisure and retail space.
Fans of the 1990–2000 BBC1 sitcom One Foot in the Grave may appreciate the coincidental naming of a character in this episode as Mrs Warboys. In the popular comedy series, Mrs Warboys (played by Doreen Mantle) is a frequent source of irritation for the main protagonist, the curmudgeonly Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson). In Act Three of Have It on the House, during a scene with his own Mrs Warboys, Marker even gets to utter Meldrew’s famous catchphrase, “I don’t believe it.”
When he arrives at the Albemarle Hotel, the con artist mentions Robbie Brightwell (1939–2022), a British track and field athlete and silver medallist. In 1964, the year before this episode was made, Brightwell had captained the men’s British Olympic Team in Tokyo, where he won a silver medal in the men’s 4 x 400 metres relay.
In Act Three, Dorning jokingly asks Susan Pretlove for directions to the Winter Gardens. The original Bournemouth Winter Gardens was a glass-clad theatre built in 1875 as an exhibition centre, but reopened in 1893 as a classical music venue. The building was demolished in 1935, six years after the construction of Bournemouth’s Pavilion, where concerts were to take place instead. Another Winter Gardens, a more conventional brick building, was erected in 1937. Originally intended as an indoor bowling centre, it proved to have excellent acoustics and was converted into a concert hall in 1946. The Bournemouth Winter Gardens became a popular rock music venue during the 1960s, with the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix all performing there. The main building was closed in 2002 and demolished in 2006. The site is currently being used as a car park, but plans for its redevelopment include the construction of more than 350 flats, 600 parking spaces, and a new leisure and retail space.
Fans of the 1990–2000 BBC1 sitcom One Foot in the Grave may appreciate the coincidental naming of a character in this episode as Mrs Warboys. In the popular comedy series, Mrs Warboys (played by Doreen Mantle) is a frequent source of irritation for the main protagonist, the curmudgeonly Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson). In Act Three of Have It on the House, during a scene with his own Mrs Warboys, Marker even gets to utter Meldrew’s famous catchphrase, “I don’t believe it.”
With thanks to Jonny Davies, Andrew Pixley, Barbara Toft, the BFI Special Collections, the British Newspaper Archive and Network Distributing.
The Missing Markers is a not-for-profit fan website written and edited by and copyright © Richard McGinlay. All rights reserved.
Public Eye (the ABC years) is copyright © StudioCanal. No attempt to infringe this copyright is intended.
The Missing Markers is a not-for-profit fan website written and edited by and copyright © Richard McGinlay. All rights reserved.
Public Eye (the ABC years) is copyright © StudioCanal. No attempt to infringe this copyright is intended.