The Tyrant Years is a 1958 Australian radio play by Joy Hollyer about the last years in the life of Charles Dickens. [1]
The play was well received and was produced again in 1959, [2] 1962, [3] 1968 and 1974.
"At 45, (1857), Dickens was at the height of his powers. But at home his personal life was beginning to break up. His pallid wife, Catherine, was quite inadequate for him and his attention turned to a beautiful young actress, Ellen Ternan. It is from this point that Joy Hollyer develops the complicated and absorbingly interesting pattern of a brilliantly successful and vital man growing old and unwilling to accept age." [4]
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime and, by the 20th century, critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories are widely read today.
Ellen Lawless Ternan, also known as Nelly Ternan or Nelly Wharton-Robinson, was an English actress known for her relationship with the elderly Charles Dickens.
Catherine Elizabeth Macready Perugini was an English painter of the Victorian era and the daughter of Catherine Dickens and Charles Dickens.
Georgina Hogarth was the sister-in-law, housekeeper, and adviser of English novelist Charles Dickens and the editor of three volumes of his collected letters after his death.
Catherine Thomson "Kate" Dickens was the wife of English novelist Charles Dickens, the mother of his ten children, and a writer of domestic management.
Mary "Mamie" Dickens was the eldest daughter of the English novelist Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine. She wrote a book of reminiscences about her father, and in conjunction with her aunt, Georgina Hogarth, she edited the first collection of his letters.
The Dickens family are the descendants of John Dickens, the father of the English novelist Charles Dickens. John Dickens was a clerk in the Royal Navy Pay Office and had eight children from his marriage to Elizabeth Barrow. Their second child and eldest son was Charles Dickens, whose descendants include the novelist Monica Dickens, the writer Lucinda Dickens Hawksley and the actors Harry Lloyd and Brian Forster.
Tavistock House was the London home of the noted British author Charles Dickens and his family from 1851 to 1860. At Tavistock House Dickens wrote Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit and A Tale of Two Cities. He also put on amateur theatricals there which are described in John Forster's Life of Charles Dickens. Later, it was the home of William and Georgina Weldon, whose lodger was the French composer Charles Gounod, who composed part of his opera Polyeucte at the house.
Dickens of London is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Marc Miller. In the United States, the series was shown in 1977.
The Fire on the Snow is a 1941 Australian verse play by Douglas Stewart about the Terra Nova Expedition to Antarctica by Robert Falcon Scott. It premiered on ABC radio on 6 June 1941 to great acclaim and inspired a series of Australian verse dramas on ABC radio.
Mary Scott Hogarth was the sister of Catherine Dickens and the sister-in-law of Charles Dickens. Hogarth first met Charles Dickens at age 14, and after Dickens married Hogarth's sister Catherine, Mary lived with the couple for a year. Hogarth died suddenly in 1837, which caused Dickens to miss the publication dates for two novels: The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. Hogarth later became the inspiration for a number of characters in Dickens novels, including Rose Maylie in Oliver Twist and Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. Charles and Catherine Dickens' first daughter was named Mary in her memory.
My Love Must Wait is a 1941 novel by Ernestine Hill.
Joy Hollyer was an Australian writer whose career ranged from the 1940s until the 1970s. She collaborated a number of times on radio scripts with Edmund Barclay She wrote a large number of adaptations for ABC radio as well as television scripts, short stories and plays for children.
With Wings as Eagles is a 1943 Australian radio play verse drama by Edmund Barclay and Joy Hollyer about three airmen in World War Two.
The Man Who Liked Eclairs is a 1945 Australian radio play by Edmund Barclay and Joy Hollyer. It was set in a "small village in England where everyone knows everyone and everyone’s business." The play is one of the better known works from Barclay and Hollyer and a popular Australian play from the time.
Jane, My Love is a 1951 stage play by Catherine Shepherd about Jane Franklin and John Franklin.
The Golden Lover is a 1943 Australian verse drama by Douglas Stewart. It was based on an ancient Māori legend. Stewart was from New Zealand.
Conflict in Van Diemen's Land is a 1945 Australian radio play by Catherine Shepherd. It concerned Governor Arthur's war against Tasmanian Aboriginals in colonial Tasmania. John Cairns directed.
The Fated Hour is a 1938 Australian radio play by Catherine Shepherd about a woman who has her fortune told.
Tales of the Southern Cross is a 1940 Australian radio drama series by Joy Hollyer. It was a series of children's Sunday plays, based on Australian history and true adventure.