The White Rabbit | |
---|---|
Genre | World War Two |
Based on | book The White Rabbit by Bruce Marshall |
Written by | Michael Voysey |
Directed by | Peter Hammond |
Starring | Kenneth More |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Producer | David Conroy |
Running time | 50 mins |
Production company | BBC |
Budget | £50,000 [1] |
Release | |
Original network | BBC2 |
Original release | 16 September – 11 October 1967 |
The White Rabbit is a 1967 British four-part TV series starring Kenneth More. It is based on the book by Bruce Marshall. It is the last of three mini series More starred in for BBC2 in succession. [2]
The series is based on the story of Wing Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas who fought for the French Resistance in World War Two. He is captured and tortured by the Gestapo.
Michael Deeley got hold of a feature film script based on the book and managed to get Kenneth More interested. Deeley spoke to John Boulting about it and Boulting got the rights before Deeley could secure them. [3] More loved the script and claimed he spent a year trying to make the film - at one stage they were set to start filming in July 1961 [4] and in December 1961 Variety announced the film would be made by 20th Century Fox. [5] However they could not clear up the rights. "Shouldn't think it would ever be made now," he said in 1962 [6]
This detail is omitted in More's memoirs. According to those, he read a copy of the book while in Jamaica making Dark of the Sun . He took it to David Attenborough, head of features at the BBC, and suggested it would make an ideal four-part series. Film rights were held by American producer Hal Chester, but the BBC were able to make it provided they never repeated the programme or sold it elsewhere. The BBC was willing to do this because More had been in the very successful series The Forsyte Saga . [7]
According to newspaper reports, the BBC announced it was going to film the book with More in September 1966. More called it "a realisation of a dream... I thought the chance had gone forever." [8]
Filming started 27 July 1967. [9]
The series was never sold and had to be destroyed within 28 days of broadcast. [1]
The Evening Post called it "the best thing ever done by BBC-2." [1]
The Guardian felt it was "too sadistic." [10] The Daily Telegraph thought the character of Yeo Thomas "does not come clearly into focus." [11]
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Wing Commander Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas,, known as "Tommy", was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "Seahorse" and "Shelley" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas was known by the Gestapo as "The White Rabbit". His particular sphere of operations was Occupied and Vichy France. He was one of the most highly decorated agents in the Second World War.
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