THE BOX OF DELIGHTS

The very first adaptation of The Box of Delights was a six part radio serial broadcast as part of Children’s Hour on the BBC Home Service. It was adapted as a radio play in six parts by Robert Holland and John Keir Cross. The serial was produced by John Keir Cross. For the theme tune, an excerpt from A Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchison was chosen, and subsequent versions have mostly followed suite. The theme is from the third movement - Andante quasi lento e cantabile - and is taken from The First Nowell section.

The six parts were as follows -

Part 1 - The Beginning
5.20 PM Friday 12th November 1943

Part 2 - The Box
5.20 PM Friday 19th November 1943

Part 3 - Underground Adventure
5.20 PM Friday 26th November 1943

Part 4 - Maria’s Adventure
5.20 PM Friday 3rd December 1943

Part 5 - The Spider in the Web
5.20 PM Friday 10th December 1943

Part 6 - The End of it All
5.20 PM Friday 17th December 1943

THE CAST
• Narrator - Norman Shelley
• Cole Hawlings - D Hay Petrie
• Kay Harker - John Gilpin
• Caroline Louisa - Joan Carol
• Peter Jones - Peter Mullins
• Maria Jones - Dorothy Gordon
• Jemima Jones - Sheila Potts
• Caroline Louisa - Joan Carol
• The Inspector - Dick Francis
• Mouse - Charles Hawtry
• Abner Brown - Robert Farquharson
• Sylvia Pouncer - Joan Young
• Chubby Man - Wilfred Babbage
• Foxy Man - Gibb McLaughlin
• Rat - Philip Wade
• The Bronze Head - Arthur Bush