THE BOX OF DELIGHTS

This second adaptation of The Box of Delights was actually a restaging of the first 1943 six part radio serial broadcast, using the same script by Robert Holland and John Keir Cross. Once again it was broadcast as part of Children’s Hour on the BBC Home Service, with each episode aired a quarter of an hour into the programme at 5.15 PM. This version was produced by Josephine Plummer, who would shepherd several later radio versions of The Box of Delights. Many members of the 1943 reprised their roles.

The six parts were as follows -

Part 1 - The Beginning
5.15 PM Thursday 25th November 1948

Part 2 - The Box
5.15 PM Thursday 2nd December 1948

Part 3 - Underground Adventure
5.15 PM Thursday 9th December 1948

Part 4 - Maria’s Adventure
5.15 PM Thursday 16th December 1948

Part 5 - The Spider in the Web
5.15 PM Thursday 16th December 1948

Part 6 - The End of it All
5.15 PM Thursday 30th December 1948

THE CAST
• Narrator - Norman Shelley *
• Cole Hawlings - Harcourt Williams
• Kay Harker - David Page
• Peter Jones - David Spenser
• Maria Jones - Dorothy Gordon *
• Jemima Jones - Audrey Blair
• Caroline Louisa - Rosemary Davis
• The Inspector - Dick Francis *
• Mouse - Charles Hawtry *
• Abner Brown - Robert Farquharson *
• Sylvia Pouncer - Gladys Young
• Chubby Man - Wilfred Babbage *
• Foxy Man - Gibb McLaughlin*
• Rat - David Kossoff
• The Bronze Head - Arthur Bush *

* - denotes a cast member from a previous production returning to the role

In April 1949, the last episode of the 1948 radio serial was rebroadcast as part of a request week on Children's Hour on the Home Service

Part 6 - The End of it All
5.00 PM Thursday 7th April 1949