"ITV Saturday Night Theatre" Roll on Four O'Clock (1970)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Roy Battersby

Writer:

Colin Welland (writer)

TV Series:

"ITV Saturday Night Theatre" (1969)

Original Air Date:

19 December 1970 (Season 3, Episode 5)

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Acronym In Title | Day In Title

Cast

George A. Cooper	...	Ted Crampton
Bill Dean	...	Arthur Foster
Colin Edwynn	...	Alan Johnson
Frank Heaton	...	Peter Latimer
Arthur Lambert	...	Reg Harris
John Malcolm	...	Tom Rathbone
Tony Melody	...	Jack Scott
Tom O'Connor	...	Bill Webley
Jack Shepherd	...	Jack Youngman
Clive Swift	...	Max Fielder
Kenneth Watson	...	Philip Staines
Colin Welland	...	Lennie Brown
Geoffrey Whitehead	...	Roy Gifford

Runtime:

UK:60 min

Company:

Granada Television

Excellent expose of life in a tough inner city school

Set in a tough inner city Manchester school (the district of Miles Platting), the story centers around Peter Latimer, who's life is made intolerable by teachers and pupils alike because it is thought that he is homosexual. Latimer is clearly a child who is on his own, sticking close to his teachers ('We don't cater for poofs'), during break times; and trying to avoid school activities (such as the forthcoming Christmas party) in order to avoid being picked upon. Latimer's saviour is Mr. Fielder, the art teacher, who seems to understand his predicament stating that the others don't understand his sexuality. The headmaster, Mr. Crampton, on the other hand, suggests that Latimer should join in school activities, in order to be toughened up, because life on the shop floor after school will be even tougher. At the Christmas party, Latimer is constantly chosen by the malicious Mr. Staines to take part in the games, one game in particular is The Whip, whereby Latimer has to chase fellow boys around the school hall and capture them. During this game, he collides into a wall and is knocked unconscious. Mr. Fielder drives him home. The next day, it is learned that Latimer tried to commit suicide so that he could not attend school again. The play concludes with much mockery by the teachers ('A lavatory cowboy'; 'I thought the air smelt fresh...').

This play takes the theme of homosexuality very negatively. This is made clear during an assembly whereby Mr. Crampton mentions the bullying of a particular boy, followed by flashbacks of Latimer taking a beating by his colleagues on the way home from school. The flashback followed by the religious assembly clearly shows that homosexuality, within the eyes of The Bible, is a sin which is punishable.

Furthermore, this issue is mentioned that it is acceptable in London but not inner city urban areas.

Despite dealing with the above mentioned issues, other matters come into play. These consist of the value of teaching art to a gang of inner city culturally deprived teenage boys. Snobbery comes into play here as Mr. Fielder's views on the teaching of art and culture to these boys is undermined by his colleagues, stressing that all they will be doing when they leave school is 'booze and watch football'. One such example occurs when the Christmas film is chosen to be 'The Great Caruso', whereby one teacher suggests that it might be 'a bit heavy'.

Not much of the children's home lives are revealed except for the interior of Latimer's kitchen which is austere and cluttered, but judging by the settings (the gritty terraced houses), it can be guessed that these life's consist of shear poverty.

With all of the above aside, 'Roll On Four O'Clock' is a great play to view (the pupils banging clay, in order to get the air bubbles out, to 'Them Bones' is highly entertaining) and can be placed alongside such other early British television classics such as Ken Loach's 'Up The Junction' and 'Cathy Come Home' in terms of Battersby's use of gritty real location settings (which could be argued to historical/social documents as much of the area has been demolished), the use of non professional actors (the pupils)and their authenticity (such their accents and lack of proper English), naturalistic lighting, Welland's manipulation of social issues (such as homosexuality, teenage angst, poverty, and the class system), and the documentary approach, for example, the interplay between the headmaster and the bullies which creates a 'fly on the wall' effect.

'Roll On Four O'Clock' was originally screened on and made by Granada Television in 1970. I managed to get a third generation copy of it three years ago. Upon my first viewing I was shocked by its content level (such as the ripping sequence) and thought that how a play of this level got away with being broadcast in 1970 but this is realism anyway.