Verity Lambert and the 199 Park Lane Controversy
Part One of a three part exploration of 199 Park Lane, starting with BBC producer Verity Lambert's brief stay during the spring of 1965.
In his magnificent biography of Verity Lambert – Drama and Delight, Richard Marson recounts the brief time in 1965 she spent producing – or rather setting up – a new twice weekly serial called 199 Park Lane, of which nothing survives, and is now one of those long lost and - hardly surprisingly - seldom remembered programmes from the 1960s other than brief appearances on a CV. Inadvertently, Verity Lambert sparked a brief flurry of controversy when the programme went out, stirred up by Labour MP Anne Kerr and in the same week, the serial was suddenly, and unexpectedly, axed…
A year before and Lambert’s immediate boss Head of Serials Donald Wilson wanted her to move on from Doctor Who to set up and produce a new twice weekly serial called Swizzlewick. This was planned to be a satirical serial written by playwright David Turner, which, if successful, could replace that embarrassing old warhorse Compact and give the two rating successes ITV possessed in the shape of Coronation Street and Emergency Ward 10 a run for their money. Swizzlewick was going to be produced in Birmingham, and Wilson apparently felt Lambert was an ideal choice out of his small stable of producers on the grounds she was single. She refused. Despite enormous resistance and technical limitations, Doctor Who had become an enormous success, capturing the imagination of young and old alike. Had she taken Swizzlewick, she would also have been overseeing the expansion of facilities inside the regional BBC outfit to service such a programme.1
A second twice weekly serial was being developed in tandem with Swizzlewick – 199 Park Lane created by William Fairchild and to be produced by Morris Barry. This was going to be a high class soap opera set inside a fictional address, featuring the rich and powerful in – and outside of - an expensive block of flats. The idea was both serials could run side by side. However, 199 Park Lane was placed on hiatus (much to Fairchild’s confusion when he discovered the news via the press) and Compact continued until eventually it was decided it would finish in the summer of 1965.
Donald Baverstock, Chief of Programmes BBC1 was a nervous man – he had little faith in either Swizzlewick or 199 Park Lane for both lacked identifiable characters of the type audiences warmed to on Coronation Street or Emergency Ward 10. His drama department seemed incapable - or unwilling - to produce such a programme. He was right. Swizzlewick failed to find an audience and created far too many controversies, and it was not renewed after its initial 26 episodes.2
199 Park Lane was reactivated in early 1965 to succeed Compact. By now, Baverstock had resigned from the BBC rather than accepting what he considered demotion to BBC2, and was replaced by Michael Peacock, now styled Controller of BBC1. Fairchild returned to write new storylines and scripts, but started to outsource his work, disgruntled by the process. The serial could only be made in London, or so Sydney Newman dogmatically told Baverstock and now Peacock rather than use the BBC Midland studio in Birmingham (who were being asked to come up with their own ideas for a twice weekly to accompany 199 Park Lane).
And now we return to Verity Lambert. She was leaving Doctor Who which in early 1965 was in a very healthy state with excellent viewing figures following a successful Christmas serial where the Daleks invaded the Earth and arguably secured the future of the series. Since 199 Park Lane was a serial, it came under Donald Wilson’s watch and he asked Lambert to take on the role as producer, no doubt reassuring her that she did not need to move to the regions. Her new job was announced in The Stage and Television Today just before she went on two weeks’ leave during production of ‘The Crusades’..
Marson writes how much she hated the scripts and quickly lobbied to be taken off the project, even though this one would be made in London. What is not generally known is that Lambert’s stint was concurrent with her last four months on Doctor Who. She started work immediately after coming back from leave. Former story editor on the BBC2 thriller serial John Wiles was now promoted to become producer, and with his story editor Donald Tosh, gradually trailed Lambert during these months, planning their own future productions, and gradually taking over the day to day running of the series.3
Lambert’s first recorded memo in the General files retained at the BBC’s Written Archives in Caversham was written on her arrival immediately back from leave on 29 March 1965, enquiring over library music costs and clearance issues for overseas sales. While dealing with production issues on the next Dalek epic called ‘The Chase’, she was having issues with the first two scripts written for 199 Park Lane. She spent April working out the design manhours required for the first four episodes. She was also keen to have filming performed for the first 12 episodes, something usually avoided with a twice weekly series. Compact rarely went out on location because the inevitable tight schedules involved in producing two episodes of television a week gave actors and directors precious little rehearsal time. Rehearsals for the two pilot episodes were scheduled for 5 July and contracts for the actors needed to be worked out in detail because the episodes may be recorded again if changes were required, which happened to Doctor Who and Swizzlewick.
Naturally the scripts interested Lambert most. Just as she wasn’t satisfied with Anthony Coburn’s efforts launching Doctor Who, she wasn’t happy now. One of the many characters Fairchild created was Anne Faulkner, who would be revealed at the end of the first episode to be a newly elected Socialist MP, a job rare for a woman in 1963 when he created his format, but by 1965 there were now several. The character was the daughter of a rich northern Conservative industrialist, and she has come to stay at her father’s luxury Park Lane flat. Fairchild felt that there was lots to explore with this character – her first visit to the Lady Members Room which he had heard was an ‘intriguing and prickly’ place and explore the special problems faced by a female politician – jealousies, frustrations, etc, and all seen through the eyes of a woman. Faulkner was also to form a relationship with a ship builder millionaire who will eventually find himself arrested inside an Iron Curtain country. Fairchild needed help to research parliamentary procedure and Donald Wilson appointed Doris R Bryant who in turn received help from Labour MP Judith Hart.
Politics and drama make the BBC nervous as Swizzlewick proved when it upset a namesake councillor called Oakes. Senior members of BBC management needed reassurance in how such a character would be handled. Labour were in power at the time, but only just, holding a tiny majority and a second election was inevitable. Huw Wheldon, Controller of Programmes for television spoke to the Director of Television, Kenneth Adam, who insisted she will be written out the moment an election is called. However, they recognised this might cause a production headache notice since an election is usually called four weeks in advance and although production may only be a week or a few days ahead of transmission (or performed live as some Compact episodes were, scripts needed to be written far in advance.
On reading the scripts she was meant to produce, Lambert felt more research was needed to ensure Faulkner’s accuracy. Sabby Sagall, editor of a left wing quarterly called Views put Lambert, her script associate Nicholas Palmer and director Lionel Harris in touch with Labour MP Anne Kerr, the recently elected member for Rochester and Chatham. At an unspecified date in April, Kerr entertained Lambert and her team at the House of Commons for drinks and dinner. They warned her they were not asking her officially to advise the programme but simply to provide some facts.
They next met Kerr at the Caprice to thank her for her previous hospitality. Dinner at the Caprice was seen as an acceptable alternative to paying Kerr an expensive research fee which she had in any case declined. It was also close to the House of Commons where Kerr was needed to vote in a division. Palmer later recollected that she declined a fee in order to avoid bumping up her tax. They questioned Kerr on parliamentary procedure, constituency work, and the kind of background for a Labour candidate. They brought with them one script at which Kerr reportedly took a brief look at a single page of dialogue. Comments were allegedly made by the delegation from the BBC on the quality of the script. The only thing Kerr suggested was that they rechristen the character so that they don’t share the same name. When Lionel Harris submitted the £10 bill to the BBC’s accountants, they immediately asked why did they chose the Caprice of all places - and who was this Nicholas Palmer!
By 4 May, Lambert, Palmer, and Harris had finished rewriting the first two scripts, feeding in their new research to put in some ‘reality’ from Kerr’s input, while trying to unpick a previous rewrite and restore some of Fairchild’s original script. Both Lambert and Donald Wilson while trying not to antagonise and upset the writer further since he was not happy with the whole business, and the rewrites were itemised in a memo. For example, 22 pages of the script was ‘pure Bill’. They fed in some of Kerr’s experiences into the opening scene of the serial which saw Faulkner travelling down to London on a train and talking to fellow passengers. They also consulted a businessman on issues raised in Episode 2. Lambert began casting and booked at least three people before she and Palmer were removed from the project by week beginning 21 May. Lionel Harris was assigned another serial called Jury Room.
Lambert had apparently lobbied to be removed from the project, but it may have been that while BBC Birmingham were developing their own twice weekly serial based on a football team called United! (which generated a good deal of interest and support within the BBC), London was also creating its own new format, finally more in the Coronation Street mould of working families and communities but set in the south. This was going to become The Newcomers, and Verity Lambert was given the job of setting it up. One or the other two serials would accompany 199 Park Lane once the pilots had been judged.
Morris Barry was put in charge and disliked some of Lambert’s casting choices. He cancelled Michael Standing’s contract, but as compensation the actor was given a part in Harris’ episode of Jury Room. Barry also had the scripts rewritten yet again returning to the set he saw during his earlier period as producer. The two pilot episodes were recorded, directed by Michael Ferguson, and analysed. The point of the pilots was to ensure that the casting was correct and to see how the sets and costumes looked on screen. For example, Barry made a change to the wardrobe worn by Anne Faulkner. A second set of pilots were recorded the week before the twice weekly production juggernaut began and Compact, finally, could be laid to rest, replaced by something the BBC echelons could feel proud of – and watch from their own Park Lane flats… Compact fans, however, were not going to be so easily placated.
A Radio Times photocall generated a cover and there was the usual flurry of publicity previewing the new serial which began on Tuesday 3 August, (recorded the previous Saturday).
And this is when Anne Kerr and those immediately around her sat up and took notice, giving the eager media a chance to kick the BBC once again for making a programme nobody liked.
NEXT TIME: ‘I WASN’T PAID A PENNY.’
AND IN THE NEAR FUTURE, JUST WHAT WAS 199 PARK LANE ALL ABOUT?
In the event, that task fell to Compact producer Morris Barry, who after Swizzlewick series was up and running as a production, was succeeded by his own Compact replacement the paused actor Bernard Hepton, and Barry eventually returned to Compact.
For the full story of the scandals behind the programme, my recently reprinted book Taste and Decency – The Swizzlewick Story goes into depth behind the scenes, and also outlines most of the episodes.
John Wiles was certainly in the driving seat for ‘Galaxy 4’s rehearsal and studio sessions. John Wiles had worked with Fairchild on the eight scripts and storylines already commissioned, and he may well have been the better choice as producer. But having worked with what was then considered ‘troubled children’ may have made him a better choice.