Rediscovering The Roses of Eyam: A forgotten television play

In 1973 playwright and television dramatist Don Taylor rewrote and directed his play The Roses of Eyam for UK television. The original play, which was staged at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter in 1970, has been somewhat disregarded in Theatre Studies criticism despite its worldwide popularity in educational circles. Similarly, the subsequent television play has been relatively overlooked in historical studies of British television despite the fact it was one of the most ambitious dramas of its time. This article examines Don Taylor’s 1973 televisual adaptation in relation to his original production through archival research of production documents, interviews with producer David Rose, and a number of textual analyses. Analysing the process of adaptation the play had to undergo to fit with the conventions of 1970s studio productions will reassess established truisms present within adaptation scholarship regarding the visual language of studio-based television drama.