Under The Age (30 Minute Theatre BBC-1 1972, Paul Angelis)

In the Beckett-esque drama Under The Age, broadcast as part of Thirty Minute Theatre, “Susie” is the make up wearing landlord of a pub where on a rain swept evening the only customers are two working class young men who are not too sure what to make of their host but when Susie invites them to join them later at a select club he is a member of it is clear their is a frisson between him and one of the men. Then two young girls who Susie accuses of being “Under the Age” for drinking arrive to change the dynamic.

Strange but definitely of interest on many levels, Paul Angelis as the rather threatening Susie is excellent. One can quite imagine the stir this would have caused if you saw it on original transmission. There is a definite “frisson” between Susie and Mike which must have been interesting during filming as the two Angelis’s in the cast are brothers!

production details
UK / BBC One / 1×30 minute episode / Broadcast 20 March 1972

Writer: E.A. Whitehead / Script Editor: Barry Hanson / Production Design: Margaret Peacock / Producer: David Rose / Director: Alan Clarke

Series: Thirty Minute Theatre Season Seven Episode 25

cast
PAUL ANGELIS as Susie
MICHAEL ANGELIS as Mike
STEPHEN BENT as Jack
ROSALIND ELLIOT as Alice
SYLVIA BRAYSHAY as Sandra
DAVID LINCOLN as The Boy