The City of London Festival Yeomen (1978)

Cast
Sir Richard CholmondelyTom McDonnell
Colonel FairfaxTerry Jenkins
Sergeant MeryllPaul Hudson
Leonard MeryllDavid Fieldsend
Jack PointTommy Steele
Wilfred ShadboltDennis Wicks
Elsie MaynardLaureen Livingstone
Phoebe MeryllDella Jones
Dame CarruthersAnne Collins
KateHillary Western

City of London Festival Production
New World Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: David Lloyd-Jones
Based on the Production by: Anthony Besch

Originally broadcast on 23 December 1978

Video Cover

This production was taped at the Tower of London in 1978 for the Festival of the City of London. The tradition of staging Yeomen at the Tower seems to have begun with the Festival of Britain in 1951. Performances were given on a stage erected across the moat outside of the structure, but the video was shot all over the Tower, especially on Tower Green to put the action in perspective, and the Tower's powerful ambiance remains irresistable.

The Anthony Besch production was first seen in 1962. Tommy Steele first played Point in the 1970s, when this video was made. Dan Kravetz reports that "the production as a whole isn't bad, though Steele is not to everyone's taste."

Chris Webster wrote with a riddle:

The website states that Tommy Steele Yeomen was videoed in various places at the Tower, but this is completely incorrect — at least it is for the video that I've just watched which is definitely a studio video recording, but adapted from the Besch City of London production, and not an actual video of that production in situ.

How did this error come about, and is it possible that there might have been two different videos? I mean, "and the Tower's powerful ambiance remains irresistable" does sound as though someone has definitely seen a film from the Tower, but this is all set within the tower walls and the image of the Tower (or it's "ambience") isn't present.

I haven't seen the video myself, and when I wrote the description above was reporting what someone else had told me — I don't remember whom!

Issue History
DateLabelFormatNumber
1978? Precision Video VHS PAL VITC 2022
1978? Channel 5 Videos VHS NTSC CFV 06912