Concept and creative process
Opening titles for a British television drama series adapted from the Charles Dickens novel 'Our Mutual Friend'. The titles in a cursive script reflected the traditional approach to credits for the ‘classics’, inherited from the commercial cinema. Of passing interest is that 'Our Mutual Friend' was adapted for television by Freda Lingstrom, who until 1956 had been Head of BBC Children’s Television, where she had been personally responsible for a number of iconic children’s television shows such as ‘Watch with Mother’, featuring ‘Andy Pandy’; and ‘The Flower Pot Men’. She had also commissioned a wide range of programmes from quality drama to entertainment shows, such as ‘Crackerjack’, ‘Harry Corbett and Sooty’ and had given the talented Johnny Morris his first break in TV. After the BBC she wrote books for children and on art history and appreciation. She produced a new children’s series ‘Bizzy Lizzy’ and 13 new episodes of ‘Andy Pandy’ in colour for the BBC through her company Westerham Films. This script adaptation was an opportunity for a woman of many talents to plough a new furrow in her career.