I have looked for a reference to this excellent play for ages and I would dearly love to see it again. Ron Moody gave a wonderful performance as the sadistic PE teacher who was merciless in his verbal attacks on the very overweight schoolboy who did not appear to have an athletic bone in his body. Apart from Moody's famous line, the other memorable line from this play, which was uttered on more than one occasion by the boy in question, in his defence, was: "I only held the rope, sir". I remember that the event leading up to the prolonged attack on the boy had something to do with another boy climbing a rope in the gym and committing some prank, the details of which I have forgotten after forty years.
5 Reviews
excellent comedy if a trifle Fatist
boughrood6 July 2003
I saw this 33 years ago and thought it very good although all I can remember is a vicious Physical Education Master (Presumably Ron Moody) who's catchphrase was of course " Is that your body boy?" delivered with maximum sarcasm. Probably a little too fatist for todays sensitive souls but I would like to see it again. This seems to be the only reference to it on the web.
39 years on - I still remember this
Tony-16610 March 2009
Just a slight correction. This certainly wasn't a comedy :-) I remember it so well because I had to suffer under a number of sadistic masters at the school I then attended. In this play the Carstairs character gradually softens and there is some nice dialogue between the boy in detention and the master. Probably only exists now in the BFI archive. In which case there it will stay, obsessively guarded by some strange people who see their job as keeping the only copies "safe" but without ever letting anyone see it. I utterly despair at the attitude of the BFI.
Ho Hum.
Ho Hum.
From a cast member
bobyetzes21 January 2014
Strange to see a review of this programme as I was 'the body'. It was a great team with Ron Moody, the other boys - one who had worked on the film If.. with me and the Director. We had a real PE Instructor for a couple of sessions which seemed a bit irrelevant. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of this production although I probably have a copy of the script somewhere. We shot the whole thing in a school which was in session most of the time so lots of distractions. I seem to remember shooting the whole thing in pretty quick time despite a few takes on some shots. It would be nice to see some of these old productions back on television but it seems unlikely.
defiance
dave-14377 September 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I haven't seen this play since it was first broadcast. I recall that Ron Moody's character made three boys stand on their toes in the gym. The first two boys soon faltered before the timed period was up. The third boy was able to last out but in an act of defiance he stood down. This was in a similar vein as Tom Courteney in The loneliness of the long distance runner. I would love to see this Andrew Davies' classic again. I suppose it was wiped along with lots of other great plays. If anyone knows differently then please let us know. Even if the script was available if would be something. Searching the internet brings up very few references for this play.
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