An English Tragedy

From BBC Radio 4. Written by Ronald Harwood; Full-cast dramatisation; Dramatised by Bert Coules.

May 1945: victory in Europe, and a Labour landslide. English traitor John Amery is arrested in Italy and brought back to London for trial. If convicted, he faces the death penalty. But his father is a senior politician; surely the Establishment will look after its own...

The play charts the weeks leading up to the execution, following John's arrest in Italy and trial in London. Like a real-life Sebastian Flyte, he clutches his teddy bear, lies, boasts and jokes as the day of execution draws inexorably nearer. Meanwhile his distraught parents try everything in their power to save him.

John Amery was the Harrow educated son of Churchill's Secretary of State for India, Leo Amery. His brother Julian was later to become a prominent Conservative MP. A troubled man, who had been expelled from Public School and bankrupted as a young entrepreneur, John became a passionate fascist. He broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda during World War 2 and ran a programme recruiting British POWs to fight for Germany on the Eastern Front. Unlike his brother Julian, John was a wild boy - bisexual, hedonistic and unstable. Why?

John Amery ..... Geoffrey Streatfield
Leopold Amery ..... Derek Jacobi
Bryddie Amery ..... Isla Blair
Warder/ Sergant ..... Christopher Knott
The Major / Judge ..... Pip Donaghy
Dr Rosemary Pimlott ..... Melanie Jessop