Rediscovering The Roses of Eyam: A Forgotten Television Play

In 1973 playwright and television dramatist Don Taylor rewrote and directed his play
The Roses of Eyam for UK television. The original play, which was staged at the
Northcott Theatre in Exeter in 1970, has been somewhat disregarded in Theatre
Studies criticism despite its worldwide popularity in educational circles. Similarly,
the subsequent television play has been relatively overlooked in historical studies of
British television despite the fact it was one of the most ambitious dramas of its time.
This article examines Don Taylor’s 1973 televisual adaptation in relation to his
original production through archival research of production documents, interviews
with producer David Rose, and a number of textual analyses. Analysing the process
of adaptation the play had to undergo to fit with the conventions of 1970s studio
productions will reassess established truisms present within adaptation scholarship
regarding the visual language of studio-based television drama.