REVIEW: The English Family Robinson – ‘Free Passage Home’

Broadcast: Thursday, 21st November, 1957

Character: Doctor Bannerji

Some Background

Iain McCormick’s prestige as one of television’s most competent playwrights in the 1950’s, stood higher than ever after the completion of his four-play cycle, ‘The English Family Robinson’.

Although the press appeared not to be greatly impressed by the first play in the series (‘The Third Miracle’ – Broadcast: 14th November, 1957), each of the other subsequent episodes succeeded in improving on the one before. Indeed, Norman Cook of the Liverpool Echo described ‘Free Passage Home’ – the fourth and final instalment of this mini-series – as “a masterpiece of the dramatic, but finely controlled television craftsmanship”. 

By all accounts, the saga had been and excellent, thought-provoking series that stressed the fact that Britain – usually blamed by all sides in any situation, had done much for the Indian people and had nothing to be ashamed of. 

The Story

McCormick’s ‘English Family Robinson’, was a four-part drama series which drew a lifelike picture of India during British rule, with each of the stories being presented in an intensely and personal way. The fourth and final play brought the epic up to 1947.

‘Free Passage Home’ told the story of Ross Robinson’s son, Sandy – a commissioner in the Indian Civil Service, who’s charged with the duty of handing over the administration at the time of the partition of India on August 15 of that year. Unfortunately his North-Western District of Dalpor is bisected by a river which becomes the frontier between the new India and Pakistan.

The story opens just two days before the handover. Robinson has been ordered to avoid violence at all costs, but the inflamed racial tensions threaten to break into a wave of murder and destruction, while refugee columns struggled to reach safety through hostile country.

Peter (left) as Doctor Bannerji, with John Robinson as Sandy Robinson and Olaf Pooley as Mirza from the play, ‘Free Passage Home’ – the last episode of the plays in the ‘English Family Robinson’ series.

Inside Robinson’s office, there’s a cross-section of the political forces at work in this darkest of hours before the dawn of a new nation. At first, the Commissioner’s sympathies appear to lie with the representatives of the new Pakistan, who were courteous and co-operative. The Hindu leader – Doctor Bannerji (Peter Wyngarde), on the other hand, is an arrogant fellow, who’s loathed to co-operate and pointedly discourteous. In the end, however, even he was shown to be not so bad after all.

The Commissioner even had a good word for the Communist leader, who was also shown earning the gratitude of the British by rescuing the Robinson’s wife from an angry Hindu mob.

‘Free Passage Home’ successfully combined powerful entertainment value with a tolerably praiseworthy attempt to summarise the political arguments of the period (and which continue to this day) of a period in Indian history which was at once great and tawdry.

Critics Comments

“Peter Wyngarde contributed a striking and incisive performance as the Hindu leader” The Liverpool Echo “Last night’s episode was also outstanding for the performance of Peter Wyngarde”. The Evening Chronicle “This play cycle has been outstanding for the quality of the performances of the many members of the cast, and none have been better than Mr Peter Wyngarde, who we saw last night”. The Stage “Peter Wyngarde as Dr. Banneji, a local leader of the Hindu sect, proved again the potentialities of this actor”. The Times