"Fable" is a British television play, shown on 27 January 1965Sarita Malik Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television, London: SAGE Publishing, 2002, pp. 138–139. Some sources suggest the play went out on 20 January, including the BFI's Screenonline article below, but the Leyton by-election was held on 21 January 1965. as an episode of The Wednesday Play series on BBC 1. Written by John Hopkins, the play is set in a parallel totalitarian Britain where those in authority are black people, and white people are their social underdogs – a reversal of the situation in contemporary apartheid South Africa.
It was directed by Christopher Morahan and produced by James MacTaggart.
Cast Eileen Atkins – Joan Ronald Lacey – Len Thomas Baptiste – Mark Barbara Assoon – Francesca Carmen Munroe – Lala Keith Barron – Narrator Rudolph Walker – Policeman Leo Carera – Editor Bari Johnson – Deputy Editor Dan Jackson – Overseer Sally Lahee – Lilian George Roderick – Laughton Trevor D. Rhone – Assistant Editor John Rapley – Michael André Dakar – Head of State Frank Singuineau – Minister Charles Hyatt – Newsreader Thor Pierres – Secretary Kenneth Gardnier – Interrogator
Commentary Hopkins had anti-racist intentions in writing the play. Carmen Munroe has said that for the actors the production was a frightening experience "because suddenly you were being asked to perform the sorts of acts that were performed against you in real life".
The programme's original screening, scheduled for 20 January 1965, was postponed by the BBC for one week "to avoid accentuating the colour issue" during the Leyton by-election to be held on 21 January. In an era when negative responses to immigration were very highMark Duguid "Fable (1965)", BFI screenonline audience research at the time of the original broadcast suggested that some whites in the audience saw the role reversal as threatening and reinforced their racist views.
See also BabaKiueria – a 1986 Australian mockumentary about an oppressed white minority in a society dominated by Aboriginal Australians. White Man's Burden – a 1995 film about similar subject matter. Noughts and Crosses (TV series) – a 2020 television series, based on the novels by Malorie Blackman, about similar subject matter.
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