"Fable" is a British television play, shown on 27 January 1965[1] as an episode of The Wednesday Play series on BBC 1.[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.[2]
Hopkins had anti-racist intentions in writing the play.[1]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".[1]
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.[3] In an era when negative responses to immigration were very high[2] 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.[1]
See also
BabaKiueria - a 1986 Australian mockumentary about an oppressed white minority in a society dominated by Aboriginal Australians.
^ abcdeSarita Malik Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television, London: SAGE Publishing, 2002, p.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.
