Radio Waves - Dick Barton: Special Agent!
 
 
When the Second World War ended and recruits were demobbed back to England,
the entertainment industry started into one of its 'Golden Ages' with the initial thrust being
on stage and also on radio, which had kept the home fires burning with a whole raft of
entertainers during the war years.
 

Many of the wartime series, such as Waterlogged Spa and Mediteranean Merry-Go-Round, changed into other much-loved peace-time shows which would run for years such as Much Binding In The Marsh and The Navy Lark.

Others started from scratch, as the broadcasters realised that more people than ever would be listening to them and that they would need new shows and possibly different formats. The serial was quickly adopted as a successful idea, but it wasn't until the adoption of the idea of a daily serial that things really changed. And although the first daily serial wasn't a soap, it paved the way for the idea to take hold later on, firstly on radio and later, to great effect - if not also to great detriment - on television.

In April 1946, the controller of the Light Programme, Norman Collins conceived this idea of a daily-running serial as a dramatic adventurous 'Boy's Own' yarn. He commissioned staff director John McMillan to take over an d develop the project, as yet untitled, before handing it over to series producer Martyn C. Webster, who would also produce many of the popular Paul Temple radio stories to assemble the production teams

McMillan wrote a brief dossier on the main characters, with some of the names under consideration for the leading character including Peter Fenton, Rex Drake, Peter Grant and lots of Bartons - including Peter Barton! - until eventually Richard 'Dick' Barton was selected. However, the character outline for Barton was detailed and involved research including checking the weather on the day of his birth with both the Air Ministry and the Town Clerk of High Wycombe!

Richard 'Dick' Barton was born in High Wycombe on Tuesday 10th December 1912 at 5pm. He was 5 feet 11 inches, weighed 11 stone 6 pounds, had chestnut brown hair and a fair complexion. In his career prior to joining the Armed Forces in 1939 he travelled extensively around the world and during that time helped build both an oil pipeline while in Persia and construct an airport in Peru. He joined the Royal Engineers on the 10th October 1939 and was commissioned on the 15th March 1940 where he was posted to France. He was one of those aboard the flotilla of little ships that evacuated Dunkirk during the beginning of June 1940, returned home where he was awarded the MC for bravery and joined the Commandos in July the same year. He worked his way up the ranks to the position of Captain, a rank he held when finally demobbed at the end of the war on 5th November 1945. As you can see, Dick's back story was well and truly defined from the word go.

Webster selected fellow producer Neil Tuson to be in overall charge of the series, and between them that selected the writers who would script the adventures of Dick and his pals Jock Anderson and Snowey White based on Collins' idea and McMillan 's format dossier. Initially there were only two writers, Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason, and although both were usually credited together it was often a case of Lennon and McCartney; one would write one episode leading up to the 'oh no, how will Dick get out of this one?' cliffhanger and leave it to the other to resolve this conclusion in the following episode!

One of the most abiding memories of the programme was its signature tune, more often used these days to comic effect in shows were a moment of 'high drama' is supposedly intended. But as it was originally used, it summed up for a nation the daring of the heroes and the situations they would find themselves in. "The Devil's Gallop", composed by Charles Williams, was selected by producer Neil Tuson and it was with this that the first edition exploded onto the Light Programme at 6.45pm on Monday 7th October 1946 starting a 20 part story entitled "The Secret Weapon".

The main cast assembled for the series were Alex McCrindle as Jock, John Mann as Snowey and Noel Johnson as Dick himself. While neither McCrindle nor Mann had much of a career away from radio in the industry, Johnson guested in many shows on television from the Fifties onwards including Ivanhoe, Danger Man, Ghost Squad, Doctor Who, Counterstrike, Doomwatch, A For Andromeda and The Andromeda Breakthrough, Churchill and the Generals, Harry's Game, Inspector Morse, A Touch Of Frost and Red Dwarf. As reported in RTS#4, he died in October 1999.

Something that wasn't as clear cut and set in stone as Dick's past was his 'modus operandi'or rather the programme's. In hindsight everybody who remembers the programme remembers Dick as the very clean-cut, polite, stiff-upper-lip Brit who was always ready to leap into action with derring-do. Well, this was certainly the case, but he wasn't as squeaky-clean in the beginning as he later turned out to be and is remembered as. Originally he smoked a pipe, enjoyed a drink and had a girlfriend.

However, when it was clear that Dick Barton Special Agent was the most popular programme with children, the BBC decided to change quite a few things and drew up a 'Code of Conduct' for the writers to abide by when creating new adventures for Dick and his pals after the first series ended on Friday 31st May 1946. From the second series the writers had to abide by these codes, and what follows is the list of twelve as given to them at the time:

1. Barton is intelligent as well as well as hard hitting. He relies as much upon brains as upon brawn.

2. He only uses force when normal, peaceful means of reaching a legitimate goal have failed.

3. Barton never commits an offense in the criminal code, no matter how desirable the means may be argued to justify the end.

4. In reasonable circumstances, he may deceive but he never lies.

5. Barton's violence is restricted to clean socks on the jaw. The refinements of unarmed combat taught to British Commandos can not be practiced by him or his colleagues. When involved in a brawl, which ends in victory for Barton's side, he must be equally matched or out numbered.

6. Barton's enemies have more latitude in their behavior but they may not indulge in actually giving any injury or punishment that is basically sadistic.

7. Barton and his friends do not wittingly involve innocent members of the public in situations that would cause them to be distressed. For example a motorcar may not be requisitioned for the purpose of chasing bandits without the owner's permission.

8. Barton has now given up drink altogether. No reference must be made to its existence in the Barton circle. The villains may drink but never to excess. Drunken scenes are barred.

9. Sex, in the active sense, plays no part in the Barton adventures. Dick has no flir tations or affairs and his enemies have no 'Molls' or 'Mistresses' (as opposed to partners). This provision does not rule out the possibility of a decent marriage (not involving Dick personally) taking place.

10. Horrific effects in general must be closely watched. Supernatural, or pseudo-supernatural sequences are to be avoided - ghosts, night-prowling, gorillas, vampires.

11. Swearing and bad language generally may not be used by any character. This ban ranges from 'bloody' through 'God', 'Damn' and 'hell' to ugly expressions currently heard in certain conversations, but not considered admissible for child usage in middle class homes.

12. Political themes are unpopular as well as being occasionally embarrassing. The-man-who-wants-to-rule-the-Earth creates little impact and is best left out of the Barton world.

As you can see, not only was Dick's character toned down into the Barton people remember, but a lot of Bondesque situations would never possibly happen to Dick, even in an 'up and at 'em' Boy's Own manner. Even so, from when it returned in 1947, Dick Barton's adventures continued to grow in popularity until it regularly attracted listening audiences of between 14 and 16 million.

Three feature films were also made around this time, the first in 1948 with the others following in 1949 and 1950 respectively. Made by horror film studio Hammer (under the Exclusive Films banner), they featured none of the radio cast with Dick being played by Don Stannard. The first involved germ warfare ("Dick Barton - Special Agent") whilst the other two involved death rays being projected from the top of Blackpool Tower ("Dick Barton Strikes Back") and Beachy Head lighthouse! ("Dick Barton At Bay"). It is likely that a fourth film would have been made by Hammer, but they decided not to continue when Stannard died in a car accident.

On radio in 1949, Noel Johnson decided to leave the role at the height of its popularity to go into films and he was replaced by Duncan Carse who continued with the part until 1951 when Gordon Davies became the third and final radio Barton. By this time though the programme was in trouble, as was reported by the Daily Mirror in that year:

Dick Barton is facing the greatest struggle of his career - for survival. Talks now going on at Broadcasting House may mean the end of radio's blood-and-thunder hero when the present winter series closes in March (1951). Some BBC chiefs feel that Dick Barton has had his day.

In September, when the four-year-old serial returned to the air, the broadcasting time was moved t o 6.15 instead of 6.45 after complaints that it kept children up too late. But since the change the number of listeners has dropped from 5,000,000 to about 2,000,000.

The new time, so close to Children's Hour, has also brought fresh criticism from some officials of this programme who have always been against Dick's adventures - so utterly opposed to the policy of all other children's programmes.

Authors Edward J. Mason and Geoffrey Webb - who provide 80 per cent of his adventures - are now busy scripting the new daily serial "The Archers".

On Friday 30th March 1951, Dick Barton - Special Agent finally drew to a close after the BBC bowed to the 'moral minority' and decided it had run its course. It had run for 711 15 minute episodes, with an omnibus repeat on Saturday mornings for much of its run, which was a respectable tally for any serial or series. In the series itself, Dick, as a reservist, received his call up papers and returned to the army. However...

In 1972, as part of the BBC's 50th anniversary celebrations, a new 10 part version of the first radio serial was remade with the original cast. However, the BBC were fortunate in that they were able to get hold of a recording of the original serial from a member of the public to transcribe the script from. The original serial either hadn't been recorded or had been junked long before and the scripts were no longer held in the BBC's Written Archive. This new recording was made available in the Nineties on cassette; whether a copy of the original is retained by the BBC is currently unknown.

Nothing more was heard of Dick and co. until the end of the Seventies when Southern Television decided to make a tv version. Adopting the same format as the radio serial i.e. 15 minute episodes, the producers decided to play it strictly for laughs and the result was a disaster - possibly a taste of things to come for Southern as it lost its franchise soon after! Barton was shown to be more often than not a bit of a thug, with neither Jock or Snowey exactly the most moral characters either. The cast had great difficulty keeping a straight face during the dialogue and it just goes to prove how much the Barton formula had been used as a sendup before it even got to this attempt; a similar fiasco had previously been attempted with Sexton Blake, though not by Southern. It lasted for 26 twice-weekly episodes before disappearing for good. The main cast were Tony Vogel as Dick, Anthony Heaton as Snowey and James Cosmo as Jock.

However, in the Nineties Dick would manage to return - and this time it would eventually be something of a triumph which continues on even now. It started in 1997 when Radio 4 commissioned a one-off special entitled Richard Barton - General Practioner! The title was obviously a spoof, but it had some reasonable, bone-fide credentials. It was created by Lol Mason, son of original Barton writer Edward J, and featured Robert Bathurst as young Richard Barton, a rural doctor whose now retired father Dick, here played by Moray Watson, was still very much alive, if not entirely in control of his faculties, and still capable of bringing a touch of derring-do to the quiet countryside. Julian Dutton played the younger Dick in flashbacks, Iain Cuthbertson appeared as Jock with Richard's wife Sally was played by Sally Phillips. It was a successful enough little homage that five further programmes were produced in 1998, with Matilda Ziegler as Sally.

It was after this that Dick's adventures received their biggest boost to date with a return that has played to large audiences in the theatre. The artistic director of the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon, Ted Craig, decided to stage a musical play over the Christmas and New Year period of 1998. He hit upon the idea of doing a musical version of the series and the rights were purchased from the BBC. To date, three sellout shows have been performed, all written by Phil Willmott, directed by Craig and with musical direction from Stefan Bednarcyak. As I write this article, the fourth installment, entitled Dick Barton and the Flight Of The Phoenix with Adam Morris in the title role is due to open December 6th 2002.

While Dick Barton may have had his heyday back in the Forties, there is little doubt that there is still a fondness for his adventures to this day and that there is a large legacy on many fronts pertaining to his success. Mason and Webb went on to create the British soap opera format in The Archers for radio, which filtered through to produce Coronation Street, Crossroads etc, down the years. The square-jawed adventuring hero, w hilst seen in the comics before in the likes of Bulldog Drummond, was personified on radio in Barton, and no doubt paved the way for many films to be made in the swashbuckling style since, such as the Indiana Jones saga - even if the more modern heroes may be less moralistic. Yes, Dick Barton - Special Agent may have been of its time, but its success contributed to so much more down the years and for much of that entertainment we should be grateful to Dick, Jock and Snowey.

article copyright PPS / M.Hearn 2003