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The 1959 TV production

The Turn of the Screw was the first full-length Britten opera to appear on British TV


Image: Associated Rediffusion studio with monitoring screens during the 1959 recording of The Turn of the Screw; director Peter Morley is adjusting one of the screens. Peter Morley's production for Associated Rediffusion was also the first full-length by any composer to be broadcast on independent television in Britain. Act I was broadcast on 25 October 1959; Act II three evenings later. Both broadcasts were introduced by the Earl of Harewood, President of the English Opera Group.

The production featured designs by John Piper (realised for television by Michael Yates) and two of the original cast members: Jennifer Vyvyan (Goveness) and Arda Mandikian (Miss Jessel). 

Other credits:

Janette Miller (Flora)
Judith Pierce (Mrs. Grose)
Tom Bevan (Miles)
Raymond Nilsson (Prologue/Peter Quint)
English Opera Group Orchestra
Charles Mackerras (conductor)
Paul Hamburger (associate conductor)