Into the Light (radio drama) explained

Into the Light
Format:	serial drama
Runtime:	30 mins
Start Time:	8pm
End Time:	8.30pm
Country:	Australia
Language:	English
Home Station:	2BL
Syndicates:	ABC
Producer:	Lawrence H. Cecil
First Aired:	7 February 1938
Last Aired:	23 September 1938
Num Series:	1
Num Episodes:	37

Into the Light is a 1938 Australian radio serial by Edmund Barclay.^[1] It followed on from this success with As Ye Sow.

The series launched the acting career of Lyndall Barbour.^[2]

The series was so popular it was re recorded with a new cast and director in 1944.

Premise

The adventures of a man in the 16th century. According to Wireless Weekly "The serial begins in the year 1500 when England still cowered exhausted from the brutal Wars of the Roses, while the world around her was passing through changes more momentous than anything since the fall of the Roman Empire. Portuguese mariners had doubled the Cape of Good Hope, Columbus added a new world to the old, and Cabot, sailing from Bristol, threaded his way through the icebergs of Labrador. The capture of Constantinople by the Turks, and the flight and dispersal of its Greek scholars, opened anew the science and literature of the older world at the very hour when the intellectual energy of the middle ages had reached its lowest ebb. It is at this period that the story opens in the village of Chilton Dene, hidden in the woods of Hampshire, the old Manor House on the hill above the village, and in a valley below, by the river, a Cistercian monastery."

Cast

• Vivian Edwards as Black Monk
• Lyndall Barbour as Rosamund)
• Rupert Chance as Sir Peter Lorimer

Episodes

• Ep 1 The Black Monk (7 Feb) "The new National Serial opens in the quiet Hampshire village of Chilton Dene, round about the year 1500 A.D., when the world was slowly and painfully emerging from the ignorance and brutality of the Dark Ages. Sir Peter Lorimer, of Chilton Dene Manor, is a young man on the threshold of life, his footsteps inclined for the Camp and the Court. It is a bright May-day morning, and the sun smiles in the sky, when a cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand...?"
• Ep 2 The Witches/Burned at the Stake (14 Feb) "The Bailey of Andover, working craftily upon the superstitions of the credulous peasantry of Chilton Dene, awakens in them the lust to kill, the cry being “Death to the Witch.” Brother Jacopopo, careless and unaware of the forces with which he is playing, and'more in jest than in earnest, also plays his unthinking part in a series of events which culminate in black tragedy."
• Ep 3 The Crooked Smile (21 Feb)
• Ep 4 Doom comes to Chilton (28 Feb) - "Renouncing his birthright, Sir Peter Lorimer changes his name to Peter Lacklove, and sets out into the world to find the mysterious Philosopher’s Stone, at whose magic touch Men become as Gods, and walk the world in Peace, Beauty, and Kindliness. He is drawn into the web of European diplomacy, concerning the marriage of Catherine of Aragon to Arthur, Prince of Wales."
• Ep 5 The Runagate Princess (7 March) "Peter Lacklove at last meets and comes to an understanding with Brother Despard, and then goes on his way. Walking through the Hampshire forest he meets two young boys, and quickly discovers them to be not what they seem. One of them is captured by a piratical raiding party, led by Sir Andrew Barton, the famous Scottish Pirate, who catches in his net a far nobler quarry than he had thought to catch."
• Ep 6 Catherine Must Choose (14 March) - "Catherine, Princess of Aragon, a wilful young girl of fifteen, and young Prince Henry, a sturdy little fellow rising eleven, have run away from the King’s Camp at Southampton, Cather-ine half-girl, half-woman, loathing the idea of her approaching marriage with Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Henry, boyishly in search of adventure. Catherine is dressed in the clothes of a boy page, and young Henry passes as her brother. They are befriended by Peter Lacklove, who is known to the countryside as “The Pilgrim with the Crooked Smile,” and the three of them are eventually captured by Sir Andrew Barton, the famous Scottish Pirate."
• Ep 7 (21 March)
• Ep 8 Cross or Crescent? (28 March) - "Peter Lacklove, the pilgrim with the crooked smile, and his companions, while journeying to Rome, are captured by Moorish corsairs and are faced with the alternative of renouncing Christianity or suffering fiendish tortures and cruel death."
• Ep 9 A Gentleman of Spain (4 April) "Broken by his many years of torture and captivity in the galleys of the Sultan of Sali, Don Rodrigez is but a wreck and shadow of a man; yet when the time comes he proves that the divine spark is not dead, but only dim."
• Ep 10 Desert Justice (11 April) - "The Christian fugitives from Sali with freedom almost within their reach, have the hope crushed within them by the Sultan of Sali, who takes them captive once again. But even an Eastern despot has his notions of Justice, and the journey across the desert is resumed."
• Ep 11 Master of Italy (18 April)
• Ep 12 Mona Lisa (2 May) - "Such is the ferment of new thought, new learning, and great art in renaissance Italy, that Peter is convinced that here he will find the Philosopher’s Stone, and he goes about his search with feverish energy. At Florence, in the studio of a famous artist, he sees the nearly completed canvas of a woman with a brooding smile, and he seeks her out, anxious to discover the secret of the smile that has since puzzled humanity for four hundred years."
• Ep 13 Brother of Mankind (9 May) "Brother Jacopopo, the lazy, cowardly, and selfish companion of Peter Lacklove, demonstrates the truth of the old saying that no man is fully known until he’s fully tested, and at the crisis of his life he shows that he is a “Brother” indeed, the Brother of Mankind. "
• Ep 14 Trifles Make Perfection (16 May) "After leaving the plague-stricken province, Peter Lacklove and Michelangelo travel together to Florence, where once again Peter meets Mona Lisa. He attempts to reconcile the great artists, but finds the task beyond his powers."
• Ep 15 Master of Italy (23 May) "My Lord Cesare Borgia, Duke of Romagna, momentarily foiled in his attempts to absorb the republican city of Florence, is inclined to use more gentle methods. He is persuaded to take the advice of Peter Lacklove, who for a few short days has the opportunity of fashioning an Italian Utopia."
• Ep 16 Paid in Full (30 May) - "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, says the old adage, and at the moment when Peter’s plans with Cesare Borgia are reaching fruition, a vindictive woman sets out to wreck them."
• Ep 17 Venetian Carnival (6 June) "Peter Lacklove, his association with Cesare Borgia irretrievably ruined by the machinations of a vindictive woman, journeys to Venice still seeking and still hoping to find the fabled philosopher’s stone."
• Ep 18 Catherine’s Country (13 June) "Reaching Spain, Peter Lacklove is cast into prison bv the Inquisition, and sentenced to death for heresy. But out of his past a long-forgotten kindness to a Princess of Aragon moves the Queen of Spain to stretch him a helping hand."
• Ep 19 The New World (20 June) "Making good their escape from Spain, Peter Lacklove, accompanied by the lovely Donna Eulalie, joins the last expedition of Christopher Columbus and journeys across uncharted seas to the New World, where Peter hopes to find his Philosopher’s Stone."
• Ep 20 The Vast Unknown (27 June) "In the New World, discovered viously by Christopher Columbus, and now settled by the Spanish, Peter Lacklove meets some old friends who had shared with him captivity at Sali, and hears from them the Indian legend of the Fountain of Youth. "
• Ep 21 The Fountain of Youth (4 July)
• Ep 22 Slaves of the Lamp (11 July) "Peter Lacklove, who expected so much from the New World, finds that the ills of the Old swiftly attain luxuriant growth in the exotic atmosphere of the West Indies. The hideous hypocrisy attendant upon West Indian slavery brings bitter enmity between him and certain one-time well-loved friends."
• Ep 23 Echo and Shadow (18 July) "After his adventures with the slaves at Hispaniola, Peter Lacklove rejoins the expedition of Christopher Columbus, bound for the great unknown mainland. He thinks to leave behind him the echo, but finds that echoes and shadows are very much alike."
• Ep 24 The Aztec Empire (25 July)
• Ep 25 (1 Aug)
• Ep 26 Westward Ho! (8 Aug) "Peter Lacklove and his companions, forcing their way through the untrodden jungle, at last reach the West Coast and are the first white men to gaze on the Pacific Ocean."
• Ep 27 Twilight of the Gods (15 Aug) - "Peter Lacklove, still clinging precariously to the power he has attained in the Aztec Empire, attempts to redress great wrongs, but once again finds greed and cunning almost too much for him."
• Ep 28 Farewell Morocco (22 Aug) "Once again Peter Lacklove is disappointed in his search for the philosopher’s stond, and he bids farewell to his friends in ancient Mexico."
• Ep 29 The Iron Hand (29 Aug) - "Back once again in Europe, Peter Lacklove continues his search for the Philosopher’s Stone, and, in Europe, meets one of the most colorful figures in medieval history."
• Ep 30 (5 Sept)
• Ep 31 Rebellion (12 Sept) "The German peasants, driven to desperation under the relentless tyranny of their feudal masters, are led in wild rebellion by Gotz of the Iron Hand, and Peter finds himself embroiled."
• Ep 32 Never Again (19 Sept) "At long last the mists begin to clear from Peter’s memory, and he tries to get back to England, but never again will he hear the cuckoo creak its note."
• Ep 33 (26 Sept)
• Ep 34
• Ep 35 The Rebellion
• Ep 36
• Ep 37 (The Final Episode) The Philosopher’s Stone - "Peter Lacklove comes to the end of all his journeys, and, finding the only stone which can be called a Philosopher’s Stone, he also finds with it everlasting peace."

Notes and References

1. News: New Barclay Serial. "Into the Light." . . 29 . 9194 . New South Wales, Australia . 21 January 1938 . 23 September 2023 . 9 . National Library of Australia.
2. News: World Radio Convention . . Queensland, Australia . 19 January 1938 . 23 September 2023 . 16 . National Library of Australia.