Silver Ridge (radio series) explained

Silver Ridge
Format:adventure serial
Runtime:30 mins
Start Time:8.30pm
End Time:9pm
Country:Australia
Language:English
Home Station:2FC
Syndicates:ABC
Starring:Edward Howell
Charles Tingwell
Director:Max Afford
Record Location:Sydney
Num Series:1
Num Episodes:10

Silver Ridge is a 1954 Australian adventure radio series by Max Afford. It was set in Australia at a time when that was relatively rare. The serial was one of Afford's last productions prior to his death in 1954.[1]

The show was inspired by the town of Broken Hill.[2]

The serial was repeated in 1956.

A sound recording of the play and original scripts are at the University of Queensland Library.[3]

Reception

The Adelaide Mail thought it "opened promisingly enough... But it fell down completely when characters like railway fettlers, police constables, and hotel hands came on the scene. I found the disconcerting accents of these characters sufficient to detract from the main action of the play. Maybe I'll get used to it in time but I think It would be easier for the actors concerned just to speak like normal people."[4]

The Sydney Morning Herald thought Afford "does not appear to have learned... that there is a germane difference between the credibility of a story and the credulity of an audience."[5]

The Advocate thought "It's not often that one can accuse Mr. Afford of piling cliche upon cliche, but his situations this serial are one long cliche. And, for some obscure reason — possibly the B.B.C. has an eye on this feature as giving a representation of part of Australia—his dialogue is so crammed with what passes for typical Australian jargon that it sounds embarrassingly theatrical and self-conscious. Mr. Afford can do, and has done, much better than this."[6]

The ABC Weekly said "if the dialogue is very limited in range, at least it has a sort of honest thuggery about it."

Premise

A tale of espionage set in the mining city of Silver Ridge.

Cast

Episodes

  1. 13 June 1954 - first episode
  2. 20 June 1954
  3. 27 June 1954
  4. 4 July 1954
  5. 11 July 1954
  6. 18 July 1954
  7. 25 July 1954
  8. 1 August 1954
  9. 8 August 1954
  10. 15 August 1954 - last episode

Notes and References

  1. Book: Philp, Peter. 435. Drama in Silent Rooms. Eureka Media Communications. 2016.
  2. News: 'Silver Ridge" on 2NB . . XLVI . 14,525 . New South Wales, Australia . 22 September 1954 . 26 August 2023 . 5 . National Library of Australia.
  3. https://search.library.uq.edu.au/primo-explore/search?query=title,contains,silver%20ridge,AND&query=creator,contains,afford%20max,AND&tab=61uq_all&search_scope=61UQ_All&vid=61UQ&mode=advanced Silver Ridget
  4. News: TOO MANY TALK LIKE DAVE . . 44 . 2,193 . South Australia . 19 June 1954 . 26 August 2023 . 55 . National Library of Australia.
  5. News: The Week In Radio... LISTENER AT LARGE . . 36,368 . New South Wales, Australia . 14 July 1954 . 26 August 2023 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
  6. News: RADIO. FILM . . LXXXVII . 5165 . Victoria, Australia . 22 July 1954 . 26 August 2023 . 18 . National Library of Australia.