The Blue lamp

This police drama shows how Ealing’s wartime mix of social purpose and fictional realism, centred on the idea of a national community, was extended into postwar concerns. Although this is a ‘social problem’ drama (the problem of transgressing delinquent youth), the ‘daydream of universal benevolence’ as Barr calls it, strongly links ‘The Blue Lamp’ to the Ealing comedies scripted by Clarke. The police are presented as a professional family. Society, including the professional underworld, closes ranks against the postwar excrescence of delinquency represented by the violent, hysterical, irresponsible and overtly sexual Riley. Reference: Charles Barr, Ealing Studios, Cameron & Tayleur, London, 1977. Cast includes Jack Warner, James Hanley, Bernard Lee and Dirk Bogarde. Based on a story by Ted Willis and Jan Read.