Underground

Underground was a science fiction television play presented as part of the British anthology series Armchair Theatre which was broadcast live by the ITV commercial network on 30 November 1958. It is chiefly remembered because an actor had a fatal heart attack during transmission. Written by dramatist James Forsyth the play depicted survivors from a nuclear holocaust living in the London Underground. It featured actors Donald Houston, Ian Curry, Patricia Jessel, Warren Mitchell and 33-year-old Gareth Jones in what would be his last role. A little over halfway through the production, Gareth Jones complained of feeling unwell while off-set in make-up between two of his scenes, and then suddenly collapsed and died as he was about to continue. His character was due to die in the same way during the course of the play. The actor Peter Bowles was also in the cast and recalled many years later: "During transmission, a little group of us was talking on camera while awaiting the arrival of Gareth Jones's character, who had some information for us. We could see him coming up towards us, but we saw him fall. We had no idea what had happened, but he certainly wasn't coming our way.