On This Day, August 23: Dead Ringers and Australian Shadow
Also featured: Mail Call.
August 23 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 23 across American, British, and Australian broadcasting history (1944–2002):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Dead Ringers (Series 5, Episode 4) — Jon Culshaw as Tony Blair" | BBC Radio 4 2002-08-23 6:30 PM |
Non-commercial BBC Public Service |
Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Mark Perry, Kevin Connelly | Bill Dare (Producer), Nev Fountain (Script Editor) | ["Comedy", "Satire", "Parody", "British"] |
The comedy impressionist troupe skewers contemporary British politics and television, featuring Jon Culshaw lampooning Prime Minister Tony Blair holding a surreal Downing Street press briefing and Jan Ravens impersonating Queen Elizabeth II preparing for the Golden Jubilee. |
| "Return to Life (Starring Lloyd Berrell & Lyndall Barbour)" | 2UW Sydney / Syndication 1951-08-23 (Grace Gibson) |
Commercial Syndication Aeroplane Jelly & Atlantic Oil |
Lloyd Berrell (The Shadow), Lyndall Barbour (Margot Lane) | Grace Gibson (Producer & Director), Morris West (Adapter) | ["Superhero", "Mystery", "Detective", "Thriller"] |
Lamont Cranston and Margot Lane investigate a ruthless con artist posing as a resurrected spiritual medium to swindle wealthy widows, using the power to cloud men's minds to confront the medium inside a darkened séance chamber. |
| "The Green Star of Lhasa (The Tibetan Emerald Smugglers)" | 2UW / Macquarie 1953-08-23 (Grace Gibson) |
Commercial Syndication Atlantic Motor Oil |
Lloyd Berrell (The Shadow), Lyndall Barbour (Margot Lane) | Grace Gibson (Director), 2UW Sydney Sound Bureau | ["Superhero", "Mystery", "Detective", "Thriller"] |
The Shadow tracks a stolen sacred emerald known as the Green Star of Lhasa through Sydney's waterfront docks, invisible to an international smuggling ring as he prevents the assassination of a Tibetan diplomatic courier. |
| "The Frank Muir Version: Table Manners & Historical Dining Etiquette" | BBC Radio 4 1976-08-23 8:15 PM |
Non-commercial BBC Public Radio |
Frank Muir (Host / Humorist), Simon Brett (Reader) | Frank Muir (Writer), Simon Brett (Producer) | ["Comedy", "Talk", "Literature", "Humour", "British"] |
Celebrated British humorist and raconteur Frank Muir explores the bizarre and hilarious evolution of dinner table etiquette through centuries of historical literature, quoting Victorian dining manuals and sharing anecdotes on gastronomic mishaps. |
| "In Pursuit of Colonel Drury (Starring Marius Goring)" | Towers of London / NBC 1953-08-23 (NBC Syndication) |
Sustaining Regional Syndication |
Marius Goring (Sir Percy), David Peel, Lucie Mannheim | Harry Alan Towers (Director), Sidney Torch (Composer) | ["Adventure", "Historical", "Drama", "Swashbuckler"] |
Sir Percy Blakeney assumes his foppish aristocratic persona while secretly slipping into Revolutionary Paris to rescue a captured British intelligence courier, Colonel Drury, outwitting Chauvelin's secret police at the barricades before the guillotine falls. |
| "AFRS Mail Call #105: Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, and Burns & Allen" | AFRS Transcription 1944-08-23 (Mail Call #105) |
Non-commercial War Dept. Special Services |
Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy, Burns & Allen, AFRS Orchestra | Jerry Lawrence (Writer), Don Wilson (Announcer) | ["Variety", "Comedy", "Music", "Military", "War"] |
Beloved operetta legends Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy reunite to sing romantic duets for troops overseas, while George Burns and Gracie Allen perform comedy routines on Gracie's eccentric wartime inventions for the Armed Forces Radio Service. |