Alma Mater was a BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 Play for Today

Play for Today

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted...

which was originally broadcast on 7 January 1971 and which was written by David Hodson. It was episode 11 in Season 1.

In the play civil servant Jimmy Nicholson (Ian Carmichael

Ian Carmichael

Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...

) returns home after a long period working in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 to visit his son at boarding school

Boarding school

A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...

, the same school where he himself attended. It is the school's sports day, and old school grudges come flooding back.

The cast included Max Adrian

Max Adrian

Max Adrian was a Northern Irish stage, film and television actor and singer. He was a founding member of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre....

, Hilda Braid

Hilda Braid

Hilda Braid was an English actress who had a long career on British television and became well known in her later years for playing Victoria "Nana" Moon in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders....

, Nigel Hawthorne

Nigel Hawthorne

Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...

, Dinah Sheridan

Dinah Sheridan

Dinah Sheridan is an English actress who appeared in the films 29 Acacia Avenue and Genevieve .She made her film debut in 1937, and has frequently appeared on television...

, Anthony Andrews

Anthony Andrews

-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...

 and Christopher Reynalds

Christopher Reynalds

Christopher Reynalds is a British child actor of the 1960s and 1970s and is a former Caterham 7 motor racing champion.-Acting career:...

.

External links

• 'Alma Mater' on TVCream.org
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066755/'Alma Mater' on the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
  
  ]
• http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/131556'Alma Mater' on the British Film Institute
  British Film Institute
  The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
  
  ]
• 'Alma Mater' on TV.com