Company at the Midland Arts Theatre. Historical and television context The title of Heil Caesar obviously replaces the word "Hail" in "Hail Caesar" with the German "Heil" invoking a connection to the Nazi salute of World War Two Germany. The play clearly has a central theme about how easily societies can slip into military dictatorship and/or an authoritarian political personality cult, and it was not the first time that Bowen had written for television on that theme. In 1971, just two years previous to the first 1973 TV production of Heil Caesar, John Bowen also wrote seven episodes of the ITV series The Guardians which also had as a central theme the threat of military dictatorship, and which was also set in the then near near future of the 1980s. The idea that modern Western European countries could be subject to military or authoritarian rule was clearly not a fanciful one at that time. Portugal, Greece and Spain were all subject to one or both of those forms of rule in the early 1970s when The Guardians and Heil Caesar were both written and first broadcast. Original Episode Titles Part 1 The Conspirators Part 2 Murder of a President Part 3 Defeat Cast Brutus: Anthony Bate Mark Antony: John Stride Messala: Frank Middlemass Lepidus: Geoffrey Bayldon Caesar: Peter Howell Cassius: David Allister Portia: Angela Thorne Trebonius: Alan Rowe Octavius Caesar: Peter Settelen Casca: William Simons Decius: Arthur Blake Publius: John Sterland Metellus: Jeffry Wickham Aide-de-camp to Messala: Anthony Smee Newscaster: Clive Jacobs Awards In March 1974 Ronald Smedley collected the 1974 Rediffusion Flame Of Knowledge Star Award for Heil Caesar. The prize was awarded by the Society for Film and Television Arts for the best educational programme shown during the preceding year. Japan International Television Festival Winner References External links The Sunday Post: Shakespearean Spin-Offs 1973 television plays BBC Julius Caesar (play) Modern adaptations of works by William Shakespeare