the part." Early in filming Peter Finch and Kay Kendall watched rushes and asked Rank's head of production Earl St John that Muriel Box be replaced. After discussions it was decided that Box should stay on the film if she allowed them to take a more improvisational approach, although she did not have a strong rapport with her stars. Reception "Simon and Laura takes to the screen as a duck to water", announced The Times. "Its satire and sophistication make a welcome change", claimed Virginia Graham in The Spectator, "and I can heartily recommend it." "This Pinewood comedy is full of good jokes at Lime Grove's expense", added The Star, while the Daily Worker called it "A most efficient exercise in what is now the time-honoured film sport of television baiting." In the News of the World Peter Burnup observed that "Simon and Laura may not turn out to be another Genevieve or Doctor in the House but all the same it has plenty of elegance and high spirits", adding, "I have no doubt the BBC will survive the good-humoured leg-pull." "Simon and Laura betrays in its style, method and presentation of sophisticated marital disharmony a diligent admiration for Mr [Noël] Coward's Private Lives", concluded Fred Majdalany in the Daily Mail. "When he is just being himself Mr Melville is in much better form. Television may be a sitting target, but he gets it well and truly with both barrels." Television versions Melville's TV satire appeared on Danish television (Simon og Laura) in December 1955, Swedish television (Simon och Laura) in February 1960, and Finnish television (Simon ja Laura) in November 1960. Then, almost ten years to the day since its West End premiere, it made it to British TV, via the recently inaugurated channel BBC2, on 19 November 1964. The director was Christopher Morahan, the producer Cedric Messina, and the settings were designed by William McCrow. Ian Carmichael was this time cast as the middle-aged Simon rather than the ambitious young BBC producer David Prentice, the role he'd previously played both on stage and film. David was played instead by Richard Briers, with Moira Lister as Laura. Melville, who appeared in person to introduce the play, made various changes to his original script, including a self-reflexive rewrite for Simon's initial objections to working on TV: "Television? You call that a wonderful job? Three weeks' rehearsal, not enough money to