Books published by Samuel French Ltd

In the seemingly quiet town of Bere Knighton there is never a dull moment for Dr Richard Forth. Not only does he have a hectic work schedule and an awkward friendship with his ex-girlfriend, but his wife, Barbara, is constantly ill and nobody knows what is wrong with her.

The Sacred Flame is the story about the misfortune of Maurice Tabret, previously a soldier of World War One who had returned home unscathed to marry his sweetheart Stella. Unfortunately, after only a year of marriage, Maurice is involved in a plane crash and left crippled from the waist down. The play commences some years later in Gatley House near London, home of Maurice's mother, Mrs. Tabret.

Six aspiring authors meet on a winter's evening to discuss their work. The chairman, Arnold, attempts to get the rest of the group out of a rut by suggesting that they collaborate on a piece of writing, an idea that is received without enthusiasm. However, as Arnold is clearing up after the meeting there is a clap of thunder, a black-out.

A play set in the foreseeable future when everything has changed except human nature; a future where TV daytime soaps are performed by android actors emotionally programmed by the control room. One, JC 31333, finds herself humanized as Jacie Triplethree, complete with a sense of humour and Adam, a young scriptwriter, falls for her.

Owen Shorter, professional journalist, and Mara Hill, well known lady novelist, discover at the beginning of the play that they have been sent to Cuba to write for rival colour supplements.

Set in 1916 in a British casualty clearing station the play tells of a young soldier brought to the hospital having been found critically wounded. Being the only survivor of a platoon serving close to the lines on the Western Front with no hope of recovery, the staff battle to make his last hours as comfortable as possible.  However, they are faced with a dilemma when they receive papers regarding the desertion of Private Underwood and it soon becomes a case of should the Private be made to face the charges served or should he be allowed to die a hero?

This is a full length pantomime, entirely traditional with lots of humour and with its own original and delightful score by Eric Gilder which is available separately. The large number of both amateur and professional groups who present Crocker and Gilder pantomimes regularly every year is unmistakable proof of their success. Vocal score on sale.

Stella returns from her dress collection in Leeds to tell James, her husband, that she has been unfaithful. James confronts Bill, pressing for the truth, already determined to believe the worst. Bill confesses that he and Stella had only talked about spending the night together. It had amused him to perpetuate Stella''s story - to hurt his friend Harry. Is this the truth? Stella is silent.

The classicism of Lady Croom's grounds are being turned into a romantic chaos. In a room overlooking the work, her daughter and tutor are disturbed by, among others, Lady Croom and Ezra Chater. In the same room, 180 years later, a group try unsuccessfully to unravel the events of 1809.

Dr. Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist, is confronted with Alan Strang, a boy who has blinded six horses in a violent fit of passion. This very passion is as foreign to Dysart as the act itself. To the boy''s parents it is a hideous mystery; Alan has always adored horses. To Dysart it is a psychological puzzle that leads both doctor and patient to a complex and disturbingly dramatic confrontation.

The sequel to "Run for your wife" finds bigamist taxi driver, John Smith, still keeping both his families blissfully unaware of each other. However, his teenage children have met on the Internet and are determined to see each other. With the help of lodger Stanley, John juggles with the truth.

Melodrama / Casting: 8m, 3f / Scenery: Simple ints./exts. In this version of the old melodrama, Todd has some grounds for his nefarious activities: his wife was abducted and raped by the Judge and his daughter abandoned, while he himself was deported on a false charge. He returns to avenge his family, accompanied by a sea captain, Anthony, whose life he has saved. Anthony falls in love with a young girl, the Judge's ward, who turns out to be Todd's daughter. Todd, meanwhile, sets up with Mrs. Lovett, the pie maker, and provides her with fillings for her pies. He proceeds with his vengeful plans but the outcome is bitterly ironic.

These two plays are set in a shabby genteel hotel on England''s south coast. Except for the two leads in each (which may be doubled) the same characters appear in both. In Table by the Window, a down-at-the-heels journalist is confronted by his ex-wife, a former model who provoked him to the violent act that sent him to prison, destroying his future. Still in love, they nevertheless go through another terrible scene and it is the hotel manager, Miss Cooper, who helps repair their broken lives. In Table Number Seven, a ''self-made'' army colonel without any true background and education to which he lays claim, finds solace with a spinster over the objections of her ruthless, domineering mother. When a sordid scandal threatens to drive them apart, Miss Cooper again comes to the rescue.

This provocative work weaves a confrontation between mediocrity and genius into a tale of breathtaking dramatic power. In the court of the Austrian Emperor Josef, Antonio Salieri is the established composer. Enter the greatest musical genius of all time: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri has given himself to God so that he might realize his sole ambition to be a great composer. Mozart is a foul-mouthed, graceless oaf who has that which is beyond Salieri''s envious grasp: Genius.

This Happy Breed covers twenty years in the life of the Frank and Ethel Bibbons and their children, from the end of World War I to the beginning of World War II. On one level the story is the chronicle of a middle class family. They haven''t done well in the years between the wars, but in the face of another conflict, family unity spans the chasm between the generations. At another level, this is the story of England, torn at times by the conflicts of its own progress, but quietly firm in its historical moments of crisis.