TV play, house demolished

[swan04]

Anyone remember a British TV play about a gang of lads who demolish an old guy's house? Probably mid or late 1970s. Don't know what the old man did to deserve it (possibly a paedophile?) but anyway as soon as he is out of sight, on his way to work or on holiday, a gang of lads break into his house and literally reduce it to rubble; the old man returns to find just a pile of bricks and his sad face says it all. What was it called, and why did the lads do it?

[kristen]

its actually a short story written mid- 20th century- i cant think of the exact name but rent the movie DONNIE DARKO because they talk about the name of the story- written by someone with the last name of Greene (i think)

[barney15c]

yep graham greene - i remember the play very well too. At first i thought it was part of the BBC's "Play for today " series but it wasnt , more likely either a season of plays about his stories or a one off programme.

[barney15c]

The story is called "The Destructors" heres a link to the entire short story: http://66.102.11.104/search?q=cache:n1rN-grjF-wJ:www.upol.cz /~prager/e_texts/destructors.htm+grahaM+GREENE+the+destructo rs&hl=en It was part of the "Shades of Greene" series of 1975 shown on BBC.

[TommyC]

...and no explanation is given in the story itself for their actions. The final line presents the whole story as a very black comedy despite the man's heartbreak - completely in keeping with Greene's reputedly very unpleasant, sneering personal manner.