Posthumous Treatment
The strange story of the Rector of Stiffkey has been the subject of several fictionalised retellings. David Wood with David Wright wrote a two-act treatment A Life in Bedrooms, produced in Edinburgh in 1967 and later as The Stiffkey Scandals of 1932 on BBC2 TV and at Queen's Theatre in London in 1968, which trod a middle ground on Davidson's guilt or innocence. This was subsequently revived as The Prostitute's Padre at Norwich Playhouse in 1997.
A musical And God Made the Little Green Apple was staged at the Stables Theatre, Manchester in 1969. Stuart Douglas wrote a play in 1972 The Vicar of Soho which portrays Davidson as a politically naive, but well-intentioned social reformer. Ken Russell made a 1990 underground film Lion's Mouth based on the scandal; the central character is a female journalist on the Skegness Sentinel. A 2009 stage production The Missionary's Position gives an amusing variety music hall style portrayal of Davidson as a naive buffoon but leaves his guilt open to question.
John Walsh's novel about Davidson's life, Sunday at the Cross Bones, was published on 8 May 2007.
The 1982 film, The Missionary starring Michael Palin tells a similar story but is set in the Edwardian period.
Many documents concerning the case are now in the public arena, except his personal letters and papers which remain with his family. The documents have been used by Davidson's descendants and the present priest at Stiffkey as evidence that he was not guilty of the charges which were found proved against him. A BBC regional documentary in 2004 showed their attempts to posthumously exonerate him.
The death of Davidson has echoes of the unlikely death of Hannah Twynnoy, killed by a tiger in England.
Read more about this topic: Harold Davidson
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