"The Times" credited the ambition of BBC television drama in its review of a July 1938 modern dress version of "Julius Caesar", while also criticising some of the production's technical failings. "From the moment when Mr. Sebastian Shaw and Mr. Anthony Ireland were discovered sitting at a "café" table, discussing the political situation over a glass of beer, looking like two Fascist officers, yet speaking the lines assigned to Brutus and Cassius, the attention of the audience was riveted... The penumbrascope, a device for providing a background by means of shadows, which came into play for the first time in this production, was used so carelessly that its edges were often visible. The essence of stagecraft is illusion, which must not be shattered by such accidents. Caesar's ghost was also very unconvincing, nor did the handful of people listening to the funeral orations suggest an excited mob." Greater praise was given by the same paper to "Felicity's First Season", broadcast in September 1938 and, unusually for the time, written directly for television. "The play relies on dialogue throughout, and there is a skilful use of film to suggest the journey to Scotland. While there are few characters and little change of scenery, enormous cocktail parties, balls, and jumble sales seemed to be in progress just out of sight. The result was something between a stage play and a film—that is to say, good television entertainment."