 The BBC continued producing various kinds of drama, including docu-drama, throughout World War II; amongst the writers they employed were the novelist James Hanley and poet Louis MacNeice, who in 1941 became an employee of the BBC's.MacNeice's work for the BBC initially involved writing and producing radio programmes intended to build support for the US, and later Russia, through cultural programmes emphasising links between the countries rather than outright propaganda.By the end of the war MacNeice had written well over 60 scripts for the BBC, including "Christopher Columbus" (1942), which starred Laurence Olivier, "The Dark Tower" (1946), and a six-part radio adaptation of Goethe's "Faust" (1949).