TV PLAYS & SINGLE DRAMASOne of the most controversial films ever made for television and banned from British screens for almost twenty years. CLICK HERE FOR REVIEW. Now regarded as a shining light of British television's golden age, The Wednesday Play is often held up as the perfect example of the impact that television had on a generation of viewers, and just how much that impact has diminished in more recent years. The series was created at the behest of Sydney Newman (see TV Greats), the head of BBC Drama, in an attempt to save the one- off play from extinction on the BBC's premier channel in the light of poor ratings and a 1. BBC Audience Research Department survey, which reported that the corporation's stock was at its lowest for eight years, due in no small part to 'the relative unpopularity of the plays'. Newman had already scored outstanding success on ATV with Armchair Theatre and changed the face of the televised drama in the UK. Alun Owen's 'The Strain' and Simon Raven's 'The Scapegoat' were among the notable dramas produced. Then in spring 1. Newman, who had been in the process of restructuring the BBC's drama department, appointed Scots director James Mac. Taggart as producer of the new BBC- 1 play slot. Mac. Taggart's previous work on earlier experimental play strands, Storyboard (1. Teletale (1. 96. 3) had impressed Newman greatly, and he was the type of person that the drama chief would put his trust in. The first Wednesday Play premiered on 2. October 1. 96. 4 with 'A Crack in the Ice' by Nikolai Leskov, shortly after which Mac. Taggart appointed as his story editor a young writer and actor who he had worked with on Teletale: Roger Smith. It was the first script commissioned for Mac. Taggart and Smith in January 1. Written by a convicted murderer (James O'Connor), 'A Tap on the Shoulder' was representative of the series as a whole as it broke the convention of TV plays as the audience had been used to seeing them. Where these plays were different was in their presentation as documentaries rather than straight dramas. Directors like Ken Loach, Jack Gold and others extended the scope of these productions by taking the drama out into the streets, away from the traditional studio artificiality, and thereby presenting the audience with a much starker realism that at times made them question if what they were watching was fact or fiction. Among the presentations were first time outings for authors such as Dennis Potter, John Hopkins, David Mercer, Jeremy Sandford, David Rudkin, Jim Allen, Tony Parker, Nell Dunn, and Colin Welland. The result was a series that had even greater impact than Armchair Theatre, with some Wednesday Play presentations going down in television history as some of the very best examples of the genre. Among these were Dennis Potter's 'Stand Up, Nigel Barton' and 'Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton' (1. Up the Junction' (1. Nell Dunn's vivid observation of working- class life in a south London community; 'Cathy Come Home' (1. Jeremy Sandford's disturbing story about the inadequacy of the welfare system in Britain; 'The Lump' by Jim Allen (1. Title: Seven Deadly Sins (1966–) 7 /10. Want to share IMDb's. You have no Favorite Channels. To follow a channel click the. If you wish to view your Favorite Channels from anywhere on the site, click on the My Favorites link.
David Mercer's moving study of a schizophrenic young woman, 'In Two Minds' (1. Interviewed years later, Sydney Newman attributed its success to James Mac. Taggart. I simply changed the title of the series every year. Every time I had that single play slot on the BBC I gave the producers the same terms I followed on 'Armchair Theatre: ' to dramatise the turning points in England today in the most dynamic way possible; murder, mysteries, comedies - every genre of drama possible to illuminate the country. The first year the guy botched it up to such an extent that those above wanted to kill the single play. The second year I gave it to someone else and he too messed it up and I had to fight like hell to keep it on the air. It wasn't until I found the right guy - Jimmy Mac. Taggart - that it was called 'The Wednesday Play' and it took off because we had the right dynamic and the other producers didn't. I described what I wanted and he interpreted it his own way and did a great job. The producer is the spark- plug - if the show's no good get rid of the producer or tell the producer to change the show. Newman's successor as Head of Drama, Shaun Sutton, attempted to save the series by shifting its emphasis and renaming it Play for Today. Play for Today turned out to be, for the next fourteen years, another hugely successful series for the BBC, cementing its reputation for single dramas of the highest quality. How many couples are dragging out a dreary, meaningless existence because they have long ceased to care for each other - and haven't the initiative to do anything positive about saving their marriages? And in any case, what can be done about it? The play is set in a seaside caravan camp, which is visited with monotonous regularity by the same married couples every weekend of the summer. Barbara Lott and Victor Platt as Anne and Jack Harrison, and Jennifer Wilson and Bryan Pringle as April and Frank, are two couples who have been meeting there regularly for years. Kitchen chores for the women, while the men fetch the water and take a nap. A game of cards for the men and Bingo at the clubhouse for their wives. The emotional lives of both couples have also fallen into the same dull routine. They contrast sadly with the young lovers played by Keith Maidwell and Primula Pyne, who are obviously absorbed with each other. As Barbara Lott put it: . Everyone will recognise couples they know. Probably they didn't expect to fall into the habit of never smiling, or never saying a kind word to each other, and always being slightly aggrieved- but somehow it has happened. And one knows so well that April and Frank are typical of thousands who have forgotten why they ever married. The lady's embarrassment is not eased when she discovers her bed- mate dead. Her first thought is to dial 9. Her mother (Mona Washbourne), the genial Pete (popular musician Joe Brown) from Happy Housewives Cleaning Service, and fussy Mrs. Katapodis (Claire Davenport) conspire to dispose of the body. This was Charles Laurence's first play and also a new venture for Joe Brown, who was making his first drama appearance. The play was broadcast under the Armchair Theatre strand on 2. January 1. 96. 9 at 8. How did he gain his uncanny knowledge of Frame's private life? Is it possible that he really comes from anothert time? This is the most unusual case the doctor has ever had. The Yellow Pill, starring Nigel Stock, Richard Pasco, Peter Dyneley and Pauline Yates, was the first in ITV's new anthology series, Out of this World. Originally it was planned to be the second episode with Dumb Martian preceding it, but ITV Head of Drama, Sydney Newman, decided to put Dumb Martain out under the Armchair Theatre strand a week before. Therefore, The Yellow Pill (which sadly no longer exists in the archives) takes its place in television history as the first episode of ITV's first science fiction series. Broadcast on Saturday 3. June 1. 96. 2 the episode was (as was each in the series) introduced by Hollywood's British born master of horror, Boris Karloff. Immediately following the broadcast of Dumb Martian Karloff appeared on screen in a promo to tell viewers: . A mere pebble in space about forty miles across - four hundred and eighty- three million miles out of this world. If you do not find it a most unusual story, then my name isn't Boris Karloff. Nationally it came 1. BBC's long established series Z- Cars. The original story was written by American science fiction writer Rog Phillips and adapted for television by Leon Griffiths. He proves an easy target for his housemaster, Mr Simmons, who takes every opportunity to sneer at . But when Mrs Simmons, the housemaster's young wife, becomes interested in his poetry, and even in him, he finds himself in a scandalous situation that could jeopardize his entire future. On 2. 0 March 1. 96. Young Woodley was presented as part of BBC TV's Twentieth Century Theatre series. Jeremy Spenser played the title role of Young Woodley, John van Druten's first major success, and a play that made a tremendous impact on theatregoers of the 1. William Devlin played the housemaster, Mr Simmons, and Jane Wenham, Laura, his wife. The schoolboys: Cope, Vining and Milner, were played by boy actors well- known to viewers at that time, Brendan Collins, Pearson Dodd and Michael Tennant. Ainger was played by Michael Bangerter, who was making his first television appearance; the part was offered to him as a result of a BBC TV audition. The parlour maid was played by Anne Hudson. Due to its controversial subject matter, about the bored wife of a school headmaster who falls in love with one of his pupils, Young Woodley was turned down by the Lord Chamberlain. The Theatres Act 1. Lord Chamberlain the statutory authority to prohibit the performance of plays where he was of the opinion that . As a result of this decision, Young Woodley had to travel far for its first production, finally being staged in New York in 1. It was a major success in the United States and as a result, Van Druten moved there to work. The play was later produced at the Arts Theatre Club in London's Soho district, in February 1. Lord Chamberlain withdrew his objection. It was produced the following month at the Savoy Theatre, where it ran for over 4. Frank Lawton. In 1. British International Pictures (although it did not receive critical approval). It was directed by Thomas Bentley with Lawton reprising his stage role. Stephen Harrison's BBC TV production was set in the year 1. BBC's Third Programme (today's Radio 3).
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