The Play on One (BBC1 1988-91): The ‘Forgotten’ Afterlife of Play for Today (BBC1 1970-84)
Forgotten Television Drama
by john hill
2M ago
by John Cook Conventionally it is accepted that Play for Today died forty years ago, in 1984.  In the spring of that year, the recently appointed Head of BBC TV Plays, Peter Goodchild, decided to ‘rest’ it, believing it had become ‘slightly tired’.[1]  A final few single dramas badged as Play for Today aired during ..read more
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Kaleidoscope: The Play’s The Thing
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
5M ago
Kaleidoscope, the classic TV organisation, is holding a day event on the Television Play at the Midlands Art Centre (MAC) in Birmingham on Saturday 7 September 2024, 10.00-5.30pm. The event will include screenings of plays made for Armchair Theatre, Saturday Night Theatre, Thirty Minute Theatre and Television Theatre From The Midlands, and there will be a screening of The Mystery of Cader Ifan (1967), a rare Conan Doyle adaptation featuring Charlotte Rampling, plus the premiere of the recently recovered audio for Sherlock Holmes: The Second Stain (1968) featuring Peter Cushing. The morning se ..read more
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Adaptations of Henry James on British television 1948-2009: A Chronology
Forgotten Television Drama
by billysmart
9M ago
The 1977 Play of the Month adaptation of Henry James’ The Ambassadors, starring Paul Scofield and Lee Remick, is being screened on BBC4 tonight, its first broadcast on British television for 46 years. Scheduled at the challenging time of five-to-midnight, overnight ratings will probably be minimal, with a larger audience likely to be accrued through long term availability on BBC iPlayer. Unlike Dickens, Austen or the Brontes, adaptations of Henry James have almost disappeared from the British TV drama repertory, with just two productions in the last 25 years (and both those were of The Turn o ..read more
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Armchair Theatre: The End of the Line (1970)
Forgotten Television Drama
by john hill
10M ago
Written by John le Carré, produced by John Kershaw and directed by Alan Cooke. Broadcast on ITV at 8.30pm on 29 June 1970. By Joseph Oldham Readers of the recently published book A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré (2023) may have been intrigued by a brief reference to a letter that the acclaimed spy novelist wrote to John Margetson, a former colleague from the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), on 15 June 1969. Outlining several creative projects in development, le Carré briefly notes that he had ‘finished a 1½ hour television play the other day.’[1] But although A Private Spy elsewh ..read more
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Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play: Discussion (BFI Southbank, 3 May 2023)
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
1y ago
The Forgotten Television Drama – Half-Hour Play season at BFI Southbank in May 2023 began with a half-hour discussion in which BFI TV Programmer Marcus Prince talked to season curator Lez Cooke about the rationale for the season. Half-Hour Story: Robert (1967) MP: So we have called the season ‘Rediscovering the Half Hour Play’ – was this the motivation and genesis of the idea for you in researching the season – a feeling that these short plays have been sadly overlooked and neglected? LC: This is the 4th season of Forgotten Television Drama at BFI Southbank, all of which came out of a project ..read more
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Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play: Mystery & Suspense
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
1y ago
The Forgotten Television Drama season, ‘Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play’ concludes at BFI Southbank on Wednesday 31 May with a session on one of the most popular forms of the half-hour play: mystery and suspense dramas. Associated-Rediffusion’s Tales of Mystery (1961-63) anthology was one of the earliest manifestations of the genre, but unfortunately none of the 29 dramas made for the series have survived. It was followed by several mystery and suspense series in the 1970s when the half-hour anthology was at its peak, including Tales of Unease (LWT, 1970), The Frighteners (LWT, 1972-73 ..read more
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Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play: Experimental Half-Hours
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
1y ago
Rotten (BBC, 1978) The Forgotten Television Drama season, ‘Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play’, continues at BFI Southbank on Saturday 27 May 2023 with three plays that illustrate the ways in which the half-hour play has been utilised as a vehicle for experimentation. Following on from the showcase of work from the Regions in the previous session, it is perhaps not coincidental that all three plays in this session were produced by BBC regional production centres in Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle, underlining the freedom to experiment and innovate that was often available to creative practi ..read more
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Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play: Women Writers
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
1y ago
The Forgotten Television Drama season, ‘Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play’, continues at BFI Southbank on Sunday 14 May 2023 with a session looking at the contribution made by women to the half-hour play. The achievement of women writers has been undervalued in television drama, but the half-hour play gave many women their first opportunity to write for television, often leading to successful careers writing full-length plays, series and serials. Here we showcase the work of three women writers who made significant contributions to television drama: Andrea Newman, Elaine Morgan and Rona Mu ..read more
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Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play: Early Work by Well-Known Writers
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
1y ago
The Forgotten Television Drama season, ‘Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play’, continues at BFI Southbank on Sunday 7 May 2023 with a session looking at early work by three writers who went on to produce landmark television drama: John Mortimer, Dennis Potter and Andrew Davies. As with directors, producers and script editors the half-hour play provided a good training ground for those learning the craft of writing for television and many now established writers penned their first television scripts for the half-hour play: others in the season include Alan Bleasdale, Michael Hastings, Rona Munro an ..read more
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Rediscovering the Half-Hour Play: Novice Directors
Forgotten Television Drama
by lezcooke
1y ago
Our Half-Hour Play season at BFI Southbank gets under way on Wednesday 3 May with a session on Novice Directors. The half-hour play has always provided a great training ground for new and emerging talent. In this selection we feature three plays directed by figures who went on to enjoy great international success. Half-Hour Story: Robert (ITV, 1967) Frank Windsor in Robert (1967) Director Ridley Scott. With Angela Baddeley, Frank Windsor, Robert Langley. 25min Half-Hour Story was one of ITV’s most significant anthology series. Rediffusion produced 38 half-hour plays in three series from May 19 ..read more
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