"The Wednesday Play" TV series.
A list of episodes from a landmark programme of British TV drama.
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- CreatorSydney NewmanStarsEdwin BrownNeville SmithTony SelbySeries of one-off plays made by BBC television, which gave breaks to a wide range of writers and directors in the late 1960s, such as Dennis Potter, Ken Loach, David Mercer, and John Hopkins. Famous plays include "Up the Junction", "Cathy Come Home" , "Stand Up Nigel Barton", "Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton", "On the Eve of Publication", and "Son of Man". The series often addressed controversial issues, such as homelessness and abortion.
- DirectorJames FermanStarsRosemary LeachJimmy GardnerCharles 'Bud' TingwellA prison visitor becomes involved with a convicted sex offender.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsMichele DotriceAndrew KeirIan HolmEmma, who lived with an author for the last two years of his life, is involved in a television film about him.
- DirectorAlan ClarkeStarsRoland CulverGareth ForwoodJames CosmoA young man from an army family with a long tradition of honour and distinction goes to a military academy as an officer cadet and finds himself temperamentally unsuited to the life.
- DirectorGilchrist CalderStarsAnnette CrosbieBrian BlessedJohn StandingIn the year 2050, advances in medicine have resulted in a need for population control. People reaching the age of 100 must submit to a government controlled euthanasia program. The story centers around a 100-year old couple who must now make plans for their funeral.
- DirectorPiers HaggardStarsRosemary NicolsAnthony MayPaul GreenwoodThree young merchant seamen from Liverpool take shore leave in their home city after three years away.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsCelia JohnsonPeter VaughanSydney TaflerA former poet, now a Communist Party official in the German Democratic Republic, becomes entangled in the political machinery of a state about to plunge into a succession of Stalinist purges.
- DirectorPharic MaclarenStarsLaurance RudicRoddy McMillanJoseph BradyTwo Glaswegian youngsters are caught up in sectarian gang warfare.
- DirectorHerbert WiseStarsLeonard RossiterIsabel DeanMoira RedmondA junk dealer is caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between a woman, her husband and his mistress when they sell a piece of their furniture.
- DirectorBarry BermangeStarsAlbert van DalsumNell KnoopWies AndersenA young man befriends an elderly couple, claiming to be their grandson.
- DirectorJack GoldStarsMichael JaystonMichael PenningtonDavid WoodSecond Lieutenant Siegfried Sassoon of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers protests the appalling and unnecessary sacrifice of men's lives in the First World War.
- DirectorMichael HayesStarsSusan JamesonCorin RedgraveAnne DysonA tragi-comic study of a Northern funeral.
- DirectorMichael TuchnerStarsRobert PowellMichael RobbinsDon HawkinsAn army deserter hides out on a country estate but falls foul of the gamekeeper.
- DirectorDesmond McCarthyStarsJulie DriscollPaul NicholasRobert PowellA young woman quits her dull job in the typing pool, and goes off on a search for personal freedom.
- DirectorJames FermanStarsFrances CukaRonald LaceyDerek FrancisA couple seek a desperate remedy to the problem of a burdensome parent.
- DirectorPhilip DudleyStarsMargaret LeightonRichard WarwickPatrick BarrYoung Nicky Lancaster must cope with the discovery that his socialite mother is a drug addict.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsFrank FinlayNicola PagettT.P. McKennaA student architect and his black girlfriend set out from South Africa to Britain. On the voyage, the student shares a cabin with an enigmatic Austrian.
- 1964–19701h6.9 (11)TV EpisodeDirectorJohn McGrathStarsMarty FeldmanJoby BlanshardEileen AtkinsIn the first part, an insane man boards a quiet railway coach and starts to annoy a patient man trying to read a paper with incessant small talk in an increasingly menacing manner until he finally pulls out a gun and screaming class hatred bile, humiliates the man until his stop is reached. In part two he breaks into a lonely house and proceeds to terrorise a spinster woman who lives there.
- DirectorJohn MackenzieStarsGlyn HoustonJean HarveyAnn PenfoldThe commanding officer of a regiment handling nuclear missiles is shocked to see his daughter Sally on television taking part in a student demonstration.
- DirectorMarc MillerStarsMalcolm McDowellRichard VernonBrenda BruceThe story of an up-and-coming businessman.
- DirectorBill BainStarsSandra GleesonMark EdwardsKerry FrancisTwo young Australians on holiday in London find that the "old country" has its problems.
- DirectorJohn GorrieStarsRoland CulverLally BowersValerie WhiteA schoolmaster takes to drink.
- DirectorBill HaysStarsDudley FosterAlan BrowningColin DouglasThe history of the mining industry in the northeast of England is told through family drama, comedy sketches and song.
- DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsFaith BrookAlethea CharltonRoland CurramA woman who suspects her husband of having an affair reveals her suspicions at a party.
- DirectorPharic MaclarenStarsAndrew RobertsonRoddy McMillanCalum MillA story about growing up, falling in love and settling old scores in the unfriendly environment of a big city.
- 1964–19701h 16m6.7 (73)TV EpisodeDirectorAlan ClarkeStarsRichard O'CallaghanPaul BrookeIan ReidA shy clerk suffers from his colleagues petty office politics and contemptuous treatment of him, but this weekend, as a deeply involved train spotter, the closing of an old tunnel is his big adventure. On the way up, he encounters a well off couple with a daughter that hates them, and an Army Sergeant whose men hate him. The hotel he stays at is run by a fellow railway enthusiast, with a gay son that hates him, and he meets a famous signal designer with a daughter that hates him.
- DirectorAlan CookeStarsAnn BeachGilbert WynneMegs JenkinsThe daughter of a religious Welsh family becomes the centrepiece of a bizarre student festival.
- DirectorHerbert WiseStarsErrol JohnEster AndersonMichael GriffithsThree Trinidadians consider what it means to be exiles in an essentially white society.
- DirectorGareth DaviesStarsColin BlakelyRobert HardyBernard HeptonDennis Potter's controversial reading of the life of Christ, with Jesus portrayed as a hearty, fiery, well-meaning carpenter who believes that people should try to love their enemies rather than fight all the time, but who is racked by self doubt as to whether or not he is the popularly anticipated Messiah.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsGeoffrey BayldonCaroline MortimerDinsdale LandenA man enters into a correspondence with his colleague's eight-year-old daughter.
- DirectorMichael TuchnerStarsMichael BatesJoe GladwinPatrick O'ConnellA group of coal miners from Nottingham go on their annual trip to Blackpool.
- DirectorWilliam SlaterStarsClive RevillPauline DelaneyRobert PowellA young man bitterly regrets his part in an attack on a bank cashier.
- DirectorGeoffrey NethercottStarsTony BrittonAngela BrowneFrances WhiteAn off-beat romance in bed-sitter land.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsNorman RossingtonGodfrey QuigleyPeter KerriganDock workers under the threat of redundancy, work day and night in an attempt to keep employed by running the workforce themselves.
- DirectorClaude WhathamStarsRosemary LeachAngela PleasenceClive SwiftA woman unwittingly springs a surprise at her sister's 27th birthday party.
- DirectorJames FermanStarsBarrie RutterAnthony PhippsAllan SwiftA portrait of the life of some Northern apprentices.
- DirectorGilchrist CalderStarsRaymond HuntleyPeter BarkworthFanny RoweAfter a year as a Volunteer Service Overseas worker, a young woman returns home in search of love and understanding.
- DirectorDonald McWhinnieStarsLally BowersStephanie BidmeadGemma JonesA successful advertising executive who promotes a brand of cigarettes is reproached by his family when his mother contracts terminal lung cancer.
- DirectorPeter HammondStarsSheila SteafelPeter ButterworthDonald ChurchillA fashion editor competes for the affections of a designer with their new male model.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsLeo McKernMichele DotriceThorley WaltersAn author hosts a dinner party to celebrate the publication of his new novel.
- DirectorLionel HarrisStarsPatrick BarrTerence SewardsRoger GartlandPart of the BBC's celebrated 'Wednesday Play' series of the 1960s, this early work by Dennis Potter is set in an isolated New Forest community in 19th Century Britain. A young local girl is murdered by a mentally disturbed youth, but the villagers blame a stranger, an Italian traveling showman and his bear, rather than see the rot in their own camp.
- DirectorPeter HammondStarsPatrick MageeBernard LeeGwen CherrellA family becomes increasingly suspicious of the relationship between the mother and a mysterious stranger who starts to follow her around.
- DirectorGeoffrey NethercottStarsWalter FitzgeraldValerie WhiteMargery MasonA doctor advises a woman not to proceed with her latest pregnancy, contrary to her strict Catholic upbringing.
- DirectorClaude WhathamStarsRobert HardyMichael RobbinsRalph BallA talk-show host is required to examine his conscience and also the ethics of "good television".
- DirectorPharic MaclarenStarsPatrick AllenIsobel BlackCalum MillA man seeks his inner island.
- DirectorJames FermanStarsJohn AldertonDiana BishopDavid ProwseA couple move to a caravan park, where the owner is a petty dictator.
- DirectorClaude WhathamStarsClifford EvansRachel KempsonJoseph O'ConorGarry committed suicide to escape disgrace and imprisonment. Does he now have the chance to change the circumstances leading to his downfall?
- DirectorMichael HayesStarsBarrie InghamJulian GloverMary ChesterJames has come in search of his feckless older brother, Charlie, to ask him to come home and settle down.
- DirectorJohn GorrieStarsJean KentGeoffrey BayldonArthur LoweA lonely bachelor, seeking his long-lost sweetheart at a boarding house, meets a serial divorcée.
- DirectorChristopher MorahanStarsBilly HamonConstance ChapmanReg LyeA teenage boy reluctantly accompanies his ghastly family on a coarse bank-holiday day out to local beauty spot and tourist trap, the Cheddar Gorge.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsMichael CraigElizabeth ShepherdSimon WardA schoolmaster invites a nineteen-year-old student to stay with him and his wife to cram for imminent exams.
- DirectorJohn MackenzieStarsConstance ChapmanMary MillerRay SmithWhen an elderly woman is hospitalised, the truth behind her illegal adoption of 14 children is revealed.
- DirectorMichael HayesStarsJudy CornwellPaul DanemanJohn NettletonA happily married couple divorce for tax purposes, but their lawyer, not knowing the real reason for their divorce, falls in love with the wife.
- DirectorMoira ArmstrongStarsMichael BryantTony SteedmanJan WatersThe quiet head of a film company's dispatch department reacts violently to a practical joke.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsKen JonesBill DeanNeville SmithStory of a group of manual workers who live and breath watching Everton FC. The gang travel to London, to watch the team play Arsenal, at Highbury. Vince discovers his wife has gone into labour and has to consider returning home early.
- DirectorAlan BridgesStarsDenholm ElliottGwen WatfordGlenda JacksonTwo couples, one fights all the time and the others let tensions in their relationship build until one stabs the other, the ones that fight end up saying oh well let's murder Vivaldi they pick up their violins and play together.
- DirectorAlan CookeStarsRobert GillespieCalvin LockhartMaureen O'BrienAn African-American trumpet player spends a few hours in an English provincial town, with a girl who happens to be white. As a result, each learns to care for the other, not as a "cipher of a divided society" but as a vulnerable human being.
- DirectorMoira ArmstrongStarsClive RevillCaroline BlakistonDonald DouglasThree men who have avoided one another since violent events five years before meet unexpectedly one evening.
- DirectorRaymond MenmuirStarsGrégoire AslanMichael YorkTristram JellinekA country squire and his late friend's nephew argue over the dead man's artistic legacy.
- DirectorHerbert WiseStarsPeter SallisPeter VaughanDonal DonnellyAn industrial dispute takes place in an isolated quarry while the Drummer and the Bloke look on.
- DirectorDonald McWhinnieStarsMichael RedgraveMiriam KarlinHarold LangAn ageing millionaire reflects on his life while being pampered at a Parisian hairdressing salon.
- DirectorClaude WhathamStarsAnton RodgersCaroline MortimerDinsdale LandenJamie's flying visit is a somewhat sentimental one. Because Jamie is calling to see Lois, an old and dear flame he hasn't met since they left Oxford ten years ago. He is still the same old Jamie, but Lois has changed quite a bit.
- DirectorAlan CookeStarsAlfred LynchShelagh FraserJohn CollinBisthorpe moves into a flat where a host of bizarre events occur: hands come through walls, light bulbs explode, furniture talks, he turns into a table-top model in an advertising agency, etc. Finally, it's revealed that the new flat is, in fact, a room in a psychiatric asylum.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsAlan BadelHelen LindsayMoray WatsonAn adopted child's world falls apart when his mother decides to walk out on her marriage.
- DirectorToby RobertsonStarsJoan GreenwoodWilloughby GoddardRoy HolderFive distinguished guests spend Christmas at a health farm.
- DirectorJames MacTaggartStarsTommy GodfreyYootha JoyceBryan PringleIncompetent and corrupt defence barrister Plantagenet King dreams of a grand venture into commercial law.
- DirectorJames FermanStarsDudley SuttonLiam RedmondJohn NettletonAn army private is driven to murder when his wife falls in love with another man.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsGwen Ffrangcon DaviesAngela BaddeleyFiona DuncanThe Honourable Audrey is the latest arrival at a boarding-house in a working-class area of London.
- DirectorGareth DaviesStarsKeith BarronRoy DotriceColin FarrellIt is the morning of a notorious bachelor's wedding in this tale of marriage, friendship and non-communication between parents and children.
- DirectorJohn MackenzieStarsLee MontagueGeorge SewellKen JonesA gentleman thief puts together a gang to commit a perfectly executed robbery.
- DirectorGilchrist CalderStarsJoss AcklandPatricia LawrenceJohn StrattonA husband decides to impose a novel and outrageous arrangement on his wife.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsMax AdrianTony SelbyElizabeth BegleyA community of monks decides to solve its financial predicament through the sale of a potent cure for rheumatism made from rare herbs and one hundred per cent proof alcohol.
- DirectorRoderick GrahamFranz Josef WildStarsGeorges RouquierKarine LevyMarie Laure BenahimA French peasant struggles to reunite a young Jewish girl, whom he took in during the Second World War, with her mother when the war is over.
- DirectorPharic MaclarenStarsDuncan MacraeJohn GrievePhil McCallMrs. Gogarty agrees to pay off a stranger's debt to a loan-shark, on condition that he marry her.
- DirectorJohn GorrieStarsPeter JeffreyJohn StrattonAlan RoweThe world of two simple-minded men living with a woman is disrupted by a new lodger.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsMarius GoringRachel KempsonJohnny SekkaA black barman upsets a colonial Governor who has just retired and returned to England. He locks the barman in the cellar and treats him like an animal.
- DirectorJames MacTaggartStarsLeonard RossiterValerie NewmanMaureen O'ReillyA liberal white man becomes a Muslim to promote racial harmony.
- DirectorJohn RobinsStarsJohn RonaneAnn LynnWendy GiffordWalter has three children, by his estranged wife and his current partner, so he is far too busy to get a job, preferring to spend his time in the playground.
- DirectorJohn GlenisterStarsBill FraserBarbara CouperAmy DalbyJosh and Maisie come to Italy after the passing of the old lady who had been living in their sapre room but are soon drawn to another old lady, and try to convince her daughter that she would be better off in their tender care.
- DirectorGareth DaviesStarsPatrick MageeJoseph O'ConorPatricia LawrenceAn elderly painter, once radical and confrontational, is given a final commission - to paint the portrait of the former Conservative Prime Minister who represented a totally opposing set of values when they were both young. Both men are now old and of little consequence to the modern generation, but the painter sees his opportunity to make an artistic statement by means of the portrait.
- DirectorRobert FlemingStarsDavid BuckJohn PhillipsIsobel BlackA minor driving offence is being tried in court, but the case involves a rich young heiress, a dope peddler, and a Shadow Cabinet member.
- DirectorRex TuckerStarsPeter CopleyPetra DaviesFiona DuncanA young man, newly dismissed from his job, returns home to a party where the other partygoers seem determined that he and a female flatmate should go on holiday together.
- DirectorJohn MackenzieStarsKenneth HaighGeorge SewellBrian OultonThe life and passions of a speaker at Hyde Park Corner.
- DirectorGilchrist CalderStarsRobert HarrisBarry JusticeJohn PhillipsA parish church is undergoing restoration, when a coffin bearing the seal of Thomas à Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury, is discovered. Will the discovery help unite the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches?
- 1964–19701h 15mTV EpisodeDirectorJames MacTaggartStarsT.P. McKennaElizabeth BegleyFionnula FlanaganJohn Joe Moran is pulled between the compulsion to leave his small town in Ireland and the desire to stay.
- DirectorGareth DaviesStarsCharles WilliamsEdward EvansClive GrahamA tired signalman waits to be relieved. However, there are four trains to be guided through and some of the equipment doesn't seem to be working properly.
- DirectorRaymond MenmuirStarsVictor MaddernTony SelbyGeorge InnesA new steward on a large passenger liner finds himself subject to "charges" levied by the senior bar steward.
- DirectorKen LoachStarsAnna CropperBrian PhelanGeorge A. CooperIn a series of small vignettes, we follow the course of a manic-depressive girl through high and low instances, slowly following her disintegration as she deals with her doctors and family, especially her hot headed, unimaginative father. Eventually she is brought back to a mental asylum where she'd been committed before.
- DirectorWaris HusseinJohn SchlesingerStarsPeggy AshcroftGeorge BakerFrances CukaA frail old woman meets a middle-aged man - her estranged son, whom she hasn't seen for five years.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsBrenda BruceHywel BennettRachel KempsonInspired by a real-life case, a woman encourages her lover to murder her older husband.
- DirectorJohn GlenisterStarsRichard O'SullivanGarfield MorganGeorge MoonThe adventures of a knicker factory worker aspiring to be a sales representative.
- DirectorJack GoldStarsRoy MintonNeville SmithJoe GladwinYorky is considered a troublemaker by the building site manager. When they sack him a strike is called but lost after the police intervene. He wants nationalise the building industry but forced to go the lump - tax free and off the books.
- DirectorBrian ParkerStarsAlfred LynchJennifer JayneRichard VernonEddie Marble admires the lifestyles of the rich and wants a piece for himself.
- DirectorBasil ColemanStarsJohn NevilleCatherine LaceyGeorge CoulourisAn inspector in Austria investigates the death, over twenty years earlier, of a teenage girl who fell into a canal and drowned trying to evade capture by a policeman searching for members of the resistance.
- DirectorRaymond MenmuirStarsElizabeth SellarsRobin BaileyMichael StandingA twenty-two-year-old architecture student appears at the door of a divorced thirty-something journalist and asks to use her telephone. They talk, and slowly begin to understand one another: their lives, values, and very different sets of relationships.
- DirectorRobin MidgleyStarsJohn GielgudFelicity KendalIsa MirandaFollowing an accident, the rider of a rusting old scooter pursues the driver of a Rolls Royce to a Mayfair mansion and forces entry in an attempt to confront the owner.
- DirectorJames MacTaggartStarsGeorge SewellJohn Porter-DavisonMichael RobbinsThe Barking brothers dote on their parents and do a lot of good work for charity but the police are determined to bring them to account.
- DirectorPeter DuguidStarsDinsdale LandenPeter JeffreyAmanda BarrieA tale of two wives: one a blonde living in a chic Parisian apartment and the other a brunette with a smart mews flat in London. Both are young, attractive, and separated from their husbands, and their paths are about to cross in an unexpected way.
- DirectorGilchrist CalderStarsBasil HensonPercy HerbertDudley SuttonA major faces a court martial, accused of the willful murder of Private James.
- DirectorAlan GibsonStarsIan McShaneMarty CruikshankPatricia GarwoodA mother, anxious to secure her daughter's admission to Oxford, invites a young male graduate to lodge with them.