Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.
Overall, about 110 plays were produced with a duration of usually between 75 and 90 minutes during the series' four-year run, and for its final year from 1967 the series was produced in colour, BBC2 being the first channel in Europe to convert from black-and-white.[1] Some of the best-known productions made for the series include a new version of Nigel Kneale's 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four (1965); the four-part Talking to a Stranger by John Hopkins (1966) which told the same story from four different viewpoints, and features Judi Dench; and 1968's science-fiction allegory The Year of the Sex Olympics, again by Kneale.
As with much British television output of the 1960s, many editions of Theatre 625 no longer exist (see Lost television broadcast). Some episodes, previously thought lost, were discovered in Washington D.C. in 2010.[3] These recoveries included the remake of 1984. Only three plays, A Slight Ache, A Night Out and Mille Miglia, exist as their original 625-line colour videotapes. Alls Well That Ends Well also survives in its original 625-line format, but only the first hour. Some episodes exist as lower-quality colour copies, but most plays survive as black and white 16mm or 35mm telerecordings. In addition, The Fanatics exist in full colour as a 35mm telerecording, and some short sequences on 35mm film survive from other plays.
List of episodes
The main source for compiling this list was the BFI Film & TV database. The website's master list is here. With a certain irregularity in transmission, breaking this list down into specific seasons is likely to be arbitrary, with variants between sources; the BFI website has been followed, except (as noted) where the lostshows website diverged in a few instances. IMDb and the BBC Genome database (of Radio Times listings) have been used as a check, and occasionally as the main source. The information about the episodes survival status in the last column is taken from the TV Archive website and The Kaleidoscope BBC Television Drama Research Guide, 1936–2011,[4] and are correct as of 26 March 2024. A handful of the surviving episodes have been commercially released on DVD; these are footnoted.
In addition to those listed, And Some Have Greatness Thrust Upon Them, by Terence Frisby and directed by Gilchrist Calder, was planned for 1967 but cancelled as a result of Frisby obtaining an injunction against the BBC over a line excised from the script on grounds of indecency, but which Frisby deemed structurally significant to the script he had licensed to the BBC.[5]
Legend: Se = Season; Ep = Episode; AS/A = Archive status/Availability Abbreviations: tr =Telerecording; seq = sequence(s)); VT = video tape
All known copies are black & white, except where stated otherwise.
Barrie Ingham, Donald Eccles, Malcolm Webster, Frederick Jaeger, Sebastian Breaks, Hamilton Dyce, Janet Suzman, Alan Dobie John Nettleton, Peter Halliday, David Garfield, Noel Johnson, John Sharp, George Selway, John Cater, Terence Lodge, Bernard Hepton, Joby Blanshard
Edward Woodward, Trader Faulkner, Vivian Pickles, Anthony Roye, James Villiers, Donald Layne-Smith, Nicholas Hawtrey, Tim Preece, Clifford Cox, Erik Chitty, Richard Hampton, Peter Howell, Dennis Chinnery, Robert Fyfe, Douglas Ditta, Sydney Bromley, Freddie Jones, Geoffrey Chater, James Beck, John Flint, Nicholsas Courtney, Ronald Fraser
Quatermass II is a British science fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the oldest of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a British television adaptation of the 1949 novel of the same name by George Orwell, originally broadcast on BBC Television in December 1954. The production proved to be hugely controversial, with questions asked in Parliament and many viewer complaints over its supposed subversive nature and horrific content. It starred Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell, Donald Pleasence and André Morell.
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including Rumpole of the Bailey, subsequently became television series in their own right.
The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 for six seasons from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually original works written for television, although dramatic adaptations of fiction also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968.
Talking to a Stranger (1966) is a British television drama, written by John Hopkins for the BBC, which consists of four separate plays recounting the events of one weekend from the viewpoints of four members of the same family. The play cycle was directed by Christopher Morahan and produced by Michael Bakewell and first shown in the Theatre 625 series on BBC 2.
"The Year of the Sex Olympics" is a 1968 television play made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 as part of Theatre 625. It stars Leonard Rossiter, Tony Vogel, Suzanne Neve and Brian Cox, and was directed by Michael Elliott. The writer was Nigel Kneale, best known as the creator of Quatermass.
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted regularly from October 1965 to May 1979, before returning for the summer seasons of 1982 and 1983. The producer most associated with the Play of the Month series was Cedric Messina. Thirteen productions were also shown previously or subsequently on BBC2 in the period 1971-73 under Stage 2. Productions were broadcast in colour from November 1969.
No Trams to Lime Street is a 1959 British television play, written by the Welsh playwright Alun Owen for the Armchair Theatre anthology series. Produced by ABC Weekend TV for transmission on the ITV network, the play was broadcast on 18 October 1959. The original version no longer exists.
The Morecambe & Wise Show is a comedy sketch show originally broadcast by BBC Television and the third TV series by English comedy double-act Morecambe and Wise. It began airing in 1968 on BBC2, specifically because it was then the only channel broadcasting in colour, following the duo's move to the BBC from ATV, where they had made Two of a Kind since 1961.
The Forsyte Saga is a 1967 BBC television adaptation of John Galsworthy's series of The Forsyte Saga novels, and its sequel trilogy A Modern Comedy. The series follows the fortunes of the upper middle class Forsyte family, and stars Eric Porter as Soames, Kenneth More as Young Jolyon and Nyree Dawn Porter as Irene.
Rookery Nook is a 1970 British television production by the BBC.
Oh In Colour was a comedy television sketch programme broadcast on BBC 2 in 1970. It ran for one six-episode series from September to November 1970. It was written by and featured Spike Milligan, who was accompanied by different stars every week. It was shown after the thoroughly more popular Q5, also written by Milligan and Neil Shand. It is likely the programme was written to bridge the long production gap between Q5 and the next series, Q6, which did not appear on TV screens until 1975.
Thirty-Minute Theatre was a British anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. It was produced initially by Harry Moore, later by Graeme MacDonald, George Spenton-Foster, Innes Lloyd and others. Thirty-Minute Theatre began on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy Parson's Pleasure. Dennis Potter contributed Emergency – Ward 9 (1966), which he partially recycled in the much later The Singing Detective (1986). In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service, with the consequence that Thirty-Minute Theatre became the first drama series in the country to be shown in colour.
Second City Firsts is a British drama anthology series of single plays, broadcast by the BBC, all lasting thirty minutes. Recorded at BBC Pebble Mill in Birmingham, or sometimes filmed on location, the series was broadcast between 1973 and 1978.
BBC2 Playhouse is a UK anthology television series of one-hour episodes produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Among its many performers were Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Paul Scofield, Deborah Kerr, Ben Kingsley, Donald Pleasence, Brenda Blethyn, Peggy Ashcroft, Peter Sallis and Margaret Whiting.
Play of the Week is a 90-minute British television anthology series produced by a variety of companies including Granada Television, Associated-Rediffusion, ATV and Anglia Television.
Variety in Sepia is a television Variety special that was filmed live on 7 October 1947 at the RadiOlympia Theatre, Alexandra Palace, London, and was aired on BBC TV.
Late Night Horror is a BBC horror series shown in 1968 over six 25-minute episodes.
References
1 2 There is at least one exception to the 75-90-minute duration rule. David, Chapter 2 (2.12), a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation production first broadcast there on 20 May 1963 is listed at 60 minutes duration here.
↑ Coward, Simon; Down, Richard; Perry, Chris (2011). The Kaleidoscope BBC Television Drama Research Guide 1936–2011. Kaleidoscope Publishing. pp.2508–2519.
↑ Bently, Lionel; Sherman, Brad (2014). Intellectual Property Law (4thed.). Oxford University Press. pp.290–291. ISBN978-0199645558.
↑ Unlike the BFI, IMDb lists him as Michael Forest, but there was a British actor in this era with relatively extensive television credits who spelt his surname with a second 'r'.
↑ Television version of a production at the Theatre Royal, Bristol.
1 2 3 4 Released on DVD in The Judi Dench Collection, BBC boxed set.
↑ The BFI website and IMDb are remiss in not indicating the author of this work, but the character's names indicate that it must be the play by T.S. Eliot.
↑ Originally broadcast 18 March 1965 on BBC2 as a Thursday Theatre.
1 2 3 Released on DVD by the BFI in the Pinter at the BBC boxed set, 2019.
↑ Credited as 'Moffatt' on this occasion (BFI website).
↑ Broadcast in the Theatre 625 timeslot but not billed as such in the Radio Times (according to BBC Genome database); it was a Telefís Éireann production.
↑ Credited as 'Zohra Segal' according to the BFI website.
↑ Broadcast in the Theatre 625 timeslot but not billed as such in the Radio Times (according to BBC Genome database), however the BFI lists it under Theatre 625; it was a BBC/RSC production. Repeated 19 February 1970.
↑ "All's Well That Ends Well". British Universities Film and Video Council. Retrieved 9 May 2022. This source also identifies it as a Theatre 625 production and the first BBC television production of a Shakespeare play transmitted in colour.
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