Beasts (TV series)

Last updated

Beasts
Beasts (TV series).jpg
Genre Horror Anthology
Created by Nigel Kneale
Starring Anthony Bate
Martin Shaw
Pauline Quirke
Michael Kitchen
Patrick Magee
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes6
Production
ProducerNicholas Palmer
Running timec. 50 minutes
Original release
Network ITV
Release16 October (1976-10-16) 
20 November 1976 (1976-11-20)

Beasts is a 1976 British television series. Written by Nigel Kneale, it is an anthology of six self-contained episodes that feature the recurring theme of bestial horror. [1] [2] The series was made by ATV for the ITV Network. [3]

Contents

Format

Each episode was based around some form of bestial horror while avoiding typical monster horror clichès, more so focusing on psychological and supernatural themes. For example, "The Dummy" and "What Big Eyes" are psychological horrors focusing on men who think they are the creatures they obsess over, and "Buddy Boy", "Special Offer" and "Baby" have supernatural elements. "During Barty's Party" is the only episode to have actual 'beasts' as the main threat, them being large rats.

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"Special Offer" [4] 16 October 1976 (1976-10-16)
Pauline Quirke stars as a shop assistant whose unrequited love for her manager prompts a paranormal revenge.
2"During Barty's Party" [5] 23 October 1976 (1976-10-23)
Starring Anthony Bate, a middle-class couple's life becomes overturned by rats.
3"Buddyboy" [6] 30 October 1976 (1976-10-30)
Featuring Martin Shaw and a disused aquarium haunted by the spirit of a dolphin.
4"Baby" [7] 6 November 1976 (1976-11-06)
Starring Simon MacCorkindale as a newlywed whose wife's pregnancy falls foul of ancient witchcraft.
5"What Big Eyes" [8] 13 November 1976 (1976-11-13)
Features Michael Kitchen as an RSPCA inspector investigating a man (Patrick Magee) who is trying to turn himself into a wolf.
6"The Dummy" [9] 20 November 1976 (1976-11-20)
Shows the psychological effect on an actor (Bernard Horsfall) who regularly plays a monster in horror films.

DVD release

The series was released on DVD by Network in 2006. [10] This set also included a similarly themed TV play called Murrain that Kneale had written for ITV's Against the Crowd series in 1975. [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>Jeeves and Wooster</i> British comedy-drama television series (1990–1993)

Jeeves and Wooster is a British comedy-drama television series adapted by Clive Exton from P. G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories. It aired on the ITV network from 22 April 1990 to 20 June 1993, with the last series nominated for a British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series. Set in the UK and the US in an unspecified period between the late 1920s and the 1930s, the series starred Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster, an affable young gentleman and member of the idle rich, and Stephen Fry as Jeeves, his highly intelligent and competent valet. Bertie and his friends, who are mainly members of the Drones Club, are extricated from all manner of societal misadventures by the indispensable Jeeves.

Anne Gwendolyn "Wendy" Craig is an English actress who is best known for her appearances in the sitcoms Not in Front of the Children, ...And Mother Makes Three, ...And Mother Makes Five and Butterflies. She played the role of Matron in the TV series The Royal (2003–2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nigel Kneale</span> Manx screenwriter (1922–2006)

Thomas Nigel Kneale was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.

<i>Quatermass and the Pit</i> British television serial

Quatermass and the Pit is a British television science-fiction serial transmitted live by BBC Television in December 1958 and January 1959. It was the third and last of the BBC's Quatermass serials, although the chief character, Professor Bernard Quatermass, reappeared in a 1979 ITV production called Quatermass. Like its predecessors, Quatermass and the Pit was written by Nigel Kneale.

<i>Quatermass II</i> British television serial

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.

<i>Quatermass</i> (TV serial) British television series

Quatermass is a 1979 British television science fiction serial. Produced by Euston Films for Thames Television, it was broadcast on the ITV network in October and November 1979. Like its three predecessors, Quatermass was written by Nigel Kneale. It is the fourth and final television serial to feature the character of Professor Bernard Quatermass who was played by John Mills.

<i>Nineteen Eighty-Four</i> (British TV programme) British TV series or programme

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.

<i>Armchair Theatre</i> British television series

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.

<i>The Stone Tape</i> Television film directed by Peter Sasdy

The Stone Tape is a 1972 British television horror drama film written by Nigel Kneale and directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant, Jane Asher, Michael Bates and Iain Cuthbertson. It was broadcast on BBC Two as a Christmas ghost story in 1972. Combining aspects of science fiction and horror, the story concerns a team of scientists who move into their new research facility, a renovated Victorian mansion that has a reputation for being haunted. The team investigate the phenomenon, trying to determine if the stones of the building are acting as a recording medium for past events. However, their investigations serve only to unleash a darker, more malevolent force.

<i>The Rag Trade</i> British TV sitcom (1961–1978)

The Rag Trade is a British television sitcom broadcast by the BBC between 1961 and 1963 and by ITV between 1977 and 1978. Although a comedy, it shed light on gender, politics and the "class war" on the factory floor.

<i>Shadows</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Shadows is a British supernatural television anthology series produced by Thames Television for ITV between 1975 and 1978. Extending over three series, it featured ghost and horror dramas for children.

<i>Thriller</i> (British TV series) British TV series

Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.

<i>Tales of the Unexpected</i> (TV series) 1979–1988 British television series

Tales of the Unexpected is a British television series that aired between 1979 and 1988. Each episode told a story, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, with an unexpected twist ending. Every episode of series one, twelve episodes of series two, two episodes of series three, two episodes of series four, and one episode of series nine were based on short stories by Roald Dahl collected in the books Tales of the Unexpected, Kiss Kiss, and Someone Like You.

David Pirie is a screenwriter, film producer, film critic, and novelist. As a screenwriter, he is known for his noirish original thrillers, classic adaptations and period gothic pieces. In 1998, he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Drama Serial for his adaptation of Wilkie Collins's 1859 novel The Woman in White into "The Woman in White". His first book, A Heritage of Horror: The English Gothic Cinema 1946–1972 (1973), was the first book-length survey of the British horror film. He has written several novels, including the Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes trilogy which includes The Patient's Eyes (2002), The Night Calls (2003), and The Dark Water (2006).

Journey to the Unknown is a British anthology television series, produced by Hammer Film Productions and 20th Century Fox Television. It aired on ABC from September 26, 1968, to January 30, 1969. The series first aired in the UK on the ITV network on 16 November 1968.

Beast most often refers to:

<i>A Ghost Story for Christmas</i> British television series

A Ghost Story for Christmas is a strand of annual British short television films originally broadcast on BBC One between 1971 and 1978, and revived sporadically by the BBC since 2005. With one exception, the original instalments were directed by Lawrence Gordon Clark and the films were all shot on 16 mm colour film. The remit behind the series was to provide a television adaptation of a classic ghost story, in line with the oral tradition of telling supernatural tales at Christmas.

<i>Our Mutual Friend</i> (1976 TV serial) British TV series or programme

Our Mutual Friend is a 1976 British television serial adapted from Charles Dickens' 1865 novel Our Mutual Friend. The series was made by the BBC and ran during 1976 for a total of seven episodes. It was directed by Peter Hammond.

<i>The Human Jungle</i> (TV series) British drama (ITV, 1963–65)

The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Weekend TV by Independent Artists.

Folk horror is a subgenre of horror film and horror fiction that uses elements of folklore to invoke fear and foreboding. Typical elements include a rural setting, isolation, and themes of superstition, folk religion, paganism, sacrifice and the dark aspects of nature. Although related to supernatural horror film, folk horror usually focuses on the beliefs and actions of people rather than the supernatural, and often deals with naïve outsiders coming up against these. The British films Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973) and Witchfinder General (1968) are regarded as pioneers of the genre, while the 2019 film Midsommar sparked renewed interest in folk horror. Southeast Asian cinema also commonly features folk horror.

References

  1. "10 classics of British TV horror". British Film Institute.
  2. Marcus, Laurence. "Beasts". Television Heaven.
  3. "BFI Screenonline: Beasts (1976)". screenonline.org.uk.
  4. "Special Offer (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018.
  5. "During Barty's Party (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018.
  6. "Buddyboy (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 28 August 2016.
  7. "Baby (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018.
  8. "What Big Eyes (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018.
  9. "The Dummy (1976)". BFI. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018.
  10. "Beasts: The Complete Series". Network on Air.
  11. "Murrain (1975)". BFI. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018.