Gaslight Theatre (TV series)

Alfred Marks & Patricia Routledge in Britons to the Rescue; Radio Times cover, 1965

Gaslight Theatre is a 60-minute UK anthology television series produced by and airing on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1965. It consisted of six 19th century melodramas presented in the spirit of the Victorian theatre, when theatres were lit by gas lamps instead of electric light. Among its guest stars were Ronnie Barker, Joss Ackland, and Patricia Routledge. ^{[1] [2]}

Episodes

• Maria Marten; or, The Murder in the Old Red Barn - adapted by and starring Alec Clunes; with Eira Heath in the title role. ^[3]
• Sweeney Todd; or The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Dibdin Pitt, first staged in 1847. Adapted by Alec Clunes and starring Alfred Marks as the murderous barber. ^[4]
• Britons to the Rescue; or, English Virtue Preserved in South America - a TV adaptation by Alec Clunes, of Paul Meritt and Henry Pettitt’s British Born, a patriotic melodrama first staged in 1873. Starring Alfred Marks, Ronnie Barker and Patricia Routledge. ^[5]
• The Blood-Craz’d Scourge of the Redskin Wilderness; or, What You Will - an adaptation of the 19th-century American revenge melodrama Nick of the Woods ; or, the Jibbenainosay by Louisa H. Medina. Starring Ronnie Barker and Joss Ackland. ^[6]
• The Drunkard; or, The Sins of the Parents Shall be Visited . . . An adaptation of the 19th-century American melodrama The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved by W. H. Smith. Starring Ronnie Barker and Warren Mitchell. ^[7]
• The Worst Woman in London by Walter Melville, 1899. Starring Ronnie Barker and Warren Mitchell. ^[8]

All episodes were directed by Bryan Sears. ^[9]

References

1. "'An outside broadcast from the last century': the Gaslight Theatre melodramas (BBC, 1965)". 1 July 2014.
2. "The Worst Woman in London · British Universities Film & Video Council". bufvc.ac.uk.
3. "Maria Marten Or, The Murder in the Old Red Barn (1965)". Archived from the original on 16 June 2018.
4. "Gaslight Theatre: Sweeney Todd or The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - BBC Two England - 7 August 1965 - BBC Genome". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 7 August 1965.
5. "Britons to the Rescue Or, English Virtue Preserved in South America (1965)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2018.
6. "The Blood-craz'd Scourge of the Redskin Wilderness Or, What You Will (1965)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2018.
7. "The Drunkard Or, The Sins of the Parents Shall Be Visited... (1965)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2018.
8. "The Worst Woman in London (1965)". Archived from the original on 17 June 2018.
9. "Bryan Sears". Archived from the original on 17 June 2018.

External links

• Gaslight Theatre (TV series) at IMDb