Writing
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.
Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Anthology series of dramatic works.
ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.
An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
In Victorian London, Louisa Leyton works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietress of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St James's.
The creators of Wallace & Gromit bring you an exciting and original story about a group of chickens determined to fly the coop–even if they can’t fly! It’s hardly poultry in motion when Rocky attempts to teach Ginger and her feathered friends to fly…but, with teamwork, determination and a little bit o’ cluck, the fearless flock plots one last attempt in a spectacular bid for freedom.
Comedy Playhouse is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including Steptoe and Son, Till Death Us Do Part, All Gas and Gaiters, The Liver Birds, Are You Being Served? and Last of the Summer Wine, which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010.
London's Burning is a British television drama programme produced by London Weekend Television for the ITV network that focused on the lives of members of the London Fire Brigade, principally those of the Blue Watch at a fictional fire station called Blackwall.
Anthology drama series.
In a time when girls were forbidden to study religious scriptures, a Jewish girl masquerades as a boy to enter religious training and unexpectedly finds love along the way.
This Granada series featured seven new plays by young Northern writers, including Anthony Linter, Jack Rosenthal, Dennis Woolf, David Halliwell and Peter Eckersley.
Village Hall is a drama anthology series made by Granada between 1974 and 1975. It is entirely set in a village hall, with each episode highlighting a different use to which the space is put by local people. Writers include Jack Rosenthal and the actor Kenneth Cope.
A hard-nosed Chicago journalist has an unlikely love affair with an eagle researcher.
Laurence Olivier Presents is a British television series made by Granada Television which ran from 1976 to 1978. The plays, with the exception of Hindle Wakes, all starred Laurence Olivier. Some of the plays were based on productions staged at the National Theatre during the period when Olivier was Artistic Director. In addition to distinguished English actors, the casts assembled for these productions included several Hollywood stars, such as Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, Joanne Woodward and Maureen Stapleton.
This is a dramatisation of the events surrounding the opening night of British television on November 2, 1936 at Alexandra Place in London. It was produced to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
For many men edging on middle-age a mistress is a wistful pipe-dream. Gilbert has made fantasy into fact. But he becomes increasingly uncomfortable when his mistress makes him go against his code of ethics and forces him to burgle his wife's flat.
The Dustbinmen is a British television sitcom made by Granada Television for ITV, which starred Bryan Pringle, Trevor Bannister, Graham Haberfield, and Tim Wylton. The show was a spin-off from a one-off 90-minute TV film "There's a Hole in Your Dustbin, Delilah" written by Jack Rosenthal and directed by Michael Apted. This led to the sitcom which ran for three series between 1969 and 1970. Rosenthal wrote all of the episodes of the first two series.
Series of plays examining various aspects of contemporary woman at different ages. The theme song, sung by Charles Aznavour, was a big hit in the summer of 1974.
About Face is a series of twelve unconnected half-hour sitcoms all starring Maureen Lipman in the lead role. Each episode featured a guest cast of well known actors and actresses. The episodes were written by Richard Harris, Geoffrey Perkins, Chips Hardy & John Henderson, Astrid Ronning, John Wells, Paul Smith & Terry Kyan, Jack Rosenthal, Carol Bunyan and Ian Hislop & Nick Newman. It was made for the ITV network by Central Independent Television.
