My favourite "BBC" TV programmes: 1950s - 1980s.
Despite the poor state of their archive, the BBC produced some exceptional television back in the glory days of the medium.
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- CreatorRichard HarrisDonald CottonStarsGerald HarperJuliet HarmerJack MayIn 1902, Edwardian adventurer Adam Adamant is frozen alive in a block of ice by his archnemesis, the Face. In 1966, workmen discover him and he is revived, perfectly preserved but completely bewildered by his new environment, "swinging '60s" London, until he meets beautiful Georgina Jones, who helps him adapt. Before long, he is back to adventuring, solving crime, and fighting evil wherever it lurks.
- StarsJohn RobinsonMonica GreyHugh GriffithProfessor Quatermass is trying to perfect a dangerously unstable nuclear-powered rocket engine. After a disastrous test firing in Australia, his soon-to-be son-in-law, Captain John Dillon, draws the Professor's attention to a strange hollow meteorite which interrupted an Army Training exercise. Quatermass and Dillon investigate, and discover a vast government production plant which has some connection with the meteorites. After coming in contact with the noxious gas contained inside the meteorites, Dillon is taken away by the plant's security guards. When Quatermass presses this issue with an old civil service acquaintance, he learns that the plant is supposedly making synthetic food. Both men learn that this is untrue, and that the true products of the plant will threaten the world itself.
- StarsAndré MorellCec LinderAnthony BushellA team of scientists search for the origin and purpose of a mysterious capsule found on a building site.
- StarsNigel StockPeter CushingDouglas WilmerA series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, based on the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
- StarsTony HancockSidney JamesJohnny VyvyanTV version of the popular BBC radio show of the same name, with Tony Hancock as the modern man of the world (in his own eyes). Sid James is there to bring him back to earth.A landmark in British comedy.
- CreatorDonald WilsonSydney NewmanStarsWilliam HartnellPatrick TroughtonJon PertweeThe adventures in time and space of the Doctor, a Time Lord who changes appearance and personality by regenerating when near death, and is joined by companions in battles against aliens and other megalomaniacs.William Hartnell is my favourite Doctor Who.
- StarsRichard CaldicotGeorge WoodbridgeRobert BrownSeries of television plays performed live.
- StarsDavid McCallumRichard HefferPaul ChapmanThe series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at Colditz Castle and their many attempts to escape captivity, as well as the relationships formed between the various nationalities and their German captors.The greatest series based during world war II.
- DirectorPeter SasdyStarsMichael BryantJane AsherIain CuthbertsonA research team from an electronics company moves into an old Victorian house to start work on finding a new recording medium. When team member Jill Greeley witnesses a ghost, team director Peter Brock decides not only to analyse the apparition, which he believes is a psychic impression trapped in a stone wall (dubbed a "stone tape"), but also to exorcise it--with terrifying results.Genuinely creepy and superbly written.
- DirectorLawrence Gordon ClarkStarsDenholm ElliottBernard LloydReginald JessupA lonely Signalman is visited by a stranger.Gripping from beginning to end.
- StarsAlison SteadmanNigel HawthorneTony CaunterA British television anthology drama series that aired on BBC1 between 1970 and 1984.
- 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.
- StarsIan CarmichaelGlyn HoustonElizabeth ProudThe title refers to the nine strokes of a church bell to announce the death of a man. In this adaptation of Dorothy L. Sayers's intricate, nostalgic, and atmospheric novel of the same name, Lord Peter Wimsey, stranded in a New-Year's Eve snowstorm ca. 1930 in the fens of eastern England, becomes the guest of a local clergyman, an adept enthusiast of the esoteric, mathematical art of change-ringing the eight swinging bells of his magnificent medieval church. Wimsey is pressed into service to assist with a heroic and historic all-night peal to welcome the new year. A few months later the vicar, having learned of Wimsey's reputation as a sleuth, summons him back to the village to investigate a mysterious body newly discovered in the churchyard, an unknown man secretly buried, who had apparently died about the time of Wimsey's first visit. A much earlier jewel robbery, details of church architecture, unclaimed letters from a French farm, and peculiarities of canon law are only a few of the further pieces of the puzzle which Wimsey must put together.My favourite out of the Ian Carmichael productions.
- StarsIan CarmichaelMark EdenRachel HerbertWhen one of the copy writers of Pym's Advertising Agency meets his death by falling down a spiral staircase, a new "writer" joins the staff to investigate the matter.
- DirectorPhilip SavilleStarsLouis JourdanFrank FinlaySusan PenhaligonThe vampire count leaves his Transylvanian home to wreak havoc across the world.
- StarsJohn DuttineEmma RelphMaurice ColbourneWhen a comet blinds nearly everyone in the world, a genetically-engineered species of plant takes over.
- CreatorTerry NationStarsLucy FlemingIan McCullochDenis LillA community of survivors struggle to stay alive in the wake of a global pandemic known as the Death that wiped out 99.98% of humanity.Began promisingly before mediocrity set in.
- StarsRichard DempseySophie CookJonathan R. ScottFour kids travel to the magical land of Narnia where they must battle an evil queen with the direction of the lion, Aslan.
- StarsBruce ProchnikMax AdrianPeter VaughanAn orphan named Oliver Twist meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
- StarsJames EllisJohn SlaterDouglas FieldingA gritty drama which follows the work of the police force in the fictional town of Newtown in the North of England.
- StarsFrank WindsorNorman BowlerDavid Lloyd Meredith1970s BBC police drama with experienced cops DCS Charlie Barlow and DS John Watt who lead a task force charged with tackling the toughest cases Thamesford has to offer.
- StarsGerald HarperDavid BurkeJune BarryThe once famous athlete Bob Kerry dies mysteriously on a golf course. His son Jack, a detective, suspects murder and decides to investigate the case. He gets caught up in a web of intrigue set in the Soho red-light district in London, with its pimps and prostitutes.
- CreatorGeorges SimenonStarsRupert DaviesEwen SolonHelen ShinglerTelevisations of the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon.
- StarsWilfrid BrambellHarry H. CorbettFrank ThorntonBritish sitcom about a father-and-son rag-and-bone business in London. The intergenerational divide between the miserly Steptoe and his ambitious son results in comedy, drama, and tragedy.The best episodes, are from 1970 and 1972.
- StarsJohn PaulJoby BlanshardSimon OatesDoomwatch is the nickname for the Department of Measurement of Scientific Work. Under the leadership of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Dr. Spencer Quist, the Doomwatch team struggled, for three seasons, to keep an eye on the environment and supervise government and private sector research in an attempt to prevent pollution and other disasters that might be caused by the misuse of new scientific developments, discoveries and technology. While confronting dangers ranging from a plastic-eating bacteria to a hyper-intelligent species of rats, from mind-destroying sound waves to toxic wastes and genetic mutations, the Doomwatch team always found themselves under the gun, from unsupportive governmental superiors, and openly hostile corporations, and the powerful influences they could wield. The Doomwatch team initially consisted of Quist, former intelligence agent Dr. John Ridge, eager young researcher Toby Wren, technician and computer specialist Colin Bradley, and secretary Pat Hunnisett. During the subsequent seasons there would be a high turnover rate in Doomwatch membership, with only Quist, Ridge, and Bradley surviving all three seasons.
- StarsTony HancockHugh LloydJune WhitfieldComedian Tony Hancock stars, in this BBC situation comedy TV series, as Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living in East Cheam.Hancock's final moments of glory.
- StarsRonnie BarkerBrian WildeFulton MackayThe prison life of Fletcher, a criminal serving a five-year sentence, as he strives to bide his time, keep his record clean, and refuses to be ground down by the prison system.
- CreatorJimmy PerryStarsArthur LoweJohn Le MesurierClive DunnA ragtag group of Home Guard volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion during World War II.
- StarsJohn CleesePrunella ScalesAndrew SachsHotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.A few masterpieces and several examples of mediocrity.
- StarsJames BolamRodney BewesBrigit ForsythReturning from the Army, Terry finds his best mate Bob is marrying Thelma, Terry's former partner. Their lives intertwine as Terry reintegrates, challenging the relationships between the three.
- StarsJasper CarrottRobert PowellGeorge SewellIn the never ending, high tech war against crime, Detective Constables Bob Louis and David Briggs are the Scud missiles of the police arsenal of intuition, hunches and inspired guesses... all of them hopelessly wrong.
- StarsRonnie BarkerRonnie CorbettThe Fred Tomlinson SingersThis long-running BBC comedy show consisted of sketches and humourous musical routines.
- StarsWarren MitchellCarmel McSharryArthur EnglishAlf and Else are getting old, Rita's left home, Else's confined to a wheelchair. Alf must now do battle with the Social Security system.Still highly controversial but funny.
- CreatorDavid CroftJimmy PerryStarsPaul ShaneRuth MadocJeffrey HollandComic goings-on in this series. Ted's the camp comic but is always on the lookout for a way to make money. Gladys has her eye on the boss, and Peggy wants to swap her mop and cleaner's outfit for a 'yellow coat.'
- StarsPaul ShaneJeffrey HollandSu PollardAdventures and misadventures of Lord Meldrum, his family and their servants in the 1920s.
- CreatorRob GrantDoug NaylorStarsChris BarrieCraig CharlesDanny John-JulesThe adventures of the last human alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.