About this season
Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.
Episodes (9)
8. Myself a Stranger
Aired 27 January 1957
10. Twelfth Night
8.0Aired 10 March 1957 • 90 min
Viola and Sebastian are lookalike twins, separated by a shipwreck. Viola lands in Illyria, where she disguises herself like her brother and goes into the service of the Duke Orsino. Orsino sends her to help him woo the Lady Olivia, who doesn't want the Duke, but finds that she likes the new messenger the Duke's sending. Then, of course, Viola's brother shows up, and merry hell breaks loose. Meanwhile, Olivia's uncle and his cohorts are trying to find some way to get back at Olivia's officious majordomo, Malvolio.
13. Requiem for a Heavyweight
Aired 31 March 1957
An over-the-hill heavyweight boxing champion who suffers from the ravages of years of head trauma is exploited by his manager, despite the efforts of a compassionate young woman who tries to help him recover his self-respect.
23. The Lass of Richmond Hill
Aired 9 June 1957
The Prince of Wales, contrary to strict royal protocol, falls in love with a commoner, Maria Fitzherbert, and plans to marry her.
26. Abe Lincoln in Illinois
Aired 30 June 1957
Before becoming one of America's greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln had a long career as a businessman, lawyer, government official and elected representative for the state of Illinois. This film looks at the rise of this self-educated statesman, including his famous series of public debates with rival Stephen Douglas. A glimpse is also shown of some of the more personal aspects of his Lincoln's life, including the early romance and heartbreak he experienced with Ann Rutledge.
28. The Magnificent Egotist
Aired 14 July 1957
42. The Mulberry Bush
Aired 20 October 1957
50. The Trial of Mary LaFarge
Aired 15 December 1957
51. Who Cares?
Aired 15 September 1957