About this season
Studio 4 is an anthology drama series utilising BBC Television Centre's Studio Four, and running for two series in 1962 on BBC One. It was envisaged as a sequel to Storyboard, a similar anthology series which had been transmitted the previous year.
Episodes (12)
1. The Cross and the Arrow
Aired 22 January 1962 • 30 min
Despite being decorated with a German Service Cross, Willi Wegler is inwardly sickened by both Hitler's genocidal war and the complicity of his fellow citizens in Third Reich brutalities. Wracked by guilt, he suddenly betrays his country in a profound gesture of protest and self-sacrifice – an act that cannot fail to precipitate a series of dramatic events.
2. The Second Curtain
Aired 29 January 1962 • 30 min
Divorced novelist named George Garner gets drawn into a disappearance case involving an old schoolmate, William Widgery, leading him to amateur sleuthing as his own life and reputation unravel.
3. Flight Into Danger
Aired 5 February 1962 • 30 min
A charter flight from Winnipeg to Vancouver goes horribly awry when the pilots and passengers fall victim to food poisoning, forcing an ex-WWII pilot passenger to take control and attempt an emergency landing.
4. The Intrigue
Aired 12 February 1962 • 30 min
A French magistrate hears a homicide confession described as 'as disarmingly honest as it is disconcertingly gay', revealing the love affair that sparked the crime.
5. Call Me Back
Aired 19 February 1962 • 30 min
A harried ad man drinks himself into oblivion as he tries to touch base with friends and loved ones by phone.
6. The Ballad of Peckham Rye
Aired 5 March 1962 • 30 min
A mysterious, devilish Scotsman named Dougal Douglas arrives in a South London neighbourhood and disrupts the lives of the local workers at a textile company, causing mayhem, mutiny, and even murder through his 'human research'.
7. Look Who's Talking
Aired 12 March 1962 • 30 min
8. The Victorian Chaise Longue
Aired 19 March 1962 • 30 min
After buying an antique chaise-longue, Melanie experiences a nightmarish body-swap, finding herself in a oppressive Victorian era with a patronising husband and doctor, unable to convince anyone she is from the future.
9. The Grass Is Singing
Aired 26 March 1962 • 30 min
Mary Turner is a white woman whose life unravels on a farm, leading to a destructive relationship with her Black servant, Moses, culminating in violence and a critique of the social and racial dynamics.
10. North Flight
Aired 2 April 1962 • 30 min
A tale of political intrigue following failures of British jet fighters in the service of a foreign power.
11. A Voice from the Top
Aired 9 April 1962 • 30 min
12. The Imbroglio
Aired 16 April 1962 • 30 min
A shy, awkward law student dreams of becoming a famous diplomat.