About this season
An anthology series based on the varied stories by W. Somerset Maugham divided into three categories: "Rule Britannia" about colonial life, "Women of the World" which focus on female characters, and "Victims of Fate".
Episodes (13)
1. The Force of Circumstance
Aired 23 April 1970
A woman agrees to emigrate to Malaya with her husband, but colonial life is not what she expected.
2. Jane
Aired 30 April 1970
A socialite is shocked when her frumpy sister-in-law announces her marriage to a foppish young man. Over the next two years, however, the homebody turns into a popular fashionista.
3. Rain
Aired 7 May 1970
A missionary, his wife, and a prostitute are among the guests stranded at a tropical hotel during the rainy season.
4. The Unconquered
Aired 14 May 1970
A French farmgirl is assaulted by a German soldier, but he begins to become obsessed by her.
5. The Vessel of Wrath
Aired 21 May 1970
The prim spinster sister of a missionary in the South Seas determines to reform a rascally beachcomber.
6. Olive
Aired 28 May 1970
Mark, a new arrival at a Malay colony, befriends Tim and Olive, a pair of unusually close siblings who isolate themselves from the other colonists and speak in their own made-up language.
7. The Closed Shop
Aired 4 June 1970
The president of a South American country changes his country's divorce laws for his own benefit.
8. The Door of Opportunity
Aired 11 June 1970
A colonial administrator's act of cowardice gets him sent home from the East, but he seems oblivious to the contempt with which he is viewed. Surely his friendly, companionable relationship with his wife seems to him quite unchanged.
9. Virtue
Aired 18 June 1970
A married woman falls for a younger man, and wonders whether to confess to her husband.
10. Footprints in the Jungle
Aired 25 June 1970
Margaret convinces her lover to murder her husband after she becomes pregnant. The murder is investigated by a dogged policeman whose judgment is clouded by his own feelings for the woman.
11. The Alien Corn
Aired 2 July 1970
Parents new to the aristocracy are both displeased and surprised when their elder son, who's never shown much aptitude for or interest in anything, declares that he must become a concert pianist. They agree at last to finance his study of the piano for two years, at the end of which he (and they) will accept the verdict of a recognized expert as to his chances of achieving his dream.
12. The Human Element
Aired 9 July 1970
A writer discovers that the superior woman he has long admired from afar is the longtime mistress of her own servant.
13. Flotsam and Jetsam
Aired 16 July 1970
A man recuperates uncomfortably at the home of an unpleasant man and his pathetic wife, whose startling tale makes her guest all the more eager to recover his strength and get away from the place.