Sunday-Night Play — Season 1

196092 episodes

About this season

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.

Episodes (92)

1
E1

1. A Walk in the Desert

Aired 25 September 1960

2
E2

2. The Unplayed Part

Aired 2 October 1960

3
E3

3. The Ruffians

Aired 9 October 1960

4
E4

4. Twentieth Century Theatre: Man and Superman

Aired 24 January 1960

5
E5

5. Twentieth Century Theatre: The White Guard

Aired 31 January 1960

It is November 1918 and the scene is the city of Kiev in the Ukraine, lately garrisoned by the German Army of Occupation but now threatened by the approach of a large well-equipped army of Cossacks. There's no ammunition and food is desperately short in the city. But still attempts are made to raise an army of citizens to repel the invaders. Describing the impact of the collapse of the Tsarist Empire on a family of officers, this play centres on Alexei Turbin, Colonel of the White Guard, responsible for defending Kiev, and on his beautiful sister Helena, deserted by her husband and in love with a young lieutenant, Leonid Schervinsky.

6
E6

6. Twentieth Century Theatre: Our Betters

Aired 7 February 1960

7
E7

7. Twentieth Century Theatre: MacAdam and Eve

Aired 14 February 1960

8
E8

8. Brian Rix Presents: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?

Aired 21 February 1960

9
E9

9. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Conquering Hero

Aired 28 February 1960

10
E10

10. Twentieth Century Theatre: Journey's End

Aired 6 March 1960

11
E11

11. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Fanatics

Aired 13 March 1960

12
E12

12. Twentieth Century Theatre: Young Woodley

Aired 20 March 1960

13
E13

13. Twentieth Century Theatre: I Have Been Here Before

Aired 27 March 1960

14
E14

14. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Price of Freedom

Aired 3 April 1960

15
E15

15. Twentieth Century Theatre: Glorious Morning

Aired 10 April 1960

16
E16

16. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Queen Came By

Aired 17 April 1960

17
E17

17. Twentieth Century Theatre: Love on the Dole

Aired 24 April 1960

18
E18

18. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Vortex

Aired 1 May 1960

19
E19

19. Twentieth Century Theatre: Judgment Day

Aired 8 May 1960

20
E20

20. Twentieth Century Theatre: Aren't We All

Aired 15 May 1960

21
E21

21. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Elder Statesman

Aired 22 May 1960

22
E22

22. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Assassin

Aired 29 May 1960

23
E23

23. Twentieth Century Theatre: Doctor in the House

Aired 5 June 1960

24
E24

24. Twentieth Century Theatre: Mr. Gillie

Aired 12 June 1960

25
E25

25. Twentieth Century Theatre: The Insect Play

Aired 19 June 1960

26
E26

26. Twentieth Century Theatre: Musical Chairs

Aired 26 June 1960

27
E27

27. Playhouse 90: A Town Has Turned to Dust

Aired 3 July 1960

A weakling sheriff is unable to prevent a lynching. Can he redeem himself by preventing a second one?

28
E28

28. Summer Theatre: June Evening

Aired 10 July 1960

29
E29

29. Summer Theatre: You're a Long Time Dead

Aired 17 July 1960

30
E30

30. Summer Theatre: My Flesh, My Blood

Aired 24 July 1960

31
E31

31. Summer Theatre: The Critical Point

Aired 31 July 1960

Dr. Gage, involved in cryogenics, volunteers to be the first frozen man after murdering his wife. Dr. Mortimer discovers who killed his wife and ponders whether he should play judge and jury by switching Dr. Gage's freezing machine off?

32
E32

32. Summer Theatre: A Dream of Treason

Aired 7 August 1960

Lambert, a government official, is required to leak a secret document - which may have serious consequences.

33
E33

33. Summer Theatre: The Devil's General

Aired 14 August 1960

General Harras, a hero of the First World War, finds himself increasingly at odds with the new Germany of Adolf Hitler.

34
E34

34. Summer Theatre: The Liberators

Aired 21 August 1960

35
E35

35. Summer Theatre: The Small Victory

Aired 28 August 1960

36
E36

36. Summer Theatre: Death of a Guest

Aired 4 September 1960

37
E37

37. Brian Rix Presents: Reluctant Heroes

Aired 11 September 1960

38
E38

38. Summer Theatre: An English Summer

Aired 18 September 1960

39
E39

39. A Walk in the Desert

Aired 25 September 1960

40
E40

40. The Unplayed Part

Aired 2 October 1960

41
E41

41. The Ruffians

Aired 9 October 1960

42
E42

42. Pay Day

Aired 16 October 1960

81
E81

81. Affair of State

Aired 31 December 1961

Philip is much older than his wife, who is, he discovers, having an affair with his friend George. When he introduces George to a young woman, he has an ulterior motive.

82
E82

82. The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Aired 24 December 1961

Elizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.

83
E83

83. The Judge and His Hangman

Aired 17 December 1961

Inspector Barlach is ruthless in pursuit of an arrest, and doesn't seem to care if anyone else gets hurt along the way.

84
E84

84. Centenary Year

Aired 10 December 1961

85
E85

85. Somewhere for the Night

Aired 3 December 1961

86
E86

86. She Stoops to Conquer

Aired 26 November 1961

Hardcastle, a man of substance, looks forward to acquainting his daughter with his old pal's son with a view to marriage. But thanks to playboy Lumpkin, he's mistaken by his prospective son-in-law Marlow for an innkeeper, his daughter for the local barmaid. The good news is, while Marlow can barely speak to a woman of quality he's a charmer with those of a different stamp.

87
E87

87. Cross of Iron

Aired 19 November 1961

88
E88

88. Brian Rix Presents #14: Flat Spin

Aired 12 November 1961

89
E89

89. The Test

Aired 5 November 1961

Pressure mounts on a group of scientists as they urgently prepare to test a new top secret weapon.

90
E90

90. Hello Ragtime

Aired 29 October 1961

91
E91

91. The Big Noise

Aired 22 October 1961

92
E92

92. What Every Woman Knows

Aired 15 October 1961

Maggie Wylie isn't very beautiful. She isn't even very young any more. But fortunately there is more to Maggie than meets the eye.

93
E93

93. Faraway Places

Aired 8 October 1961

Kindly, mild mannered clerk Arthur Bruce dreams of traveling to distant lands and reads books about faraway places.

94
E94

94. A Clean Kill

Aired 1 October 1961

95
E95

95. The Hasty Heart

Aired 17 September 1961

It's 1945, Burma, the day the war is over! For many this means they've survived and will be going home. But not for everyone. A Scottish soldier, Corporal Lachlan "Lachie" MacLachlan is the victim of a wound to the lower back on this day. He's moved to a M.A.S.H. unit and undergoes surgery. As time goes by he begins to recover and watches, in dismay as soldiers pack up and head for home.

96
E96

96. Wet Fish

Aired 3 September 1961

97
E97

97. The Winslow Boy

Aired 20 August 1961

The Winslow family return from church to their house in South Kensington on a summer morning in 1912 not knowing how their lives will be altered by their son, Ronnie, who has been expelled from Naval College for stealing a five shilling postal order.

98
E98

98. Brian Rix presents: Basinful of the Briny

Aired 6 August 1961

99
E99

99. That Lady

Aired 9 July 1961

100
E100

100. A Call on Kuprin: Part 1

Aired 18 June 1961

After the manned satellite, the armed satellite. Kuprin, the Soviet scientist, is working on a warhead for the Chelovyek. But Laye-Parker, M.P., and Smith, a Lobby Correspondent at the House of Commons, remember him at Cambridge before the war as an Anglophile married to an English woman. Can they, by a personal approach, persuade him to return to this country?

101
E101

101. A Call on Kuprin: Part 2

Aired 25 June 1961

Laye-Parker, M.P., and Smith, a Lobby Correspondent, have reached Moscow in their search for Kuprin, a Soviet rocket expert whom they knew at Cambridge and whom they hope to persuade to return to England. Now Laye-Parker has been arrested by the M.V.D. on unspecified charges, and Smith, a reluctant partner in the enterprise, must carry on the search alone.

102
E102

102. Home at Seven

Aired 4 June 1961

Home at seven as usual after just another Monday at the office - or that is what Mr. Preston thought. But in fact it is Tuesday and he has no recollection of the past twenty-four hours. It soon becomes vital to fill this gap in his memory.

103
E103

103. Brian Rix presents: Wolf's Clothing

Aired 21 May 1961

104
E104

104. Marriage Lines

Aired 14 May 1961

A comedy of marriage, set in the secure partnership of two mature and worldly people, examines what happens when an envious free-lance tries to rock the boat.

105
E105

105. Scene of the Accident

Aired 30 April 1961

When a prominent Q.C. is knocked down and killed by a car, the driver's Insurance Company is faced with paying out on a very substantial claim. Briefed to investigate possible grounds for disputing liability, Sam Holford unearths a delicate and intriguing situation.

106
E106

106. Charley's Aunt

Aired 16 April 1961

I'm Charley's Aunt from Brazil - where the nuts come from.

107
E107

107. Brian Rix presents: A Fair Cop

Aired 2 April 1961

108
E108

108. Fury in Petticoats

Aired 26 March 1961

It is 1837 and we are in the home of the Rev. William Dill, the vicar of a small parish in England. Life there is peaceful and leisurely until one day the vicar welcomes into his household a native girl brought from Tierra del Fuego by a Mr. Charles Darwin....

109
E109

109. The Wrong Side of the Park

Aired 19 March 1961

110
E110

110. Old Mick Mack

Aired 12 March 1961

111
E111

111. A Reason for Staying

Aired 5 March 1961

A group of Eastern European emigres, now living in England, still hope that they will one day return to their home-land in authority. But one of them, a general, has a reason for staying.....

112
E112

112. The Mather Story

Aired 26 February 1961

A serious accusation by a famous artist about the work of another gives John Ramsay a chance to 'get something into the paper' and perhaps to keep his job on the Sunday Herald. But rapidly the story becomes a challenge-to his skill, and to his responsibility.

113
E113

113. An Inspector Calls

Aired 19 February 1961

Spring, 1912 - for the wealthy a time of good living, gaiety, and a belief in the unshakability of the status quo. Mr. and Mrs. Birling are celebrating the engagement of their daughter Sheila to Gerald Croft, heir to a title; it is the pinnacle of Mr. Birling's successful rise in society.....

114
E114

114. The Intervener

Aired 12 February 1961

Jeremy Penlove is a London solicitor and a confirmed bachelor. His life is placid and uncomplicated until, one fine summer's day, a new client, Lily Forrester, walks into his office to turn his world upside down.

115
E115

115. The Final Result

Aired 5 February 1961

John Horner's father, mother, and sister are waiting to hear the result of his degree examination. He is the only one who is not surprised: it is what he expected it to be. It is this result, and the action John takes as a consequence, which reveals, nakedly, the conflict within this family group.

116
E116

116. A Kind of Strength

Aired 29 January 1961

Two men, both trapped in the world of commerce, struggle for freedom. In facing the truth about themselves, the decisions they have to make need a rare kind of strength.

117
E117

117. Off Centre

Aired 22 January 1961

Joe Hunter is a scientist living two lives: one as he sees himself, and the other as the world, sees him. The story spans the years from 1917, when he was a young pilot in the Royal Flying Corps, to the present day - when the man and his ideas come into headlong collision.

118
E118

118. A Woman Comes Home

Aired 15 January 1961

Home has many meanings; a refuge from strain, the start of 'growing up'; the source of compassion and understanding. When these are lost there is desolation, but if they are fought for, no matter with what human frailty, life may grow again out of a new wisdom.

119
E119

119. Venus Brown

Aired 8 January 1961

For Jack Brown, his wife Venus is a goddess in more than name. But she is not a goddess, she is a human being, and it is dangerous to worship human beings.

120
E120

120. Nearer to Heaven

Aired 1 January 1961

121
E121

121. The Chopping Block

Aired 23 October 1960

122
E122

122. Looking for Garrow

Aired 30 October 1960

American business woman Clarissa comes to England seeking one J.S. Garrow - author of an alarmingly frank new novel. But it looks as though her teenage daughter has already found Garrow - and he is franker and more alarming than his book!

123
E123

123. A Subject of Scandal and Concern

Aired 6 November 1960

In 1842, a rebel in Cheltenham and Gloucester imprisoned for his beliefs and for the right to express them.

124
E124

124. The Wind and the Sun

Aired 13 November 1960

Ruth and Lewis Miller's marriage is almost at breaking point. The result upon their two children of the tension created by this situation is revealed in the play as an important question in modern life. The play is not regarded as suitable for viewing by children.

125
E125

125. The Squeeze

Aired 20 November 1960

Should Big Tom, a colliery face repairer, confronted by the onset of middle age, continue with his work at the risk of his life, or settle for something safer at the risk of his self-respect?

126
E126

126. The Nightwalkers

Aired 27 November 1960

A young British student wandering through France today becomes involved with remnants of a former French Resistance group.

127
E127

127. The Assassins

Aired 4 December 1960

A quiet evening at home for a normal fairly prosperous middle-class family is suddenly disrupted by the arrival of two strangers - two men with a mission, fanatical and ruthless, prepared to kill if necessary; but these men are not criminals-they would be described by some as patriots.

128
E128

128. The Song of a March Hare

Aired 11 December 1960

Crumble is convinced that he was born for success in business. All he needs is a chance to prove it, and this comes with an unexpected legacy.

129
E129

129. A Time to Fight

Aired 18 December 1960

Housewife Ellen Manders had no reason to suspect that this evening was going to be any different from any other until her husband arrived home late with his shoes and brief-case covered in mud.

130
E130

130. Tuppence in the Gods

Aired 25 December 1960

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