Synopsis
BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.
Episodes
1E1A Walk in the Desert2E2The Unplayed Part3E3The Ruffians4E4Twentieth Century Theatre: Man and Superman5E5Twentieth Century Theatre: The White GuardIt 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.6E6Twentieth Century Theatre: Our Betters7E7Twentieth Century Theatre: MacAdam and Eve8E8Brian Rix Presents: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?9E9Twentieth Century Theatre: The Conquering Hero10E10Twentieth Century Theatre: Journey's End11E11Twentieth Century Theatre: The Fanatics12E12Twentieth Century Theatre: Young Woodley13E13Twentieth Century Theatre: I Have Been Here Before14E14Twentieth Century Theatre: The Price of Freedom15E15Twentieth Century Theatre: Glorious Morning16E16Twentieth Century Theatre: The Queen Came By17E17Twentieth Century Theatre: Love on the Dole18E18Twentieth Century Theatre: The Vortex19E19Twentieth Century Theatre: Judgment Day20E20Twentieth Century Theatre: Aren't We All21E21Twentieth Century Theatre: The Elder Statesman22E22Twentieth Century Theatre: The Assassin23E23Twentieth Century Theatre: Doctor in the House24E24Twentieth Century Theatre: Mr. Gillie25E25Twentieth Century Theatre: The Insect Play26E26Twentieth Century Theatre: Musical Chairs27E27Playhouse 90: A Town Has Turned to DustA weakling sheriff is unable to prevent a lynching. Can he redeem himself by preventing a second one?28E28Summer Theatre: June Evening29E29Summer Theatre: You're a Long Time Dead30E30Summer Theatre: My Flesh, My Blood31E31Summer Theatre: The Critical PointDr. 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?32E32Summer Theatre: A Dream of TreasonLambert, a government official, is required to leak a secret document - which may have serious consequences.33E33Summer Theatre: The Devil's GeneralGeneral Harras, a hero of the First World War, finds himself increasingly at odds with the new Germany of Adolf Hitler.34E34Summer Theatre: The Liberators35E35Summer Theatre: The Small Victory36E36Summer Theatre: Death of a Guest37E37Brian Rix Presents: Reluctant Heroes38E38Summer Theatre: An English Summer39E39A Walk in the Desert40E40The Unplayed Part41E41The Ruffians42E42Pay Day81E81Affair of StatePhilip 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.82E82The Barretts of Wimpole StreetElizabeth Barrett's tyrannical father has forbidden any of his family to marry. Nevertheless, Elizabeth falls in love with the poet Robert Browning.83E83The Judge and His HangmanInspector Barlach is ruthless in pursuit of an arrest, and doesn't seem to care if anyone else gets hurt along the way.84E84Centenary Year85E85Somewhere for the Night86E86She Stoops to ConquerHardcastle, 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.87E87Cross of Iron88E88Brian Rix Presents #14: Flat Spin89E89The TestPressure mounts on a group of scientists as they urgently prepare to test a new top secret weapon.90E90Hello Ragtime91E91The Big Noise92E92What Every Woman KnowsMaggie Wylie isn't very beautiful. She isn't even very young any more. But fortunately there is more to Maggie than meets the eye.93E93Faraway PlacesKindly, mild mannered clerk Arthur Bruce dreams of traveling to distant lands and reads books about faraway places.94E94A Clean Kill95E95The Hasty HeartIt'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.96E96Wet Fish97E97The Winslow BoyThe 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.98E98Brian Rix presents: Basinful of the Briny99E99That Lady100E100A Call on Kuprin: Part 1After 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?101E101A Call on Kuprin: Part 2Laye-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.102E102Home at SevenHome 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.103E103Brian Rix presents: Wolf's Clothing104E104Marriage LinesA 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.105E105Scene of the AccidentWhen 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.106E106Charley's AuntI'm Charley's Aunt from Brazil - where the nuts come from.107E107Brian Rix presents: A Fair Cop108E108Fury in PetticoatsIt 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....109E109The Wrong Side of the Park110E110Old Mick Mack111E111A Reason for StayingA 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.....112E112The Mather StoryA 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.113E113An Inspector CallsSpring, 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.....114E114The IntervenerJeremy 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.115E115The Final ResultJohn 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.116E116A Kind of StrengthTwo 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.117E117Off CentreJoe 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.118E118A Woman Comes HomeHome 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.119E119Venus BrownFor 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.120E120Nearer to Heaven121E121The Chopping Block122E122Looking for GarrowAmerican 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!123E123A Subject of Scandal and ConcernIn 1842, a rebel in Cheltenham and Gloucester imprisoned for his beliefs and for the right to express them.124E124The Wind and the SunRuth 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.125E125The SqueezeShould 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?126E126The NightwalkersA young British student wandering through France today becomes involved with remnants of a former French Resistance group.127E127The AssassinsA 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.128E128The Song of a March HareCrumble 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.129E129A Time to FightHousewife 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.130E130Tuppence in the Gods
