Television World Theatre

Season 1

TV-Y
examining BBC production documentation and audience research to identify the institutional discourses that surrounded the making and transmission of these programmes. Recurrent arguments throughout the production of the series form a framework of institutional expectations within which classic theatrical plays were commissioned, made and presented for BBC Television. Having identified these questions (relating to audience address, populism, and the viability of creating a unified ‘house style’ across the diverse plays included in an anthology series), the article assesses the contemporary press discourse surrounding Television World Theatre before concluding with a consideration of how the experience of Television World Theatre affected expectations the next time that the BBC attempted a similar project in Festival (1963–1964).

Where to Watch Television World Theatre • Season 1

14 Episodes

  • The Life of Henry V
    E1
    The Life of Henry VIn the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.
  • The Cherry Orchard
    E2
    The Cherry OrchardMadame Ranevskaya is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin, her former serf, who has his own agenda.
  • Women of Troy
    E3
    Women of Troy
  • The Captain of Koepenick
    E4
    The Captain of Koepenick
  • The Dark Is Light Enough
    E5
    The Dark Is Light Enough
  • Heartbreak House
    E6
    Heartbreak HouseOn the eve of World War I, Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé are invited to one of Hesione Hushabye's infamous dinner parties. Unfortunately, her fiancé is a scoundrel, her father's a bumbling prig, and she's actually in love with Hector, Hesione's husband. This bold mix of farce and tragedy lampoons British society as it blithely sinks towards disaster.
  • The Government Inspector
    E7
    The Government InspectorThe most prominent citizens of a small Russian town mistake a wandering stranger for the much-feared "government inspector" whose visit they are fearfully awaiting. The stranger takes full advantage of their error.
  • The Judge
    E8
    The JudgeA nostalgic reunion briefly arises when three estranged siblings spend some time together in their childhood home where their father is on his dead-bed. A glimpse of a new fellowship between the three of them.
  • The Master Builder
    E9
    The Master BuilderA successful, ego-maniacal architect who has spent a lifetime bullying his wife, employees and mistresses wants to make peace as his life approaches its final act.
  • Amphitryon 38
    E10
    Amphitryon 38
  • The Circle of Chalk
    E11
    The Circle of Chalk
  • The Clandestine Marriage
    E12
    The Clandestine Marriage
  • Strange Interlude: Part 1
    E13
    Strange Interlude: Part 1After Nina Leeds finds out that insanity runs in her husband's family, she has a love child with a handsome doctor and lets her husband believes the child is his.
  • Strange Interlude: Part 2
    E14
    Strange Interlude: Part 2In the second part of this adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's 1928 play, Gordon Evans grows up unaware that his "Uncle" Ned is in fact his father. Gordon's mother, Nina, grows increasingly distracted because of her deception.

 

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