ITV Saturday Night Theatre

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

Anthology series of dramatic works.

Seasons

1. Park People

Air Date: 1969-01-11

Young Frank Brady falls in love with a woman he has only seen from a distance. He enlists his friend Peg to help him win the woman's love.

2. Bangelstein's Boys

Air Date: 1969-01-18

A rugby team's annual tour descends into chaos when Tommy and Jack have a fall out with their brother-in-law.

3. My Bonnie Jean

Air Date: 1969-01-25

4. MacNeil

Air Date: 1969-02-01

Carpenter and widower MacNeil takes a blunt approach in making advances to lady executive Miss Saville who works in the same firm as himself. His belief in his instincts regarding women is contradicted by his daughter Mary, who knows him better than he thinks.

5. Cornelius

Air Date: 1969-02-08

6. Emlyn

Air Date: 1969-02-15

Mary MacNeil drifts into a complex relationship with a Welsh barrister.

7. Tiger Trap in the Street

Air Date: 1969-02-22

Fed up with having his car stolen, Williams decides it's time to take the law into his own hands, but there is a price to pay.

8. An Hour of Love #1: The Bind

Air Date: 1969-03-01

9. An Hour of Love #2: Anatomy of a Divorce

Air Date: 1969-03-01

10. The Piano Tuner

Air Date: 1969-03-08

11. Pig in a Poke

Air Date: 1969-03-15

An effete television producer and his beautiful wife move into an old terraced house.In the basement is a sitting tenant they cannot move.The tenant starts to invade their life with increasing voracity, leading to him eventually beating up the young wife and then becoming her afternoon lover.

12. Machine

Air Date: 1969-03-22

Two people (one rich, one poor) have failing kidneys, an expensive kidney machine would save them.

14. The Dirt on Lucy Lane

Air Date: 1969-04-05

Michael Vint, an embittered hack reporter from a Sunday newspaper, is sent down into the country to find a story in the love life of an aging has-been writer and his new glamorous young film star wife. The writer is annoyed about the intrusion into his private life, but his wife sees it as an opportunity.

15. Moonlight on the Highway

Air Date: 1969-04-12

Writing for ITV Saturday Night Theatre (1969), Dennis Potter introduced the notion that popular music expresses the yearning of the human spirit for a better world. A troubled young man, David Peters (Ian Holm), claims, "Once dreams were possible, that's what the popular songs told us." Rejecting rock music of the day, Peters is immersed in the tunes of Thirties crooner Al Bowlly (killed during the London blitz). He collects Bowlly memorabilia, publishes the Bowlly fan-club newsletter, and finds pleasure in lip-synching Bowlly records but his obsession with Bowlly masks certain darker events in his past.

16. Hazel and Her New Gas Cooker

Air Date: 1969-04-19

17. Steve

Air Date: 1969-04-26

Steve's maverick personality costs him his teaching job. He drops out of conventional society and earns a living by roguish means. Then he meets Paula, who makes him question his ideals and life.

18. Toys

Air Date: 1969-05-03

19. Rogues Gallery: The Bright Eyed Body Snatcher

Air Date: 1969-05-10

20. Rogues Gallery: The Wicked Stage

Air Date: 1969-05-17

21. Rogues Gallery: The Timorous Rake

Air Date: 1969-05-24

22. Rogues Gallery: The Fearful Image

Air Date: 1969-05-31

23. Rogues Gallery: A Bed Full of Miracles

Air Date: 1969-06-07

24. Rogues Gallery: The Prude Pursued

Air Date: 1969-06-14

25. The Innocent Ceremony

Air Date: 1969-06-21

26. The Haunting

Air Date: 1969-06-28

Young Cathy asks her teacher Kate for help with her father Rolf who is still withdrawn and depressed after his wife's fatal car crash sometime ago. However, the line between fantasy and reality complicates matters.

27. A Measure of Malice

Air Date: 1969-07-05

28. Better Dead

Air Date: 1969-07-12

29. Every Day of the Life Man

Air Date: 1969-07-19

An innocent man is wrongly picked from an identity parade after a factory robbery because he is black.

30. Salve Regina

Air Date: 1969-07-19

In the basement of a department store after the last bomb of World War Three. A bag lady, calls herself ' the queen ' and exercises complete authority over two befuddled men. That is until an astronaut (who was in space when the bomb fell) finds them.

31. Takeover

Air Date: 1969-07-26

Suddenly and inexplicably Mother and Father find that their previously well behaved adolescent sons are completely unmanageable, reversing the standard family dynamics.

32. Two Hundred Miles by Train

Air Date: 1969-07-26

33. The Funeral of Queen Victoria

Air Date: 1969-08-02

34. The Garbler Strategy

Air Date: 1969-08-02

35. Travelling Where?

Air Date: 1969-08-09

36. Two Feet Off the Ground

Air Date: 1969-08-16

37. Fly Away Home

Air Date: 1969-08-23

A couple return from their holiday to find their house burnt down. Having no insurance, the husband has no option but to rebuild it himself with the help of local handyman Arthur. Local council bureaucracy hinders all the way.

38. The Talking Head

Air Date: 1969-08-30

1. Diddled

Air Date: 1969-09-06

2. Episode 2

Air Date: 1969-09-13

3. That Woman Is Wrecking Our Marriage

Air Date: 1969-09-20

4. A Walk Through the Forest

Air Date: 1969-09-27

5. The Undoing

Air Date: 1969-10-04

6. In Another Country

Air Date: 1969-10-11

7. Murder: The Colonel and the Naturalist

Air Date: 1969-10-18

8. Murder: The Blood Relation

Air Date: 1969-10-25

9. It's Called the Sugar Plum

Air Date: 1969-11-01

10. Hester Lilly

Air Date: 1969-11-08

Muriel Ingram (Faith Brook) takes her friend Beatrice played by (Joan Hickson) into her confidence when she becomes suspicious of her husbands preoccupation with a young innocent looking orphan called Hester Lilly, Hester has arrived from Paris to stay with Robert Ingram the head of a boys boarding school.

11. Aren't We All?

Air Date: 1969-11-15

12. The Full Cheddar

Air Date: 1969-11-22

A teacher's concentration frequently wanders as he fantasizes about living a different life.

13. The Comic

Air Date: 1969-11-29

Tod a successful comic, is now being threatened by his own insecurities which are straining the relationships with his wife/writers and his fellow troupe of stooges. It might be about Tony Hancock? but it could be about any comedian.

14. Faith and Henry

Air Date: 1969-12-06

After the last science lesson of the day at Rivington High School, in St Helens, Lancashire, a young black girl, Faith is joined by a white fellow school pupil, Henry. They strike up a conversation about what they are doing for the evening. Henry persuades Faith to forgo the bus and walk it home instead. They nip to the local shop where Henry picks up his usual weekly order of Lancashire cheese for his family, mum, dad and 3 brothers. What follows is a gentle 1960's ever so innocent multi-racial friendship that was unusual in 1960's St. Helens. They walk around the Sankey canal, get teased by other children with one shouting 'Henry's got a girlfriend' to which Henry comically chases after them before giving up. They climb a local hill where you can see the Welsh hills, Widnes and Bold power station. Henry recites a poem and every feels every so quaint, especially for the industrial north. They return home... new friendships formed.

15. Nora

Air Date: 1969-12-13

16. It Calls for a Great Deal of Love

Air Date: 1969-12-20

Story of a lonely old woman who falls for a fat crossword puzzle composer.

17. Suffer Little Children

Air Date: 1970-01-03

The popularity of the Prime Minister (Lee Montague) has reached an all time low. Facing a serious economic crisis and with threats to his position, the former Post Office worker undergoes a breakdown and reverts to childhood.

18. Anniversary

Air Date: 1970-01-10

19. A Doll's House

Air Date: 1970-01-17

Nora Helmer has years earlier committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed lives in fear of her husband's finding out and of the shame such a revelation would bring to his career. But when the truth comes out, Nora is shocked to learn where she really stands in her husband's esteem.

20. Mrs. Mouse, Are You Within?

Air Date: 1970-01-24

21. The Pretenders

Air Date: 1970-01-31

22. Wolly Wenpol, the Complete Works

Air Date: 1970-02-07

23. Wicked Women: Alice Rhodes

Air Date: 1970-02-14

24. Wicked Women: Christiana Edmunds

Air Date: 1970-02-21

25. Wicked Women: Augusta Fullam

Air Date: 1970-02-28

26. Wicked Women: Anne-Maria Moody

Air Date: 1970-03-07

27. Wicked Women: Florence Maybrick

Air Date: 1970-03-14

28. Wicked Women: Madeleine July

Air Date: 1970-03-21

29. The Master and the Mask

Air Date: 1970-03-28

30. The Cork Moustache

Air Date: 1970-04-04

31. Fade Out

Air Date: 1970-04-11

A TV news executive gets a sensational story concerning a corrupt politician, only to find that his network bosses want to suppress it.

32. The Rococo Bush

Air Date: 1970-04-18

33. Dangerous Corner

Air Date: 1970-05-02

An unexpected suicide prompts much speculation about honesty and theft.

34. The Family Is a Vicious Circle

Air Date: 1970-05-09

35. When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Air Date: 1970-05-16

36. Lay Down Your Arms

Air Date: 1970-05-23

At the time of the 1956 Suez Crisis and the Russian invasion of Hungary, Private Bob Hawk reports to the London Intelligence Office where the strength of Soviet troops is under scrutiny.

37. You See, the Thing Is...

Air Date: 1970-05-30

38. The Salesman

Air Date: 1970-05-30

A door-to-door salesman is selling nothing tangible, but something far more worrying.

39. Married Alive

Air Date: 1970-06-06

"Married Alive was a television play written by John Mortimer, that was broadcast on NBC in 1970. "The Colonel" (Robert Culp) is a man claiming to be Liz Jardine's (Diana Rigg) long lost husband who returns after many years and moves into her life.

40. Playing with Fire

Air Date: 1970-06-13

41. Slattery's Mounted Foot

Air Date: 1970-06-20

The intrigues, gossip and prejudices of a close-knit Irish clan living in the north of England.

42. Hands with the Magic Touch

Air Date: 1970-06-27

43. The Gingham Dog

Air Date: 1970-07-04

44. Twelfth Night

Air Date: 1970-07-11

After a shipwreck, believing her brother has been killed, Viola disguises herself as a boy named Cesario and becomes a courtier to Orsino, who sends her to deliver a message of his love to Olivia, but she falls for the messenger instead.

45. Skyscrapers

Air Date: 1970-07-18

46. The Insider

Air Date: 1970-07-25

47. Dear Janet Rosenberg... Dear Mr. Kooning

Air Date: 1970-08-01

48. Act of Separation

Air Date: 1970-08-08

49. Honour and Offer

Air Date: 1970-08-15

50. Hodinott Veiling

Air Date: 1970-08-22

1. The Exiles: Jennie

Air Date: 1970-10-10

2. The Exiles: Emma

Air Date: 1970-10-17

3. The Exiles: Zo

Air Date: 1970-10-24

4. Visit from a Stranger

Air Date: 1970-10-30

5. Roll on Four O'Clock

Air Date: 1970-12-19

In a city comprehensive school that has low expectations and ambitions, pupil Peter Latimer does not conform to the macho culture, and is labeled a homosexual. This leads to bullying, both by the pupils and by some of the teachers.

6. The Policeman and the Cook

Air Date: 1970-12-26

Murder mystery in a boarding house based on a Wilkie Collins story.

7. The Dead

Air Date: 1971-01-02

Its Christmas 1901, and a group of Dubliners make their annual call on Granny Morkan's island. As the music and wine flows Gabriel's initial contentment with his wife Gretta changes as he realizes his wife's mind is far away thinking about one of the departed just remembered by all - but which one?

8. Tales of Piccadilly: Behind the Spearmint Sign

Air Date: 1971-01-09

Private investigator Harry is find his life & work involving debt collection and the like boring and humdrum.Then Helen enters his life with an exciting case involving her missing husband.

9. Tales of Piccadilly: A Room Full of Holes

Air Date: 1971-01-16

Pete and Glynis meet in a post office queue for booking long distance phone calls overseas. Their loved ones abroad become less important as they both discover they have a mutual appreciation of Rembrandt.

10. Tales of Piccadilly: The Way Out

Air Date: 1971-01-23

11. Big Soft Nellie

Air Date: 1971-02-21

12. Anna of the Five Towns

Air Date: 1971-02-28

13. Hari-Kari and Sally

Air Date: 1971-03-07

14. The Hotel in Amsterdam

Air Date: 1971-02-14

15. Pandora

Air Date: 1971-03-21

16. The Price

Air Date: 1971-03-28

A family convenes after the death of the father. Two brothers and their mother come to terms with the sacrifices and misunderstandings they have carried since the children left home.

17. Arms and the Man

Air Date: 1971-04-04

1865: Swiss captain Bluntschli fights as mercenary in the war between Bulgaria and Serbia. When his group's attacked by a few Bulgarian troopers, he learns that he's got the wrong ammunition for his cannon and has to flee. His flight leads him right into the bedroom of his enemy's fiancée.

18. Love Doesn't Grow on Trees

Air Date: 1971-04-11

19. The Silver Collection

Air Date: 1971-05-23

Rachel works in a museum, showing people round the silver collection. Jim, a carpenter, suggests she may be too far removed from real life.

20. The Shopper

Air Date: 1971-05-30

21. Man and Boy

Air Date: 1971-06-06

An unscrupulous financial manipulator is down on his luck, and does not hesitate to involve his long-estranged son in his shady dealings.

22. Paper Roses

Air Date: 1971-06-13

Facing retirement, elderly journalist Clarence Hubbard reflects on the pointlessness of a life wasted writing banal tabloid human interest, animal, and crime stories. Rather than go quietly to tend roses in a garden, Hubbard begins a series of violent actions not unlike those described in tabloids, and this is heightened by inter cutting tabloid headlines between scenes. Throughout, there are occasional shots of a television critic who watches this very play as it unfolds, and he writes a negative review filled with cleverly phrased but bitter invective.

23. The Prize

Air Date: 1971-06-20

24. Square

Air Date: 1971-06-27

25. Alice Dancing

Air Date: 1971-07-04

26. Square One

Air Date: 1971-07-10

27. After a Lifetime

Air Date: 1971-07-18

The death of 64-year-old engineer Billy Scully leads his two adult sons to reflect on another side of their father, his lifelong political commitment as an activist and trade unionist.

28. Mr. Pargiter

Air Date: 1971-07-24

29. One More on Top

Air Date: 1971-08-01

30. Hamlet

Air Date: 1971-08-08

Hamlet suspects his uncle has murdered his father to claim the throne of Denmark and the hand of Hamlet's mother, but the prince cannot decide whether or not he should take vengeance.

31. The Chaps

Air Date: 1971-08-14

32. Giants and Ogres

Air Date: 1971-08-22

On learning of the death of his ex-wife, American businessman Sam Dirk arranges to meet Daniel - the son he has never known. Sam's attempts at reconciliation seem doomed as Daniel doesn't seem to want to know his father.

33. Green Julia

Air Date: 1971-08-29

3. Katapult

Air Date: 1973-10-28

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Rating

7.0/10

Release Date

1969-01-11

Episodes

16 (6 seasons)

Status

Returning Series

Cast