ITV Sunday Night Theatre

UK TV anthology series

ITV Sunday Night Theatre

Also known as| ITV Saturday Night Theatre
Country of origin| United Kingdom
Original language| English
Production
Production company| Various ITV companies
Original release
Network| ITV
Release| 11 January 1969 (1969-01-11) –
5 May 1974 (1974-05-05)

ITV Sunday Night Theatre, originally titled ITV Saturday Night Theatre and often shortened to simply Sunday Night Theatre or Saturday Night Theatre,[citation needed] is a British television anthology series screened on ITV, whose episodes were contributed by various companies in the ITV network.[1]

## Overview[edit]

The first episode of the programme was the teleplay Park People by Alun Owen[2] which aired on 11 January 1969.[3]

Around 200 episodes aired on ITV between 1969 and 1974, including productions of plays such as Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill, A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen and Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw.

Other episodes included adaptation of the works of William Shakespeare, James Joyce, Wilkie Collins, Simon Gray, Sam Shepard, Israel Horovitz, Arthur Miller, August Strindberg, J.B. Priestley, Lanford Wilson, and John Mortimer.[citation needed]

## Directors[edit]

* Michael Lindsay-Hogg
* Anthony Page
* Mike Newell
* Fielder Cook
* Ted Kotcheff
* Peter Wood
* Vivian Matalon.[citation needed]

## Actors[edit]

Helen Mirren, Laurence Olivier, Peggy Ashcroft, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins, Michael Caine, Paul Scofield, George C. Scott, Laurence Harvey, Ralph Richardson, Diana Rigg, Trevor Howard, Pamela Buchner, Glenda Jackson, Diane Cilento, Alec Guinness, Jane Asher, Martin Sheen, Colleen Dewhurst, Jean Marsh, Shelley Winters, Ian Holm, Richard Chamberlain, Edith Evans, John Gielgud, Shirley Knight, Gareth Forwood, Jeff Shankley, Sarah Douglas, Ian McKellen, George Sanders, Michael Gambon, Charmian Abrahams and Margaret Whiting.[citation needed]

## Episodes[edit]

### "Wicked Women"[edit]

"Wicked Women" is a six-episode drama series, produced by London Weekend, which aired as part of the second series of Saturday Night Theatre, based on true-life cases of women whose stories featured prominently in Victorian newspapers after they murdered or attempted to murder various people. These included Alice Rhodes (played by Joanna Dunham), Christiana Edmunds (Anna Massey), Augusta Fullam (Vivien Merchant), Anne-Maria Moody (Jane Asher), Florence Maybrick (Nicola Pagett), Madeleine July (Billie Whitelaw).[1] The first episode went to air on 28 February 1970.[4]

### Season 1[edit]

Year  | Ep.  | Title  | Notes

|
|
|

11 January 1969  | 1  | "Park People"  | Written by Alun Owen. Directed by Peter Willes & produced by Yorkshire Television. Starring Julian Glover, Elizabeth Shepherd & Zena Walker.[5][3]
18 January 1969  | 2  | "Bangelstein's Boys"  | Starring June Ellis.
25 January 1969  | 3  | "My Bonnie Jean"  | Starring John Cairney, Ewan Roberts & Colette O'Neil.
1 February 1969  | 4  | "MacNeil"  | Starring Sean Connery & Anna Calder-Marshall. Narrated by Laurence Olivier.
8 February 1969  | 5  | "Cornelius"  | Starring Michael Caine & Anna Calder-Marshall. Narrated by Laurence Olivier.
15 February 1969  | 6  | "Emlyn"  | Starring Paul Scofield, Anna Calder-Marshall & Geoffrey Chater. Narrated by Laurence Olivier.
22 February 1969  | 7  | "Tiger Trap in the Street"  | Starring Michael Craig, Rosemary Leach, Larry Dann & Angela Douglas.
1 March 1969  | 8  | "An Hour of Love: The Bind"  | Starring Dandy Nichols, Bill Owen & Edward Petherbridge.
1 March 1969  | 9  | "An Hour of Love: Anatomy of a Divorce"  | Starring Julian Glover & Barbara Leigh-Hunt.
8 March 1969  | 10  | "The Piano Tuner"  | Starring Frank Finlay, Daphne Slater & Shelagh Fraser.
15 March 1969  | 11  | "Pig in a Poke"  | Starring Joan Benham, Colin Blakely & Donald Sumpter.
22 March 1969  | 12  | "Machine"  | Written by Hugh Charteris. Starring Roy Battersby, Rachel Gurney & Ray McAnally.
| 13  | "Episode #1.13"  |
5 April 1969  | 14  | "The Dirt on Lucy Lane"  | Starring Michael Robbins, Robert Urquhart, Justine Lord, Hannah Gordon & Jim Norton.
12 April 1969  | 15  | "Moonlight on the Highway"  | Starring Ian Holm, Anthony Bate & Deborah Grant.
19 April 1969  | 16  | "Hazel and Her New Gas Cooker"  | Starring Patricia Routledge, Jack Hedley, Ken Jones & June Brown.
26 April 1969  | 17  | "Steve"  | Starring Billy Murray, David Sterne, Rudolph Walker, Isobel Black & Jon Finch.
3 May 1969  | 18  | "Toys"  | Starring Michele Dotrice, John Breslin, Janina Faye, Ronald Lewis, Hilary Mason & David Wood.
10 May 1969  | 19  | "Rogue's Gallery: The Bright Eyed Body Snatcher"  | For Granada. Starring Sandra Bryant, Michael Balfour, Jonathan Adams, John Cater, Diane Cilento, Jim Dale, John Woodnutt & Danny Sewell.
17 May 1969  | 20  | "Rogue's Gallery: The Wicked Stage"  | Starring Diane Cilento, Jim Dale, John Woodnutt, Sandra Bryant, Michael Balfour & Danny Sewell, Ian McShane & Roger Hammond.
24 May 1969  | 21  | "Rogue's Gallery: The Timorous Rake"  | Starring Sandra Bryant, Michael Balfour, Diane Cilento, Jim Dale, Danny Sewell, John Woodnutt & Raymond Huntley.
31 May 1969  | 22  | "Rogue's Gallery: The Fearful Image"  | Starring Michael Balfour, Sandra Bryant, Diane Cilento, Jim Dale, Danny Sewell, John Woodnutt & Morag Hood.
7 June 1969  | 23  | "Rogue's Gallery: A Bed Full of Miracles"  | Starring Michael Balfour, Sandra Bryant, Diane Cilento, Jim Dale, Danny Sewell, John Woodnutt & George Woodbridge & Daphne Heard.
14 June 1969  | 24  | "Rogue's Gallery: The Prude Pursued"  | Starring Michael Balfour, Diane Cilento, Sandra Bryant, Jim Dale, Danny Sewell, John Woodnutt. Anthony Nicholls & Milton Johns.
22 June 1969  | 25  | "The Innocent Ceremony"  | Starring Gladys Bacon, John Bailey, Stephanie Bidmead, Dennis Chinnery, Veronica Turleigh, Gareth Forwood, Madeleine Christie, Sarah Lawson & Joseph O'Conor.
28 June 1969  | 26  | "The Haunting"  | Starring John Thaw, Suzanne Neve & Louise Pajo.
5 July 1969  | 27  | "A Measure of Malice"  | Starring Yootha Joyce, John Stratton & Elizabeth Weaver.
12 July 1969  | 28  | "Better Dead"  | Starring Lindsay Campbell, Edward Fox, Ann Lynn, David Hutcheson, Ron Moody & Patsy Smart.
19 July 1969  | 29  | "Every Day of the Life Man"  | Starring Timothy Bateson.
19 July 1969  | 30  | "Salve Regina"  | Starring Glenda Jackson, Graham Crowden, Miriam Karlin & Al Mancini.
26 June 1969  | 31  | "Takeover"  | Starring Norman Bird & Louis Selwyn.
26 June 1969  | 32  | "Two Hundred Miles by Train"  | Starring Joe Gladwin.
2 August 1969  | 33  | "The Funeral of Queen Victoria "  | Starring Madge Ryan & Sheila White.
2 August 1969  | 34  | "The Garbler Strategy"  | Starring Leonard Rossiter, Michael Lees, Anne Cunningham, Patrick Godfrey & Willoughby Goddard.
9 August 1969  | 35  | "Travelling Where?"  | Starring Richard Beale, Jennifer Clulow, David Daker, Michael Lees
16 August 1969  | 36  | "Two Feet off the Ground"  | Starring Leslie Sands, Avice Landone, Jennifer Hilary, Tony Tanner, Martin Shaw.
23 August 1968  | 37  | "Fly Away Home"  | Starring Tony Caunter, George Hilsdon, Bob Todd, David Weston, Peggy Ann Wood.
30 August 1969  | 38  | "The Talking Head"  | Starring John Thaw, Michael Craig, Ann Lynn, Edwin Richfield, Robert Cawdron & Godfrey James.

### Season 2[edit]

Year  | Ep.  | Title  | Notes

|
|
|

27 September 1969  | 4  | "A Walk Through the Forest"  | Starring Anthony Hopkins.
11 October 1969  | 6  | "In Another Country "  | Starring John Thaw.
22 November 1969  | 12  | "The Full Cheddar"  | Starring Robin Askwith & Vivien Merchant.
29 November 1969  | 13  | "The Comic"  | Starring Isabel Dean.
1970  |  | "Wicked Women"  | 6 episodes, produced by London Weekend. Starring Joanna Dunham, Anna Massey, Vivien Merchant, Jane Asher, Nicola Pagett, Billie Whitelaw & Shirley Stelfox. First episode aired 28 February 1970.
1970  |  | "Wicked Women"  | Episode: "Skyscrapers" starring Vivien Merchant
1970  |  | "Suffer Little Children"  | Starring Josephine Tewson
1970  |  | "The Silver Collection"  | Starring Billy Murray
1970  |  | "Married Alive"  | Starring Diana Rigg
1970  |  | "The Insider"  | Starring Peter Blythe
1970  |  | "Lay Down Your Arms"  | Starring George Layton & Thérèse McMurray.
1970  |  | "Roll on Four O'Clock"  | Written by Colin Welland. Starring Roy Battersby, Bill Dean & Jack Conley.
1970  | 42  | "Hands with the Magic Touch"  | Starring Mark Eden.
1970  | 44  | "Twelfth Night"  | Written by William Shakespeare. Directed by John Sichel for ATV. Starring Tommy Steele, Ralph Richardson, Alec Guinness Joan Plowright, Gary Raymond, Adrienne Corri, John Moffatt, Sheila Reid, Richard Leech, Kurt Christian & Christopher Timothy.[6][7]
1970  |  | "The Policeman and the Cook"  | Starring Tim Curry
1970  |  | "Dangerous Corner"  | Starring Ian Hendry

### Season 3[edit]

Year  | Ep.  | Title  | Notes

|
|
|

1971  |  | "Arms and the Man"  | Written by George Bernard Shaw. Starring Laurence Harvey & John Standing.
1971  |  | "Paper Roses"  | Starring Rosalie Williams & Bill Maynard.
1971  |  | "Square One"  | Starring Patrick Troughton.
1971  |  | "The Hotel in Amsterdam"  | Starring Paul Scofield & Isabel Dean. Aired on 14 March 1971.
1971  |  | "Tales of Piccadilly: A Room Full of Holes"  | Starring Richard Beckinsale.
1971  |  | "Tales of Piccadilly: The Way Out"  | Starring Stephanie Beacham & Celia Bannerman.
1971  |  | "Tales of Piccadilly: Out of Town Girl"  | Starring Angela Down.
1970  |  | "Love Doesn’t Grow on Trees"  | Starring Ian Hendry.
1971  |  | "Fly on the Wall"  | 3 episodes, starring Sean Bury.
1971  |  | "First Sight"  | Starring Sean Bury.
1971  |  | "The Price"  | Starring Colleen Dewhurst.

### Season 4[edit]

Year  | Ep.  | Title  | Notes

|
|
|

1972  | 12  | "Another Sunday and Sweet F.A."  | Written by Jack Rosenthal. Directed by Michael Apted for Granada Television. Starring David Swift, Freddie Fletcher, Anne Kirkbride.[8][9]
1972  |  | "The Last Journey"  | Starring Peggy Ashcroft & John Challis.[10]
1972  |  | "Time Lock"  | Starring Billy Murray.
1972  |  | "Consequences"  | Starring Richard Beckinsale.
1972  |  | "Madly in Love"  | Starring Richard Beckinsale.
1972  |  | "When the Wheel Turns"  | Starring Sally Thomsett.
1972  |  | "A Man About a Dog"  | Starring David Hedison.
1972  |  | "Last Year's Confetti"  | Starring Stephanie Beacham.
1972  |  | "Ted"  | Starring Patricia Quinn & Michael Culver.
1972  |  | "Ben Spray"  | Starring John Alderton.
1972  |  | "Just in Time for Christmas"  | Starring Joan Hickson.
1972  |  | "A Summer Story"  | Starring Ian Hendry.
1972  |  | "Before Paris"  | Starring Margaret Whiting.

### Season 5[edit]

Year  | Ep.  | Title  | Notes

|
|
|

1 October 1972  | 1  | "The Vamp"  | Starring Shelley Winters & David Wood.
8 October 1972  | 2  | "When the Music Stops"  | Starring Donald Churchill, Edward Fox & Mary Peach.
15 October 1972  | 3  | "When the Wheel Turns"  | Starring Michael Bates, Rosemary Leach & Sally Thomsett.
22 October 1972  | 4  | "Ted"  | Starring Ernest Clark, Patricia Quinn, Michael Culver, Tony Haygarth, Cyril Luckham, Delia Lindsay & Richard Morant.
29 October 1972  | 5  | "The Samaritan"  | Starring Tom Bell, Kenneth Cranham & Martin Jarvis.
4 November 1972  | 6  | "Three Months Gone"  | Starring Ian Gelder, Geraldine McEwan, Pat Heywood & Stephen Yardley.
12 November 1972  | 7  | "God Send Sunday"  | Starring Evin Crowley.
19 November 1969  | 8  | "First Sight"  | Starring Sean Bury & Brian Deacon.
26 November 1972  | 9  | "Triangles"  |
3 December 1972  | 10  | "The Web"  | Starring Michael Kitchen, Ann Firbank & Jenny Twigge.
10 December 1972  | 11  | "The Guests"  | Starring Margaret Leighton.
17 December 1972  | 12  | "The Piano Player"  | Starring Gareth Forwood, Clive Revill, Cyril Snaps, William Simons & Angharad Rees.
7 January 1973  | 13  | "The Death of Adolf Hitler"  | Written by Vincent Tilsley. Directed & produced by Rex Firkin for London Weekend. Starring Frank Finlay, Caroline Mortimer & Peter Blythe.[11][12]
14 January 1973  | 14  | "The Staff Room"  | Starring Roland Culver, John Nettleton, Daphne Slater & David Waller.
21 January 1973  | 15  | "Sarah"  | Starring Ursula Howells, Mark Kingston, Richard Vernon & Pat Heywood.
25 March 1973  | 16  | "Pleased to Meet You"  | Starring Michael Coles, Glynn Edwards, Barry Foster & Janet Key.
1 April 1973  | 17  | "The Ruffian on the Stair"  | Directed by David Cunliffe for Yorkshire Television. Starring Judy Cornwell & Michael Bryant.[13][14]
8 April 1973  | 18  | "A.D.A.M."  | Starring Georgina Hale.
15 April 1973  | 19  | "But Fred, Freud is Dead"  | Starring
10 March 1973  | 20  | "Long Day's Journey into Night"  | Written by Eugene O'Neill. Adapted by Michael Blakemore & directed Peter Wood for ATV. Starring Laurence Olivier, Constance Cummings, Denis Quilley, Ronald Pickup & Maureen Lipman.[15][16]
29 April 1973  | 21  | "Harlequinade"  | Starring Sarah Douglas.
6 May 2023  | 22  | "Afternoon at the Festival"  | Starring
13 May 1973  | 23  | "The Coffee Lace"  | Starring
20 May 1973  | 24  | "Passengers"  | Starring John Thaw. Aired 20 May 1973.
3 June 1973  | 25  | "Willy"  | Starring
17 June 1973  | 26  | "Lorna and Ted"  | Starring
1 July 1973  | 27  | "Reckoning Day"  | Starring
8 July 1973  | 28  | "It Only Hurts for a Minute"  | Starring
15 July 1973  | 29  | "The Intruders"  | Starring Julie Dawn Cole.
22 July 1973  | 30  | "Blinkers"  | Starring
29 July 1973  | 31  | "Free as a Bird"  | Starring
5 August 1973  | 32  | "A Question of Everything"  | Starring

### Season 6[edit]

Year  | Ep.  | Title  | Notes

|
|
|

16 September 1973  | 1  | "Young Guy Seeks Part Time Work"  | Starring Bruce Boa, Anna Massey & Anton Rodgers.
23 September 1973  | 2  | "Hopcraft into Europe"  | Starring Clive Revill, Geraldine McEwan, Arthur Lowe, Angela Scoular, Diana Quick & Ian Charleson.
28 October 1973  | 3  | "Katapult"  | Starring James Bate, Tom Chadbon, Warren Clarke, Paul Freeman, Norman Jones & Tony Melody.
16 December 1973  | 4  | "In the Heel of the Hunt"  | Starring Rynagh O'Grady.
23 December 1973  | 5  | "Visitors"  | Starring Kathleen Byron, Jennie Linden & Moira Redmond.
24 February 1974  | 6  | "No Harm Done"  | Starring Helen Worth. Michael Cashman, Lee Montague, Tony Selby, Rowena Cooper & Michael Forrest.
31 March 1974  | 7  | "Geography of a Horse Dreamer"  | Written by Sam Shepard. Starring Iain Cuthbertson, Donal Donnelly, Paul Maxwell, Eddie Powell & T. P. McKenna
7 April 1974  | 8  | "Only the Other Day"  | Starring Polly Adams, Michael Byrne, Susan Engel, Derek Fowlds, Derrick O'Connor & Angela Scoular.
20 March 1978  | 9  | "Catholics" (aka "Conflict", "A Fable of the Future" and "The Visitor")  | Written by Brian Moore & directed by Jack Gold for HTV. Starring Trevor Howard, Martin Sheen, Michael Gambon, Leon Vitali, Raf Vallone and Cyril Cusack.[17][18]
5 May 1974  | 10  | "There is a Happy Land"  | Starring Bernard Atha, Fred Feast, Christine Buckley & Bryan Pringle.

### Other episodes[edit]

* "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Wicked Women". Nostalgia Central. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
2. ^ "Park People (1969)". BFI watch and discover. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
3. ^ a b Rich (22 January 1969). "Radio-Television: Foreign TV Reviews - SATURDAY NIGHT THEATRE". Variety. 253 (10): 39.
4. ^ "ITV Saturday Night Theatre - Season 2 Episode 25". Video Detective. 28 February 1970. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
5. ^ "Park People (1969)". BFI watch and discover. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
6. ^ Patrick Campbell (16 July 1970). "Television Today: Exceptional teamwork in distinguished production". The Stage and Television Today (4657): 13.
7. ^ Brooke, Michael. "Twelfth Night (1970)". BFI Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
8. ^ Patrick Campbell (13 April 1972). "And For My Next Trick". The Stage and Television Today (4748): 13.
9. ^ McDonagh, Fintan. "Another Sunday and Sweet F.A. (1972)". BFI Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
10. ^ "The Last Journey (1972)". BFI. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022.
11. ^ Patrick Campbell (11 January 1973). "The Death of Adolf Hitler". The Stage and Television Today (4787): 19.
12. ^ "The Death of Adolf Hitler (1973)". BFI. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 14 April 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
13. ^ Sheldon, Larry (5 April 1973). "Television Today-- Reviews: The Ruffian on the Stair". The Stage and Television Today (4799): 13.
14. ^ "The Ruffian on the Stair (1973)". BFI. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
15. ^ Bok (14 March 1973). "Television Reviews: LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT". Variety. 270 (5): 46.
16. ^ "Long Day's Journey into Night (1973)". BFI. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
17. ^ Fob (5 December 1973). "Television Reviews: CATHOLICS". Variety. 273 (4): 38.
18. ^ "Catholics A Fable of the Future (1973)". BFI. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2023.

## External links[edit]

* ITV Sunday Night Theatre at IMDb