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An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
1967
An alcoholic civil servant is abandoned by his wife and comes home to an empty house.
Rome, in the latter part of the 19th century. A plague is raging through all that part of Italy, and death is beginning to visit households in the city itself. A rich and famous hostess is determined to crown her social career by giving a splendid ball for the most awesome guest of honour of all--the lordly Death himself.
Keith Michell portrays a sad man who books a room in an English seaside hotel with a revolver in his luggage and an intention to shoot himself. Once in his room alone, we watch him silently and sadly unpack the gun, place it in front of him on the table in his room and prepare to do away with himself. He slowly places a bullet in the chamber and positions the gun to his head. At that moment there comes a knock on the door. He hides the gun and answers the door to find a pretty young woman standing there played by Geraldine McEwan.
A ventriloquist , shares a few secrets with his dummy.
A black Rhodesian and a white Rhodesian meet in London.
A couple wait for their son to return from Vietnam.
A woman's romantic tryst with a married man is interrupted by the arrival of his wife.
1969
A woman advertises her services as a portrait model, but a misunderstanding arises.
Streaming availability information not available
1970
During the Czech uprising, a tribunal assembles for the trial of Alexander Dubcek.
Inspector Waugh is asked to visit his bank manager, who needs some discreet help. Commander Browne formed the British Freedom Party and sailed for Albania. Since his return, his bank account has been emptied by a man posing as him.
Inspector Waugh investigates an hit and run after a car driving on the wrong side of the road puts Mr Watkins in hospital. Watkins claims to be astronomer but his story doesn't hold water. Waugh finds a bag and Watkins criminal record.
P.C. White was chasing a missing dog which leads him to a dead body buried at the Maxwell Reece's garden. She claims it's a tramp but Waugh discovers that her lover died of a heart attack and she doesn't want neighbours to know
The Mallows return from a three month holiday to discover their house has been broke in to. Inspector Waugh learns nothing has been stolen. Burglar Albert Lawless who found £5,000 hidden in locked draw, at the Mallows, and arrested.
Inspector Waugh is called to the house of Cynthia Holmes to look into the disappearance of her10-year-old son Peter. Waugh quickly spots that Mrs Holmes is lying about her wealth and the boy has escaped to have fun somewhere else.
Inspector Waugh is looking for a robber from Liverpool, who he believes is in disguise and attempting to leave by boat. Arriving is Ephraim, a well. a known villain with no convictions. Waugh knows he's smuggling something, but what?
Mr Lumley's dazzling sales-talk sometimes gets out of control.
1968
Commander Dusting is used to commanding men and having his slightest wish obeyed. So it comes as a great shock when he suddenly finds himself redundant.
A young couple like to change their clothes and personalities to suit the people they've invited to dinner. But one night they forget who their guests are going to be.
Josef Djugashvili is not a suitable candidate for the priesthood. Revolutionary politics lead him to take the name Stalin.
A small group of middle class people are sitting around a table in a windowless room enjoying a dinner party as the TV in the corner reports on events in the Vietnam War. Their trivial chatter, one by one, bores people at the dinner party, who turn their attention to the TV and become encapsulated by the horror of the war and the dinner party continues despite, one by one, each diner being overwhelmed by war scenes and is next seen dead in their seat in the same way as a Vietnamese war victim; meanwhile the babble continues and the guest's demise passes unnoticed, until there is only one left.
1965
An unscrupulous antiques dealer with a method for acquiring invaluable antiques in the countryside, stumbles upon a priceless chair owned by a less than cooperative family.
Failure to win in a television quiz proves too much for Stuart and Patricia Pendleton.
Simon is trying to convince his mistress, Monica, to leave her husband by staging a suicide. But instead of Monica showing up, a stranger appears, who helps him to carry out the suicide he was staging at the beginning of the play.
Mrs. Bixby, a dentist's wife, goes alone once a month to the country "to see her aunt"; she's secretly visiting her lover, the Colonel. But when he gives her an expensive coat, she has to devise a way of explaining it to her husband.
In this medical drama for the BBC's THIRTY MINUTE THEATER series, a doctor is helpless as an old man dies in pain. In the same ward, three other patients of different backgrounds attempt to deal with the old man's death.
1966
The jury gave a verdict, mister. But you came here. Why? Because I was off a chain gang and Jackie used to hustle.' An American lawyer challenges the evidence given by a young couple, which has led to the conviction of two boys for rape and murder
At a dinner party, the host hints that one of his guests, an appalling wine snob, will not be able to identify a particular rare vintage. The snob agrees to make a bet on it, but suggests an unusual stake.
Does Harry, a rather sinister dentist, know that the young man in his chair is having an affair with his wife? And is he does, is he planning some sort of revenge?
Carol deserts her husband and son for her lover.
1972
Holiday work in the countryside brings three young friends peace and tenderness. The richness and innocence of their experience carries with it the seeds of painful disintegration.
On Krapp's 69th birthday, he reviews a tape recording he made the year he was 39 and makes a new recording commenting on the last 12 months.
When Pulsford, an ulcerated impresario, stages a competition to find a new pop-group, the only entrant is The Poetic Works. Their act is truly spectacular, too spectacular for Pulsford's own.
1971
An incident in a graveyard has upset a middle-aged housewife, but her husband couldn't care less.
Uncle Rollo has a bad habit of remembering all the things his nephew Ivor would like to forget.
Morgan the caretaker really doesn't like Mr. and Mrs. Runca, two of the tenants he's supposed to look after - and he picks the worst possible time to let them know it.
If Major Bartholomew isn't insane, why is he playing Russian roulette with a lovelorn subaltern?
Gay bartender Susie applies make-up and holds sway over a quiet bar, responding with suspicion and bitterness to two men and then two women who enter, all communicating with meanness, innuendo and sniggering.
A dentist discovers his wife on the verge of having an affair with another man - a rival dentist.
A romantic rendezvous doesn't quite go as planned.
Francesca has some concerns about her mother's business.
Pip and Bob, both married, are a couple of ordinary working-class blokes in an ordinary London suburb. It's just that they have also been gay lovers for years.
