The Wednesday Play is an anthology series of British television plays which ran on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured. The series gained a reputation for presenting contemporary social dramas, and for bringing issues to the attention of a mass audience that would not otherwise have been discussed on screen.
The Wednesday Play (Season 1)
Catch As Catch Can (Episode 1)
Air date: 1964-09-30
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: Based on the play "La foire d'empoigne" by Jean Anouilh.
A Crack in the Ice (Episode 2)
Air date: 1964-10-28
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: A soldier named Postnikov rescues a drowning man.
In Camera (Episode 3)
Air date: 1964-11-04
Runtime: 85 min
Overview: Three people find themselves sharing a room with no way out. As they talk, the nature of the room and how they came to be there is gradually revealed.
Pale Horse, Pale Rider (Episode 4)
Air date: 1964-11-11
Runtime: 85 min
Overview: A young woman's dreams of death but The Pale Rider fills her dreams along with her lover.
The Big Breaker (Episode 5)
Writer: Alun Richards
Air date: 1964-11-18
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: A lodger, recuperating from a heart attack, sets his sights on his landlady.
Mr. Douglas (Episode 6)
Writer: John Prebble
Air date: 1964-11-25
Runtime: 70 min
Overview: Coronation Day, 1761: A merchant entertains a guest with an extraordinary secret.
Malatesta (Episode 7)
Air date: 1964-12-02
Runtime: 95 min
Overview: Sigismondo Malatesta is a condottiere, a mercenary for hire and patron of the arts.
The July Plot (Episode 8)
Writer: Roger Manvell
Air date: 1964-12-09
Runtime: 95 min
Overview: Dramatisation of the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in July 1944 by a conspiracy of high-ranking German Army officers.
First Love (Episode 9)
Air date: 1964-12-16
Runtime: 85 min
Overview: A study of a boy's passion for an older girl as he discovers the difference between infatuation and true love.
Tap on the Shoulder (Episode 10)
Writer: Jimmy O'Connor
Air date: 1965-01-06
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: Archibald Cooper is a London gangster who is living the life of a country squire while running a criminal empire. He learns that he's getting a knighthood so invites some old associates to country house unaware they are planning a robbery.
Sir Jocelyn, the Minister Would Like a Word... (Episode 11)
Writer: Simon Raven
Air date: 1965-01-13
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: A group of politicians and university dons argue over whether a new university should have a chapel or a state-of-the-art lecture hall.
The Navigators (Episode 12)
Writer: Julia Jones
Air date: 1965-01-20
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: A tale of romance between two working class navvies.
Fable (Episode 13)
Writer: John Hopkins
Air date: 1965-01-27
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: In a parallel totalitarian Great Britain, those in authority are Black people, and white people are their social underdogs — a reversal of the situation in then-contemporary apartheid South Africa.
Dan, Dan the Charity Man (Episode 14)
Writer: Hugh Whitemore
Air date: 1965-02-03
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: Dan Sankey, the charity knocker, has become a national celebrity but who is the man behind the image?
Ashes to Ashes (Episode 15)
Writer: Marc Brandel
Air date: 1965-02-10
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: Barbara is an assertive, clever, liberated woman, her own boss. Who'd think she could be swept off her feet by a handsome stranger for whom she'd give up her career, London, everything? Especially as her new husband maybe wants to kill her.
Wear a Very Big Hat (Episode 16)
Writer: Eric Coltart
Air date: 1965-02-17
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: A young couple celebrate their wedding anniversary with a night on the town.
The Confidence Course (Episode 17)
Writer: Dennis Potter
Air date: 1965-02-24
Runtime: 61 min
Overview: A trio of swindlers advertise a self-assertiveness seminar, lure a dozen victims to a hotel and attempt to persuade them to enroll in their course. However, a man claiming to be 18th century critic-essayist William Hazlitt attacks the consumerist values outlined by the motivational speaker.
Campaign for One (Episode 18)
Writer: Anthony Church
Air date: 1965-03-03
Runtime: 75 min
Overview: Astronaut Osborne is stuck in a malfunctioning capsule. As he goes round and round the Earth, he starts telling jokes and secrets. When the time comes to bring him down to Earth, he can't face it as he feels like a sexual failure.
Horror of Darkness (Episode 19)
Air date: 1965-03-10
Runtime: 70 min
Overview: Peter and Cathy are initially delighted to see their charismatic, subtly domineering friend Robin. But he outstays his welcome, and that's to say the least of it.
A Little Temptation (Episode 20)
Air date: 1965-03-17
Runtime: 75 min
Moving On (Episode 21)
Air date: 1965-03-24
Runtime: 75 min
Cat's Cradle (Episode 22)
Air date: 1965-03-31
Runtime: 75 min
Three Clear Sundays (Episode 23)
Writer: Jimmy O'Connor
Air date: 1965-04-07
Runtime: 75 min
The Interior Decorator (Episode 24)
Air date: 1965-04-14
Runtime: 75 min
Auto-Stop (Episode 25)
Air date: 1965-04-21
Runtime: 75 min
The Good Shoe Maker and the Poor Fish Peddler (Episode 26)
Air date: 1965-04-28
Runtime: 75 min
Cemented with Love (Episode 27)
Air date: 1965-05-05
Runtime: 75 min
A Knight in Tarnished Armour (Episode 28)
Air date: 1965-05-12
Runtime: 75 min
For the West (Episode 29)
Air date: 1965-05-26
Runtime: 75 min
And Did Those Feet? (Episode 30)
Writer: David Mercer
Air date: 1965-06-02
Runtime: 75 min
The Man Without Papers (Episode 31)
Air date: 1965-06-09
Runtime: 75 min
The Pistol (Episode 32)
Air date: 1965-06-16
Runtime: 75 min
Women in Crisis: With Love and Tears (Episode 33)
Air date: 1965-06-23
Runtime: 75 min
The Seven O'Clock Crunch (Episode 34)
Air date: 1965-06-30
Runtime: 75 min
Seasons
Episodes 34
Episodes 37
Episodes 31
Episodes 25
Episodes 26
Episodes 34