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Series · 1964 – 1970 · Drama

The Wednesday Play

★5.2 1964 – 1970 9 Seasons Sydney Newman TV-MA

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

Seasons & episodes

9 seasons · 207 episodes

Episode 01

Catch As Catch Can

Sep 30, 1964 · 75 min

Based on the play "La foire d'empoigne" by Jean Anouilh.

Episode 02

A Crack in the Ice

Oct 28, 1964 · 75 min

A soldier named Postnikov rescues a drowning man.

Episode 03

In Camera

Nov 4, 1964 · 85 min

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.

Episode 04

Pale Horse, Pale Rider

Nov 11, 1964 · 85 min

A young woman's dreams of death but The Pale Rider fills her dreams along with her lover.

Episode 05

The Big Breaker

Nov 18, 1964 · 90 min

A lodger, recuperating from a heart attack, sets his sights on his landlady.

Episode 06

Mr. Douglas

Nov 25, 1964 · 70 min

Coronation Day, 1761: A merchant entertains a guest with an extraordinary secret.

Episode 07

Malatesta

Dec 2, 1964 · 95 min

Sigismondo Malatesta is a condottiere, a mercenary for hire and patron of the arts.

Episode 08

The July Plot

Dec 9, 1964 · 95 min

Dramatisation of the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in July 1944 by a conspiracy of high-ranking German Army officers.

Episode 09

First Love

Dec 16, 1964 · 85 min

A study of a boy's passion for an older girl as he discovers the difference between infatuation and true love.

Episode 10

Tap on the Shoulder

Jan 6, 1965 · 75 min

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.

Episode 11

Sir Jocelyn, the Minister Would Like a Word...

Jan 13, 1965 · 75 min

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.

Episode 12

The Navigators

Jan 20, 1965 · 75 min

A tale of romance between two working class navvies.

Episode 13

Fable

Jan 27, 1965 · 75 min

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.

Episode 14

Dan, Dan the Charity Man

Feb 3, 1965 · 75 min

Dan Sankey, the charity knocker, has become a national celebrity but who is the man behind the image?

Episode 15

Ashes to Ashes

Feb 10, 1965 · 75 min

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.

Episode 16

Wear a Very Big Hat

Feb 17, 1965 · 75 min

A young couple celebrate their wedding anniversary with a night on the town.

Episode 17

The Confidence Course

Feb 24, 1965 · 61 min

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.

Episode 18

Campaign for One

Mar 3, 1965 · 75 min

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.

Episode 19

Horror of Darkness

Mar 10, 1965 · 70 min

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.

Episode 20

A Little Temptation

Mar 17, 1965 · 75 min

A writer is having an affair with a married woman and gets embroiled with the other women in her life.

Episode 21

Moving On

Mar 24, 1965 · 75 min

A soldier faces a court-martial for killing his friend.

Episode 22

Cat's Cradle

Mar 31, 1965 · 75 min

A couple move to the country, but the wife feels isolated and finds companionship with her cat.

Episode 23

Three Clear Sundays

Apr 7, 1965 · 75 min

A dull witted young labourer from a criminal family is sent to gaol for a minor crime, leaving his pregnant girlfriend unmarried. But while there he is talked into attacking a guard, who later dies, so he's then sentenced to hang for his crime, despite a protest and newspaper campaign for leniency.

Episode 24

The Interior Decorator

Apr 14, 1965 · 75 min

An interior decorator takes a millionaire's wife on a guided tour of her new home.

Episode 25

Auto-Stop

Apr 21, 1965 · 75 min

A young couple go on a hitch-hiking tour of Europe.

Episode 26

The Good Shoe Maker and the Poor Fish Peddler

Apr 28, 1965 · 75 min

An account of the shocking Sacco-Vanzetti case of the 1920s, where two working-class Italian immigrants to the US were executed after seven years on Death Row.

Episode 27

Cemented with Love

May 5, 1965 · 75 min

It is general election night in a constituency in Northern Ireland.

Episode 28

A Knight in Tarnished Armour

May 12, 1965 · 75 min

Tom is a working class Scots teenager, but he dreams of much more.

Episode 29

For the West

May 26, 1965 · 75 min

White mercenary forces prepare to attack rebel, pro-Lumumbist troops in the Congo

Episode 30

And Did Those Feet?

Jun 2, 1965 · 75 min

Lord Fountain hates his illegitimate twin boys as he does not seem to be able to produce legitimate heirs.

Episode 31

The Man Without Papers

Jun 9, 1965 · 75 min

Years ago, it was Roscoe who kept his friends alive in a Korean prison camp. Now, he's penniless and without papers in London - will his now-prosperous former friends help him?

Episode 32

The Pistol

Jun 16, 1965 · 75 min

A young private with a pistol deals with the aftershock of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Episode 33

Women in Crisis: With Love and Tears

Jun 23, 1965 · 75 min

No description available.

Episode 34

The Seven O'Clock Crunch

Jun 30, 1965 · 75 min

Martin has a mid-life crisis.

About the series

The Wednesday Play poster
Audience score
★ 5.2 /10

based on 5 votes

Synopsis

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

Drama

Where to watch The Wednesday Play

The Wednesday Play is available to stream on Flicksy via 6 verified sources, aggregated from publicly available embed providers. The drama from Sydney Newman has 9 seasons and 207 total episodes, rated 5.2/10 by 5 viewers.

Frequently asked

How many seasons does The Wednesday Play have?

The Wednesday Play has 9 seasons with 207 episodes in total.

Is The Wednesday Play still on the air?

The Wednesday Play has ended and is no longer in production.

What network airs The Wednesday Play?

The Wednesday Play airs on BBC One.

When did The Wednesday Play first air?

The Wednesday Play first aired on September 30, 1964.

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