Herbert Wise

Herbert Wise (31 August 1924 – 5 August 2015) was an Austrian-born film and television producer and director. Herbert Wise was born as Herbert Weisz in Vienna, Austria, and began his career as a director at Shrewsbury Repertory Company in 1950. He was at Hull Rep and then as Director of Productions at Dundee Rep (1952–55). He directed So what about Love in the West End at the Criterion Theatre in a 1970 production with Sheila Hancock in the lead. Wise began his television career in 1956 and directed adaptations of I, Claudius (1976) and Alan Ayckbourn's play cycle The Norman Conquests (1977), the BBC Television Shakespeare production of Julius Caesar (1979), Tales of the Unexpected, The 10th Kingdom, The Woman in Black (1989), and episodes of Cadfael and Inspector Morse. He also directed several episodes of the Thames Television series Rumpole of the Bailey. He directed several made-for-TV films, including Skokie (1981) and Breaking the Code (1996), the latter adapted from the Hugh Whitemore play about Alan Turing. Wise directed two theatrically released films: an entry in the Edgar Wallace Mysteries second feature series titled To Have and to Hold (1963), and the film version of the 1970–1971 television sit-com The Lovers titled The Lovers! (1973). He was married twice, firstly to the actress Moira Redmond (1963–1972) and, after he and Redmond divorced, to actress Fiona Walker in 1988.[1] Wise and Fiona Walker had two children; Susannah Wise and Charlie Walker-Wise.

Works

I, Claudius: A Television Epic

The cast and crew of I, Claudius (1976) discuss the making of the series.

Release Date2002-09-30

Charactersd Self

Vote Count1

Play for Today

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Release Date1970-10-15

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count10

BBC Play of the Month

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

Release Date1965-10-19

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count8

Z-Cars

Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

Release Date1962-01-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count7

A Touch of Frost

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.

Release Date1992-12-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count77

Tales of the Unexpected

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Release Date1979-03-24

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count9

Vote Count50

Theatre 625

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Release Date1964-05-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count5

American Playhouse

American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

Release Date1982-01-12

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count8

The Bill

The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.

Release Date1984-10-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count46

Inspector Morse

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.

Release Date1987-01-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count142

Rumpole of the Bailey

Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.

Release Date1975-12-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Vote Count24

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

Anthology series of dramatic works.

Release Date1969-01-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Vote Count3

The Wednesday Play

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.

Release Date1964-09-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count5

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

Release Date1967-09-25

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

ITV Play of the Week

A UK anthology series of single plays from major playwrights old and new. It ran from 1955 to 1974, producing about five hundred ninety-minute episodes from Granada Television. Season 1 also incorporates the Plays from the 'H.M. Tennant Globe Theatre' series, some of which were incorporated and labelled in listings as official Play of the Week episodes and some of which were played in place of Play of the Week episodes in alternative ITV regions. All 8 plays have been incorporated into this entry for convenience.

Release Date1955-09-27

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Vote Count5

Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.

Release Date1971-10-10

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count31

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries

The Ruth Rendell mysteries is a British television series made by TVS and Meridian Television for ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000.

Release Date1987-08-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count11

Vote Count12

Thirty-Minute Theatre

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.

Release Date1965-10-07

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count5

Vote Count8

Sunday-Night Play

Sunday-Night Play

BBC anthology drama series that ran over four seasons and replaced the previous BBC Sunday Night Theatre series.

Release Date1960-09-25

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Cadfael

Brother Cadfael is a twelfth-century Anglo-Welsh monk. A retired crusader disappointed in love, and now a herbalist in charge of the gardens of Shrewsbury Abbey, Brother Cadfael is often called on to solve murders and other crimes in and around Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in the border country where England meets Wales.

Release Date1994-05-29

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count34

The BBC Television Shakespeare

The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.

Release Date1978-12-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count6

Van der Valk

Van der Valk is a British television series that was produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. It starred Barry Foster in the title role as Dutch detective Commissaris "Piet" van der Valk. Based on the characters and atmosphere of the novels of Nicolas Freeling, the first series was shown in 1972.

Release Date1972-09-13

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count10

Where the Heart Is

In the small, fictional Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite is an engaging story of life, love, family and people’s ever-changing fortunes in rural England. Set against the rugged landscape of Yorkshire, it follows the busy professional and family lives of District Nurses, as they bring nursing and emotional care to young and old alike. The first four series concentrates on the lives of district health nurses Peggy Snow and Ruth Goddard. The story expands to focus on the lives of more Skelthwhaite residents, particularly those related to the nurses as well as those employed in a local toilet tissue factory.

Release Date1997-04-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count3

Churchill's People

Churchill's People is a British anthology series based on A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies. 26 episodes were produced by the BBC and initially broadcast from 30 December 1974 to 23 June 1975.

Release Date1974-12-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count2

Thursday Theatre

Thursday Theatre

Thursday Theatre is a UK television anthology series produced by and airing on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 1964–1965. There were twenty-three episodes which included adaptations of the play, The Cocktail Party, by T. S. Eliot, and the novel, The Wings of the Dove, by Henry James. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the twenty-three episodes, thirteen are believed to be lost, and one episode is incomplete.

Release Date1964-10-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Dalgliesh

Centred on the cases of P. D. James' gentleman detective Adam Dalgliesh. In addition to his career as a policeman, Dalgliesh is also a published poet and an intensely private man.

Release Date1983-04-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count7

I, Claudius

Acclaimed blackly comic historical drama series. Set amidst a web of power, corruption and lies, it chronicles the reigns of the Roman emperors - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and finally Claudius.

Release Date1976-09-20

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count12

Vote Count138

Softly Softly: Task Force

Softly, Softly: Task Force is a police based drama series which ran on BBC 1 from 1969 to 1976. It was a revamp of Softly, Softly, itself a spin-off from Z-Cars. The change was made partly to coincide with the coming of colour broadcasting to the BBC's main channel BBC1. The programme was due to be called simply Task Force, but reluctant to sacrifice a much-loved brand the BBC compromised this so it became Softly, Softly: Task Force.

Release Date1969-11-20

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count2

Out of the Unknown

Out of the Unknown is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Each episode was a dramatisation of a science fiction short story; some were created for the series, but most were adaptations of already published stories. The first three years were exclusively science fiction, but that genre was abandoned in the final year in favour of horror and fantasy. A number of episodes were wiped during the early 1970s, as was standard procedure at the time.

Release Date1965-10-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count8

NET Playhouse

NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.

Release Date1966-10-07

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count3

Festival

An anthology of single plays offering up adaptations of either of prominent stage plays or novels.

Release Date1963-10-09

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Man in a Suitcase

Accused of treason, a former U.S. intelligence officer based in London tries to clear his name, taking on freelance jobs around Europe as he searches for answers.

Release Date1967-09-27

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count9

The 10th Kingdom

Virginia and Tony, a father and daughter living in Manhattan, find themselves in a parallel universe where Snow White, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are struggling to maintain order. Their kingdoms have been fragmented by trolls, giants and goblins.

Release Date2000-02-27

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count5

Vote Count269

Elizabeth R

This historical mini-series documents the reign of Elizabeth I with each episode focusing on one dramatic period in the lengthy reign of the Virgin Queen, including her ascension to the throne, her various marital intrigues, her problems with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, and the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada.

Release Date1971-02-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count22

Budgie

Budgie is a popular British television series starring former popstar Adam Faith which was produced by ITV company London Weekend Television and broadcast on the ITV network between 1971 and 1972. The series was created by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall . The show was produced by Verity Lambert, Rex Firkin was the Executive producer.

Release Date1971-04-09

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count6

Shadow Squad

Shadow Squad

Release Date1957-06-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Drama 61-67

Drama 61-67

Drama 61-67 is anthology drama series which took a different title, based on year of transmission, each year. It alternated with Armchair Theatre from ABC in the Sunday evening slot. The series was described at the time as epitomising ATV drama.

Release Date1961-03-19

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

Episode Count1

Unnatural Causes

An anthology of seven psychological dramas, each with a different cast and crew, exploring deaths in unusual circumstances.

Release Date1986-11-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

Edgar Wallace Mysteries

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries was a British second-feature film series, produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 46 films in the series, made between 1960 and 1965. The films were loose adaptations of Edgar Wallace's books and stories. Very few used his original titles, and there was no attempt to set them in the period in which Wallace wrote, probably to obviate the need for elaborate costumes and sets. A 1962 article in Scene magazine quotes £22,000 as the budget for an episode then in production.

Release Date1959-03-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count2

Lytton's Diary

Lytton's Diary is a 1985–86 British comedy-drama programme created and written by Peter Bowles and Philip Broadley. Produced by Thames Television for ITV, it originated as a single play on the anthology programme Storyboard before expanding into two popular series, known for their mix of glamour, intrigue, and social commentary. Bowles stars as Neville Lytton, a suave and successful Fleet Street gossip columnist for the Daily News. Lytton navigates the world of high-society scandals, political corruption, and personal challenges, balancing his professional life with his love life and his ambition to write a novel.

Release Date1985-01-09

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count3

Armchair Mystery Theatre

Armchair Mystery Theatre is a 60-minute United Kingdom television anthology mystery series. Thirty-four episodes aired from 1960-65. It was hosted by Donald Pleasence and produced by Leonard White.

Release Date1960-06-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Release Date1951-12-24

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count8

Caleb Williams

Release Date1980-12-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count5

Strange Interlude

Adaptation of an experimental play in nine acts by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. Strange Interlude makes extensive use of a soliloquy technique, in which the characters speak their inner thoughts to the audience.united

Release Date1988-01-18

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count1

The Company of Five

The Company of Five is a 1968 British anthology drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV, featuring a repertory cast of five actors—John Neville, Gwen Watford, Ann Bell, Cyril Luckham, and Ray Smith—who appear in different roles each week.

Release Date1968-11-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

Knight Errant Limited

Knight Errant Limited

Adam Knight is a young man who, having tried several jobs, decides to set up an agency, 'Knight Errant '59', to solve other people's problems - whatever they may be. There's plenty of scope and, assisted by former reporter Liz and idealistic young writer Peter, the latter-day Sir Lancelot is kept busy with a variety of curious and exciting cases. The series had two titles, Knight Errant '59 and Knight Errant Limited of which only two episodes exist out of the 75 produced.

Release Date1959-10-13

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Death of an Expert Witness

When Dr. Edwin Lorrimer, a forensic scientist working at a private laboratory is found killed, Detective Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh is sent to investigate. Dalgliesh had been in the area a few months previously investigating the murder of a young woman found in an abandoned car. There are several suspects: Lorrimer's subordinate, Clifford Bradley, who despises him; the new head of the laboratory, Maxim Howarth, who is jealous of his sister's relationship with him; a colleague, Paul Middlemass, who had a fight with Lorrimer. There is also a gruff and likely unethical policeman who was on the grounds of the laboratory at the time of the killing and a local pathologist who is raising his two young children after his wife leaves him for another man. When one of the suspects is also murdered, Dalgliesh learns a key piece of information.

Release Date1983-04-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count7

Vote Count6

Number 10

Follows the private lives of seven British PMs who lived at Number 10 Downing Street between the 1780s and the 1920s: William Pitt the Younger, the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley), Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, David Lloyd-George, Herbert Henry Asquith and James Ramsay MacDonald.

Release Date1983-02-13

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count2

Thirteen Against Fate

Thirteen Against Fate is a series of thirteen hour-long episodes based on the novels of Georges Simenon. Noted for the sound psychology of his characters, Simenon's stories deal with many nationalities and are set in numerous European cities and villages. There are sequences filmed in these locations integrated into the episodes. In each of the novels chosen for this series, Fate plays a leading role in the development of the story and the characters.

Release Date1966-06-19

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Class Act

Class Act

Class Act is a British comedy-drama series produced by Verity Lambert, and starring Joanna Lumley, Nadine Garner, and John Bowe. The series ran for two seasons of seven episodes each. Broadcast on ITV1, the first premiered on 7 April 1994, until 19 May. The second ran from 7 September to 19 October 1995. Desperate times call for desperate measures when aristocratic Kate Swift's rich husband disappears and she is forced to give up her champagne lifestyle.

Release Date1994-04-07

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count5

Vote Count1

Ladies' Night

A tradition-bound gentlemen's club is thrown into chaos when women are allowed in during "ladies' night." One member resents the intrusion of women so much, he resorts to murder.

Release Date1986-12-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Who's Afraid of Opera?

Who's Afraid of Opera?

Three zany puppets bring to life our greatest opera treasures, as Joan Sutherland, the world’s most famous soprano, performs their highlights. The puppets make up the audience: Sir William, a wise old goat; Little Billy, his nephew; and Rudi, a rather boisterous lion. Sutherland first introduces them to the story of each opera. Then, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra and a first-rate cast, she moves onto the opera stage, complete with elaborate sets and elegant costumes. After each exquisite aria, the diva comes back to her inquisitive friends and unfolds the plot.

Release Date1972-04-09

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Between the Wars

Six plays adapted from English short stories written in the nineteen-twenties and thirties.

Release Date1973-05-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling

The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling

"The Indian Tales of Rudyard Kipling" is a BBC drama anthology series, broadcast between 1963 and 1964.

Release Date1964-07-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Shades of Greene

Shades of Greene is a British television series based on short stories written by the author Graham Greene. The series began in 1975, with each hour-long episode featuring a dramatisation of one of Greene's stories, many of which dealt with issues such as guilt and the Catholic faith, as well as looking at life in general. Actors to have appeared in the series include John Gielgud, Leo McKern, Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, and Roy Kinnear. The series began on 9 September 1975 and ran for two seasons.

Release Date1975-09-09

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count2

Covington Cross

Covington Cross is a British/American television series that was broadcast on the ABC in the United States from August 25 to October 31, 1992. The program also aired in the United Kingdom and was scheduled to be broadcast in France. The series was filmed and produced in the UK, by a British production company, but it was ultimately accountable to an American network.

Release Date1992-08-25

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Vote Count7

The Woman in Black

A lawyer travels to a small seaside town to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but soon becomes ensnared in something much more sinister.

Release Date1989-12-24

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count142

The Plane Makers

The Plane Makers is a British television series created by Wilfred Greatorex and produced by Rex Firken. ATV made three series for ITV between 1963 and 1965. It was succeeded by The Power Game, which ran for an additional three series from 1965 to 1969. Firkin continued as producer for the first two series, and David Reid took over for series 3.

Release Date1963-02-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

Skyport

Skyport

Release Date1959-07-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

The Gamblers

This anthology drama series from Associated-Rediffusion presented stories of people who take a gamble – sometimes with their lives – in order to prove a point or better their position.

Release Date1967-09-26

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count1

Stage 2

Stage 2

BBC anthology series of classic plays.

Release Date1971-08-04

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Man of Straw

Man of Straw

A politically ambitious man rises to power in a German provincial town at the end of the nineteenth century.

Release Date1972-01-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count6

The Salesman

A woman regrets inviting a salesman into her home. He's not selling any goods, just an unusual service.

Release Date1970-05-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Masquerade

Masquerade

A television series consisting of five original plays, all set at parties.

Release Date1974-04-22

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

On Trial

On Trial

A series of real trials from British history, famous and notorious, dramatised from the court records.

Release Date1960-07-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

For King and Country: Out There

1915: Determined to do her bit for the country, young Annie Hudd has a burning desire to go to France to help the wounded soldiers but suffers many setbacks before her ambition to become a nurse on the battlefields is realized.

Release Date1963-08-06

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Armchair Theatre

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

Release Date1956-07-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count6

Vienna 1900

Release Date1973-12-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count6

Vote Count2

The Exiles

Three Trinidadians consider what it means to be exiles in an essentially white society.

Release Date1969-04-23

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Pope John Paul II

Bio-drama tracing the life and career of Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla from his days as a young activist in Poland to his rise and installation in 1978 as Pope of the Catholic world.

Release Date1984-04-22

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count5

The Siege of Manchester

A German mercenary is hired to defend the small township of Manchester during the English Civil War.

Release Date1965-10-31

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

Plays of Today

Plays of Today

Six of Britain's top television playwrights were given the opportunity to write the plays they had always wanted to write.

Release Date1969-09-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Saracen

Saracen is a 1989 British television drama series. Made for ITV by Central Television, it starred Christian Burgess and Patrick James Clarke in the title roles. 13 episodes were made which were shown throughout the autumn of 1989.

Release Date1989-09-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count1

Helen: A Woman of Today

Helen: A Woman of Today

Release Date1973-09-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

Welcome Home, Bobby

When a Chicago teen is arrested for drug possession, the ensuing investigation reveals that he has had sexual contact with an older man. Discovering his sexual encounter, other students start shunning him and call for his expulsion from school. His conservative blue-collar dad also rejects him, while his mother does try to offer support.

Release Date1986-02-22

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count8

The Secret Agent

A bomb-throwing incident in 1905 sets off a train of events which ends in a murder and a suicide.

Release Date1975-10-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

First Night

First Night

A series of contemporary television dramas by new writers.

Release Date1963-09-22

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Making News

Making News is a television drama set in the world of journalism produced by Thames Television for the ITV network. A pilot was screened in 1989, followed by one series of six episodes in 1990. The leading cast members included Bill Nighy, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Paul Darrow, Annie Lambert and Tony Osoba.

Release Date1990-01-16

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count3

So ’ne und so ’ne

So ’ne und so ’ne

Release Date1979-01-15

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count9

The Fastest Draw

Amos Handworthy's grandfather was quick on the draw: as a U.S marshal, it was a job requirement if you wanted to stay alive. But now Amos has built a gun-slinging robot, programmed to be a split second slower than him in a gunfight, so that he can perpetuate the myth and glory of his grandfather's frontier past. But will Amos bet his life on a duel with real bullets?

Release Date1966-12-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams

The four-part miniseries tells the story of a farm boy who becomes involved in a murder case between two feuding noble families in England at the time of the French Revolution.

Release Date1980-12-02

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count4

Six Shades of Black

Six Shades of Black

This show was a series of six plays in which the hero of one was the villain in another, thus illustrating the good and bad sides of the characters.

Release Date1965-04-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count2

The Gathering Storm

Winston Churchill's life in the years leading up to World War II.

Release Date1974-11-29

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count5

The Villa Maroc

A stolid British family from Bishops Stortford are adventurous and book a holiday in a villa in Morocco, where things befall them.

Release Date1972-02-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Reunion at Fairborough

World War II vets travel to England for a reunion at their old base. Stars Judi Trott, Barry Morse, Red Buttons, Deborah Kerr, Shane Rimmer, Robert Mitchum

Release Date1985-05-12

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count5

Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark is a British television series, which aired on ITV. It was first broadcast on 8 September 1997. The final episode was aired on 13 October 1997. There were 6 episodes in the first series. A second series aired in 1998.

Release Date1997-09-08

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count1

Vote Count2

Breaking the Code

A biography of the English mathematician Alan Turing, who was one of the inventors of the digital computer and one of the key figures in the breaking of the Enigma code, used by the Germans to send secret orders to their U-boats in World War II. Turing was also a homosexual in Britain at a time when this was illegal, besides being a security risk.

Release Date1996-09-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count18

Julius Caesar

The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for Brutus and the republic.

Release Date1979-02-11

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count3

Skokie

A dramatization of the controversial trial concerning the right for Neo-Nazis to march in the predominantly Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois.

Release Date1981-11-17

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Norman Conquests

The trilogy presents a comically fraught weekend from three different perspectives, as family and in laws gather at the decaying country home of their bedridden mother; the drink flows, and hidden enmities, intimate secrets and uncomfortable truths emerge through the veneer of jollity and civility.

Release Date1977-10-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Episode Count3

Vote Count3

The Day of the Fox

"In Jan Carew’s explosive drama, Sammy Davis Jr gives a memorable performance as a proud but disillusioned revolutionary who aims to destroy the remnants of white colonial rule in a new African nation. The political themes explored remain incredibly prescient." - BFI

Release Date1961-09-06

DepartmentProduction

JobProducer

To Have and to Hold

A young woman is harassed by a man and seeks help from the police. The officer who visits her falls in love with her, but shortly after she is murdered.

Release Date1963-07-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count3

Mrs. Warren's Profession

Performed in 1902, after being banned by the censor for eight years, Shaw's indictment of the hypocrisy surrounding prostitution still shocked its audiences. Mrs. Warren has graduated from prostitution to opening and operating a chain of brothels throughout Europe. When her educated daughter Vivie discovers the truth about her mother's profession her reactions affect everyone around her.

Release Date1972-10-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Big Pride

Three Guyanese jail breakers escape, not only from the law, but from the harsh realities of their pasts.

Release Date1961-05-28

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

A Fear of Strangers

A black saxophonist and small time crook is picked up by police on suspicion of murder. His problems multiply when the investigating officer lets his own issues influence the subsequent interrogation.

Release Date1964-05-10

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Italian Table

A junk dealer is caught in the middle of a tug-of-war between a woman, her husband and his mistress when they sell a piece of their furniture.

Release Date1970-02-18

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Lovers!

Reprising the television series roles which first made them household names, Richard Beckinsale and Paula Wilcox star as Geoffrey Scrimshaw and Beryl Battersby, a hesitant, inexperienced, young couple attempting to negotiate the sexual minefield of the ‘permissive’ society. This big-screen transfer of Jack Rosenthal’s hugely likeable sitcom sees old-fashioned girl Beryl continuing to slap down the advances of her frustrated boyfriend, whose clumsy attempts to initiate ‘Percy Filth’ suggest he’s not quite up to speed himself! Like everyone else, Geoffrey and Beryl want to fall in love – or they think they do; like everyone else, since Adam and Eve. But Adam and Eve didn’t live in Manchester in 1972…

Release Date1973-01-01

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count9

Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected: The Landlady

The unnamed Landlady (Siobhan McKenna) is the titular main villainess from "The Landlady", episode 1.05 of Tales of The Unexpected (airdate April 21, 1979), based on the Roald Dahl short story of the same name. The episode begins with Billy Weaver (The main protagonist), arriving in Bath as part of a work trip. While there, he looks for accomdation, and sees a bed and breakfast sign in the window of a house. The unnamed woman then invites him in, claiming that a hotel he had been planning to stay at was booked out. Although finding the landlady's overly friendly demeanour off-putting, Billy decides to spend the night.

Release Date1979-04-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

A Story to Frighten the Children

The story of a brutal crime in a high-rise estate; a girl walking home at night is raped and murdered, and the attitude of some is not always sympathetic.

Release Date1976-02-03

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

Life After Life

A 70 year old man gets shunned into a retirement home.

Release Date1990-12-30

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

The Christmas Tree

A dying woman recalls the happier days of her past.

Release Date1986-12-21

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

The Drummer and the Bloke

Alf and Jack, two labourers hired to work in a quarry,have decided to go on strike because of the degrading nature of the job.

Release Date1968-01-31

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

Song at Twilight

Eddie Ritchie once ' played for England,' or did he? The team have their doubts.

Release Date1973-02-05

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1