Moira Armstrong

After the Solo

"The voice will make its effect. And it will, undoubtedly, be very touching. But, tell me: after his voice has broken, can you make anything of him then?" After the solo, after the chorus, after the applause?

Clay, Smeddum and Greenden

Trilogy of one-act plays based on short stories by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. ‘Clay’ is the story of a men who neglects his wife in favour of his land. ‘Smeddum’ is the story of a matriarch’s attempt to control her brood. ‘Greenden’ is the story of a city woman moving to the country with her husband.

A Village Affair

An apparently happy wife in an English village has a relationship with a local aristocrat's daughter.

How Many Miles to Babylon?

Wealthy Alexander Moore and working-class Jerry Crowe are childhood friends and in 1914 find themselves in the same Army unit - Alex as an officer and Jerry as a private. They still remain close, however, until Jerry is court-martialed for desertion, and Alex is put in charge of the firing squad.

A Christmas Carol

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Breakout

A pair of scientists investigate a mysterious death.

The Countess Alice

A reporter is assigned a then-and-now piece on a 50-year old photospread of three society beauties. One of them, Lady Alice Munroe, now the widowed Grafin von Holzendorf, has agreed to be interviewed.

Three Steps to Hendon

The lead singer of a defunct 70s rock band is found murdered with a whisky bottle stuffed down his throat

After the Solo

"The voice will make its effect. And it will, undoubtedly, be very touching. But, tell me: after his voice has broken, can you make anything of him then?" After the solo, after the chorus, after the applause?

Clay, Smeddum and Greenden

Trilogy of one-act plays based on short stories by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. ‘Clay’ is the story of a men who neglects his wife in favour of his land. ‘Smeddum’ is the story of a matriarch’s attempt to control her brood. ‘Greenden’ is the story of a city woman moving to the country with her husband.

A Village Affair

An apparently happy wife in an English village has a relationship with a local aristocrat's daughter.

How Many Miles to Babylon?

Wealthy Alexander Moore and working-class Jerry Crowe are childhood friends and in 1914 find themselves in the same Army unit - Alex as an officer and Jerry as a private. They still remain close, however, until Jerry is court-martialed for desertion, and Alex is put in charge of the firing squad.

A Christmas Carol

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Breakout

A pair of scientists investigate a mysterious death.

The Countess Alice

A reporter is assigned a then-and-now piece on a 50-year old photospread of three society beauties. One of them, Lady Alice Munroe, now the widowed Grafin von Holzendorf, has agreed to be interviewed.

Three Steps to Hendon

The lead singer of a defunct 70s rock band is found murdered with a whisky bottle stuffed down his throat

No Visible Scar

A wounded member of a rebel terrorist organisation is tended by an English nurse. She is imprisoned, interrogated, then released to face another form of interrogation.

Minor Complications

Kay Gilbert goes into hospital for a minor operation which goes badly wrong. Based on an actual case, this play tells the story of her fight for compensation.

Quiet as a Nun

A reporter is asked to look into the mysterious death of a nun who died in a locked room at a convent. She had recently inherited a fortune. The reporter next leans off an apparition that haunts the hallways at night and seems to portend death. Flashlight in hand, she goes off in search of the "Black Nun."

Fairies

'I'd stake my reputation on it. These photographs are not faked.' But how could photographs, taken on a simple camera by two Yorkshire village girls, have momentous implications for man's understanding of the world?

Letting the Birds Go Free

A farm family catch a young man stealing eggs from their barn. Seemingly homeless, the man stays with them. Daughter Grace is disgusted by the stranger at first. The relationship between the outsider and the family changes course.

The Dunroamin' Rising

Sixty years ago Ian Sinclair was a revolutionary leader. Today he is in an old folks' home, but has not lost his sense of humour, or his appetite for the struggle. In protest at the proposed closure of the home, the old socialist firebrand embarks upon a hunger strike that ends up having wide-range repercussions.

To the Camp and Back

Christine, grieving for her fiancé who was shot down by the German Luftwaffe during the war, is persuaded by her cousin to meet a German prisoner-of-war—a Luftwaffe pilot.

C.Q.

Life changes dramatically for radio amateur Norman when he gets in touch with a round-the-world yachtsman who introduces him to a different life - and a taste of fame.

A Safe House

In the aftermath of the Guildford and Woolwich pub bombings, a large number of people of Irish descent were rounded up for questioning by the police in London. Most were subsequently released. But for the Maguire family, 3 December 1974 was the start of a nightmare that is only now ending.

For the Whales

The maker of an anti-whaling video finds himself under pressure from all sides because of Japanese business interests.

The Long Bank Holiday

A spate of computer thefts from government offices, a possible suicide under the wheels of a high-speed train, an absconded lifer on the loose, and a grisly trove of human bones in a garden all conspire to keep Davies on the job during a long Easter weekend.

The Mountain and the Molehill

It is May 1944, two weeks before D-day. Britain stands poised for the long-awaited invasion of France - thousands of troops wait anxiously for the orders to come for embarkation. MI5 is horrified to discover the top-secret codewords for the invasion suddenly appearing as clues in the Daily Telegraph crossword. Two agents are immediately dispatched to confront the culprit, the headmaster of a boys' school in southern England.

The Bevellers

An ambitious apprentice glassmaker clashes with his new colleagues in a Glasgow workshop.

Midsomer Murders

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

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.

Great Performances

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

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.

Playhouse

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Agatha Christie's Marple

The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.

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.

Peak Practice

Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.

Softly, Softly

Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.

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.

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.

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.

Dr. Finlay's Casebook

Dr Finlay's Casebook is a BBC television series that was broadcast from 1962 until 1971. Based on A. J. Cronin's novella Country Doctor, the storylines centred on a general medical practice in the fictional Scottish town of Tannochbrae during the late 1920s.

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.

Lark Rise to Candleford

Set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town, Candleford, the series chronicles the daily lives of farm-workers, craftsmen and gentry at the end of the 19th Century. Lark Rise to Candleford is a love letter to a vanished corner of rural England and a heart-warming drama series teeming with wit, wisdom and romance.

Boon

Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV. It revolved around the life of a modern-day Lone Ranger and ex-firefighter, Ken Boon.

Armchair Thriller

Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television.

The Onedin Line

The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this central theme are the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner, shop owner Robert, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore. The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steam ships. It shows the role that ships played in affairs like international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.

Centre Play

Anthology series of half hour plays produced in BBC's Television Centre's studios.

BBC2 Play of the Week

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

ScreenPlay

Screenplay was a drama anthology television series, broadcast on BBC between 1986 and 1993. Numerous episodes were produced including one named "Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands" starring Robbie Coltrane as English writer Samuel Johnson who in the autumn of 1773, visits the Hebrides off the north-west coast of Scotland. That episode was directed by John Byrne and co-starred John Sessions and Celia Imrie.

Detective

A BBC anthology series featuring adaptations of detective stories over 45 episodes in three seasons that ran from 1964 to 1969. As with many BBC programmes made before the early 1970s, many of its episodes no longer exist. Of the eighteen episodes from the first season only twelve are currently known to exist; likewise six of the sixteen editions from the second run are considered lost, and just one of the final ten survives in the archives.

Screen One

Anthology drama series.

Remembers…

What are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programs of all time.