Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965)
- Genre
- anthology series
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Length
- 8 seasons, 286 episodes
- Rating
- 4.2 of 10 from 8 voters
- Elsewhere
- IMDb
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this series is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
How it feels
Each episode is a short play, often by new writers later becoming famous. The series runs from 1965 to 1973 on BBC television, showcasing original dramas and adapted works by authors like Roald Dahl and Dennis Potter.
anthologicaltheatricalexperimentaldeadpancompactliteraryinnovativestaged
What happens
Thirty-Minute Theatre was a British anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. It was produced initially by Harry Moore, later by Graeme MacDonald, George Spenton-Foster, Innes Lloyd and others. Thirty-Minute Theatre began on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy Parson's Pleasure (author, Roald Dahl). Dennis Potter contributed Emergency – Ward 9 (1966), which he partially recycled in the much later The Singing Detective (1986). In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service, with the consequence that Thirty-Minute Theatre became the first drama series in the country to be shown in colour. As well as single plays, the series showed several linked collections of plays, including a group of four plays by John Mortimer named after areas of London in 1972, two three-part Inspector Waugh series starring Clive Swift in the title role, and a trilogy of plays by Jean Benedetti, broadcast in 1969, focusing on infamous historical figures such as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Other plays were broadcast by writers like Charlotte and Denis Plimmer (The Chequers Manoeuvre, 1968), David Rudkin (Bypass, 1972, and Atrocity, 1973) and Jack Rosenthal (And for My Next Trick, 1972). Thirty-Minute Theatre was cancelled in August 1973. Second City Firsts, also of 30 minutes duration, fulfilled much the same role. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)
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London Playhouse (1955)
Stage 2 (1971)
Saturday Playhouse (1958)- More like this series, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.