AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Anthology television series, airing a variety of discrete television films.
Notes
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Contents indexed selectively.
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Only Australian-written plays or adaptations of Australian works are individually indexed on AustLit.
Includes
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1.33form y Seagulls Over Sorrento United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1956 8075991 1956 single work film/TV
An adaptation of Hugh Hastings's play for ITV's anthology series.
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1956 -
1.38form y I Killed the Count United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1956 6392351 1956 single work film/TV mystery crime
The third film/television version of Alec Coppel's play, and the second to have a script by Coppel.
Conceivably, this may have been filmed to the same script as the 1948 BBC version, which was also scripted by Coppel, but in the absence of any information confirming that (and in the presence of an entirely different cast and production company), this work has been considered an entirely separate work.
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1956 -
2.34form y Granite Peak United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1957 8103629 1957 single work film/TV United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1957
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4.35form y The Secret Agent United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1959 11629568 1959 single work film/TV United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1959
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4.40form y The Square Ring United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1959 8132109 1959 single work film/TV
An adaptation of Ralph Peterson's The Square Ring, which takes place exclusively in the dressing room during a boxing match.
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1959 -
4.49form y Shadow of a Pale Horse United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1959 7188803 1959 single work film/TV historical fiction crime
A murder mystery set in Cobar, New South Wales, in the mid-nineteenth century.
It aired first in the UK as part of anthology series ITV Play of the Week, then in the US as part of anthology series The United States Steel Hour, then in Australia as part of anthology series General Motors Hour.
A contemporary review offers the following detailed synopsis:
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1959'The story starts when one of the young men of the town of Cobar, western New South Wales, is found battered to death. A man called Jem was lying in a drunken stupor beside the body and the murder weapon, an iron bar, is found near the scene of the crime.
'Jem is immediately accused of the crime, but floods prevent his being sent to an established court for trial.
'Coldringer, an old German opal prospector, suggests to the townsfolk that they set up their own court and have the trial in the town.
'The locals agree that the best way of ensuring that Jem is given a fair trial is to make Rigger, the father of the murdered man, defend Jem, and let the prosecution be handed by Kirk, who was Jem's employer.
'Neither Rigger nor Kirk is happy with the townsfolks' decision, but they eventually agree to accept the court arrangements.'
Source: 'Murder Trial in a Bush Town', The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 September 1960, p.7
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7.24form y Lean Liberty United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1962 6499629 1962 single work film/TV
'A young and talented research worker's past as a member of the Communist Party begins to affect his career and marriage.'
Source: BFI (http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/262021). (Sighted: 9/10/2013)
A review in The Times notes:
The setting–big business in Australia–is exotic enough to inspire immediate interest. The situation–an electronics expert up against it because his employers have found out his background and want his resignation or a guarantee that he will be 'sensible'–should give rise to some gripping drama, especially in the inevitable board room confrontations.
And so it did, despite too many awful lines (cliché and whimsy) which an efficient editorial blue pencil would have removed. The character of the chairman of the board was credibly ruthless and practical, and the hero, cussed, always ready (even eager) to stick his neck out, but basically weak, an obvious case of a martyr complex, was maddening but believable.
Source: 'A Case of Martyr Complex', The Times, 27 June 1962, p.15.
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1962 -
8.16form y The Shifting Heart United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1962 8110145 1962 single work film/TV
Little is known about this version of The Shifting Heart beyond its airdate.
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1962 -
10.34form y Goodbye Johnny United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1965 23488701 1965 single work film/TV United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1965
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11.03form y The Winds of Green Monday United Kingdom (UK) : Rediffusion Television , 1965 6725990 1965 single work film/TV historical fiction
A contemporary newspaper report offers the following synopsis: 'The story deals with a crew which deserts a ship to find a fortune on the NSW goldfields of the 1850s and the efforts of the captain to lure them back on board.'
Source: '"Combat" Private in a Ballad', Canberra Times, 2 August 1965, p.1.
United Kingdom (UK) : Rediffusion Television , 1965 -
11.4-11.7form y Four of Hearts United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1965 21673282 1965 series - publisher film/TV
A series of four television plays, all starring actor Patrick Wymark, each by a different author, including London-based Australian Raymond Bowers. The four plays aired sequentially on ITV Play of the Week: Paul Lee's was about 'the relationship between a member of a distinguished profession and a girl much younger than himself'; Mike Watts' play 'deals with the owner of a sleazy pin ball saloon'; Allan Prior's was a 'strong contemporary story' about a farm; and Raymond Bowers' play was a 'straightforward comedy involving Patrick in affairs of the nation and of the heart' ('Four Rediffusion Plays for Patrick Wymark', The Stage and Television Today, 7 January 1965, p.17.)
United Kingdom (UK) : ITV , 1965