AustLit

A British television series of one-off plays made by the BBC. The series gave breaks to a wide range of writers and directors in the late 1960s, including Dennis Potter, Ken Loach, David Mercer, and John Hopkins. Australia's Alan Seymour also had two of his plays produced in 1965 - The Trial and Torture of Sir John Rampayne and Auto-Stop. Some of the more famous productions include Up the Junction; Cathy Come Home; Stand Up Nigel Barton; Vote, Vote, Vote For Nigel Barton; On the Eve of Publication; and Son of Man. The series often addressed controversial issues such as homelessness and abortion.

An ABC anthology television series that played single-episode television programs from overseas, but also produced and promoted new Australian works.

The individual works had no explicit thematic connection to one another, and the term 'theatre' was applied loosely: some instalments were adaptations of stage plays, but many appear to have been written directly as 'television plays'. The series also semi-regularly aired operas.

In some instances, the productions were imported wholesale from other countries: 'Collect Your Hand Luggage' (aired 20 October 1965), for example, is a re-titled broadcast of ITV Television Playhouse episode 'Collect Your Hand Baggage' (originally aired in 1963).

In other instances, the episodes are Australian productions of international works: 'Tartuffe' (aired 13 October 1965), for example, is an Australian production of the Moliere play, produced Henri Safran and with an Australian cast. These productions are only indexed individually on AustLit if there is a discernible Australian script-writer and/or localisation of the production.

Wednesday Theatre followed a common pattern for anthology series on early Australian television, in that the Australian content rapidly dropped away and the series became primarily re-screenings of British productions: see also Stuart Wagstaff's World Playhouse.

For a full listing of episodes and airdates, see under Film Details.