Anthology series of single plays Sunday Night Theatre was a continuation of Saturday Night Theatre just moved to a different day. Towards the end of SNT quite a few ITV regions had begun broadcasting the plays on Sunday nights anyway.
Again there is no link between any of the productions, which were contributed by most of the ITV regions, most were originals for TV but there was the odd book or theatre adaptation (such as Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett – 28 Feb 1971, Arms and the Man from the George Bernard Shaw play – 4 Apr 1971 and even Richard Chamberlain starring in Hamlet – 8 Aug 1971).
Lots of prominent names contributed scripts including Dennis Potter (the brilliant Paper Roses – 16 Jun 1971), John Osborne (The Hotel in Amsterdam – 14 Mar 1971), After a Lifetime by Neville Smith (18 Jul 1971), John Hopkins, Arthur Hopcraft, Jack Rosenthal (his legendary Another Sunday and Sweet F.A. aired 9 Jan 1972), Jeremy Paul and David Mercer with An Afternoon at the Festival (6 May 1973).
As with Saturday Night Theatre the series offered roles to most of the cream of British acting talent working at the time.
Bryan Pringle was the star of the first play Big Soft Nellie (21 Feb 1971) and Trevor Howard starred in the final production Catholics ( 14 Apr 1974 which was also given a prestigious TV Times cover to mark the occasion) in between there were roles for the likes of Paul Scofield, Bill Maynard, Michael Craig, George C. Scott, Helen Mirren, Richard Chamberlain, John Hurt, Michael Jayston, Julia Foster, John Alderton, Richard Johnson and Nigel Davenport to name a few.
The featured image above is from Another Sunday and Sweet F.A.
production details
UK / ITV / 93 episodes usually 50 minutes duration but there was the occasional longer episode / Broadcast 21 February 1971 – 14 April 1974
THE EPISODES
1. BIG SOFT NELLIE (21 Feb 1971)
2. ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS (28 Feb 1971)
3. HARRY-KARI AND SALLY (7 Mar 1971)
4. THE HOTEL IN AMSTERDAM (14 Mar 1971)
5. PANDORA (21 Mar 1971)
6. THE PRICE (28 Mar 1971)
7. ARMS AND THE MAN (4 Apr 1971)
8. LOVE DOESN’T GROW TREES (11 Apr 1971)
9. THE SILVER COLLECTION (23 May 1971)
10. THE SHOPPER (30 May 1971)
11. MAN AND BOY (6 Jun 1971)
12. PAPER ROSES (13 Jun 1971)
13. THE PRIZE (20 Jun 1971)
14. SQUARE (27 Jun 1971)
15. ALICE DANCING (4 Jul 1971)
16. SQUARE ONE (11 Jul 1971)
17. AFTER A LIFETIME (18 Jul 1971)
18. MR PARGITER (25 Jul 1971)
19. ONE MORE ON TOP (1 Aug 1971)
20. HAMLET (8 Aug 1971)
21. THE CHAPS (15 Aug 1971)
22. GIANTS AND OGRES (22 Aug 1971)
23. GREEN JULIA (29 Aug 1971)
24. THE WEDDING GIFT (5 Sep 1971)
25. CONCUSSION (12 Sep 1971)
26. FLY ON THE WALL 1: THE GENERAL (19 Sep 1971)
27. FLY ON THE WALL 2: THE REFORMER (26 Sep 1971)
28. FLY ON THE WALL 3: THE DESIGNER (3 Oct 1971)
29. THE SIGNALMAN’S APPRENTICE (28 Nov 1971)
30. THE BIRTHDAY RUN (5 Dec 1971)
31. SOME DISTANT SHADOW (12 Dec 1971)
32. SECOND TIME AROUND (19 Dec 1971)
33. WHO KILLED SANTA CLAUS (26 Dec 1971)
34. THE MIDSUMMER DREAM OF CHIEF INSPECTOR BLOSSOM (2 Jan 1972)
35. ANOTHER SUNDAY AND SWEET F.A. (9 Jan 1972)
36. A MAN ABOUT A DOG (16 Jan 1972)
37. WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY? (12 Mar 1972)
38. A SUMMER STORY (19 Mar 1972)
39. MAJOR LAVENDER (26 Mar 1972)
40. TIME LOCK (2 Apr 1972)
41. THE LAST JOURNEY (9 Apr 1972)
42. BEN SPRAY (4 Jun 1972)
43. IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU (11 Jun 1972)
44. CONSEQUENCES (18 Jun 1972)
45. A MARRIAGE (25 Jun 1972)
46. MADLY IN LOVE (2 Jul 1972)
47. SUMMER AND WINTER (9 Jul 1972)
48. THE ROSE GARDEN (16 Jul 1972)
49. LAST YEAR’S CONFETTI (23 Jul 1972)
50. BEFORE PARIS (30 Jul 1972)
51. A BIT OF VISION (6 Aug 1972)
52. SHARING THE HONOURS (13 Aug 1972)
53. THE VAMP (1 Oct 1972)
54. WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS (8 Oct 1972)
55. WHEN THE WHEEL TURNS (15 Oct 1972)
56. TED (22 Oct 1972)
57. THE SAMARITAN (29 Oct 1972)
58. THREE MONTH’S GONE (5 Nov 1972)
59. GOD SEND SUNDAY (12 Nov 1972)
60. FIRST SIGHT (19 Nov 1972)
61. TRIANGLES (26 Nov 1972)
62. THE WEB (3 Dec 1972)
63. THE GUESTS (10 Dec 1972)
64. THE PIANO PLAYER (17 Dec 1972)
65. THE DEATH OF ADOLF HITLER (7 Jan 1973)
66. THE STAFF ROOM (14 Jan 1973)
67. SARAH (21 Jan 1973)
68. PLEASED TO MEET YOU (25 Mar 1973)
69. THE RUFFIAN ON THE STAIR (1 Apr 1973)
70. A.D.A.M. (8 Apr 1973)
71. BUT FRED, FREUD IS DEAD (15 Apr 1973)
72. LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (22 Apr 1973)
73. HARLEQUINADE (29 Apr 1973)
74. AN AFTERNOON AT THE FUNERAL (6 May 1973)
75. THE COFFEE LACE (13 May 1973)
76. PASSENGERS (20 May 1973)
77. WILLY (3 Jun 1973)
78. LORNA AND TED (17 Jun 1973)
79. RECKONING DAY (1 Jul 1973)
80. IT ONLY HURTS FOR A MINUTE (8 Jul 1973)
81. THE INTRUDERS (15 Jul 1973)
82. BLINKERS (22 Jul 1973)
83. FREE AS A BIRD (29 Jul 1973)
84. A QUESTION OF EVERYTHING (5 Aug 1973)
85. YOUNG GUY SEEKS PART-TIME WORK (16 Sep 1973)
86. HOPCRAFT INTO EUROPE (23 Sep 1973)
87. KATAPULT (28 Oct 1973)
88. IN THE HEEL OF THE HUNT (16 Dec 1973)
89. VISITORS (23 Dec 1973)
90. NO HARM DONE (24 Feb 1974)
91. GEOGRAPHY OF A HORSE DREAMER (31 Mar 1974)
92. ONLY THE OTHER DAY (7 Apr 1974)
93. CATHOLICS 914 Apr 1974)
