[4] The first series was produced by Dennis Vance, who had a preference for using classical material[5] from plays and novels written by the likes of Dorothy Brandon, Guy de Maupassant, Edgar Allan Poe and Henry James respectively.
[10][11] Due to the live format of the series at the time, several episodes were pulled from transmission owing to technical failure or problems with the cast and crew.
The final episode that would have concluded the series "The House of Bernarda Alba" had to be pulled from transmission, after director Ted Kotcheff fell ill immediately prior to the live broadcast.
The first full series to be produced by Newman, who pushed for more original material, that led to commissioning teleplays from the likes of Malcolm Hulke, Tad Mosel, Mordecai Richler and John Glennon respectively.
With the emergence of the Angry Young Men movement at the time, Newman sought to capitalise on this and commission original plays from writers within the group, including Clive Exton, Harold Pinter and Alun Owen.
Fancy" was taped but pulled from transmission by the ITA as they feared the play would cause offence,[42] it was subsequently transmitted at the start of Series 8 in 1964.
This series was the last for Newman as producer, who would depart from ABC when his contract expired in December 1962 to take on the position of Head of Drama at the BBC.
Fancy" by Clive Exton which is a surrealist satirical courtroom drama about a Doctor (John Lee) who is accused of performing bizarre medical procedures[42] which was notably held back from transmission for two years over its content, and "The Hothouse" by Donald Churchill, about a supermarket tycoon Harry Fender (Harry H. Corbett) who has become increasingly obsessed with growing exotic plants within his house and turns his property into a hothouse.
[50] Notably, this story, along with "The Man Who Came to Die" by Reginald Marsh, marked a rare instance where the writer of the episode, also played a principal role within the cast.
The series continued to explore a variety of themes, including "The Gong Game" by Michael Herald, which casts Leslie Phillips as Clive Breeze, an ex-RAF veteran who faces a prison sentence after stealing money to help fund his daughter's school tuition fees.
[63] This series continued attract writers of calibre to produce noteworthy plays including Terrence Frisby, Emanuel Litvinoff, Fay Weldon and Richard Harris respectively.
From this series onwards, all episodes exist in the archives.This series was noteworthy for several plays, including "Detective Waiting" by Ian Kennedy Martin, that deals with a young CID officer Lewis (Richard Beckinsale) who tries to prove himself by cracking an unsolved case, an early example of the gritty realist police dramas that Kennedy Martin would later specialise in, such as The Sweeney, Juliet Bravo and The Chinese Detective.
by Roy Clarke, a comedy drama about a semi retired novellist Amelia Quint (Beryl Reid) who is attemptedly coaxed from her life in Italy, to write another best-selling novel.
[5] The series continued to feature innovative plays, including "Red Riding Hood" by John Peacock, a psychological reimagining of the fairy tale that deals with deals with a timid librarian Grace (Rita Tushingham) who finds herself drawn into relationship with Henry (Keith Barron) who she believes murdered her grandmother.
[46][87] And "A Bit of a Lift" written and starring Donald Churchill, a bedroom farce comedy which stars Churchill as Frank, a henpecked husband who contemplates suicide at a hotel when he crosses paths with a couple, Alec (Ronald Fraser) and Penelope (Ann Beach) after he accidentally enters their hotel room.
The show was subsequently superseded by Armchair Cinema, which began airing in conjunction with the transmission dates of the episodes during this series.