An A to Z of UK Television Drama

Dennis Potter's Karaoke was the first of two linked dramas written as he was dying and produced posthumously after his death. Starring Albert Finney as dying writer Daniel Feeld, the series is a kind of Dennis Potter's greatest hits with references aplenty to his previous works and a self-aware storyline that reflects on the blurring of lines between reality and fiction when people starting behavi...

In this tenth edition of the podcast Andy and Martin go back to the late Nineties and the Noughties when Jonathan Creek was one of the most popular dramas on TV with its mix of the macabre, murder and magic. Created and written by David Renwick the series was more of a 'Howdunnit' than a 'Whodunnit' and starred Alan Davies in the title role. Over 5 series and several memorable feature-length speci...

Quinctilius Varus, where are my eagles?!?!? Andy and Martin celebrate the BBC's classic 12-part Roman epic I, Claudius, which first aired in the UK in 1976 and starred Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips, Brian Blessed, John Hurt and George Baker. Dramatised by Jack Pulman, from two award-winning novels by Robert Graves, I Claudius has quite rightly wowed audiences for over 40 years. The series secured Ja...

Andy and Martin don their tank tops and kipper ties to go back to The University of Watermouth in 1972 where progressive sociology lecturer Howard Kirk (Antony Sher) eagerly awaits the new academic year with all its promise of conquests, protests and political shenanigans. Malcolm Bradbury's 1975 novel was adapted for TV by Christopher Hampton in 1981 finding a 10pm slot on BBC2 where it shocked,...

Our 7th episode finds us at G and Channel 4's acclaimed Alan Bleasdale drama GBH. The series is about political machinations in a nameless northern city in the early 90s, centred on two men: sharp-suited Labour council leader Michael Murray (a BAFTA award-winning performance from Robert Lindsay) and a mentally disturbed headmaster of a special school Jim Nelson (BAFTA-nominated Michael Palin). Sup...

Our sixth episode focuses on the criminally overlooked wartime saga Fortunes of War, starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh as newlyweds Harriet and Guy Pringle who find themselves continually evaded the German advance across Europe, from Romania, to Greece to Egypt. Directed by James Cellan Jones and adapted by Alan Plater, from as many as six books by Olivia Manning, Fortunes of War offers a...

Episode 5 sees us reach the letter E as we tackle the dramatic behemoth that is the 1985 BBC thriller Edge of Darkness! Starring Bob Peck, Joe Don Baker, Joanne Whalley and Charles Kay, the series was so popular on its first BBC2 transmission that it was immediately repeated on BBC1. Andy and Martin discuss how they feel this story of nuclear shenanigans stands up today and whether it truly deserv...

In which we reach the letter 'D' and explore that prescient beast Doomwatch, devised by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, which aired for 3 series between 1970 and 1972. We take a close look at the series 2 episode Web of Fear with Glyn Owen, Stephanie Bidmead and the least threatening spiders in a drama ever, and the famously untransmitted episode Sex and Violence featuring June Brown and Bernard Horsf...

Our third episode finds us in the world of Margery Allingham's famous detective Albert Campion starring Peter Davison and Brian Glover. Specifically we explore the first story of Campion's second run, a two-part mystery entitled Sweet Danger also featuring Lysette Anthony, Iain Cuthbertson and David Haig, which was adapted for television by Jill Hyem. There are various TV crime drama themes along...

Our second episode see us enter the lives of Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne, two apparently ordinary teachers from Leeds whose pursuit of some missing records by jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke plunges them into a world of dodgy businessmen, underground economies and police corruption. This Alan Plater-scripted classic from 1985 quickly won the hearts of viewers and spawned two sequels. Next time:...

The first episode of our A to Z of UK television drama in which we describe the scope of the series, preview future content, and explore our first drama: the Sunday night BBC classic All Creatures Great and Small. We focus specifically on an episode which aired in 1980 called "Big Steps and Little 'Uns" which was written and directed by Terence Dudley. Next time: The Beiderbecke Affair