An A to Z of UK Television Drama

This Hong Kong-set series was one of the top-rated shows of 1990. Going out on ITV in the first quarter of the year this 13-part cop show was a big hit with audiences including an 18-year-old Andy but it passed Martin by completely. But how does it stand up some 30 years later? Starring Bruce Payne, Ray Lonnen, Robert Taylor, Doreen Chan and Tzi Ma, Yellowthread Street was based on the successful...

It was always going to be The XYY Man for letter X, giving Andy the opportunity to finally take the cellophane off his DVD boxset. The series is about a repeat offender called Spider Scott, played by Stephen Yardley, who has an extra Y chromosome, believed at the time to make people more likely to commit crimes, particularly against property. On his tail is Don Henderson's Sergeant Bulman, who wou...

For the first time in this series Andy & Martin turn their attention to the ghost story genre with an examination of the the critically acclaimed 1989 Nigel Kneale adaptation of Susan Hill's novella The Woman in Black. This version sees Adrian Rawlins as Arthur Kidd, Bernard Hepton as Sam Toomey and Pauline Moran as the spooky title character. Martin watched during the day with the lights on until...

Andy interviews David Tucker who directed every single episode of A Very Peculiar Practice and the sequel film A Very Polish Practice. He counts the experience as joyous and shares his memories of casting, filming and shaping the series.

In this episode we celebrate the BAFTA-nominated A Very Peculiar Practice and explore 'the swamp of fear and loathing' that is Lowlands University. Starring Peter Davison, Graham Crowden, Barbara Flynn, David Troughton, Amanda Hillwood and Joanna Kanska, this is one of master adapter Andrew Davies's only original drama series and it is widely recognised as a masterpiece. Indeed, in 2010, The Guard...

Andy and Martin find themselves in their new slot of the 14th day of every month and thankfully (workload-wise) an episode with no extras to edit! This time we explore the culty 1998 6-part Channel 4 drama, Ultraviolet, written and directed by Doctor Who legend Joe Ahearne. Although they definitely didn't hate it, they are both struck by how serious and po-faced it is and question what might be mi...

Andy is excited to be speaking to none other than the creator of Tenko about her memories of creating the series while in her Twenties. She recalls how an edition of This is Your Life and a subsequent documentary 'Women in Captivity' brought many women who had formerly been prisoners of the Japanese into her life, leading her to conceive of Tenko. She shares how she feels about the drama today and...

Andy and Martin stutter a bit at 'T' in their alphabetical journey through archive TV, following up last time's Tenko episode with the Christmas finale to the popular series, first shown 35 years ago today. They decide that the Reunion special is not only perfectly crafted, but also a fitting end to Tenko as a whole. Elsewhere, Andy shares his adventures in Singapore: visiting both the Jefferson r...

Andy interviews Louise Jameson about her favourite television role - Blanche Simmons - over two series of Tenko. She recalls the sisterhood that formed, her affection for and gratitude to Pennant Roberts, missing out on Tenko's final series, and why it was such a different prospect to most of the drama that had gone before it.

An exclusive new interview with Claire Oberman who played Aussie nurse Kate Norris in all three series of Tenko as well as the Reunion Special. In addition to reminiscences of her Tenko years, Claire recalls playing Mortimer in Fortunes of War.

Andy interviews Veronica 'Ronnie' Roberts about playing Dorothy Bennett over three series of Tenko. She recalls filming adventures overseas and here in the UK writer Anne Valery's connection with her character, her friendships with the other regulars, and the place Tenko holds in her heart today.

What else could it be for the letter T than Tenko? Once again, Andy wrote a comprehensive book on the series ‘Remembering Tenko’ and considers the series to be one of the greatest ever made. Martin likes it too, but perhaps not so rabidly as his co-host. Together they explore this drama which charted the fortunes of women prisoners of the Japanese during World War II over 3 series and 30 episodes...

Andy interviews Clifford Rose about playing Kessler in Secret Army and its sequel Kessler. This is the third and final extra accompanying Andy and Martin's regular episode exploring Secret Army.

Andy interviews Juliet Hammond-Hill about her memories of playing Natalie Chantrens in Secret Army. This is the second of three extras accompanying Andy and Martin's regular episode exploring Secret Army.

Andy interviews Angela Richards about playing Monique in Secret Army. This is the first of three extras accompanying Andy and Martin's regular episode exploring Secret Army.

There were so many series we could have covered for ‘S’ but quite honestly it was only ever going to be the BBC’s Secret Army, after all Andy devoted four years of his life to researching and celebrating this exceptional wartime drama. Rather than trying to explore all three series and 42 episodes, in this episodes we have decided to turn our attention to the last four instalments of the nail-biti...

Our second look at the work of prolific television playwright Jack Rosenthal. This time a celebrated Granada production from January 1976 starring Jack Shepherd, Mark Wing-Davey and Joe Black: ’Ready When You Are, Mr McGill’ directed by Mike Newell. The play formed the first of 7 episodes of the 1976 anthology series Red Letter Day and concerns the all-important day in the life of TV extra Mr McGi...

While looking for a drama beginning with the letter Q, having decided to ignore that programme about that Bernard fellow, we quickly agreed that A Question of Attribution would make an excellent choice, partly as we knew it to be a celebrated and award winning drama, but also because it would be our first Alan Bennett. Oh mother! First written and performed for the stage in 1988, this drama about...

In this episode we turn our attention to a 1995 adaptation (and for Andy’s money the best adaptation) of Jane Austen’s Persuasion. It stars Amanda Root, best known for the reboot of The Forsyte Saga, as Anne Elliot who is apparently already an ‘old maid’ at 27! Ciaran HInds (Game of Thrones’ Mance Rayder) plays dashing Captain Wentworth, whose marriage proposal Anne previously turned down due to t...

Our second and concluding exploration of Peter Flannery's Tyneside-set epic Our Friends in the North. In this episode we review the final 4 episodes set between 1979 and 1995, as the trials and tribulations in the lives of the four friends are played out against the backdrop of Thatcher's victory, The Miners' Strike, The Great Storm of '87, the Stock Market Crash, and the rise of New Labour. This...

Ho'way man! It's time to gan 'yem hinny. Andy, who grew up in the North East, first watched the series half his lifetime ago, aged 24, while Martin enjoys it for the very first time. They both agree however that 'Our Friends' is a stone-cold classic. Because there was just too much to say about this phenomenal series we've divided our episode on Peter Flannery's epic award-winning drama about love...

In today’s episode we explore Nice Work, David Lodge’s award-winning 1989 drama serial for BBC2 with Warren Clarke and Haydn Gwynne. It’s the tale of two people who are suddenly exposed to new and previously alien worlds, an English Literature lecturer, Dr Robyn Penrose and factory manager, Vic Wilcox. It also speaks to the broader canvas of the late Eighties commercialisation of Universities and...

A special extra episode of the podcast to celebrate us reaching the halfway point in our TV drama alphabet. We thought 'The Drammys' would be a suitable moniker for this awards-based review of everything from All Creatures Great & Small to Miss Marple. But who will win Best Writer and Best Director? Who will come away with the all-important acting gongs? And what will be crowned Best Drama so far?...

Andy and Martin appraise the classic murder mystery series Agatha Christie's Miss Marple which starred Joan Hickson and was initially produced by Guy Slater. The series saw all 12 full Miss Marple novels adapted for the small screen between 1984 and 1992. For the purpose of this episode they turn their attention to two of their favourites: A Murder is Announced starring Ursula Howells, Samantha Bo...

No, not the soapy drama series that went on forever that neither Andy or Martin watched but the Jack Rosenthal-penned TV film which served as a sort of pilot and aired back in 1986. It's a tough watch given its race-based plot especially as this episode was recorded in the same week that George Floyd was murdered by police in the USA. However, there are some lighter moments including excerpts from...