Thirty-Minute Theatre

Thirty-Minute Theatre

Ended First aired 07/Oct/1965 United Kingdom English 8 season(s) 291 episode(s)
An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

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TimeScore 33% Skip It
Binge Meter 48% Slow Burn
Episode Pulse Quiet 40% activity score
Drop Rate 0% Very Low

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Seasons & Episodes

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Season 8 · Series 8
33 episode(s) · Air date: 13/Aug/1972
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S8E28
Swamp Music
Air date: 12/Apr/1973
Summary

When Pulsford, an ulcerated impresario, stages a competition to find a new pop-group, the only entrant is The Poetic Works. Their act is truly spectacular, too spectacular for Pulsford's own.

Summary

When Pulsford, an ulcerated impresario, stages a competition to find a new pop-group, the only entrant is The Poetic Works. Their act is truly spectacular, too spectacular for Pulsford's own.

S8E9
Scarborough
Air date: 12/Oct/1972
Summary

Holiday work in the countryside brings three young friends peace and tenderness. The richness and innocence of their experience carries with it the seeds of painful disintegration.

Summary

Holiday work in the countryside brings three young friends peace and tenderness. The richness and innocence of their experience carries with it the seeds of painful disintegration.

Season 7 · Series 7
33 episode(s) · Air date: 19/Sep/1971
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S7E33
Bermondsey
Air date: 19/Jun/1972
Summary

Pip and Bob, both married, are a couple of ordinary working-class blokes in an ordinary London suburb. It's just that they have also been gay lovers for years.

Summary

Pip and Bob, both married, are a couple of ordinary working-class blokes in an ordinary London suburb. It's just that they have also been gay lovers for years.

S7E25
Under the Age
Air date: 20/Mar/1972
Summary

Gay bartender Susie applies make-up and holds sway over a quiet bar, responding with suspicion and bitterness to two men and then two women who enter, all communicating with meanness, innuendo and sniggering.

Summary

Gay bartender Susie applies make-up and holds sway over a quiet bar, responding with suspicion and bitterness to two men and then two women who enter, all communicating with meanness, innuendo and sniggering.

S7E19
The Penthouse Apartment
Air date: 24/Jan/1972
Summary

Morgan the caretaker really doesn't like Mr. and Mrs. Runca, two of the tenants he's supposed to look after - and he picks the worst possible time to let them know it.

Summary

Morgan the caretaker really doesn't like Mr. and Mrs. Runca, two of the tenants he's supposed to look after - and he picks the worst possible time to let them know it.

Season 6 · Series 6
37 episode(s) · Air date: 17/Sep/1970
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S6E13
Waugh on Crime: In Which Inspector Waugh Knows the Criminal but not the Crime
Air date: 08/Jan/1971
Summary

Inspector Waugh is looking for a robber from Liverpool, who he believes is in disguise and attempting to leave by boat. Arriving is Ephraim, a well. a known villain with no convictions. Waugh knows he's smuggling something, but what?

Summary

Inspector Waugh is looking for a robber from Liverpool, who he believes is in disguise and attempting to leave by boat. Arriving is Ephraim, a well. a known villain with no convictions. Waugh knows he's smuggling something, but what?

S6E12
Waugh on Crime: In Which Inspector Waugh Plays Cops and Robbers
Air date: 01/Jan/1971
Summary

Inspector Waugh is called to the house of Cynthia Holmes to look into the disappearance of her10-year-old son Peter. Waugh quickly spots that Mrs Holmes is lying about her wealth and the boy has escaped to have fun somewhere else.

Summary

Inspector Waugh is called to the house of Cynthia Holmes to look into the disappearance of her10-year-old son Peter. Waugh quickly spots that Mrs Holmes is lying about her wealth and the boy has escaped to have fun somewhere else.

S6E11
Waugh on Crime: In Which Inspector Waugh Observes the Truth of an Old Music Hall Song
Air date: 25/Dec/1970
Summary

The Mallows return from a three month holiday to discover their house has been broke in to. Inspector Waugh learns nothing has been stolen. Burglar Albert Lawless who found £5,000 hidden in locked draw, at the Mallows, and arrested.

Summary

The Mallows return from a three month holiday to discover their house has been broke in to. Inspector Waugh learns nothing has been stolen. Burglar Albert Lawless who found £5,000 hidden in locked draw, at the Mallows, and arrested.

S6E10
Waugh on Crime: In Which Inspector Waugh Encounters the English Class System
Air date: 18/Dec/1970
Summary

P.C. White was chasing a missing dog which leads him to a dead body buried at the Maxwell Reece's garden. She claims it's a tramp but Waugh discovers that her lover died of a heart attack and she doesn't want neighbours to know

Summary

P.C. White was chasing a missing dog which leads him to a dead body buried at the Maxwell Reece's garden. She claims it's a tramp but Waugh discovers that her lover died of a heart attack and she doesn't want neighbours to know

S6E9
Waugh on Crime: In Which Inspector Waugh Meets a Man Going to St. Ives
Air date: 11/Dec/1970
Summary

Inspector Waugh investigates an hit and run after a car driving on the wrong side of the road puts Mr Watkins in hospital. Watkins claims to be astronomer but his story doesn't hold water. Waugh finds a bag and Watkins criminal record.

Summary

Inspector Waugh investigates an hit and run after a car driving on the wrong side of the road puts Mr Watkins in hospital. Watkins claims to be astronomer but his story doesn't hold water. Waugh finds a bag and Watkins criminal record.

S6E8
Waugh on Crime: In Which Inspector Waugh Settles an Account
Air date: 04/Dec/1970
Summary

Inspector Waugh is asked to visit his bank manager, who needs some discreet help. Commander Browne formed the British Freedom Party and sailed for Albania. Since his return, his bank account has been emptied by a man posing as him.

Summary

Inspector Waugh is asked to visit his bank manager, who needs some discreet help. Commander Browne formed the British Freedom Party and sailed for Albania. Since his return, his bank account has been emptied by a man posing as him.

Season 5 · Series 5
36 episode(s) · Air date: 13/Sep/1969
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Season 4 · Series 4
36 episode(s) · Air date: 08/Sep/1968
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S4E30
Invasion
Air date: 10/Apr/1969
Summary

A small group of middle class people are sitting around a table in a windowless room enjoying a dinner party as the TV in the corner reports on events in the Vietnam War. Their trivial chatter, one by one, bores people at the dinner party, who turn their attention to the TV and become encapsulated by the horror of the war and the dinner party continues despite, one by one, each diner being overwhelmed by war scenes and is next seen dead in their seat in the same way as a Vietnamese war victim; meanwhile the babble continues and the guest's demise passes unnoticed, until there is only one left.

Summary

A small group of middle class people are sitting around a table in a windowless room enjoying a dinner party as the TV in the corner reports on events in the Vietnam War. Their trivial chatter, one by one, bores people at the dinner party, who turn their attention to the TV and become encapsulated by the horror of the war and the dinner party continues despite, one by one, each diner being overwhelmed by war scenes and is next seen dead in their seat in the same way as a Vietnamese war victim; meanwhile the babble continues and the guest's demise passes unnoticed, until there is only one left.

S4E18
Absolute Aggers and Torters
Air date: 13/Jan/1969
Summary

A young couple like to change their clothes and personalities to suit the people they've invited to dinner. But one night they forget who their guests are going to be.

Summary

A young couple like to change their clothes and personalities to suit the people they've invited to dinner. But one night they forget who their guests are going to be.

S4E15
Swallowing the Anchor
Air date: 23/Dec/1968
Summary

Commander Dusting is used to commanding men and having his slightest wish obeyed. So it comes as a great shock when he suddenly finds himself redundant.

Summary

Commander Dusting is used to commanding men and having his slightest wish obeyed. So it comes as a great shock when he suddenly finds himself redundant.

Season 3 · Series 3
35 episode(s) · Air date: 01/Oct/1967
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S3E14
Diary of an Encounter
Air date: 17/Jan/1968
Summary

Keith Michell portrays a sad man who books a room in an English seaside hotel with a revolver in his luggage and an intention to shoot himself. Once in his room alone, we watch him silently and sadly unpack the gun, place it in front of him on the table in his room and prepare to do away with himself. He slowly places a bullet in the chamber and positions the gun to his head. At that moment there comes a knock on the door. He hides the gun and answers the door to find a pretty young woman standing there played by Geraldine McEwan.

Summary

Keith Michell portrays a sad man who books a room in an English seaside hotel with a revolver in his luggage and an intention to shoot himself. Once in his room alone, we watch him silently and sadly unpack the gun, place it in front of him on the table in his room and prepare to do away with himself. He slowly places a bullet in the chamber and positions the gun to his head. At that moment there comes a knock on the door. He hides the gun and answers the door to find a pretty young woman standing there played by Geraldine McEwan.

S3E10
Come Death
Air date: 20/Dec/1967
Summary

Rome, in the latter part of the 19th century. A plague is raging through all that part of Italy, and death is beginning to visit households in the city itself. A rich and famous hostess is determined to crown her social career by giving a splendid ball for the most awesome guest of honour of all--the lordly Death himself.

Summary

Rome, in the latter part of the 19th century. A plague is raging through all that part of Italy, and death is beginning to visit households in the city itself. A rich and famous hostess is determined to crown her social career by giving a splendid ball for the most awesome guest of honour of all--the lordly Death himself.

Season 2 · Series 2
37 episode(s) · Air date: 02/Oct/1966
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Season Overview

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S2E18
Teeth
Air date: 08/Feb/1967
Summary

Does Harry, a rather sinister dentist, know that the young man in his chair is having an affair with his wife? And is he does, is he planning some sort of revenge?

Summary

Does Harry, a rather sinister dentist, know that the young man in his chair is having an affair with his wife? And is he does, is he planning some sort of revenge?

S2E13
Taste
Air date: 04/Jan/1967
Summary

At a dinner party, the host hints that one of his guests, an appalling wine snob, will not be able to identify a particular rare vintage. The snob agrees to make a bet on it, but suggests an unusual stake.

Summary

At a dinner party, the host hints that one of his guests, an appalling wine snob, will not be able to identify a particular rare vintage. The snob agrees to make a bet on it, but suggests an unusual stake.

S2E5
The Excavation
Air date: 31/Oct/1966
Summary

The jury gave a verdict, mister. But you came here. Why? Because I was off a chain gang and Jackie used to hustle.' An American lawyer challenges the evidence given by a young couple, which has led to the conviction of two boys for rape and murder

Summary

The jury gave a verdict, mister. But you came here. Why? Because I was off a chain gang and Jackie used to hustle.' An American lawyer challenges the evidence given by a young couple, which has led to the conviction of two boys for rape and murder

Season 1 · Series 1
44 episode(s) · Air date: 06/Oct/1965
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S1E27
Emergency Ward 9
Air date: 11/Apr/1966 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

In this medical drama for the BBC's THIRTY MINUTE THEATER series, a doctor is helpless as an old man dies in pain. In the same ward, three other patients of different backgrounds attempt to deal with the old man's death.

Summary

In this medical drama for the BBC's THIRTY MINUTE THEATER series, a doctor is helpless as an old man dies in pain. In the same ward, three other patients of different backgrounds attempt to deal with the old man's death.

S1E9
Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat
Air date: 02/Dec/1965 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Mrs. Bixby, a dentist's wife, goes alone once a month to the country "to see her aunt"; she's secretly visiting her lover, the Colonel. But when he gives her an expensive coat, she has to devise a way of explaining it to her husband.

Summary

Mrs. Bixby, a dentist's wife, goes alone once a month to the country "to see her aunt"; she's secretly visiting her lover, the Colonel. But when he gives her an expensive coat, she has to devise a way of explaining it to her husband.

S1E5
Monica
Air date: 04/Nov/1965 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

Simon is trying to convince his mistress, Monica, to leave her husband by staging a suicide. But instead of Monica showing up, a stranger appears, who helps him to carry out the suicide he was staging at the beginning of the play.

Summary

Simon is trying to convince his mistress, Monica, to leave her husband by staging a suicide. But instead of Monica showing up, a stranger appears, who helps him to carry out the suicide he was staging at the beginning of the play.

S1E1
Parson's Pleasure
Air date: 07/Oct/1965 · Runtime: 30 min
Summary

An unscrupulous antiques dealer with a method for acquiring invaluable antiques in the countryside, stumbles upon a priceless chair owned by a less than cooperative family.

Summary

An unscrupulous antiques dealer with a method for acquiring invaluable antiques in the countryside, stumbles upon a priceless chair owned by a less than cooperative family.

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