Terrance Dicks (1935-2019) will forever be synonymous with Doctor Who (BBC 1963-89, 1996, 2005-present) for which he was script editor from 1968-74, instrumental in the introduction of Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, the earthbound military UNIT storylines and the creation of the Master. After departing as script editor he continued writing for Doctor Who over […]
Our Forgotten Black TV Drama season continues at BFI Southbank on Friday 15 February at 6.00pm with a screening of The Museum Attendant (BBC2, 1973), the first play for television by Michael Abbensetts, plus a short programme from 1983 about the Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta, followed by her 1976 story for Crown Court: The Ju-Ju Landlord (Granada, 1976). […]
This is the official blog of the ‘History of Forgotten Television Drama in the UK’ project, Royal Holloway, University of London. This 4-year AHRC-funded project has explored why many television dramas made in the regions and nations of the UK between 1946 and 1982 have been ‘forgotten’ while others have been elevated to the canon […]
Following the release of The Frighteners on DVD in May 2017 there have been four more releases this year in the Forgotten TV Drama DVD range (in association with Network). The second release comprised three Nigel Kneale plays: The Crunch (ATV 1964) is about an attempt to avert a nuclear catastrophe in London, written for […]
On Friday 3 November 2017, as a prelude to the Missing Believed Wiped Northern Ireland event at QFT the following day, the Belfast Film Festival – in association with the ‘Forgotten Television Drama’ project at Royal Holloway, University of London, and the television heritage organisation Kaleidoscope – will be screening two television dramas previously unseen […]
What follows is a transcript of a Q&A session with director Roy Battersby, following a screening of two episodes of Home and Away (Granada, 1972) at HOME, Manchester on Monday 27 March 2017, shown as part of a short season of Forgotten TV Drama. Home and Away is a 7-part serial written by Julia […]
The Frighteners, the first title in our new ‘Forgotten TV Dramas’ DVD range (in association with Network Distributing) went on sale today. Little seen (even at the time!), not much was ever written about the series, but while researching the Viewing Notes I did come across this perceptive review of Mike Hodges’ episode The Manipulators […]
The second ‘Television’s Forgotten Dramas’ season at BFI Southbank was launched on 2 February 2017 with a screening of John Osborne’s The Hotel in Amsterdam, followed by a discussion about the play, John Osborne, and forgotten television drama more generally, with Anthony Page (the play’s original director, of both stage and TV versions) and playwright […]
Beanbag Cinema/Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast 2 – 8 April 2017 Following the success of previous screenings at the 2015 festival, Professor John Hill has curated a second series of screenings for the Belfast Film Festival 2017. The programme is outlined below. Sunday 2 April, 12pm The Eagle Has Landed (Granada 1973. Written by David Edgar, Directed by Colin […]
Our Forgotten Dramas season continues on Monday 13 February at 6.20 pm in NFT2 with a double bill of 1970s political dramas, made by Granada, at which we will be very pleased to welcome the director of The Nearly Man, John Irvin, and the script-editor of The Eagle Has Landed, Jonathan Powell. The Eagle Has […]
Forgotten Television Drama