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Series · 1958–Returning

Saturday Playhouse

1 season·68 episodes·United Kingdom

Saturday Playhouse was a 60-minute UK anthology television series produced by and airing on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from 4 January 1958 until 1 April 1961. There were sixty-eight episodes, among them adaptations of the plays The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Cat and the Canary. One of the episodes, Alex Atkinson’s classic thriller Design for Murder, was featured twice on the BBC: first on Saturday Playhouse (Saturday, 15 March 1958; S1/Ep.6) and again from the BBC's own theatre in Bristol (Thursday, 6 July 1961).

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01
S1.E1 ∙ The Man Upstairs
S1.E1 ∙ The Man UpstairsUp next
Jan 4, 1958

An anthology series of dramatisations of plays.

02
S1.E2 ∙ The Distaff Side
S1.E2 ∙ The Distaff Side
Jan 11, 1958

An upper middle-class family is ruled by the ancient and churlish matriarch. Her daughters' marriages are all in jeopardy, with affairs and communions with the dead. It's difficult to find any solitude or sanity in the family.

03
S1.E3 ∙ Heroes Don't Care
S1.E3 ∙ Heroes Don't Care
Jan 18, 1958
04
S1.E4 ∙ Britannia of Billingsgate
S1.E4 ∙ Britannia of Billingsgate
Jan 25, 1958
05
S1.E5 ∙ The Corn Is Green
S1.E5 ∙ The Corn Is Green
Feb 1, 1958

A spinster schoolteacher arrives in a Welsh mining valley and discovers a boy genius in her class.

06
S1.E6 ∙ Design for Murder
S1.E6 ∙ Design for Murder
Feb 8, 1958
07
S1.E7 ∙ My Flesh, My Blood
S1.E7 ∙ My Flesh, My Blood
Feb 15, 1958
08
S1.E8 ∙ Ladies in Retirement
S1.E8 ∙ Ladies in Retirement
Feb 22, 1958

Ellen Creed struggles to hold down her job as housekeeper-companion to the retired actress Leonora Fiske whilst trying to protect her two disturbed sisters from the threat of incarceration.

09
S1.E9 ∙ A Likely Tale
S1.E9 ∙ A Likely Tale
Mar 1, 1958

A dying old man changes his will to leave everything to the new housemaid who has caught his eye, much to the alarm of his three grown up children and grandson.

10
S1.E10 ∙ And No Birds Sing
S1.E10 ∙ And No Birds Sing
Mar 8, 1958
11
S1.E11 ∙ Carry On, Admiral
S1.E11 ∙ Carry On, Admiral
Mar 15, 1958

The action takes place in a bedroom in a Portsmouth hotel, the wardroom of H.M.S. Sherwood, and the living-room at Admiralty House.

12
S1.E12 ∙ French Without Tears
S1.E12 ∙ French Without Tears
Mar 22, 1958

The love affairs of three young Englishmen at a language cramming school in the south of France. Diana, the sister of one of the boys, arrives in town to flirt with all of her brothers' schoolmates.

13
S1.E13 ∙ High Heaven
S1.E13 ∙ High Heaven
Mar 29, 1958
14
S1.E14 ∙ The Ware Case
S1.E14 ∙ The Ware Case
Apr 5, 1958

A financier is accused of murder when his brother-in-law is found dead in his garden pond. After winning the court case he returns home to find that his lawyer has romantic inclinations towards his wife.

15
S1.E15 ∙ The Fourth Wall
S1.E15 ∙ The Fourth Wall
Apr 12, 1958

The host of a dinner party is murdered.

16
S1.E16 ∙ Dr. Angelus
S1.E16 ∙ Dr. Angelus
Apr 19, 1958
17
S1.E17 ∙ A Young Affair
S1.E17 ∙ A Young Affair
Apr 26, 1958
18
S1.E18 ∙ The Dover Road
S1.E18 ∙ The Dover Road
Sep 13, 1958

A wealthy man lives on the Dover Road, a traditional path of elopers. His practice of forcing such couples to see one another in the sober light of home life in his house leads to a personal involvement for him.

19
S1.E19 ∙ Day of Retirement
S1.E19 ∙ Day of Retirement
Sep 20, 1958
20
S1.E20 ∙ A Private Eye for Pennsylvania
S1.E20 ∙ A Private Eye for Pennsylvania
Sep 27, 1958
21
S1.E21 ∙ Four for Solitaire
S1.E21 ∙ Four for Solitaire
Oct 25, 1958
22
S1.E22 ∙ Trespass
S1.E22 ∙ Trespass
Nov 22, 1958
23
S1.E23 ∙ The Duke in Darkness
S1.E23 ∙ The Duke in Darkness
Dec 6, 1958

A duke imprisoned for 15 years in a castle in France feigns blindness for five years to lull the suspicions of his captors in order to plan his escape.

24
S1.E24 ∙ The Magistrate
S1.E24 ∙ The Magistrate
Dec 20, 1958

A widow weds a magistrate and makes her 19-year-old son act as a boy.

25
S1.E25 ∙ So Many Children
S1.E25 ∙ So Many Children
Dec 27, 1958
26
S1.E26 ∙ Trilby
S1.E26 ∙ Trilby
Jan 17, 1959

in 19th-century Paris, a sinister hypnotist tries to turn a simple Irish girl into an opera star.

27
S1.E27 ∙ Murder on the Agenda
S1.E27 ∙ Murder on the Agenda
Feb 14, 1959

Eynon Evans plays the part of Inspector Probert George, who was tortured in a prisoner-of-war camp when his plans for escape were discovered, is dead after five years in a mental home. His five fellow prisoners had sworn that if George died they would kill the man who had betrayed him to the Germans. But which of them was to do the killing? And how?

28
S1.E28 ∙ Golden Rain
S1.E28 ∙ Golden Rain
Feb 28, 1959
29
S1.E29 ∙ While the Sun Shines
S1.E29 ∙ While the Sun Shines
Mar 28, 1959
30
S1.E30 ∙ The Cat and the Canary
S1.E30 ∙ The Cat and the Canary
May 9, 1959

At an old, dark house, on a dark and stormy night, an ill-assorted group of people meet for the reading of a millionaire's will. But there's a madman on the loose.

31
S1.E31 ∙ The Larford Lad
S1.E31 ∙ The Larford Lad
Jun 20, 1959

The story of a young boxer's rise to fame.

32
S1.E32 ∙ Black Chiffon
S1.E32 ∙ Black Chiffon
Jul 4, 1959

A woman who has an absolutely untarnished reputation unaccountably steals a black-chiffon nightgown days before her son's wedding.

33
S1.E33 ∙ My Young Brother
S1.E33 ∙ My Young Brother
Jul 18, 1959
34
S1.E34 ∙ Love and Miss Figgis
S1.E34 ∙ Love and Miss Figgis
Aug 1, 1959
35
S1.E35 ∙ Unfinished Journey
S1.E35 ∙ Unfinished Journey
Aug 8, 1959
36
S1.E36 ∙ The Cathedral
S1.E36 ∙ The Cathedral
Aug 15, 1959
37
S1.E37 ∙ Last Day in Dreamland
S1.E37 ∙ Last Day in Dreamland
Aug 29, 1959
38
S1.E38 ∙ It Isn't Enough
S1.E38 ∙ It Isn't Enough
Sep 26, 1959
39
S1.E39 ∙ Haul for the Shore
S1.E39 ∙ Haul for the Shore
Oct 24, 1959
40
S1.E40 ∙ Bed and Breakfast
S1.E40 ∙ Bed and Breakfast
Nov 21, 1959
41
S1.E41 ∙ The Farmer's Wife
S1.E41 ∙ The Farmer's Wife
Dec 5, 1959

After his daughter weds, a middle-aged widower with a profitable farm decides to remarry but finds choosing a suitable mate a problematic process.

42
S1.E42 ∙ Through a Glass Darkly
S1.E42 ∙ Through a Glass Darkly
Dec 19, 1959
43
S1.E43 ∙ Conflict at Kalanadi
S1.E43 ∙ Conflict at Kalanadi
Jan 16, 1960
44
S1.E44 ∙ The Difficult Age
S1.E44 ∙ The Difficult Age
Jan 30, 1960
45
S1.E45 ∙ Going Like a Fox
S1.E45 ∙ Going Like a Fox
Feb 13, 1960
46
S1.E46 ∙ The Return of Peggy Atherton
S1.E46 ∙ The Return of Peggy Atherton
Feb 27, 1960
47
S1.E47 ∙ Home and the Heart
S1.E47 ∙ Home and the Heart
Mar 12, 1960
48
S1.E48 ∙ A Matter of Age
S1.E48 ∙ A Matter of Age
Mar 26, 1960
49
S1.E49 ∙ Devonshire Cream
S1.E49 ∙ Devonshire Cream
Apr 9, 1960
50
S1.E50 ∙ The Country Boy
S1.E50 ∙ The Country Boy
Apr 23, 1960
51
S1.E51 ∙ The Man Who Came to Dinner
S1.E51 ∙ The Man Who Came to Dinner
May 7, 1960

Sheridan Whiteside, famous as an author, broadcaster and expert on just about everything, is invited to dinner by a pompous small-town businessman - and stays rather longer than anyone anticipated.

52
S1.E52 ∙ Marriage Settlement
S1.E52 ∙ Marriage Settlement
May 21, 1960
53
S1.E53 ∙ The Guinea Pig
S1.E53 ∙ The Guinea Pig
Jun 4, 1960

A working-class boy gets a scholarship to a public school.

54
S1.E54 ∙ The Breadwinner
S1.E54 ∙ The Breadwinner
Jun 18, 1960
55
S1.E55 ∙ On the Edge
S1.E55 ∙ On the Edge
Jul 16, 1960
56
S1.E56 ∙ Dream Girl
S1.E56 ∙ Dream Girl
Aug 13, 1960

A young lady is filled with daydreams until she meets her reality man.

57
S1.E57 ∙ The Shop at Sly Corner
S1.E57 ∙ The Shop at Sly Corner
Aug 27, 1960

Descius Heiss is a French expatriate, and former Devil's Island prisoner, with two passions; driving shrewd bargains in antiques at his Sly Corner Shop, and the care of his motherless, violin-playing daughter, Margaret. But, his comfortable wealth comes more from being a fence for stolen goods than it does buying-and-selling antiques. His secret is discovered by his shop assistant Archie Fellowes, a nasty, sniveling young rat, and he begins blackmailing Heiss. Heiss employs the usual solution to blackmailers, and the film ends in a London concert-hall where Margaret is playing the Mendelssohm Violin Concerto.

58
S1.E58 ∙ Family Occasion
S1.E58 ∙ Family Occasion
Oct 8, 1960

What is Margaret hiding from the rest of the family when they arrive for their father's funeral?

59
S1.E59 ∙ The Bachelor Brothers
S1.E59 ∙ The Bachelor Brothers
Oct 22, 1960
60
S1.E60 ∙ Your Obedient Servant
S1.E60 ∙ Your Obedient Servant
Nov 19, 1960
61
S1.E61 ∙ The Druid Circle
S1.E61 ∙ The Druid Circle
Dec 3, 1960

An embittered professor comes near to wrecking the lives of a young man and young woman whose love for each other has been accidentally revealed to him through a letter written by the boy to the girl.

62
S1.E62 ∙ The Colonel
S1.E62 ∙ The Colonel
Dec 17, 1960
63
S1.E63 ∙ A Run for the Money
S1.E63 ∙ A Run for the Money
Dec 31, 1960
64
S1.E64 ∙ A Sense of Guilt
S1.E64 ∙ A Sense of Guilt
Jan 14, 1961
65
S1.E65 ∙ The Four Poster
S1.E65 ∙ The Four Poster
Jan 28, 1961

The up-and-down lives of a married couple over decades, depicted as a series of bedroom scenes.

66
S1.E66 ∙ The House with the Green Shutters
S1.E66 ∙ The House with the Green Shutters
Feb 11, 1961
67
S1.E67 ∙ A Perfect Stranger
S1.E67 ∙ A Perfect Stranger
Feb 25, 1961
68
S1.E68 ∙ Seagulls Over Sorrento
S1.E68 ∙ Seagulls Over Sorrento
Mar 4, 1961

A Navy lieutenant is borrowed by the British to supervise torpedo experiments after one of their scientists is killed.

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