Reviews

A For Andromeda

Now recognised as a classic science fiction series, A for Andromeda was developed for television by writer and BBC producer John Elliot from an original storyline by Cambridge astronomer and novelist Fred Hoyle.

A. J. Wentworth, BA

The final starring vehicle for the masterful comedic talents of the incomparable, Arthur Lowe.

The A-Team

A group of ex-Vietnam Commandos band together to form an unlikely partnership in order to assist the victims of injustice, whilst on the run themselves for a crime that they did not commit.

The Abbott & Costello Show

Although slammed by the critics The Abbott and Costello Show became a firm favourite with the viewing audience as the comic twosome brought to the small screen the same brand of slapstick humour that had pulled in theatre patrons for years.

Abbott Elementary

American four-time Emmy Award winning mockumentary about a perpetually optimistic teacher in an predominantly black, underfunded and mismanaged school in Philadelphia

ABC Armchair Thriller

'ABC Armchair Thriller', although sometimes listed alongside the later 'Armchair Thriller' series (1978 & 1980), is a separate series from the later Thames productions, which it preceded by 11 years.

Abigail's Party

When teenager Abigail throws a party for her friends, her next-door neighbour, Beverly Moss, does likewise for the adults. But Beverly is the hostess from hell.

About Britain / London Town

Early British television series fronted by Richard Dimbleby who, with an outside film camera crew, would visit some of the more interesting and unusual parts of the capitol city and the people around them. For the first time the TV cameras could introduce viewers to London's life, customs and traditions.

About Face

A series of 12 unconnected half-hour sitcoms, all written by different writers, created as a starring vehicle for Maureen Lipman

About the Home

Long-running 1950s afternoon programme designed to help women improve their domestic skills with tips on everything they could wish to know about from cookery to soft furnishings and needlework to bringing up baby and doing their own DIY.

Absolutely

Absolutely drew together a new breed of relatively unknown (mainly Scottish) comics and pretty much gave them free licence to create a collection of surreal and silly sketches and songs.

Absolutely Fabulous

Developed from a sketch in the TV series French and Saunders in which Saunders played a baseball capped parent berated by her prim and proper daughter (French), the pilot episode was greeted by one TV executive with the comment, "I don't think women being drunk is funny."

Accident

A forgotten BBC drama turns a single 1970s road crash into a bold, non-linear "television novel", exploring fate, fractured lives and tough social issues through an impressive cast and gripping, experimental storytelling

According to Dora

According to Dora, subtitled A Bryan's Eye View on the World, was a starring vehicle for Southport born actress/comedienne Dora Bryan who had made her showbiz debut as a child in pantomime in Manchester.

Ace of Wands

Billed as a 20th century Robin Hood with a bit of Merlin and Houdini thrown in, this superior children's series concerned the adventures of Tarot (Michael MacKenzie), who used his skills to solve a series of bizarre crimes by a number of 'supervillians' who would not have been out of place in Batman.

The Acolyte

An investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master against a dangerous warrior from his past

Action in the Afternoon

Action in the Afternoon was television's first live outdoor Western, originating in the wide-open spaces of suburban Philadelphia and telecast five afternoons a week.

A.D. Anno Domini

Mini-series chronicles the life & adventures of Jesus's disciples, and events in Rome during the reigns of the Emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.

Adam Adamant Lives!

When workmen discover a male body in 1966 that was frozen alive in a block of ice in 1902, he is revived to continue his war on crime in this curious but undeniably charming blend of period swashbuckling and Sixties swagger

The Addams Family

Living at 0001 Cemetery Lane, like The Munsters that began at around the same time, the Addams' were a family of misfits that viewed the outside world as strange and their own peculiar lifestyle as perfectly normal

The Adventure Game

The brainchild of Patrick Dowling and devised with the help of Ian Oliver, The Adventure Game was inspired by the early text-based computer game of Dungeons and Dragons and had elements of Douglas Adams' radio comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Adventure Weekly

1960s teenage series about five budding young reporters who get involved in a series of adventures from tracking down a gang of post-office robbers to reporting on an unexploded Second World War bomb

The Adventurer

The publicity for this ITC show read "travel the world with The Adventurer, in a series of vital, new and dynamic situations in which every turn brings the zing of danger, drama and originality". Most viewers ended up wishing the hero of this particular television outing had stayed at home.

Adventures in Paradise

US action / adventure series

The Adventures of Aggie

An oddity - a British made sitcom from the 1950s starring a US actress so it could be sold to America.

The Adventures of Ben Gunn

A six-part prequel to Treasure Island which explains how Ben Gunn became a pirate, where the buried treasure in Treasure Island came from, and how John Silver lost his leg.

The Adventures of Black Beauty

A black mare is found with life-threatening wounds and nursed back to health by a caring family.

The Adventures of Brigadier Wellington-Bull

Sitcom following the adventures of a retired Army Brigadier, Garnet Wellington-Bull, a widowed career soldier who, now retired, is trying to come to terms with life on civvy street but not finding it very easy.

The Adventures of Don Quick

Before Star Trek became shorthand for cerebral sci-fi, The Adventures of Don Quick launched a quixotic astronaut into the cosmos—armed with satire, ambition, and delusion. Bold, bizarre, and short-lived, it’s television’s strangest lost space odyssey

The Adventures of Hiram Holiday

The Adventures of Hiram Holliday appeared on British television screens in 1960, three years after it had been cancelled by the US network NBC.