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Seven Deadly Sins

Seven Deadly Sins

1966 United Kingdom

Seven self-contained plays by different writers - each featuring one of the sins categorised by the founders of the Christian Church as "deadly." Lists of the seven vary. But for the TV series the sins were avarice, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, sloth and wrath. Each play had a touch of suspense about it but viewers were left to speculate on the sins concerned as each play unfolded - only discovering if they made the right guess as the final credits rolled. 

Series producer Peter Willes told TV Times in 1966; "The treatment varies from comedy to drama and the plays make no pretension to being morality plays or parables. The object is to intrigue and entertain." Among the stars who appeared were Alan Dobie, Robin Bailey, Nigel Stock, Patrick Allen, Reginald Marsh and (at that time) pop singer Adam Faith. 

Contributing writers included Alun Falconer and Joe Orton (acclaimed for his Entertaining Mr. Sloane and Loot). Willes followed up the series a year later with the similarly titled Seven Deadly Virtues. 

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Published on February 12th, 2019. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.

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