Play of the Month is a BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina

Cedric Messina

Cedric Messina was a South African born British television producer and director for the BBC of mainly classic drama...

. 121 episodes were produced.

List of episodes

Season	Episode	Title	Screen Date
1	1	Luther Luther (play) Luther is a 1961 play by John Osborne that explored the forces that were involved in the life of Martin Luther, one of the instigators of the Protestant Reformation. Osborne was influenced by Erik Erikson's book, Young Man Luther, which had been published three years prior in 1958. In the play,...	19 October 1965
1	2	A Passage to India A Passage to India A Passage to India is a novel by E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time...	16 November 1965
1	3	The Joel Brand Story	14 December 1965
1	4	Gordon of Khartoum	18 January 1966
1	5	Where Angels Fear to Tread Where Angels Fear to Tread Where Angels Fear to Tread is a novel by E. M. Forster, originally entitled Monteriano. The title comes from a line in Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism: "For fools rush in where angels fear to tread"....	15 February 1966
1	6	Lee Oswald Assassin	15 March 1966
1	7	Make Me an Offer	12 April 1966
1	8	Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...	24 May 1966
1	9	The Devil's Eggshell	28 June 1966
2	1	Defection! The Case of Colonel Petrov	27 September 1966
2	2	Days to Come	25 October 1966
2	3	Corridors of Power	22 November 1966
2	4	The Making of Jericho	20 December 1966
2	5	The Cabinet Papers	14 March 1967
3	1	Girls in Uniform	15 October 1967
3	2	The Moon and Sixpence The Moon and Sixpence The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham, told in episodic form by the first-person narrator as a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character, Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker who abandons his wife and children abruptly to pursue his desire...	12 November 1967
3	3	Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...	3 December 1967
3	4	The Parachute	21 January 1968
3	5	Cyrano de Bergerac Cyrano de Bergerac Hercule-Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac was a French dramatist and duelist. He is now best remembered for the works of fiction which have been woven, often very loosely, around his life story, most notably the 1897 play by Edmond Rostand...	11 February 1968
3	6	Ghosts Ghosts (play) Ghosts is a play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was written in 1881 and first staged in 1882.Like many of Ibsen's better-known plays, Ghosts is a scathing commentary on 19th century morality....	17 March 1968
3	7	The Corn Is Green The Corn is Green The Corn Is Green is a semi-autobiographical play by Emlyn Williams.At its core is L. C. Moffat, a strong-willed English school teacher working in a small poverty-stricken coal mining town in the late 19th century...	14 April 1968
3	8	The Tempest The Tempest The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...	12 May 1968
3	9	The Old Ladies	9 June 1968
3	10	Man and Superman Man and Superman Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...	7 July 1968
3	11	Hay Fever Hay Fever Hay Fever is a comic play written by Noël Coward in 1924 and first produced in 1925 with Marie Tempest as the first Judith Bliss. Laura Hope Crews played the role in New York...	4 August 1968
4	1	Saint Joan Saint Joan (play) Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw, based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc. Published not long after the canonization of Joan of Arc by the Roman Catholic Church, the play dramatises what is known of her life based on the substantial records of her trial. Shaw studied the transcripts...	1 September 1968
4	2	The Male Animal The Male Animal The Male Animal is a Warner Brothers film starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Leslie.The film was based on a hit 1940 Broadway play of the same name written by James Thurber and Elliott Nugent. The screenplay was written by Stephen Morehouse Avery, Julius J. Epstein, and Philip G....	13 October 1968
4	3	The Seagull The Seagull The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...	17 November 1968
4	4	Waters of the Moon	24 December 1968
4	5	Mary, Queen of Scots	12 January 1969
4	6	Maigret at Bay	9 February 1969
4	7	Relatively Speaking Relatively Speaking Relatively Speaking was a game show that aired in syndication from September 5, 1988 to June 23, 1989. The series was hosted by comedian John Byner, with John Harlan announcing....	2 March 1969
4	8	Julius Caesar Julius Caesar (play) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...	13 April 1969
4	9	An Ideal Husband An Ideal Husband An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour...	11 May 1969
5	1	The Heiress The Heiress The Heiress is a 1949 American drama film. It was written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 play of the same title that was based on the 1880 novel Washington Square by Henry James. The film was directed by William Wyler, with starring performances by Olivia de Havilland as...	12 October 1969
5	2	Charley's Aunt Charley's Aunt Charley's Aunt is a farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. It broke all historic records for plays of any kind, with an original London run of 1,466 performances....	23 November 1969
5	3	The Marquise	14 December 1969
5	4	Three Sisters Three Sisters (play) Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...	18 January 1970
5	5	In Good King Charles's Golden Days In Good King Charles's Golden Days In Good King Charles's Golden Days is a play by George Bernard Shaw, subtitled A True History that Never Happened.It was written in 1938-39 as an "educational history film" for film director Gabriel Pascal in the aftermath of Pygmalions cinema triumph...	15 February 1970
5	6	Separate Tables Separate Tables Separate Tables is the collective name of two one-act plays written by Sir Terence Rattigan, both taking place in the Beauregard Private Hotel, Bournemouth, a seaside town on the south coast of England. The first play, entitled "Table by the Window", focuses on the troubled relationship between a...	15 March 1970
5	7	Howards End Howards End Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, which tells a story of class struggle in turn-of-the-century England. The main theme is the difficulties, troubles, and also the benefits of relationships between members of different social classes...	19 April 1970
5	8	The Rivals The Rivals The Rivals, a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is a comedy of manners in five acts. It was first performed on 17 January 1775.- Production :...	17 May 1970
6	1	Macbeth Macbeth The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...	20 September 1970
6	2	Ross Ross (Play) Ross is a 1960 play by British playwright Terence Rattigan.It is a biographical play of T. E. Lawrence- Plot synopsis :The play is structured with a framing device set in 1922, when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as "Aircraftman Ross" in the Royal Air Force, and is being disciplined by...	18 October 1970
6	3	Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya Uncle Vanya is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897 and received its Moscow première in 1899 in a production by the Moscow Art Theatre, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski....	8 November 1970
6	4	Five Finger Exercise Five Finger Exercise Five Finger Exercise is a 1962 drama film made by Columbia Pictures. It was directed by Daniel Mann and produced by Frederick Brisson from a screenplay by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, based on the play by Peter Shaffer....	24 December 1970
6	5	Act of Betrayal	3 January 1971
6	6	Candida Candida (play) Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions...	21 February 1971
6	7	The Wild Duck The Wild Duck The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...	21 March 1971
6	8	Don Juan in Hell	25 April 1971
6	9	Platonov Platonov (play) Platonov is the name in English given to an early, untitled play written in Russian by Anton Chekhov in 1878. It was the first large-scale drama by Chekhov written specifically for Maria Yermolova, rising star of Maly Theatre...	23 May 1971
7	1	A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...	26 September 1971
7	2	Rasputin	24 October 1971
7	3	Tartuffe Tartuffe Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...	28 November 1971
7	4	The Cherry Orchard The Cherry Orchard The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on...	19 December 1971
7	5	Summer and Smoke Summer and Smoke Summer and Smoke is a two-part, thirteen-scene play by Tennessee Williams, originally titled Chart of Anatomy when Williams began work on it in 1945. In 1964, Williams revised the play as The Eccentricities of a Nightingale...	23 January 1972
7	6	Stephen D A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a semi-autobiographical novel by James Joyce, first serialised in the magazine The Egoist from 1914 to 1915, and published first in book format in 1916 by B. W. Huebsch, New York. The first English edition was published by the Egoist Press in February 1917...	20 February 1972
7	7	The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...	16 April 1972
7	8	Lady Windermere's Fan Lady Windermere's Fan Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first produced 22 February 1892 at the St James's Theatre in London. The play was first published in 1893...	14 May 1972
7	9	Trelawny of the 'Wells' Trelawny of the 'Wells' Trelawny of the 'Wells' is an 1898 comic play by Arthur Wing Pinero. It tells the story of a theatre star who attempts to give up the stage for love, but is unable to fit into conventional society.-Synopsis:...	13 August 1972
8	1	The Millionairess The Millionairess The Millionairess is a 1960 British romantic comedy film set in London, directed by Anthony Asquith and starring Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers...	25 September 1972
8	2	Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...	20 October 1972
8	3	King Oedipus	24 November 1972
8	4	The Magistrate The Magistrate (play) The Magistrate is a farce by the English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero. The plot concerns a respectable magistrate who finds himself caught up in a series of scandalous events that almost cause his disgrace....	20 December 1972
8	5	The Adventures of Don Quixote	7 January 1973
8	6	Candide	16 February 1973
8	7	A Room with a View A Room with a View A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century...	15 April 1973
8	8	Caucasian Chalk Circle	16 May 1973
9	1	The Love-Girl and the Innocent The Love-Girl and the Innocent The Love-Girl and the Innocent is a play in four acts by Russian author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. It is set over the course of about one week in 1945 in a Joseph Stalin-era Soviet prison camp...	16 September 1973
9	2	The Common	21 October 1973
9	3	The Recruiting Officer The Recruiting Officer The Recruiting Officer is a 1706 play by the Irish writer George Farquhar, which follows the social and sexual exploits of two officers, the womanising Plume and the cowardly Brazen, in the town of Shrewsbury to recruit soldiers...	18 November 1973
9	4	Pygmalion Pygmalion (play) Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts is a play by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Professor of phonetics Henry Higgins makes a bet that he can train a bedraggled Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party by teaching her to assume a veneer of...	16 December 1973
9	5	The Changeling The Changeling (play) The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. Widely regarded as "among the best" tragedies of the English Renaissance, the play has accumulated a significant body of critical commentary....	20 January 1974
9	6	The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...	17 February 1974
9	7	The Deep Blue Sea	17 March 1974
9	8	The Skin Game The Skin Game (play) The Skin Game is a play by the John Galsworthy. It was first performed at the St Martins Theatre, London in 1920. It has been made into a film twice, in 1921 and in 1931. The latter adapatation was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.-Plot:...	19 May 1974
10	1	The Linden Tree The Linden Tree The Linden Tree is a 1947 play by the English dramatist J. B. Priestley. It makes use of the Elgar Cello Concerto.It was revived at the Orange Tree Theatre in 2006 and at the Pentameters Theatre in 2011...	8 September 1974
10	2	Electra	24 October 1974
10	3	The Wood Demon	17 November 1974
10	4	Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...	27 November 1974
10	5	The Apple Cart The Apple Cart The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza is a 1928 play by George Bernard Shaw. It is satirical comedy about several political philosophies which are expounded by the characters, often in lengthy monologue...	19 January 1975
10	6	The School for Scandal The School for Scandal The School for Scandal is a play written by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. It was first performed in London at Drury Lane Theatre on May 8, 1777.The prologue, written by David Garrick, commends the play, its subject, and its author to the audience...	16 February 1975
10	7	King Lear King Lear King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...	23 March 1975
10	8	Strife	18 May 1975
11	1	Chips with Everything Chips with Everything Chips with Everything is a 1962 play by Arnold Wesker. The play shows class attitudes at the time by examining the life of a corporal.In 1963, the play opened in the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway. British actor Alan Dobie made his Broadway debut as Corporal Hill....	28 September 1975
11	2	The Little Minister The Little Minister The Little Minister is a 1934 American drama film directed by Richard Wallace. The screenplay by Jane Murfin, Sarah Y. Mason, and Victor Heerman is based on the 1891 novel and subsequent 1897 play of the same title by J. M. Barrie. It was the fifth feature film adaptation of the works, following...	2 November 1975
11	3	Love's Labour's Lost Love's Labour's Lost Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...	14 December 1975
11	4	When We Are Married When We Are Married When We Are Married is a 1938 play by English dramatist, J. B. Priestley. It is the first play ever to be televised unedited from a theatre.-Productions:* 1938 World premiere, London, England* 16 November 1938 BBC live telecast...	29 December 1975
11	5	Trilby	25 January 1976
11	6	Loyalties Loyalties (play) Loyalties is a 1922 play by the British writer John Galsworthy. It was staged at St Martins Theatre and ran for over a year. Galsworthy described it as "the only play of mine which I was able to say, when I finished it, no manager will refuse this"....	29 February 1976
11	7	Chester Mystery Cycle	18 April 1976
11	8	French Without Tears	16 May 1976
12	1	The Picture of Dorian Gray	19 September 1976
12	2	London Assurance London Assurance London Assurance is a five-act comedy by Dion Boucicault. It was the second play that he wrote, but his first to be produced. Its first production, from March 4, 1841 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden was Boucicault's first major success...	10 October 1976
12	3	Look Back in Anger Look Back in Anger Look Back in Anger is a John Osborne play—made into films in 1959, 1980, and 1989 -- about a love triangle involving an intelligent but disaffected young man , his upper-middle-class, impassive wife , and her haughty best friend . Cliff, an amiable Welsh lodger, attempts to keep the peace...	21 November 1976
12	4	The Winslow Boy The Winslow Boy thumb|1st edition cover The Winslow Boy is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an actual incident in the Edwardian era, which took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne.-Performance History:...	16 January 1977
12	5	The Country Wife The Country Wife The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...	13 February 1977
12	6	The Ambassadors The Ambassadors The Ambassadors is a 1903 novel by Henry James, originally published as a serial in the North American Review . This dark comedy, one of the masterpieces of James's final period, follows the trip of protagonist Lewis Lambert Strether to Europe in pursuit of Chad, his widowed fiancée's supposedly...	13 March 1977
12	7	Heartbreak House Heartbreak House Heartbreak House is a play written by George Bernard Shaw, first published in 1919 and first played at the Garrick Theatre in 1920. According to A. C. Ward, the work argues that "cultured, leisured Europe" was drifting toward destruction, and that "Those in a position to guide Europe to safety...	19 May 1977
13	1	You Never Can Tell	30 October 1977
13	2	Waste Waste (play) Waste is a play by the English author Harley Granville Barker. It exists in two wholly different versions, from 1906 and 1927. The first version was refused a license by the Lord Chamberlain and had to be performed privately by the Stage Society in 1907; the second was finally staged in public at...	4 December 1977
13	3	Flint	15 January 1978
13	4	The Seagull The Seagull The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...	5 February 1978
13	5	The Sea The Sea (play) The Sea is a play written by the English dramatist Edward Bond in 1973. It is a comedy set in a small village in rural East Anglia in the Edwardian period. The play draws on some of the themes of Shakespeare's The Tempest....	5 March 1978
13	6	The Beaux' Stratagem The Beaux' Stratagem The Beaux' Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London, in March 1707. In the play, Archer and Aimwell, two young gentlemen who have fallen on hard times, plan to travel through small towns, entrap young heiresses, steal their money and move on. In the...	2 April 1978
13	7	Danton's Death Danton's Death Danton's Death was the first play written by Georg Büchner, set during the French Revolution.-History:Georg Büchner wrote his works in the period between Romanticism and Realism in the so-called Vormärz era in German history and literature...	23 April 1978
14	1	Kean	26 November 1978
14	2	Marya	14 January 1979
14	3	The Voysey Inheritance The Voysey Inheritance The Voysey Inheritance is a play written by the English dramatist Harley Granville-Barker. Originally written in 1905, it was revived at the National Theatre in 2006.It is currently in the public domain.- See also :*...	4 February 1979
14	4	Hello and Goodbye	4 March 1979
14	5	The Wings of the Dove The Wings of the Dove The Wings of the Dove is a 1902 novel by Henry James. This novel tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress stricken with a serious disease, and her impact on the people around her...	8 April 1979
14	6	Design for Living Design for Living Design for Living is a comedy play written by Noël Coward in 1932. It concerns a trio of artistic characters, Gilda, Otto and Leo, and their complicated three-way relationship. Originally written to star Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and Coward, it was premiered on Broadway, partly because its risqué...	6 May 1979
15	1	I Have Been Here Before I Have Been Here Before I Have Been Here Before is a play by J. B. Priestley, first produced by Lewis Casson at the Royalty Theatre, London, on 22 September 1937.-Plot introduction:...	24 May 1982
15	2	On Approval	21 June 1982
15	3	Little Eyolf Little Eyolf Little Eyolf is an 1894 play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play was first performed on January 12, 1895 in the Deutsches Theater in Berlin.-Plot:...	19 July 1982
15	4	The Critic The Critic The Critic is an American prime time animated series revolving around the life of film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz. It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. The Critic had 23 episodes produced, first broadcast on ABC in 1994,...	23 August 1982
15	5	The White Guard The White Guard The White Guard is a novel by 20th century Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, famed for his critically acclaimed later work The Master and Margarita.-History:...	20 September 1982
16	1	Dangerous Corner Dangerous Corner Dangerous Corner was the first play by the English writer J. B. Priestley. It was premiered in May 1932 by Tyrone Guthrie at the Lyric Theatre, London, and filmed in 1934 by Phil Rosen....	22 May 1983
16	2	The Gay Lord Quex The Gay Lord Quex (play) The Gay Lord Quex is an 1899 comedy play by the British playwright Arthur Wing Pinero. A newly-engaged aristocrat tries to demonstrate his fidelity to his fiancee while one of his friends tries to urge him to be unfaithful.-Adaptation:...	13 June 1983
16	3	Infidelities	12 September 1983