Sunday Night Theatre
Encyclopedia
Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of plays created by the BBC
first in early 1950, and was regularly shown on Sundays until late 1959, when the last play, A Cup of Kindness
, was staged. In 1971, it was re-aired by the BBC, but it was not as successful as the original run was, and was finally laid to rest in mid-1974.
and never recorded, hence no episodes from the first three years survive in any form. Most of the recorded episodes (1953-59) were later wiped by the BBC, with only 23 plays still extant in the archives as of 2009 The later run (1971-74) has a greater survival rate, with only three of the plays out of 74 still missing; 15 plays thought to be missing were later recovered on 16mm film recordings for posterity.
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...
first in early 1950, and was regularly shown on Sundays until late 1959, when the last play, A Cup of Kindness
A Cup of Kindness
A Cup of Kindness is a 1934 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. It also featured Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Dorothy Hyson and Claude Hulbert...
, was staged. In 1971, it was re-aired by the BBC, but it was not as successful as the original run was, and was finally laid to rest in mid-1974.
Archive status
Almost all of the entire original run of 721 plays is missing from television archives; for the first three years (March 1950- February 1953), the show was aired liveLive television
Live television refers to a television production broadcast in real-time, as events happen, in the present. From the early days of television until about 1958, live television was used heavily, except for filmed shows such as I Love Lucy and Gunsmoke. Video tape did not exist until 1957...
and never recorded, hence no episodes from the first three years survive in any form. Most of the recorded episodes (1953-59) were later wiped by the BBC, with only 23 plays still extant in the archives as of 2009 The later run (1971-74) has a greater survival rate, with only three of the plays out of 74 still missing; 15 plays thought to be missing were later recovered on 16mm film recordings for posterity.