On This Day, August 26: BBC Saturday Night Theatre Retrospective
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, serial multi-part narrative arcs, and story synopses for…
August 26 Exhaustive Update
This report documents the comprehensive provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, serial multi-part narrative arcs, and story synopses for historical broadcasts transmitting on August 26 across British radio, spanning six decades of the BBC's flagship drama anthology Saturday Night Theatre (1950–1989), including Hugh Burden in George Pleydell's Old Bailey courtroom thriller The Ware Case, Hedley Goodall in the Tolpuddle Martyrs epic Six Men of Dorset, Martin Jarvis in C.S. Forester's Peninsular War adventure The Gun, Nigel Stock in Carrington, V.C., Dinsdale Landen in The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse, and Lavinia Bertram & Robin Herford in Alan Ayckbourn's Intimate Exchanges: A Game of Golf:
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story-First Plot Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Ware Case by George Pleydell (Hugh Burden — BBC Saturday Night Theatre)" | BBC Home 1950-08-26 9:15 PM |
Sustaining Saturday Night Theatre |
Hugh Burden (Sir Hubert), Barbara Couper | Val Gielgud, Howard Rose | ["Drama", "Legal", "Mystery", "British", "Classics"] |
"BBC Home Service presents Saturday Night Theatre in George Pleydell's celebrated legal drama, The Ware Case!" Sir Hubert Ware (Hugh Burden) stands trial at the Old Bailey accused of drowning his young brother-in-law for an inheritance, leading to a tour-de-force courtroom defense that unmasks a shocking post-verdict confession. |
| "Six Men of Dorset: The Tolpuddle Martyrs (Hedley Goodall — BBC Saturday Night Theatre)" | BBC Home 1961-08-26 8:30 PM |
Sustaining Historical Drama |
Hedley Goodall, Donald Eccles | Miles Malleson, Acton-Bond | ["Historical", "Drama", "Docudrama", "British", "Classics"] |
"BBC Home Service presents Saturday Night Theatre in Six Men of Dorset!" The epic historical dramatization of the 1834 Tolpuddle Martyrs, following six impoverished Dorset agricultural laborers led by George Loveless who formed a friendly society and were unjustly sentenced to seven years' penal transportation to Australia. |
| "The Gun by C.S. Forester (Martin Jarvis — BBC Saturday Night Theatre)" | BBC Home 1967-08-26 8:30 PM |
Sustaining Saturday Night Theatre |
Martin Jarvis (Jorge), Nigel Anthony | C.S. Forester, R.D. Smith | ["Historical", "Military", "Adventure", "British", "Drama"] |
"BBC Home Service presents Saturday Night Theatre in C.S. Forester's Peninsular War adventure, The Gun!" During Napoleon's brutal invasion of Spain in 1810, a ragtag band of Spanish guerillas haul an abandoned gigantic 18-pounder bronze siege cannon across mountain passes, turning the weapon into a sacred symbol of national liberation against French armies. |
| "Carrington, V.C. (Nigel Stock — BBC Saturday Night Theatre)" | BBC Radio 4 1972-08-26 8:30 PM |
Sustaining Saturday Night Theatre |
Nigel Stock (Carrington), June Tobin | Dorothy & Campbell Christie, Godfrey | ["Military", "Legal", "Drama", "British", "Psychological"] |
"BBC Radio 4 presents Saturday Night Theatre in Carrington, V.C.!" Major 'Copper' Carrington, a decorated Victoria Cross artillery officer, faces a tense army court martial for allegedly embezzling regiment funds to pay his debts, with his fate hinging upon whether his resentful wife will corroborate his secret financial transactions. |
| "The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (Dinsdale Landen — BBC Saturday Night Theatre)" | BBC Radio 4 1978-08-26 8:30 PM |
Sustaining Saturday Night Theatre |
Dinsdale Landen, Peter Woodthorpe | Barré Lyndon, Glyn Dearman | ["Psychological", "Crime", "Comedy", "British", "Thriller"] |
"BBC Radio 4 presents Saturday Night Theatre in Barré Lyndon's The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse!" A distinguished London physician (Dinsdale Landen) embarks on an undercover research project into criminal psychology by executing audacious jewel heists himself, until he takes over a ruthless gang of underworld fences to study the physiological effects of murder. |
| "Intimate Exchanges: A Game of Golf (Lavinia Bertram & Robin Herford — BBC)" | BBC Radio 4 1989-08-26 7:45 PM |
Sustaining Alan Ayckbourn Cycle |
Lavinia Bertram, Robin Herford | Alan Ayckbourn, Gordon House | ["Comedy", "Drama", "British", "Satire", "Anthology"] |
"BBC Radio 4 presents Saturday Night Theatre in Alan Ayckbourn's Intimate Exchanges!" In 'A Game of Golf', a casual decision on the links spirals into a riotous chain of romantic misadventures and social embarrassments, performed entirely by a dazzling two-actor tour-de-force cast playing multiple interconnected roles. Note: Multi-part serial narrative arc (Intimate Exchanges — Series 2, Part 4). |