Screen One is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 between 1989 and 1993.
Following the demise of the BBC's Play for Today which ran from 1970 to 1984, producer Kenneth Trodd was asked to formulate a new series of one-off television dramas. However, while Play for Today's style had often been a largely studio-based form of theatre on television, the new series was to follow the lead taken by Channel 4's television films many of which had been released in cinemas. The result was Screen Two which ran from 1985 to 1994 on BBC2.
In 1989 the Screen One strand began broadcasting on the more mainstream BBC1.
The third series' A Question of Attribution adapted from the Alan Bennett play won the 1992 BAFTA TV award for Best Single Drama and Prunella Scales was nominated for Best Actress.
From the fifth series A Foreign Field starring Alec Guinness, Lauren Bacall and Jeanne Moreau and Wide-Eyed and Legless saw a cinema release. Wide-Eyed and Legless starring Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent was renamed The Wedding Gift in America.
Screen One attracted many names familiar to television and film audiences including Alfred Molina, Sean Bean, David Thewlis, Ray Winstone, Alan Bates, Judi Dench, James Fox, Keith Allen, Bob Peck, Alun Armstrong, Marina Sirtis, David Jason, Brenda Blethyn, James Bolam, Adrian Edmondson, Alison Steadman, Timothy West, Clive Russell and Janet McTeer. The fifth series episode Royal Celebration saw the screen debut of Keira Knightley.
By 1993, the prevailing mood within the BBC was to move away from single dramas and concentrate production on series and serials.
Series 1 (1989)
TX Date |
Title |
Director |
Writer |
Main cast |
10/09/89 |
One Way Out |
Robert Young |
Mick Ford |
Bob Peck, Denis Lawson, Samantha Bond, Enn Reitel |
17/09/89 |
Nineteen 96 |
Karl Francis |
G. F. Newman |
Keith Barron, Alun Armstrong, Keith Allen, Dudley Sutton, Roger Brierley, Clyde Pollitt, Roger Nott |
24/09/89 |
The Accountant |
Les Blair |
Geoffrey Case |
Alfred Molina, David Graham |
01/10/89 |
Home Run |
Nicholas Renton |
Andy Armitage |
Michael Kitchen, Tom Georgeson, Keith Barron, Dean Harris, Dominic Jephcott, Christine Kavanagh |
08/10/89 |
She's Been Away |
Peter Hall |
Stephen Poliakoff |
Peggy Ashcroft, James Fox, Michael Carter, Rosalie Crutchley, Donald Douglas, David Hargreaves, Geraldine James, Hugh Lloyd, René Zagger, Barnaby Holm |
15/10/89 |
The Mountain and the Molehill |
Moira Armstrong |
David Reid |
Michael Gough, John Carson, Paul Brooke, Ian Thompson |
22/10/89 |
Blore M.P. |
Robert Young |
Robin Chapman |
Timothy West, Oscar Quitak, James Warwick, Barry Jackson, Stephen Moore, Ray Winstone, David Jackson, John Baddeley |
27/12/89 |
Ball-Trap on the Cote Sauvage |
Jack Gold |
Andrew Davies |
Jack Shepherd, Zoë Wanamaker, Miranda Richardson, Michael Kitchen |
Series 2 (1990-91)
TX Date |
Title |
Director |
Writer |
Main cast |
02/09/90 |
News Hounds |
Les Blair |
Les Blair (uncredited) |
Adrian Edmonson, Alison Steadman, Steven Mackintosh, Paul Kember, Nigel Pegram, Edwina Currie |
09/09/90 |
Frankenstein's Baby |
Robert Bierman |
Emma Tennant |
Nigel Planer |
16/09/90 |
The Police |
Ian Knox |
Arthur Ellis |
Oliver Ford Davies, Derek Martin |
23/09/90 |
Sweet Nothing |
Tony Smith |
Vincent O'Connell |
Lee Ross, Charlotte Coleman, Simon Cadell, Victor Maddern, Michael Melia |
30/09/90 |
Can You Hear Me Thinking? |
Christopher Morahan |
Monty Haltrecht & Beverley Marcus |
Judi Dench, Michael Williams, Charmian May, Pik-Sen Lim, Cyril Shaps, Sally Bretton, Christopher Burgess |
07/10/90 |
One Last Chance |
Gabrielle Beaumont |
Andrew Kazamia |
Marina Sirtis, Bernard Spear, Eileen Way |
14/10/90 |
Sticky Wickets |
Dewi Humphreys |
Fletcher Watkins |
Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Gillian Elisa, George Sewell, William Thomas |
21/10/90 |
Survival of the Fittest |
Martyn Friend |
Julian Mitchell |
Timothy West, Jean Anderson, Nerys Hughes, Elizabeth Spriggs |
11/12/90 |
Dark City |
Chris Curling |
David Lan |
|
01/01/91 |
Happy Feet |
Michael Bradwell |
Michael Bradwell |
Phyllis Logan, Jim Broadbent, Chris Jury |
20/06/91 |
Skulduggery |
Phil Davis |
Phil Davis |
|
Series 3 (1991-92)
TX Date |
Title |
Director |
Writer |
Main cast |
01/09/91 |
Hancock |
Tony Smith |
William Humble |
Alfred Molina, Frances Barber, Clive Russell, Paul Brooke, Nick Burnell, Kenneth Gilbert |
08/09/91 |
Tell Me That You Love Me |
Bruce MacDonald |
Adrian Hodges |
Judith Scott, Sean Bean, James Wilby, Michael Cochrane, Barbara Ward |
15/09/91 |
Filipina Dreamgirls |
Les Blair |
Andrew Davies |
Bill Maynard, Charlie Drake, David Thewlis, Geoffrey Hutchings, Lee Cornes |
29/09/91 |
Ex |
Paul Seed |
William Humble |
Griff Rhys Jones, Geraldine James, Penny Downie, Dermot Crowley, Mary Jo Randle, Bruce Montague, Colin Douglas |
06/10/91 |
Prince |
David Wheatley |
Julie Burchill |
Sean Bean, Janet McTeer |
13/10/91 |
Alive and Kicking |
Robert Young |
Al Hunter Ashton |
Lenny Henry, Robbie Coltrane, Jane Horrocks, Paul Barber |
20/10/91 |
A Question of Attribution |
John Schlesinger |
Alan Bennett |
James Fox, Prunella Scales, Geoffrey Palmer, David Calder, John Cater, Edward de Souza |
01/01/92 |
Adam Bede |
Giles Foster |
Maggie Wadey |
Patsy Kensit, Julia McKenzie, Jean Marsh, Freddie Jones, Paul Brooke, Patsy Byrne, Roy Evans, Edward Jewesbury, Michael Robbins |
Series 4 (1992)
TX Date |
Title |
Director |
Writer |
Main cast |
06/09/92 |
A Very Polish Practice |
David Tucker |
Andrew Davies |
Peter Davison, David Troughton, Joanna Kanska, Alfred Molina, Gertan Klauber |
20/09/92 |
Born Kicking |
Mandie Fletcher |
Barry Hines |
John Abineri, Nicholas Courtney, Norman Bird, Thomas Craig, George Irving, Terry Wogan, David McAlister, Sheila Ruskin, Garfield Morgan, Norman Mitchell, Martin Cochrane |
27/09/92 |
Black and Blue |
David Hayman |
G. F. Newman |
Linus Roache, Martin Shaw, Iain Glen, Ray Winstone, David Morrissey, Don Henderson, David Thewlis, Madhav Sharma, Colin McFarlane |
04/10/92 |
Seconds Out |
Bruce MacDonald |
Lynda La Plante |
Steven Waddington, Tom Bell, Derek Newark, Jack Watson, Nick Brimble, Frank Mills, Thomas Craig, Tim Barlow, Eric Mason, Roy Heather |
11/10/92 |
Running Late |
Udayan Prasad |
Simon Gray |
Peter Bowles, Michael Byrne, James Fleet, Jim McManus, Ian McNeice, Roshan Seth |
18/10/92 |
Losing Track |
Jim Lee |
Roger Eldridge |
Alan Bates, Geraldine James, Michael Culver |
25/10/92 |
Trust Me |
Tony Dow |
Tony Sarchet |
Alfred Molina, Hywel Bennett, Jill Gascoine, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Edna Doré, Harry Towb, Derek Benfield, David Simeon |
31/10/92 |
Ghostwatch |
Lesley Manning |
Stephen Volk |
Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Mike Smith, Craig Charles, Derek Smee |
Series 5 (1993)
TX Date |
Title |
Director |
Writer |
Main cast |
05/09/93 |
Wide-Eyed and Legless |
Richard Loncraine |
Deric Longden & Jack Rosenthal |
Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Thora Hird, Moya Brady |
12/09/93 |
A Foreign Field |
Charles Sturridge |
Roy Clarke |
Alec Guinness, Leo McKern, Geraldine Chaplin, Lauren Bacall, Jeanne Moreau, Dorothy Grumbar |
19/09/93 |
Down Among the Big Boys |
Charles Gormley |
Peter McDougall |
Billy Connolly, Maggie Bell, Ashley Jensen |
26/09/93 |
Royal Celebration |
Ferdinand Fairfax |
William Humble |
Kenneth Cranham, Minnie Driver, Rupert Graves, Leslie Phillips, Keira Knightley, Gordon Salkilld |
03/10/93 |
Tender Loving Care |
Dewi Humphreys |
Lucy Gannon |
Dawn French, Rosemary Leach, Joan Sims, Peter Jones, Llewellyn Rees |
10/10/93 |
Money for Nothing |
Mike Ockrent |
Tim Firth |
Julian Glover, Martin Short, Christien Anholt, Paul Reynolds, Tim Preece, Wolf Kahler, Sean Baker |
17/10/93 |
Wall of Silence |
Philip Saville |
Maurice Gran & Laurence Marks |
Bill Paterson, Warren Mitchell, Timothy Busfield, John Bowe, Brigitte Kahn |
24/10/93 |
The Bullion Boys |
Christopher Morahan |
Jim Hitchmough |
David Jason, Tim Pigott-Smith, Gorden Kaye, Brenda Blethyn, Geoffrey Hutchings, Paul Angelis |
Series 6 (1994)
TX Date |
Title |
Director |
Writer |
Main cast |
02/10/94 |
Murder in Mind |
Robert Bierman |
Jenny Diski |
Cathryn Harrison, Trevor Eve, Anna Massey, Steven Mackintosh, Bruce Alexander |
16/10/94 |
Doggin' Around |
Desmond Davis |
Alan Plater |
Elliott Gould, Geraldine James, Alun Armstrong, Ewan McGregor, Liz Smith, Ronnie Scott, Stephen Marcus, Jamie Foreman, Larry Lamb, Judy Flynn, Tony Caunter |
External links