BBC Play of the Month (1965)
BBC Play of the Month (1965)
Plot.
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. 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.
Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.
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Cast & Crew.

Cedric Messina
Producer

Daniel Day-Lewis
Gordon Whitehouse

Helen Mirren
Orinthia

Anthony Hopkins
Edmund Kean

Alan Rowe
Ambassador from Corinth

Richard Wilmot
Set Designer

Rudolph Cartier
Script / Director

John Gorrie
Director

Don Taylor
Director

James Cellan Jones
Director

Waris Hussein
Director

Don Taylor
Director

Raymond Menmuir
Director

Anthony Page
Director

Christopher Morahan
Director

Alan Clarke
Director

Robert Knights
Director

Terence Dudley
Director

Peter Luke
Producer

George Fenton
Music

John Elliot
Adaptation

C.P. Snow
Novel

Felix Lützkendorf
Theatre Play

Anton Chekhov
Theatre Play

William Rowley
Writer

Thomas Middleton
Writer

Sarah Badel
Natasha / Olwen Peel

Eileen Atkins
Electra / Catherine Sloper / Titania

Michael Gambon
Theseus / Gregory / Lt Cmdr Rogers

Daphne Heard
Witch

Bruce Purchase
Taffy

Brenda Fricker
Emma

Andrew Burt
Galanba

Maggie Smith
Epifania

David Daker
Cpl. Hill

Christopher Gable
Trofimov

Roland Culver
Serebriakov

Jill Bennett
Anna

Vladek Sheybal
Mr. Miller

Ram John Holder
Friday

Timothy Dalton
Clive Harrington

Arthur Lowe
Sir Oliver Surface

Tessa Wyatt
Lisette

Anton Diffring
Adolf Eichmann

John Savident
Purishkevich

John Franklyn-Robbins
Colonel J.D.H. Stewart

Peter Copley
The Home Secretary

Jonathan Scott-Taylor
Ronnie Winslow

Don Henderson
Mercier

Dinah Sheridan
Lady Adela

John Castle
Merton Densher

Jeremy Irons
Edward Voysey

David Battley
Costar Pearmain

Julian Holloway
Sir Chichester Frayne

Sybil Thorndike
Mrs Moore

Barry Morse
Rev. Winemiller

Barrie Ingham
Captain Horace Vale

Patrick Stewart
Gurvich

Angela Pleasence
Julia

Annette Crosbie
Frances Trebell

Georgina Hale
Masha

John Thaw
Banquo

Hilary Mason
Mrs. Elton

Joss Ackland
Chebutykin

David Troughton
Smiler Washington

Judy Geeson
Lucy Honeychurch

Gordon Gostelow
Maxim

Brenda Bruce
Lady Bountiful

Emrys James
Dr. Pangloss

Norman Rodway
Danton

Paul Raffield
Manservant

Burt Kwouk
Wu Hsien Ching

Elizabeth Spriggs
Maud Lowder

Alan Badel
General Gordon

Lee Remick
Alma Winemiller

John Carson
Charles Winsor

Jane Asher
Melinda

Freddie Jones
Vanya

Ray Brooks
Yasha

John Hollis
1st Prisoner

Bernard Lee
Sir Peter Teazle

Robert Eddison
Prince Andronikov

David Kelly
Mr. Casey, Director of College

Esmond Knight
Helmut

Charlotte Rampling
Flaminia

Judi Bowker
Betty Whitehouse

Pauline Collins
Lady Teazle

Anton Rodgers
The Marquess of Quex

Philip Stone
Weinand

T. P. McKenna
Kommissarov / Sir Lucius O'Trigger

Kevin Stoney
Vengerovich

David Hedison
John Buchanan

Jenny Agutter
Anya / Hedvig Ekdal

Tom Chadbon
George Emerson

Nicholas Pennell
Lieutenant Nicholl

Denholm Elliott
Hjalmar Ekdal, Hedvig's father

Ian McKellen
Captain Plume

Ian Holm
Khrushchov / Oedipus

Jennie Linden
Lydia Languish

Ian Richardson
Robespierre

Peter Jeffrey
Comte De Guiche

Patricia Routledge
Annie Parker

Kate Nicholls
Dolly Clandon

Paul Daneman
Henry Trebell

Rachel Thomas
Peasant's wife

Julie Covington
Beatrice Voysey

Anthony Valentine
Charles Stanton

Michael Bates
Professor Godbole

John Woodvine
MacDuff

Peter Egan
Freddie

Zia Mohyeddin
Dr. Aziz / Bandi Grosz

Walter Sparrow
Man with basket

Victor Spinetti
Trivelin

Cyril Cusack
Mr Fielding / Waiter

Robin Askwith
Alec

John Baskcomb
Telyeghin

Edward Woodward
Lopakhin / Caius Cassius

Lally Bowers
Mrs. Lavinia Penniman / The Dowager Empress

Michael Pennington
Alexei Turbin

Saeed Jaffrey
Mr. Hamidullah

Ronald Fraser
Serebryakov

Rex Harrison
Don Quixote / Mikhail Platonov, schoolmaster

Colin Jeavons
Snake

Michael Hordern
Mr. Posket / God

John Stride
Morris Townsend

John Quarmby
Mereshchun

Brian Blessed
Sgt. Kite

Jerold Wells
Hans

Hannah Gordon
The Duchess of Strood / Amy O'Connell

Ronald Lacey
Barber

Patrick Magee
Tetzel / Fergus Crampton

Cyril Shaps
Joel Brand / Herbin

Jerome Willis
Le Bret / The Sea Captain

Roger Delgado
Officer of the Holy Brotherhood

Vincent Price
Dr. Austin Sloper

James Aubrey
The Prince

Ronnie Barker
Henry Ormonroyd

Frank Finlay
Voltaire / Sancho Panza / Marcus Brutus

Maurice Denham
Julius Caesar

Tom Baker
Egyptian Doctor

Ian Ogilvy
Rev. Gavin Dishart / Candide / Thomas Aimwell

George Merritt
Mr. Scruple

Thora Hird
Nurse / Clare Soppitt

Alec McCowen
Martin Luther

Christopher Guard
Lucius

Godfrey James
Taylor / M. Amellius Lepidus

Paul Whitsun-Jones
1st Innkeeper

Leonie Mellinger
Silvia

John Ringham
Major von Dust

Bernard Hepton
Lord Portmandeau

Alec Bregonzi
Poacher

Christopher Biggins
Lord of the court

Fulton Mackay
Eck

Stacey Tendeter
Maid / Katya, maid

Russell Hunter
Crabtree

Charles Gray
Mr. Beebe / Adrian Blenderbland / Gayev

Keith Barron
Dr. Quilliam

Beryl Reid
Maria Helliwell / Mrs. Malaprop

Tim Wylton
Blacksmith

Leonard Rossiter
Colonel Lukyn / The Prime Minister

Andrew Robertson
Lackey

Tom Courtenay
Jesus

Eric Porter
Cyrano De Bergerac / Macbeth / Councillor Albert Parker / Arthur Winslow

Ray Barrett
Knight

Michael Culver
Holborn

Peter Barkworth
Julius Sagamore / Tsar Nicholas II

Christopher Benjamin
Dr. Relling / A Cobbler

James Villiers
Alastair Fitzfassenden / Professor Henry Higgins

Geoffrey Beevers
Telephonist

Alun Armstrong
Lightborne

Edward Fox
Charles Surface / Captain Dancy, DSO

John Gielgud
Chorus / Captain Shotover / Lord Burleigh

Neil McCarthy
Osip, bandit

Virginia McKenna
Adela Quested

Robert Stephens
Grigory Rasputin / Mark Antony

Geoffrey Bayldon
Cajetan / Sergei Voinitsev, Anna's stepson / Dyadin

Christopher Timothy
Cinna the Poet / Fedotik

Charles Kay
Vladimir Talberg / de Levis / Tybalt

John Abineri
General von Schratt / Marullus

Stanley Baker
De Flores / Robinson Crusoe

Donald Pickering
Soliony / Julius Sagamore

Jeremy Brett
Captain Jack Absolute / Joseph Surface

Lynn Redgrave
Eliza Doolittle

Kika Markham
Juliet

Hywel Bennett
Romeo / Mr King

Nigel Hawthorne
Mr Sneer

Janet Suzman
Masha

Michele Dotrice
Irina

Michael Bryant
Vershinin

Ronald Hines
Toozenbach

Richard Pearson
Koolyghin

Matthew Roberton
Rodé

Erik Chitty
Ferapont

Marda Vanne
Anfisa

Lisa Carroll
Maid

Jenny Harrington
Maid

Maeve Leslie
Nurse

Ronald Pickup
Mercutio

David Griffin
Benvolio

Jonathan Dennis
Paris

Edward Burnham
Lord Capulet

Stephanie Bidmead
Lady Capulet

Brian Badcoe
Lord Montague

Clare Austin
Lady Montague

Anthony Newlands
Friar Laurence

Robert Ayres
Chairman

Paul Maxwell
Lieutenant John E Donovan

Shane Rimmer
Marine Sergeant

Tony Bill
Lee Harvey Oswald

Callen Angelo
First US Marine

Harry Tierney
Powers, US Marine

Colin Maitland
Second US Marine

John Alderson
Richard F Snyder, US Consul in Moscow

Francis Napier
John McVicker, US Vice-Consul in Moscow

Patricia Denys
Rima Shirokova, Intourist guide in Moscow

Harold Goldblatt
Messenger of the Aliens Deptartment, Moscow

Pearl Catlin
Priscilla Johnson, American News Correspondent

Sarah Brackett
Katherine Mallory, University of Michigan

Dora Reisser
Marina Oswald

Warren Mitchell
Spas T Raikin, Traveller's Aid Representative

Thick Wilson
Reporter

Barry Shawzin
George

Marika Rivera
Jeanne

Dalia Penn
Señora Duran

George Roderick
Señor Eusebio Azque, Cuban Consulate

John Mackin
Kenneth O'Donnell

Donald Sutherland
Charles Givens

David Healy
Radio Announcer

Reed De Rouen
Interrogator / Script

Hal Galili
Patrolman Tippit

Doris Nolan
Mrs Markham, a Waitress

David Graham
Shoe Store Manager

Sheila Black
Cinema Cashier

David Bauer
Chief of Police

Philip Oxman
Detective Baker

David Cargill
First Reporter

Nicole Shelby
Virginia Davies

Carol Cleveland
Barbara Davies

Leo Britt
British Reporter

Grant Taylor
Second Reporter

Glenn Beck
Third Reporter

Norman Pilkington
Television Announcer

Sidney Cosson
Photographer

Tony Sibbald
Photographer

John De Marco
Jack Ruby

Kenneth Allsop
Narrator

Candace Glendenning
Rose / Anya Hvostov / Beatie Tomlinson

Brian Cox
Alsemero

Alan Webb
Vermandero

Janet Whiteside
Kalmykova

Alec Sabin
First Officer

Michael Danvers-Walker
Dr. Mansbridge (as Danvers Walker)

Peter Purves

Brian Glover

John Woodnutt

Keith Chegwin
Details.
Release DateOctober 19, 1965
StatusEnded
Seasons16
Episodes128
Running Time1h 30m
Genres
Last updated:
This TV Show Is About.
anthology
based on play or musical
Scripted
Wiki.
Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series, which ran from 1965 to 1983 featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays (or adaptations) which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted regularly from October 1965 to May 1979, before returning for the summer seasons of 1982 and 1983. The producer most associated with the Play of the Month series was Cedric Messina. Thirteen productions were also shown previously or subsequently on BBC2 in the period 1971-73 under Stage 2. Productions were broadcast in colour from November 1969.
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