Torment - BBC Saturday Night Theater - Philip Levene

Philip Levene was an English television writer, actor, and producer. He trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas School of Dramatic Art and subsequent work included a small role in Brian Rix's long running Whitehall farce Reluctant Heroes in the West End from 1950-1954. Suffering from chronic ill health, he began writing radio plays in 1956. He used to work at the morgue before becoming a writer. Levene wrote nineteen episodes of the 1960s British television series The Avengers (winning a Writer's Guild Award), and served as script consultant for the series in 1968-69.
In 1967 and 1968 he created the TV series Sanctuary and The First Lady.
He also contributed to British television series The Flying Doctor, The Invisible Man and films The Firechasers and Deadly Strangers.
His stage play Kill Two Birds, a thriller with Roger Livesey and Renée Asherson, opened at London's St Martin's Theatre in 1962.
Saturday Night Theatre was a long-running radio drama strand on BBC Radio 4. The strand showcased feature-length, middle-brow single plays on Saturday evenings for more than 50 years, having been launched in April 1943. The plays featured in the strand included stage plays, book adaptations and original dramatisations. For most of its history, programmes ran for 90 minutes and were largely entertainment-centred, such as thrillers, comedies and mysteries.
Saturday Night Theatre was noted as the major drama of the week on BBC Radio 4, until it was scrapped as a programme strand in 1996. Shorter plays continued to be broadcast on Radio 4 on Saturday evenings from 1996 until the relaunch of the channel's schedule in April 1998 by James Boyle, when single dramas were removed from the Saturday evening schedule.Since 1998, the main weekly play on the station has been The Saturday Play, a daytime programme that runs for 60-90 minutes.
There have since been campaigns to bring back Saturday Night Theatre, but in the context of BBC budget cuts, that have included the 2010 axing of Radio 4's Friday Play (established in 1998, when Saturday Night Theatre was abolished),[4] any return looks unlikely.

[@johardy8512]

Oh my word, really intriguing, not heard this before so very many thanks for sharing while I attempt some baking x

[@susiebaker1188]

many thanks for this.These brilliant dramas are such good entertainment and help enormously during the strange time we find ourselves in.

[@jonsmum5552]

They certainly do, for me they are like an old fashioned eiderdown to cosset me from the outside world.

[@oldhack931]

Scrapping Radio thrillers was a disastrous decision by James Boyle. My Generation (I'm 71) adored Saturday nigh theatre which I listened to right up to the end. The R.D Wingfield plays in particular were utterly gripping. These days, I find nothing which compares with those "radio pictures". A whole creative genre is gone, sadly. Imagine all the aspiring actors who no longer have radio to reveal their talent. It is SO cheap compared with TV

[@cressidapotter6331]

Like so many recent decisions by the BBC, alas.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

True but at that time the BBC was intended to entertain listeners. Today it's main aim is to tick the correct boxes and signal which views are the most virtuous. Thankfully it's being deserted in droves by licence payers . So those behind the change will eventually find themselves unemployed. The irony... 😂😂😂 !

[@kellygnow1]

Thank you

[@tessellatiaartilery8197]

Fascinating play, great production. Most thought provoking. Thank you very much for sharing this with us. 😊

[@jlb9368]

Brilliant - it kept me guessing all through!

[@sailorsquatandhisseaman]

Great story and some insight to mental disease. Being bipolar this was especially important for me. Even though the focus wasn’t on a mentally unstable person, it still represented the fine line between fact and fantasy. It truly was a great experience in listening.❤️

[@arabellacox]

But that's just it, he wasn't making it up - it was the truth. To me it's more about not being believed and everyone thinking he's a "nut"!

[@camelia9802]

An excellent play with a plausible ending.

[@helenferullo5706]

The actors were all excellent and perfect for each role. I thoroughly enjoyed the play, however, the ending did leave me quite puzzled.

[@tango6nf477]

Isn't it a pity the BBC doesn't produce such quality today? Barry Foster must have been very young when he made this judging by his voice its unrecognisable.

[@janeclarkson8471]

Just a FEW words an intonation told me which was Barry. You had to listen carefully! Great play eh?!

[@marymary5494]

2.15pm week days bbc radio 4 and 10.00am week day mornings bbc radio 4x broadcast dramas.

[@deniseroper9030]

Thanks for that. Great and a bit scary

[@XyzXyz-mm9vq]

An interesting and attention-grabbing play. I recommend it to everyone. Also, thanks a lot for the long and thorough description of the Drama Theatre but there’s not a word about the play itself. Please add a brief synopsis in your other plays😊

[@ChestertonRadio]

Thank you for listening! There is not a lot of information available for some of these old shows. We include a synopsis when possible. A number of the Chesterton Radio community have added great synopsis. We invite you to add a synopsis, comments or review as you listen. Thanks!

[@XyzXyz-mm9vq]

@@ChestertonRadio / Thanks again

[@janeclarkson8471]

SPOILER: I didn't recognise this story until the children playing on the marsh. I knew then I'd seen on old detective B movie (1960's) on Old film tv channel. I then almost remembered the outcome. The floating bag at the end but wasn't sure of how it actually turned out!? Excellent radio play. You feel you need just a little more. 👌👍👏

[@tottiemae2258]

Synopsis: A young student has a nervous breakdown and drops out of law school. A year later he turns up at the police station admitting to murder, but no one takes him seriously. Is he delusional? What really happened?

[@XyzXyz-mm9vq]

@Tottie Mae / Thanks so much☺️

[@tottiemae2258]

@@XyzXyz-mm9vq It's my pleasure!😄

[@sylvia6785]

Thank you very much

[@natasharosetarrant]

Thanks for supplying the synopsis.

[@tottiemae2258]

@@natasharosetarrant Happy to oblige. 😊

[@donwardell4605]

I was very impressed with this play and really enjoyed the time it took to unwind. The suspects mental troubles needed the time to be revealed - and the characters both parental and medical were so well drawn with convincing dialogue. Thank you!.

[@kimberlykasimoff1447]

Second time listening to this. By the time the needle got to him, it was blunt. Talking about vaccinations at school. I wonder how many children contacted a disease or infection from these.

[@stephenridley1153]

These are the bee bee sees. When the music stops, Catherine Edwards will be here to speak with you

[@cherrylodge8598]

Yikes! Very good play. Thanks for uploading.x

[@bbbl8910]

Anyone remember the name of a bbc radio play abour a carer in a retirement home living in a flat next to a woman with multiple personality disorder or something similar? Would have been aired first may ten years ago.

[@maymalone1505]

This was good but if a person is old enough to go to University their hardly a boy, then he was referred at least once as a young man, bit odd

[@kayi9236]

A young man is correct as he was neither middle-aged nor old.

[@timwoods3173]

Thank you