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Early TV Dramas

by MrGroovilicious • Created 10 months ago • Modified 10 months ago
Some of the earliest broadcast TV dramas, which were mostly plays (since consistent scheduled programming was not in practice yet, apart from sports broadcasting/newsreel coverage, and renting out space for one show to film in every week was also impractical at that time).

None of these are known to exist, since they were generally not aired from a pre-recorded film print and VCR/Kinetoscope technology to record programs was not yet invented; what few programs we do have before the 1950s survive largely because of freak meteorological accidents, causing TV receivers to pick up signals from already aired programs in the atmosphere (and enthusiasts who loved the tech would record these broadcasts off their TV onto film reels, not realizing what they saved). Atmospheric phenomenons and screen recordings like this are how early coverage of BBC from 1936 still survive; but apart from such exceptions, these programs are gone forever.
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  • 21 titles
  • 1. The Queen's Messenger

    192840mTV-PGTV Movie
    8.2 (36)
    After a masked ball in Berlin, a British diplomat has a tryst with a mysterious woman who is after the documents he is carrying.
    DirectorMortimer StewartStarsIzetta JewelMaurice RandallJoyce Evans Rector
  • 2. The Man with a Flower in His Mouth

    193030mTV Movie
    7.8 (23)
    A man with a fatal illness whiles away his time at an outdoor cafe talking about himself and his wife to a stranger.
    DirectorVal GielgudStarsEarl GreyLionel MillardGladys Young
  • George Kelting in The Television Ghost (1931)

    3. The Television Ghost

    1931–19332 epsTV Series
    6.8 (44)
    The ghosts of various murder victims tell their terrifying and haunting stories.
    StarsBill SchudtGeorge KeltingArtells Dickson
  • 4. The Three Garridebs

    1937TV Movie
    8.4 (9)
    Sherlock Holmes receives a letter from a Nathan Garrideb of 136 Little Ryder Street, asking for help in a most peculiar quest. He is looking for another man with his unusual surname, for it will mean a $5 million inheritance for him. He has been approached by another man, John Garrideb of Kansas, who says that he needs to find others with the same last name.
    StarsViolet BessenLouis HectorArthur Maitland
  • 5. Othello

    1937TV Movie
    8.4 (12)
    The Moorish General Othello is manipulated into thinking that his new wife Desdemona has been carrying on an affair with his Lieutenant Michael Cassio, when in reality, it is all part of the scheme of a bitter Ensign named Iago.
    StarsDiana WynyardRalph RichardsonHenry Oscar
  • 6. The Three Bears

    1938TV Short
    7.8 (11)
    StarsJulia FarronLeslie EdwardsWenda Horsburgh
  • Curigwen Lewis and Andrew Osborn in Pride and Prejudice (1938)

    7. Pride and Prejudice

    193855mTV Movie
    8.2 (45)
    Mr. and Mrs. Bennet have five unmarried daughters, and Mrs. Bennet is especially eager to find suitable husbands for them. When the rich single gentlemen Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy come to live nearby, the Bennets have high hopes. But pride, prejudice, and misunderstandings all combine to complicate their relationships and to make happiness difficult.
    StarsAllan JeayesBarbara EverestAntoinette Cellier
  • 8. The Dear Departed

    193825mTV Movie
    8.2 (24)
    StarsCharles VictorLaura SmithsonJane Barrett
  • Rex Harrison and Cathleen Cordell in Villa for Sale (1938)

    9. Villa for Sale

    193825mTV Movie
    7.4 (22)
    In Paris, France, Juliette sells her villa to Jeanne and Gaston, with Jeanne interested and Gaston opposed. Gaston meets American actress Mrs. Al Smith, who misunderstands him as the owner, leading to a successful deal and a profit.
    StarsCathleen CordellRex HarrisonAgnes Lauchlan
  • 10. Twelfth Night

    19392h 30mTV Movie
    8.4 (27)
    Viola (Peggy Ashcroft) and Sebastian (Basil Langton) are look-a-like fraternal twins, separated by a shipwreck. Viola lands in Illyria, where she disguises herself like her brother and goes into the service of Duke Orsino (Esmond Knight). Orsino sends her to help him woo the Lady Olivia (Vera Lindsay), who doesn't want the Duke, but finds that she likes the new messenger the Duke is sending. Then, of course, Viola's brother shows up, and merry hell breaks loose. Meanwhile, Olivia's uncle and his cohorts are trying to find some way to get back at Olivia's officious majordomo, Malvolio (George Hayes).
    DirectorMichel Saint-DenisStarsPeggy AshcroftMichael RedgraveEsmond Knight
  • Gas Light (1939)

    11. Gas Light

    19391h 35mTV Movie
    7.9 (72)
    Years after her aunt was murdered in her home, a young woman moves back into the house with her new husband. However, he has a secret that he will do anything to protect, even if means driving his wife insane.
    DirectorLanham TitchenerStarsDennis ArundellGwen Ffrangcon DaviesElizabeth Inglis
  • Hay Fever (1939)

    12. Hay Fever

    19391h 20mTV Movie
    8.2 (38)
    "Hay Fever" (1939) is a satire based on the impoliteness of hosts towards their guests as seen through the lives of a family of four and the four guests who arrive at their home for a dinner party.
    DirectorEd SobolStarsVirginia CampbellMontgomery CliftFlorence Edney
  • 13. Little Women

    19461h 10mTV Movie
    9.0 (14)
    Louisa May Alcott's autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the American Civil War, sisters Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth are at home with their mother, a very outspoken women for her time. The story tells of how the sisters grow up, find love and find their place in the world.
    DirectorErnest CollingStarsMargaret HayesDorothy EmeryMadeline Lee
  • 14. Androcles and the Lion

    19461h 20mTV Movie
    7.3 (12)
    Androcles, a persecuted Christian of the second century A.D., extracts a thorn from the paw of a lion. When he meets the lion again in the arena, this kindness proves useful.
    DirectorDesmond DavisStarsAndrew LeighVictor WoolfPauline Letts
  • 15. The Corn Is Green

    1946TV Movie
    7.8 (14)
    A spinster schoolteacher in a Welsh mining village discovers a genius among her working-class pupils.
    DirectorKenneth ThomasStarsKenneth EvansJudith FellowsRussell Jones
  • 16. Rope

    19471h 20mTV Movie
    7.5 (43)
    Two young men strangle their "inferior" classmate, hide his body in their apartment, and invite his friends and family to a dinner party as a means to challenge the "perfection" of their crime.
    DirectorStephen HarrisonStarsDirk BogardeElwyn Brook-JonesGeorge De Warfaz
  • Fran Allison, Burr Tillstrom, Ollie, and Kukla in Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947)

    17. Kukla, Fran and Ollie

    1947–195798 epsTV Series
    7.8 (156)
    'Kukla, Fran and Ollie'. a pioneer tv show for children using puppets that became as popular with adults. There was no script and was entirely adlibbed. Fran Allison starred, interacting with puppets, Kukla (a clown) and Ollie (a dragon).
    StarsKuklaOllieBurr Tillstrom
  • The Howdy Doody Show (1947)

    18. The Howdy Doody Show

    1947–1960290 epsTV-GTV Series
    7.5 (289)
    The first nationally televised American children's TV program and a prototype for what followed. Buffalo Bob Smith hosts while the puppet, Howdy Doody, stars.
    CreatorE. Roger MuirStarsBob SmithBill LeCornecHowdy Doody
  • 19. Witness for the Prosecution

    19491h 15mTV Movie
    8.1 (46)
    Leonard Vole is accused of murdering an elderly rich woman and the only alibi to him depends on his wife Romaine Heilger. Master barrister Robert Mayherne is hired to handle Vole's case and prove he is innocent, but this becomes somewhat of difficult when Romaine comes to the stand of the courtroom as witness for the prosecution.
    DirectorJohn Glyn-JonesStarsAlban BlakelockStafford ByrneDerek Elphinstone
  • Judson Laire and Peggy Wood in Mama (1949)

    20. Mama

    1949–1957336 epsTV Series
    8.1 (203)
    This well-received series was a comedy-drama about an immigrant family living in 1910s San Francisco.
    StarsPeggy WoodJudson LaireDick Van Patten
  • Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels in The Lone Ranger (1949)

    21. The Lone Ranger

    1949–1957221 epsTV-GTV Series
    7.7 (3.1K)
    The adventures of the masked Texas Ranger and his Native American partner.
    CreatorsGeorge W. TrendleGeorge W. GeorgeStarsJay SilverheelsClayton MooreJohn Hart

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