IN ENGLAND, just as in the US, the late fifties and early sixties were years in which television flowered. The post-war prosperity put television sets into many American households, but the medium was still young enough to be experimental.
Just as Americans remember programs such as "Playhouse 90" offering dramas by young writers such as Paddy Chayevsky, the English can recall "Armchair Theatre," "Play of the Week," "Television Playhouse," and "The Old Vic Theatre of the Air." The cast lists from the period are filled with names such as Paul Scofield, Geraldine McEwan, Vanessa Redgrave, Coral Browne, Sean Connery... and a young Alan Bates, fresh from RADA and the RAF.

Recently, an English Bates fan sent a sheaf of old television reviews and features; at the same time, Julian Grainger, of the British Film Institute, wrote this:

"... I have been enjoying your marvellous website devoted to Alan Bates... I wanted to tell you something that emerged from [a meeting with] television/film director Philip Saville. He had mentioned having three episodes of ABC Television's "Armchair Theatre" banned. He mentioned something calaled "Three on a Gas Ring"... the plot was about three girlfriends sharing a flat. One falls for rakish alan Bates and becomes pregnant. Bates is less than delighted and when the woman eventually has the baby, she decides to bring it up with her other two flatmates instead of him.
"According to Saville, he changed the script to make this less than conventional ending and having been completed, it was banned (presumably for being perceived as an assault on the idea of the nuclear family). The script (which we have in our special collections) was written by David Osborrn ("Chase a Crooked Shadow", "Deadlier Than the Male" et al.) and produced by Sydney Newman. It was made and completed in 1959 but never shown. Sadly we do not have a print."

The following pages have been added to the Bates Television Archive. They include early photos, cast lists, dates.

If you'd like further information about Golden Age television in England, here are some links: