An A to Z of UK Television Drama

Dec 23 2024 61 ep. 96 mins 154

An A to Z of UK Television Drama Podcast artwork

Archive television podcast in which Andy Priestner and Martin Holmes explore a new UK drama every episode, offering informal critique, insights and trivia. Join them every fortnight for televisual-based larks.

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2.23 Who Pays The Ferryman?

Dec 23 2024 122 mins

[Spoiler alert! This series is almost 50 years old but we will be revealing - around 90 minutes - in who spectacularly dies in the literal cliffhanger to episode 7. You have been warned!] Hey sis, it's Christmas, but this month Andy and Martin are visiting sunny Elounda on Crete for Michael J. Bird's classic revenge drama Who Pays the Ferryman? Featuring Jack Hedley, Betty Arvanit

2.22 Vote, Vote, Vote, for Nigel Barton (and Stand Up, Nigel Barton)

Nov 22 2024 91 mins

After a brief hiatus, Andy and Martin resume the second season of A to Z with the letter V. Admittedly cheating a little, their choice was 'Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton', the second of two autobiographical Dennis Potter plays from 1965 in The Wednesday Play strand. They also cover the first play, 'Stand Up, Nigel Barton'. Both feature Keith Barron as the title character who we

2.21 Undermind

Sep 13 2024 122 mins

Andy and Martin travel back in time to the summer of 1965 and the adventures of HR consultant Drew Heriot and his sister-in-law Anne as they face up to the machinations of 'Undermind’: aliens who have brainwashed British citizens in order to cause national unrest ahead of their imminent invasion. Their various schemes include: spreading pirate radio misinformation; inciting youth

2.20 Tutti Frutti

Aug 10 2024 102 mins

This month Andy and Martin review the highly regarded 1987 BAFTA-winning Scottish drama Tutti Frutti, written by John Byrne and starring Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson. Unfortunately Andy disputes that high regard and is staggered that Fortunes of War (also with Thompson), another best drama nominee that year, lost out to it. He finds Tutti Frutti to be deeply unfunny and its

2.19b Interview with Carolyn Seymour

Jul 13 2024 35 mins

Twenty-one years after their first recorded interview on the first Survivors DVDs back in 2003, Andy catches up with Carolyn Seymour who played Abby Grant in Survivors. Carolyn reflects on her relationships with the key figures who made the show: Terry Nation, Terry Dudley and original director Pennant Roberts; how she and other women actors suffered at the hands of chauvinism in

2.19a Survivors

Jul 12 2024 124 mins

This month Andy and Martin review the classic post-apocalypse drama Survivors created by Terry Nation. Specifically they review three episodes, one from each series: Law and Order, Over the Hills, and Law of the Jungle. The pair reflect on what Survivors has to say about mankind and also consider the show from a post-pandemic lens. Andy also reflects on his relationship with Surv

2.18 Rockliffe's Babies

Jun 07 2024 138 mins

Rock-a-bye baby in the tower block Your Mum’s on the social Your Dad’s in the dock Your Mum’s in arrears So, the Council’s gonna call Down will come mother, baby and all… Yes this month it's none other than that late 80s police drama Rockliffe's Babies in which we met the seven young and untested members of Victor Tango crime squad and their formidable skipper Det Sgt Al

2.17 Quiller

May 11 2024 102 mins

Andy & Martin almost meet their match in the 1975 series Quiller. But once they get past the first 10 dreadful minutes of its opening episode they find much to enjoy in this Bond-on-a-budget BBC spy series starring Michael Jayston in the title role. However, it would be lazy to say Quiller simply knocks off Bond, because Elleston Trevor's Quiller is quite different to 007. He does

2.16 Partners in Crime

Apr 13 2024 118 mins

Martin and Andy travel back to the early Eighties to uncover the birth of Agatha Christie on television. Before Joan Hickson's Miss Marple and David Suchet's Poirot came Tommy and Tuppence, two bright young adventurers from the Roaring Twenties played by Francesca Annis and James Warwick: Partners in Crime. Andy also delves further back to explain how Why Didn't They Ask Evans? an

2.15 Orde Wingate

Mar 09 2024 99 mins

This month Martin & Andy tackle a 1976 curio: a 3-part examination of the Zionist military leader Orde Wingate. Wingate is played by Barry Foster (Van de Valk, Fall of Eagles) in a drama scripted by Don Shaw (Survivors), script edited by Louis Marks (Doctor Who, The Lost Boys), directed by Bill Hays (Wish Me Luck) and produced by Innes Lloyd (Doctor Who, Talking Heads). The produ