Abstract/Summary

This article provides a survey of the pioneering BBC series of theatrical adaptations Television World Theatre (1957-59), examining BBC production documentation and audience research to identify the institutional discourses that surrounded the making and transmission of these programmes. Recurrent arguments throughout the production of the series form a framework of institutional expectations within which classic theatrical plays were commissioned, made and presented for BBC Television. Having identified these questions (as to audience address, populism, the viability of creating a unified ‘house style’ across the diverse plays included in an anthology series) their discussion in contemporary press discourse surrounding Television World Theatre is considered, before concluding with a consideration of how the experience of Television World Theatre affected expectations the next time that the BBC attempted a similar project in Festival (1963-4).