The Wednesday Play, BFI

In the early '60s, the BBC's drama department was known, or rather was widely ignored, for producing cosy, inoffensive and eminently forgettable television. This all changed in 1964, however, when the pioneering head of drama Sydney Newman introduced The Wednesday Play to BBC 1, an anthology series which brought viewers a new seventy minute long play every Wednesday. The series was intended to give the BBC's programming a bit of bite, and it quickly became notorious for its controversial tackling of urgent social issues. It would discuss, in a frank and realistic manner, issues like homelessness, unemployment, poverty and the class system at a time when most television was firmly establishment oriented. Between September and October, the BFI are screening some of the best episodes of The Wednesday Play from the series' six-year career between 1964 and 1970. 
On Wednesday 17th September, they are screening back-to-back two plays that dissect the British establishment in the series' trade-mark hard-edged style. The Connoisseur documents life in an elite public school where the closeted life of its pupils is shattered after one of the prefects airs the school's scandals in public. This is followed by Sovereign's Company - a study of life in the fictional army regiment, the Blenheim Cadets. Alan Clarke, the director of Sovereign's Company, was himself trained at Sandhurst and, drawing on his own experience in the forces, Clarke renders his subject with a powerful authenticity. 
The Wednesday Play was also known for it's cutting-edge comedies, and on Tuesday 17th October, the BFI are playing two short absurdist and darkly comic plays, The Compartment and Playmates. These are followed by Portsmouth's Defence – a comedy about the British legal system. These films show a different side of The Wednesday Play: they still tackle tough social issues, but they do so in a blackly humorous style.
For anyone who's never been exposed to The Wednesday Play, this new season is a perfect opportunity to become acquainted with this landmark piece of British television.