On This Day, August 27: Saturday Night Theatre Festival and Harry Nile
This report documents the historical provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and pure narrative synopses for broadcasts transmitting on August…
August 27 Update
This report documents the historical provenance, broadcast scheduling, commercial sponsorship, credited cast, production personnel, alternate circulating titles, and pure narrative synopses for broadcasts transmitting on August 27 across the BBC Home Service, BBC Radio 4, and American syndication, five decades of BBC Saturday Night Theatre masterpieces (1960 Vienna Cold War espionage, 1966 H.G. Wells feminist classic Ann Veronica starring Sarah Badel, 1977 Kingsley Amis satire I Want It Now, 1983 village cricket comedy The Cricket Match, and 1994 Juliet Stevenson in The Anatomical Venus), alongside Jim French's Seattle private eye Harry Nile on Imagination Theatre (1960–2000):
1. Broadcasts
| Title | Network, Airdate & Showtime | Sponsor & Commercial Ads | Credited Cast & Performers | Director, Writers & Crew | Genres | Story Synopsis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Search for Zalek" | BBC Home Service 1960-08-27 8:30 PM |
Sustaining BBC Radio Drama |
BBC Drama Repertory | Donald Bain (Writer) | ["Espionage", "Cold War", "Thriller", "British", "Anthology"] |
British counter-intelligence agents track a defecting Soviet rocket scientist across post-war Vienna before KGB operatives locate him. |
| "Ann Veronica" | BBC Home Service 1966-08-27 8:30 PM |
Sustaining BBC Radio Drama |
Sarah Badel, BBC Repertory | H.G. Wells, Stephen Grenfell | ["Drama", "Classic Literature", "British", "Feminist", "Period Drama"] |
A spirited Edwardian young woman defies her authoritarian Victorian father to pursue independent scientific studies and join the suffragette movement in London. |
| "I Want It Now" | BBC Radio 4 1977-08-27 8:30 PM |
Sustaining BBC Radio Drama |
BBC Drama Repertory | Kingsley Amis, John Foley | ["Drama", "Satire", "British", "Society", "Romance"] |
An ambitious London television talk show host schemes to marry into a fabulously wealthy, dysfunctional aristocratic family. |
| "The Cricket Match" | BBC Radio 4 1983-08-27 8:30 PM |
Sustaining BBC Radio Drama |
BBC Drama Repertory | Hugh de Sélincourt, Donald Bancroft | ["Comedy", "British", "Sports", "Village", "Pastoral"] |
A charming, idyllic Sussex village turns out in full force on a sunny Saturday afternoon for an intense, humorous local cricket match. |
| "The Anatomical Venus" | BBC Radio 4 1994-08-27 7:50 PM |
Sustaining BBC Radio Drama |
Juliet Stevenson, BBC Repertory | Helen Cross (Writer) | ["Drama", "Historical", "Medical", "Psychological Thriller", "Anthology"] |
An 18th-century medical anatomist creates a lifelike wax dissection model, sparking intense romantic obsession and ethical controversy. |
| "Harry Nile — The Doomsday Book / Static" | Syndicated Drama 2000-08-27 |
Sustaining Mystery Theater |
Phil Harper (Nile), Pat French | Jim French (Creator/Writer) | ["Detective", "Hardboiled", "Mystery", "Noir", "Crime"] |
Seattle private investigator Harry Nile looks into a stolen rare medieval manuscript and untangles a web of antique theft, extortion, and radio interference. |