Armchair Cinema

In 1971, Euston Films was established as a production company by three Thames executives Lloyd Shirley, George Taylor and Brian Tesler. It operated as a subsidiary of Thames Television until is dissolution in 1994. At the time, television drama was primarily a mix of studio based videotape and exteriors shot on 16mm film or outside broadcast videotape. They acknowledged that productions could be shot quicker and more economically by filming them entirely on 16mm film stock.[1] The inspiration for Euston Films came from writer Trevor Preston, along with directors Jim Goddard and Tim Green whom were working at ABC Television, when in 1965 they detailed a proposal for a specialist production unit that would shoot dramas entirely on film.[2] Following the establishment of Thames Television in 1968, this style of production was trialed with two one-off dramas "Suspect" (1969) and "Rumour" (1970) which were promoted under the ITV Playhouse strand, along with the children's series The Tyrant King.[3] This subsequently led to the initiation of Euston Films as a production unit for Thames.[4]

At the time Armchair Theatre, was increasingly being criticized as being an archaic reminder of television's theatrical roots.[5] Following the success Thames had with their initial Euston Films project Special Branch which moved over to being shot entirely on film in 1973.[6] Jeremy Issacs who was then Director of Programs at Thames, was favourable about Euston Films work on the series and decided to commission them to revive the then ailing Armchair Theatre.[3] [7] The new series was pressed into production later that year.

The series was notable for showcasing films by a number of writers including Ian Kennedy Martin, Guy Slater, John Kershaw and Ian Stuart Black. One of the films that was produced, "Regan" by Kennedy Martin, that starred John Thaw as DI Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as DS George Carter, gained a favourable response with viewers with audiences of over seven million tuning into the episode, and was successful enough to be commissioned into a full series The Sweeney, that ran between 1975-1978 and additionally produced two spin-off feature films that were released in 1977 and 1978 respectively.[8]

"Regan", the pilot episode for The Sweeney, was released as a stand alone DVD, on the 12th September 2005 by Network.[12] The complete series of Armchair Cinema was subsequently released on DVD, on the 31st August 2009 by Network,[13] along with the television films "The Sailor's Return" (1978) and "Charlie Muffin" (1979).[7]

• Armchair Cinema at IMDb
• Armchair Cinema at TVDb