Telecrime

Telecrime was a British drama series that aired on the BBC Television Service from 1938 to 1939 and in 1946. One of the first multi-episode drama series ever made, it is also one of the first television dramas written especially for television not adapted from theatre or radio. Having first aired for five episodes from 1938 to 1939, Telecrime returned in 1946, following the resumption of television after the Second World War, and aired as Telecrimes.

Telecrime
Also known asTelecrimes
GenreWhodunit/Drama
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes17
Production
Running time?x10 minutes
12x15 minutes
?x20 minutes
Release
Original networkBBC Television Service
Original release
  • Telecrime:
    10 August 1938 (1938-08-10) - 25 July 1939 (1939-07-25)
  • Telecrimes:
    22 October 1946 (1946-10-22) - 28 November 1946 (1946-11-28)

A whodunit crime drama, Telecrime showed the viewer enough evidence to solve the crime themselves. Most episodes were written by Mileson Horton. All seventeen episodes are lost. Aired live, their preservation was technically difficult at the time.

Production

The producers for the 1946 series were Gordon Crier, Stephen Harrison and Douglas Muir.[1]

Plot

Each episode of Telecrime featured a crime, and in a "whodunit" storyline, the viewers were given enough evidence to solve the crime themselves.

Episodes

The programme first aired, as Telecrime, for five episodes from 10 August 1938 to 25 July 1939 on the BBC Television Service. Each episode was ten or twenty minutes long. During the Second World War, the BBC suspended its television service.[2] The channel was brought back on 7 June 1946.[3] From 22 October to 28 November that year, Telecrimes, as it was now called, aired for a further twelve episodes.[4] Each 1946 episode was fifteen minutes long. As was typical at the time, all the episodes were aired live and no recording was made, meaning none survive.[4][5] The only visual record that survives of the programme is a single publicity photograph.[6]

Telecrime (1938-39)
#EpisodeWriter/sOriginal airdate
1"The Back-Stage Murder"Mileson Horton and H.T. Hopkinson10 August 1938 (1938-08-10)
2"Poetic Justice"Arthur Phillips24 October 1938 (1938-10-24)
3"The Fletcher Case"Mileson Horton24 February 1939 (1939-02-24)
4"The Almost Perfect Murder"Mileson Horton15 April 1939 (1939-04-15)
5"Circumstantial Evidence"Mileson Horton25 July 1939 (1939-07-25)

Telecrimes (1946)
#EpisodeWriter/sOriginal airdate
6"The Concert Hall Murder Case"Mileson Horton22 October 1946 (1946-10-22)
7"Death of a Golfer"Mileson Horton22 October 1946 (1946-10-22)
8"The Case of the Drunken Skipper"Mileson Horton5 November 1946 (1946-11-05)
9"Death of a Scientist"Mileson Horton5 November 1946 (1946-11-05)
10"Poison in Pimlico"Mileson Horton12 November 1946 (1946-11-12)
11"The Case of the Gentle Accomplice"Mileson Horton12 November 1946 (1946-11-12)
12"Death of a Playwright"Mileson Horton19 November 1946 (1946-11-19)
13"The Case of the Poisoned Port"Mileson Horton19 November 1946 (1946-11-19)
14"Who Killed Crask"Mileson Horton25 November 1946 (1946-11-25)
15"The Case of the Twin Sisters"Mileson Horton25 November 1946 (1946-11-25)
16"The Stolen Tiara"Mileson Horton28 November 1946 (1946-11-28)
17"Death of an Art"Mileson Horton28 November 1946 (1946-11-28)

References
General
  • Vahimagi, Tise (1994). British Television: An Illustrated Guide. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-818336-4.
  • "Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIME". LostShows.com. 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  • "Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIMES". LostShows.com. 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
Specific
  1. "UK TV All Shows (T)". Archived from the original on 21 September 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  2. "The edit that rewrote history - Baird". Retrieved 28 May 2007.
  3. Rohrer, Finlo (7 June 2006). "Back after the break". BBC News Magazine. BBC. Retrieved 25 April 2007.
  4. "Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIMES". LostShows.com. 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  5. "Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIME". LostShows.com. 2006. Retrieved 20 March 2008.
  6. "FamousFix page, providing the sole photo of Telecrime". famousfix.com. 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
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