Explore TV Series

On Safari was a children's game show series set in the jungle that was produced by TVS, and aired on the ITV network for four series from 1982 until 1984. The show was hosted by Christopher Biggins and for the first season, was co-hosted by future EastEnders actress Gillian Taylforth. Her sister Kim Taylforth also appreaed in the early episodes of season 1. All four series were recorded at the TVS studios in Southampton; although the first series was recorded in 1981, when the studios were still owned by Southern Television. TVS rented the studio space from Southern for the first series and in several editions cameras are seen bearing a generic On Safari nameplate rather than that of the production company.

The philosophical adventures of Murun Buchstansangur, a depressive, somewhat neurotic creature who lives in a crack under a kitchen cupboard. The series was notable for its oblique, downbeat tone. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his surroundings, Murun was a somewhat melancholy, philosophical character, though he was not lonely - in fact he had quite a large number of friends, neighbours, family members and acquaintances. Rather than Murun having exciting adventures, the narrative of each episode usually centred around a problem or dilemma that Murun would ponder, sometimes helped by his friends and relatives.

Horace had a learning disability, and he used to like "fish n chips for tea." It was arguably the first mainstream UK TV serial that had a person with a learning disability as the protagonist.

The Bounder is a British sitcom which ran from 16 April 1982 to 28 October 1983, made by Yorkshire Television. The series starred Peter Bowles as Howard Booth, an ex-convict who served two years in jail. He lives with Trevor Mountjoy who's his brother in law, and his wife Mary Rosalind Ayres. The latter left after Series one in 1982. It also starred Isla Blair as the next door widowed neighbour, Laura Miles. This series was created by Eric Chappell.

Airline is a British television drama created by Wilfred Greatorex and lasted for nine episodes broadcast from 3 January to 28 February 1982. Produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV1, the series stars Roy Marsden as Jack Ruskin, a pilot demobbed after the end of the Second World War who starts up his own air freight business.

A middle-class family take in a teenage girl as a foster child, and her arrival has a disrupting effect on the household.

Barbara Carey arrives in Rome to visit her sister, blind pianist Marianne Saunders, only to discover that she has mysteriously vanished. To make matters worse, this is the third instance in recent months of a blind girl's abduction. With the help of British Consulate Martin Foster, Barbara searches for her sister – a search that leads her to the private island of millionaire David Malcom. Is Marianne still alive? Why are blind women being targeted? And what terrible secrets does David keep on his remote island?

Young Nicholas Nickleby sets out to make his fortune in order to prevent his mother and sister from depending upon his uncle, Ralph Nicklby. But he finds his first job as master at a Yorkshire school to be cruel, and runs away with one of the students. Meanwhile, Kate is subjected to the unwanted attentions of Sir Mulberry Hawk, aided by her uncle. Nicholas and his new friend, Smike, begin their adventures and eventually set out to rescue Kate, with the usual Dickensian twists, turns and asides.

A German boy's involvement in the Hitler Youth during the pre WWII years.

A series of plays written by Alan Bennett.

Following the story of Vic Brown, a West Riding miner's son. It starts in 1957 with a casual affair with Ingrid Rotherwell, which develops into an emotional crisis.

The Saturday Show was Birmingham-based Central Television's flagship Saturday morning kids TV show which replaced their previous show Tiswas. It ran on ITV for two series between 1982 and 1984. It was originally planned that popular wrestler Big Daddy would star and that it would be called "Big Daddy's Saturday Show". A pilot show was recorded with Big Daddy presenting, assisted by Isla St Clair and short films were shot with Big Daddy to insert in the upcoming series; a trailer for "Big Daddy's Saturday Show", complete with logo was shown on ITV the Saturday morning before the show was due to air. It was then announced during the week that Big Daddy was dropping out and that Isla St Clair would now take the lead, with ex-Magpie host Tommy Boyd assisting and with Jeremy Beadle being used as an occasional "stand in" host. The actor David Rappaport was also a fixture playing the character "Shades", as was soccer legend, Jimmy Greaves. It was never made publicly clear why Big Daddy dropped out so close to transmission; no settlement was ever reached between him and Central. The second season of the show featured a regular technology spot called 'Interface'. Presented by IT journalist Chris Palmer, it featured a couple of notable TV firsts. It broadcast a computer programme live which viewers could record from their TV and upload to a Spectrum. The initial attempt failed due to interference on the feed from the studio floor, but it was re-broadcast the following week and many viewers successfully recorded and loaded the programme. The second 'first' for the show was the game 'Up for Grabs' which was a game played live in the studio by a player in their own home via a computer and a modem. The contestant had to steer a robotic arm and pick up prizes from a rotating turntable. This proved incredibly difficult as the contestants found it difficult to gauge the depth of the arm and also the response time of the robot arm was slow. Still, this predated many other interactive game shows by many years.

Short-lived sketch show which is notable today for early appearances by Ben Elton, Dame Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie. Originally broadcast only in the Granada television area, it was refashioned as Alfresco (1983) for national broadcasting.

Jane is an early 1980s British animated military comedy television series. It was produced for two series, in 1982 and 1984. Set during World War II, it was created by Norman Pett as a comic strip in the Daily Mail in 1932. The animated series was produced in 10 minute episodes. The cast providing the voices including the likes of Glynis Barber, Bob Danvers Walker, Max Wall, Dean Allen, Robin Bailey, and Clive Mantle. Graham McCallum won BAFA Awards for Best Graphics in 1983 and 1985 for his work on the two series.

A made-for-television adaptation of the J. B. Priestley play of the same title.

Fame is the Spur is a British television series which first aired on the BBC in 1982. It was based on the novel Fame is the Spur by Howard Spring. It depicts a socialist politician who betrays his early beliefs as he grows older, and was believed to be based upon the Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. It had previously been adapted as a film Fame is the Spur by the Boulting Brothers in 1947.

A late-night chance to relax into the weekend with music to suit every mood.

Third Time Lucky is a British sitcom originally aired on ITV for seven episodes from 6 August to 17 September 1982. George and Beth were married for several years and, as happens during wedlock, the marriage was consummated and bedroom activities recommenced at least once more as they had two children—Clare and Jenny. After seven years, George and Beth parted ways and both remarried: George to Millie and Beth to Bruce. However, both of these second marriages also ended in divorce, so it's fair to say that George and Beth aren't having much luck when it comes to domestic bliss. And you'd be forgiven if they gave up on the whole marriage lark.

In 1981, Rod Hull was offered the opportunity to make a series for younger children by the newly-awarded ITV franchise Central Independent Television. This led to the birth of the Pink Windmill in which Rod and Emu lived, the green witch named Grotbags (played by the singer and comedienne Carol Lee Scott), and her hopeless assistant Croc. The premise of the show was simple: each week Grotbags attempted to steal Emu so that, once captured, (in Grotbags's own words) she would be able to use its "special powers" to control all the "brats" in the world. Children from the Corona Theatre School—referred to collectively as the Pink Windmill Kids—were on hand to offer protection and break into one or two song and dance routines per episode. The show featured Rod Hull's chanted catchphrase "There's somebody at the door, oh, there's somebody at the door" every time a visitor rang the doorbell of the Pink Windmill—which 'sneezed' loudly when pressed.

A young English navy lieutenant sets out to prove that the quickest way to reach India from London is by way of the Mediterranean and Suez rather than the long sea route around Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, which takes six months. With his friend, French explorer and natural scientist Martial de Sassenage, Thomas Waghorn leaves London in October 1829 with the aim of reaching Bombay in India in three months. The owner of a shipping line fears for his company's future should the two adventurers succeed, so he sends his agents to delay them along their way.

Squadron is a British television series produced by the BBC in 1982. The series dealt with the adventures of the fictional 370 Rapid Deployment Squadron of the Royal Air Force. The Squadron operated a mix of operational RAF aircraft including the Harrier GR Mk 3, Hercules C Mk 1, Puma HC Mk 1 and the first episode, Phantom FGR Mk 2. One series of ten episodes was made. The leading cast members included Michael Culver, Malcolm Stoddard, Derek Anders, and Catriona MacColl.

In Victorian England, Laura and her half-sister Marian are entwined in a terrifying web of deceit. Laura's doppelganger, a mysterious woman dressed all in white, may hold the key to unlock the mystery.

Let There Be Love is a British sitcom which aired for two seasons from 1982 to 1983. It was created by the sitcom writing team of Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, and it starred Paul Eddington, Nanette Newman and Henry McGee. It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network.

Manni, der Libero is a 1981 German television series starring Tommi Ohrner.

Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House was a 8-episode television series about the youthful years of Sherlock Holmes. The show was produced by Granada Television and premiered on 31 October 1982. Although there was no televised sequel to this story, Gerald Frow penned a follow-up for Granada's Dragon Books. Young Sherlock: The Adventure at Ferryman's Creek went on sale in 1984.

Play for Tomorrow is a British television anthology science fiction series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 in 1982. It spun off from the anthology drama series Play for Today after the success of The Flipside of Dominick Hide on that strand. Each of the six episodes paints a vision of life in a future year, near the end of the 20th Century or at the beginning of the 21st.

Dramatisation of the second part of Lewis Grassic Gibbon's 'Scots Quair' trilogy, in which Chris is now married to the minister of a small industrial town.

Don’t Rock The Boat follows the adventures of widower Jack Hoxton,who runs a riverside boatyard with his two grown-up sons: Les and Billy.Jack meets a young girl Dixie who puts the spring back in his step. When he decides to marry her ructions ensue, as up until the marriage his sons had run a perfectly well-ordered, resoundingly all-male establishment. Now with the arrival of Dixie, a former conjurer’s assistant and chorus girl, things have changed. Now the boys have a stepmother who’s barely older than they are.

Ein Stück Himmel is a German television series.

Supernatural experiences sent in by viewers in response to a BBC appeal. From the hundreds of letters received, thirteen stories were selected and made into TV episodes.

Following the local council elections, County Hall is now controlled, for the first time, by a coalition. The Rate Payers Alliance are part of this but discover how difficult real change is

Drama Series of the Life of twice married couple Herbert and Mary Browne Lacey.

Mac Murphy takes charge as manager of a struggling fictional Third Division football club, Dunmore United. The series follows a group of young supporters of the club whose day-to-day troubles included attempts to set up a junior supporter's club and clubhouse within the stadium.

O.T.T. was a late-night adult version of the anarchic ATV children's show Tiswas, but made by its ITV franchise successor Central Independent Television. It was broadcast at 11.00pm on Saturday nights for one series in 1982. It was created and presented by Chris Tarrant, and also starred ex-Tiswasians John Gorman, Lenny Henry and Bob Carolgees. Helen Atkinson-Wood was the female sidekick replacement for Sally James, who stayed behind to present the concurrent and final series of Tiswas alone.

A man wakes up in the hospital without remembering anything. He does not know who he is. But evidently, his identity is known by two killer of color who seek out without respite.

Anyone for Denis? is a British video-taped television version of the stage play of the same name broadcast by the ITV network on 28 December 1982. The original play, first performed at the Whitehall Theatre in 1981, was written by satirist John Wells. It is based on Private Eye's 'Dear Bill' letters, purportedly written by Denis Thatcher, the husband of Margaret Thatcher, the prime minister at the time. Set in Chequers, the play parodies the couple's relationship. The title is a punning reference to the more familiar question "Anyone for tennis?" The television production, for Thames Television was directed by Dick Clement and stars John Wells, Angela Thorne, John Cater and Nicky Henson.

The three brothers Robin, John and Harold spend their vacations in 1925 on the country estate of their aunt Ellen. But instead of fun and games, the young men are expected to be extremely disciplined. And it gets worse: Harold falls ill and his brothers are to be quarantined. That's enough for the young adventurers! So they escape and hide in the forest. This is the beginning of a life they have always dreamed of. But it is not as easy as they had imagined. So the boys have to find shelter in a hollow tree trunk, their aunt worries and, on the advice of the vicar, calls in the police in the form of Sergeant Bunting. While the latter is searching, an unscrupulous journalist starts a hard-nosed hunt for Robin and John. The sergeant joins the hunt when Harold, who has fallen ill, also disappears...

Odd One Out is a weekly quiz programme that was hosted by Paul Daniels and was broadcast on BBC1 from 16 April 1982 to 19 April 1985.