7.2 /10 1 Votes
6.4/10 TV Country of origin United Kingdom No. of series 5 First episode date 29 January 1966 Network ITV Cast David Buck | 7.8/10 IMDb Starring David Buck Original language(s) English No. of episodes 24 Final episode date 23 February 1970 Number of episodes 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Producer(s) ABC Television
(Series 1—3)
Thames Television
(Series 4—5) Genres Horror, Horror fiction, Anthology Similar No – That's Me Over Here!, Play of the Month, Armchair Theatre, Cider with Rosie, Dracula | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology series of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 by the ITV network and produced by ABC and (later) Thames Television.
Contents
mystery and imagination
Outline
The series featured Television plays based on the works of well-known authors such as Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, M. R. James, and Edgar Allan Poe. All bar one of the first two ABC series starred David Buck as Richard Beckett, originally a character from Sheridan Le Fanu's story "The Flying Dragon", as narrator. Beckett was made the central character of the series, taking the roles of various characters from some of the original stories. The first two series, although transmitted as two separate runs, were recorded in a single production block. The episode without Buck ("The Open Door") features Jack Hawkins in the lead.
Archive status and availability
Only the versions of "The Fall of the House of Usher" and "The Open Door" (series 1) from the ABC era exist in the archives. All the other episodes from the first three series are not known to exist, although the Thames episodes (series 4 and 5) survive. A brief clip from Casting the Runes (from series 3) also exists.
Network DVD has released all eight remaining episodes on a four disc set along with the surviving clips of 'Casting the Runes'.