Telecrime

Infobox Television
show_name = Telecrime


caption =
show_name_2 = "Telecrimes"
genre = Whodunit/Drama
country = United Kingdom
language = English
num_episodes = 17
list_episodes =
runtime = ?x10 minutes
12x15 minutes
?x20 minutes
network = BBC Television Service
first_aired = "Telecrime:" 10 August 1938
last_aired = 25 July 1939 "Telecrimes:" 22 October – 28 November 1946
imdb_id = 0261493
tv_com_id =

"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 5 episodes from 1938 to 1939, "Telecrime" returned in 1946, following the resumption of television after World War II, and aired as "Telecrimes".

A whodunit crime drama, "Telecrime" showed the viewer enough evidence to solve the crime themselves. Most episodes were written by Mileson Horton. All 17 episodes are missing from the archives, as they were aired live and never recorded.

Production

The producers for the 1946 series were Gordon Crier, Stephen Harrison and Douglas Muir. [cite web|url=http://www.memorabletv.com/bft1.htm|title=UK TV All Shows (T)|accessdate=2008-03-20]

Plot

In 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 World War II, the BBC suspended its television service. [cite web|url=http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/baird/tvoff/index.htm|title=The edit that rewrote history - Baird|accessdate=2007-05-28] The channel was brought back on 7 June 1946. [cite news|last=Rohrer|first=Finlo|title=Back after the break|work=BBC News Magazine|publisher=bbc.co.uk|date=2006-06-07|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5054802.stm|accessdate=2007-04-25] From 22 October to 28 November that year, "Telecrimes", as it was now called, aired for a further twelve episodes.cite web|url=http://www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?programme=506f4f60-b93b-4155-9337-288e029073d7|title=Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIMES|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=|last=|first=|year=2006|format=|work=|publisher=LostShows.com] 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. [cite web|url=http://www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?programme=01af6d4f-1bd6-42dd-9cf2-84f4df55598f|title=Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIME|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=|last=|first=|year=2006|format=|work=|publisher=LostShows.com] The only visual record that survives are photographs.

"Telecrime" (1938-39)

"Telecrimes" (1946)

References

;General
*cite book|last=Vahimagi|first=Tise|authorlink=Tise Vahimagi|title=British Television: An Illustrated Guide|year=19940|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|isbn=0-19-818336-4
*cite web|url=http://www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?programme=01af6d4f-1bd6-42dd-9cf2-84f4df55598f|title=Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIME|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=|last=|first=|year=2006|format=|work=|publisher=LostShows.com
*cite web|url=http://www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?programme=506f4f60-b93b-4155-9337-288e029073d7|title=Missing or incomplete episodes for programme TELECRIMES|accessdate=2008-03-20|author=|last=|first=|year=2006|format=|work=|publisher=LostShows.com

;Specific