Saki

1 9 6 2 (UK)
8 x 55 minute episodes

This ITV anthology series from Granada Television was based on the wickedly funny “Improper Stories” of Edwardian life by British writer HH Munro, who wrote under the name of “Saki”.

The series had a regular nucleus of stars in all of the stories, including silky-voiced Fenella Fielding as Mary Drakmanton. Martita Hunt as the formidable Lady Bastable, William Mervyn as Sir Hector, Rosamund Greenwood as Veronique Brimley-Bomefield, Richard Vernon as The Major and Mark Burns as Clovis Sangrail.

Other actors who appeared in the various episodes included Prunella Scales, Joan Hickson, Judy Cornwell, Richard Wattis, Moyra Fraser, Roger Delgado, Sheila Steafel and Dinsdale Landen.

Each episode featured four or five stories – all adapted for television by Gerald Savory, Hugh Leonard and Edward Boyd.

Lady Bastable
Martita Hunt
Mary Drakmanton
Fenella Fielding
Sir Hector
William Mervyn
The Major
Richard Vernon
Clovis Sangrail
Mark Burns
Veronique Brimley-Bomefield
Rosamund Greenwood

Episodes

The Stampeding of Lady Bastable / A Holiday Task /The Way to the Dairy / Sredni Vashtar / A Defensive Diamond (06/07/62) | The Treasure Ship / The Reticence of Lady Anne / The She-Wolf / The Story Teller / Clovis on Parental Responsibilities / The Easter Egg (13/07/62) | The Quest / The Blind Spot / Quail Seed / The Seventh Pullet / The Mouse (20/07/62) | Bread and Butter Miss / Hounds of Fate / Dusk / The Talking-Out of Tarrington / Laura (27/07/62) | Lady Bastables Tiger / The Bag / The Soul of  Laploshka / The Philanthropist and the Happy Cat/ Louis (03/08/62) | Louise / The Elk / The Romancer / The Interloper / Tobermory (10/08/62) | The Hen / Seven Cream Jugs / Filboid Studge / The Square Egg / Septimus Brope (17/08/62) | The Unrest Cure / Esme / The Disappearance of Crispina Umberleigh / The East Wing (24/08/62)

Video