Beginning in February 1960, this Associated-Rediffusion series produced straight dramatisations of Maugham’s short stories introduced initially by Daniel Farson (and later by Hugh Williams and then Ian Hunter).
The stories were dramatised for television under the brilliant story editorship of Stanley Miller.
Actors in the 38 episodes included Charles Gray, Hugh Burden, Donald Pleasence, Paul Eddington, Richard Wattis, Peter Vaughan, Moira Lister, John Le Mesurier, Kenneth Connor, Richard Briers, Wendy Craig, Hermione Baddeley, Millicent Martin, Patrick Troughton, Leonard Sachs, Michael Hordern, Ronald Fraser, Geraldine McEwan, Barbara Murray, Donald Churchill, Megs Jenkins, John Laurie, Trader Faulkner, Ron Grainer, Joan Hickson, Rosalie Crutchley, Roger Delgado, Carmen Silvera, Burt Kwouk and Erik Chitty.
The production was a major success for Associated-Rediffusion and performed very well in the ratings with most episodes making it into the top 10.
At the end of the first series, the frightful title SMS – short for Somerset Maugham Stories – was dropped and the series was broadcast under the title The Somerset Maugham Hour.
Episodes
Flotsam and Jetsam | Sanatorium | The Happy Couple | The Unconquered | A Casual Affair | The Alien Corn | The Lion’s Skin | P and O | The Facts of Life | The Voice of the Turtle/The Outstation | The Three Fat Women of Antibes/A Marriage of Convenience | Winter Cruise/Mr. Know-All || The Four Dutchmen | The Kite | Before the Party | Gigolo and the Gigolette | The Ant and the Grasshopper | The Verger | A Man with a Conscience | The Human Element | The Letter | The Romantic Young Lady | The Door of Opportunity | The Mother | A Woman of Fifty || Appearance and Reality | The Point of Honour | The Colonel’s Lady | The Book Bag | The Treasure | The Lotus Eater | The Round Dozen | The Closed Shop | The Creative Impulse | The Back of Beyond | Virtue | The Force of Circumstance
