Alun Owen

Writer

November 24, 1925 (68 years)

† November 6, 1994

Menai Bridge, Wales

Biography

Alun Owen was a Welsh playwright, screenwriter and actor, predominantly in television. However, he is best remembered by a wider audience for writing the screenplay of The Beatles' debut feature film A Hard Day's Night (1964), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Filmography

6.6

Play for Today

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

5.3

BBC Play of the Month

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

7.2

Theatre 625

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

7.0

ITV Playhouse

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

5.2

The Wednesday Play

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

7.0

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

Anthology series of dramatic works.

4.2

Thirty-Minute Theatre

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

6.0

The Play on One

A series of television plays, some original, some based on pre-existing plays or novels.

7.3

A Hard Day's Night

Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.

7.5

Half Hour Story

18 short plays written especially for TV, an opportunity for up-and-coming directors such as floor manager Alan Clarke, who ended up doing 10 of the episodes. Some top ranking performers were attracted to the series.

6.0

Armchair Theatre

Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.

7.0

The Company of Five

The Company of Five is a 1968 British anthology drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV, featuring a repertory cast of five actors—John Neville, Gwen Watford, Ann Bell, Cyril Luckham, and Ray Smith—who appear in different roles each week.

4.0

Male of the Species

Never trust a man whoever he is. This is the bitter lesson learned by Mary MacNeil in her relationships with three different men: her father, a mendacious womaniser; a smooth-talking office flirt, Cornelius; and an ageing barrister, Emlyn, who is enchanted by Mary's youthful vitality and charm. Only one of these men will win her heart in the end... Featuring rare television performances from Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Paul Scofield, this trilogy of plays forms a dramatic and controversial study in male behaviour. Differs slightly from the omnibus version that aired 3 Jan 1969 on NBC (US).

6.4

The Criminal

When a robbery at a racetrack goes wrong ex-con Johnny Bannion is caught and sent back to prison. He won't tell the rest of the gang where he has stashed the loot leading to violent consequences.

5.5

Male of the Species

Never trust a man whoever he is. This is the bitter lesson learned by Mary MacNeil in her relationships with three different men: her father, a mendacious womanizer; a smooth-talking office flirt, Cornelius; and an aging barrister, Emlyn, who is enchanted by Mary's youthful vitality and charm.

8.0

Lena, O My Lena

Tom, a sensitive Liverpool student, takes a job on a loading dock in a Lancashire factory town. He's smitten with a girl named Lena who works in a machine shop next door and takes her out despite a bullying driver claiming her for himself.

N/A

Lucky

“Set in Liverpool in the early 70s, the film tells the story of Samuel 'Lucky' Ubooto, a half African, half Irish man in his 20s whose decidedly unlucky career as a criminal has resulted in a series of stretches in prison for theft. The story follows Lucky on the day of his release from his latest sentence. As he wanders around Liverpool, not really belonging anywhere, it becomes clear that he is still waiting for his father, a man who has long since abandoned Lucky and his family, to return and take him back 'home' to Africa.” - Richard Parkin

10.0

Unexplained Laughter

Lydia is unlucky in love and retreats to the Welsh countryside with her friend Betty. But the beautiful scenery holds its own humour and passion.

10.0

Pal

Two sworn enemies, one black and the other white, are forced to confront their prejudices when they are forced together by circumstance.

8.0

George's Room

A man is interviewed by a young widow as a potential lodger, and learns some disturbing facts about the woman's relationship with her dead husband.