Writing
J. B. Priestley
Born — Died
1894-09-13 — 1984-08-14
Place of birth
Bradford, England
Known for
Writing
Credits
32 titles
John Boynton Priestley OM was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction. Many of his plays are structured around a time slip, and he went on to develop a new theory of time, with different dimensions that link past, present and future.
Known for
7.2Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967
7.3Monitor was a BBC arts programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 and ran until 1965. Huw Wheldon was the first editor from 1958 to 1965. He was also the principal interviewer and anchor. Wheldon set about moulding a team of talents, including John Schlesinger, Ken Russell, Patrick Garland, David Jones, Humphrey Burton, John Berger, Peter Newington, Melvyn Bragg, Nancy Thomas and Alan Tyrer. Monitor ranged in subject over all the arts. Wheldon's Monitor lasted until he had "interviewed everyone I am interested in interviewing", and he was succeeded by Jonathan Miller for the series' last season.
Monitor
1958
7.0A monthly series of highly personal documentary films in which individuals are given a platform to discuss issues close to their heart.
One Pair of Eyes
1967
7.0Three married couples discover that, through a legal technicality, they are, in fact, not actually married in the eyes of the law. This was the fifth television film version of this play by J.B. Priestley made by the BBC.
When We Are Married
1987
6.2A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectives on board are heading the investigation to find him. When evidence points to the princess and bandleader, they must find the killer themselves - before he finds them.
The Princess Comes Across
1936
7.1George Bird is a salesman of agricultural machinery who finds out that he hasn't long to live. On his doctor's advice, he goes to an exclusive seaside resort to spend his savings on one last holiday.
Last Holiday
1950
Film credits
1960s · 2 titles
NRA portrait of Raymond Chandler, creator of the Philip Marlowe mystery thrillers, by John Foster and Fred Burnley. The film portrays Chandler's life and creative attitudes in his own words. Dramatised excerpts from his letters and novels reveal conflicting aspects: the sensitive, diffident writer - and the tough, cool private eye hero. With JB Priestley.
Down These Mean Streets a Man Must Go: A Portrait of Raymond Chandler
1969
NRCourtroom account of the prosecution of Oscar Wilde for gross indecency with other men followed Wilde's disastrous libel charge against the Marquess of Queensberry, father of his lover Lord Alfred Douglas.
The Trial of Oscar Wilde
1960
Series credits
7.2Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.
Omnibus
1967
7.3Monitor was a BBC arts programme that was launched on 2 February 1958 and ran until 1965. Huw Wheldon was the first editor from 1958 to 1965. He was also the principal interviewer and anchor. Wheldon set about moulding a team of talents, including John Schlesinger, Ken Russell, Patrick Garland, David Jones, Humphrey Burton, John Berger, Peter Newington, Melvyn Bragg, Nancy Thomas and Alan Tyrer. Monitor ranged in subject over all the arts. Wheldon's Monitor lasted until he had "interviewed everyone I am interested in interviewing", and he was succeeded by Jonathan Miller for the series' last season.
Monitor
1958
7.0A monthly series of highly personal documentary films in which individuals are given a platform to discuss issues close to their heart.
One Pair of Eyes
1967
Behind the camera
7.0Three married couples discover that, through a legal technicality, they are, in fact, not actually married in the eyes of the law. This was the fifth television film version of this play by J.B. Priestley made by the BBC.
When We Are Married
1987
6.2A Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and finds herself getting inconveniently attached to a bandleader returning home. To complicate matters, a blackmailer on board apparently knows she is not who she claims to be - and he has his sights set on other passengers with secrets of their own. In the meantime an escaped killer has stowed away under someone else's identity, and is killing again to cover his tracks; five international police detectives on board are heading the investigation to find him. When evidence points to the princess and bandleader, they must find the killer themselves - before he finds them.
The Princess Comes Across
1936
7.1George Bird is a salesman of agricultural machinery who finds out that he hasn't long to live. On his doctor's advice, he goes to an exclusive seaside resort to spend his savings on one last holiday.
Last Holiday
1950
7.1George Bird is a salesman of agricultural machinery who finds out that he hasn't long to live. On his doctor's advice, he goes to an exclusive seaside resort to spend his savings on one last holiday.
Last Holiday
1950
No synopsis available yet.
El árbol de los Linden
1970
7.0The Helliwells, the Soppitts, and the Parkers, old friends gathered to celebrate their common silver anniversaries. To their dismay they learn that their marriages may not be valid. On hand are an outrageous housekeeper and a photographer.
When We Are Married
1943
Television broadcast of Bees on the Boat-Deck by J.B. Priestley.
Bees on the Boat-Deck
1939
The Helliwells, the Soppitts, and the Parkers, old friends gathered to celebrate their common silver anniversaries. To their dismay they learn that their marriages may not be valid. On hand are an outrageous housekeeper and a photographer. This was the second television film version of the J.B. Priestley play made by the BBC.
When We Are Married
1949
Three married couples discover that, through a legal technicality, they are, in fact, not actually married in the eyes of the law. This was the third version broadcast by the BBC of this J.B. Priestley play. It was aired live but as the BBC very rarely recorded live transmissions prior to 1953, this programme is lost.
When We Are Married
1951
5.8When the textile mill closes, putting her out of work, Gracie finds herself experiencing all of the amusements of Blackpool.
Sing As We Go
1934
In a programme first broadcast in 1973 as he entered his 80th year, JB Priestley chooses extracts from his own writing to celebrate some of the many things that he looks back on with pleasure.
An Evening with J.B. Priestley
1973
7.2An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?
An Inspector Calls
1954
Three long-married couples in northern England discover that their marriages are in fact invalid, causing much re-evaluation and chaos. This was the fourth television film version made by the BBC of this comedy by J. B. Priestley. It featured several actors repeating their rôles from the earlier 1951 version including Frank Pettingell, Helena Pickard and Eileen Beldon.
When We Are Married
1957
7.0A world-class painter is taken ill and lies in the bedroom of an inn, while people down below squabble over his paintings and inheritance. The wily old man is unperturbed, even regarding the infernal trumpet sound which plays throughout.
Now Let Him Go
1957
The Helliwells, the Soppitts, and the Parkers, old friends gathered to celebrate their common silver anniversaries. To their dismay they learn that their marriages may not be valid. On hand are an outrageous housekeeper and a photographer. The first play in history to ever be televised complete and unedited direct from the theatre. It is now believed to be lost. The BBC would make another television film version of this play in 1949 with several of the same actors from this film including Raymond Huntley, Ernest Butcher, Patricia Hayes, George Carney and Lloyd Pearson.
When We Are Married
1938
1919: the World War is over. Kay Conway celebrates her 21st birthday and all the family look forward with hope and confidence. Then Time begins to conjure with them and offers a dark glimpse of what the future could really bring.
Time and the Conways
1985
NRGuests at a small hotel are disquieted by the insistence of a mysterious doctor that he has been there before.
I Have Been Here Before
1982
No synopsis available yet.
Onkel Phils Nachlaß
1965
5.3Gutsy lass Gracie rallies fellow stall-holders at Birkenhead Market to prevent its takeover and demolition by a department store chain. She invokes the Market's foundation by Royal Charter just before an inadvertent gas leak provides an explosive climax.
Look Up and Laugh
1935
6.0No synopsis available yet.
He Came
1973
The Thorwald family is well-off and contented when a tragedy strikes: the father is killed in an accident. Miss Thorwald takes over the raising of her children, four girls and two boys with the youngest already fifteen years old. She manages to keep them together in spite of the fact that their economic situation deteriorates after World War I. Never one to look too critically upon her brood, the woman undergoes a moving and gradual transformation as the adult activities of her children bring home the fact that none of them are what she had once imagined.
The Happy Years of the Thorwalds
1962
9.0An unexpected suicide prompts much speculation about honesty and theft.
Dangerous Corner
1983
8.0Wartime morale-boosting propaganda short, looking at the greatness of Britain and the efforts of all to preserve her power and integrity.
Britain at Bay
1940

