5/04/81: Masada mini-series on ABC

On Sunday 5 April 1981 the  TV mini-series Masada began showing on ABC Television in the USA. The historical drama, based on the historical novel The Antagonists by  Ernest K. Gann on the siege of the Masada citadel in Israel by legions of the Roman Empire, ran for four episodes shown on consecutive nights.

The series starred Peter O'Toole, Peter Strauss, Barbara Carrera and Anthony Quayle.

Masada was shown on BBC One in the UK  over two weeks in February 1983. It has since been made available on DVD.

source: tysonstv, tv.com, IMDb

21/3/81: Doctor Who: Tom Baker's final episode

On Saturday 21 March 1981 actor Tom Baker made his final appearance as Doctor Who in the long running BBC TV series of the same name.

Baker (b. 1934) began his most famous acting role in June 1974, making him the 'Fourth Doctor', taking over from Jon Pertwee in the final episode of Planet of the Spiders. He completed his role in the fourth and final episode of Logopolis in 1981, which  introduced Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor at the very end of the story via the traditional 're-generation' method.

Episodes featuring Davison as the Fifth Doctor began broadcasting in January 1982.

source: tardis.wikia.com

1/2/81: Sense and Sensibility (BBC TV Series)

On Sunday 1 February 1981 BBC One began showing a new adaptation of the Jane Austen novel Sense and Sensibility.

The series, which ran for seven episodes, was adapted from the novel by Alexander Baron and directed by Rodney Bennet. It starred Tracey Childs as Marianne Dashwood and Irene Richard as Elinor.

The website austinprose.com called the series "a solid but flawed adaptation of Jane Austen’s masterpiece". Sense and Sensibility was adapted for television again by the BBC in 2008.

Source: BBC Genome, Imdb.

4/1/81: 'The History Man' (TV drama series)

On Sunday 4 January BBC Two began screening the four-part screenplay of Malcolm Bradbury's novel The History Man. The TV adaption was written by Christopher Hampton and starred Anthony Sher as Watermouth University sociology lecturer Howard Kirk and Geraldine James as his wife Barbara.

pic: theguardian.com

Thus the Radio Times synopsis: "fashionable Watermouth University's well-known progressive couple, are throwing one of their celebrated parties. Another fresh term -new faces to radicalise, old issues and adversaries to be confronted. History needs some action and Howard has just the scheme for an autumn of disruption."

The series featured outdoor locations filmed at Lancaster University, a 1960s-built campus university, similar to the East Anglia University where author Bradbury had spent most of his academic career and where he established the creative writing department in 1970.

Malcolm Bradbury

Further reading: screenonline.org.uk,

Sources:  BBC genome, Wikipedia