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List of Out of the Unknown episodes

The following is a complete episode list of the anthology science fiction television series Out of the Unknown, which aired on BBC2 over four series between 4 October 1965 and 30 June 1971. The first two series were made and broadcast in black and white, and the latter two in colour.

Many Out of the Unknown episodes were adaptations of short stories and novels. In such cases, the list below credits the story to the original author and lists the adapter in the following column. Instances where an adaptation was broadcast under a title different from that of the original work are footnoted as appropriate. Where a script was an original commission, the screenwriter is credited as the author and the “Adapted by” column is marked “n/a”.

Only twenty episodes of the series survive in the archives today, with an additional episode only existing partially (missing approximately 20 minutes). The “Exists?” column indicates whether an episode has survived or not. In some cases, short clips and/or audio recordings of missing episodes have survived – these are indicated in the footnotes.

Series 1

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Series 1 was broadcast on Monday nights at 8:00pm. It was produced by Irene Shubik. Two episodes are missing, while ten survive, making it the most complete season of the show.

Episode Title Story Adapted by Director Airdate Exists?
101 “No Place Like Earth”[1] John Wyndham Stanley Miller Peter Potter 4 October 1965 Yes
102 “The Counterfeit Man” Alan Nourse Philip Broadley George Spenton-Foster 11 October 1965 Yes
103 “Stranger in the Family” David Campton n/a Alan Bridges 18 October 1965 Yes[2]
104 “The Dead Past” Isaac Asimov Jeremy Paul John Gorrie 25 October 1965 Yes
105 “Time in Advance” William Tenn Paul Erickson Peter Sasdy 1 November 1965 Yes
106 “Come Buttercup, Come Daisy, Come...?” Mike Watts n/a Paddy Russell 8 November 1965 Yes
107 “Sucker Bait” Isaac Asimov Meade Roberts Naomi Capon 15 November 1965 Yes
108 “The Fox and the Forest” Ray Bradbury Terry Nation Robin Midgley 22 November 1965 No[3]
109 “Andover and the Android” Kate Wilhelm Bruce Stewart Alan Cooke 29 November 1965 No[3]
110 “Some Lapse of Time” John Brunner Leon Griffiths Roger Jenkins 6 December 1965 Yes
111 “Thirteen to Centaurus” J. G. Ballard Stanley Miller Peter Potter 13 December 1965 Yes
112 “The Midas Plague” Frederik Pohl Troy Kennedy Martin Peter Sasdy 20 December 1965 Yes

Series 2

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Series 2 was broadcast on Thursday nights at 9:30pm, except "The Prophet", which was broadcast on Saturday only two days after "Satisfaction Guaranteed". It was produced by Irene Shubik and the script editor was Michael Imison. Nine of the thirteen episodes are missing.

Episode Title Story Adapted by Director Airdate Exists?
201 “The Machine Stops” E. M. Forster Kenneth Cavender & Clive Donner Phillip Saville 6 October 1966 Yes
202 “Frankenstein Mark 2” Hugh Whitemore n/a Peter Duguid 13 October 1966 No
203 “Lambda 1” Colin Kapp Bruce Stewart George Spenton-Foster 20 October 1966 Yes
204 “Level Seven” Mordecai Roshwald J. B. Priestley Rudolph Cartier 27 October 1966 Yes
205 “Second Childhood” Hugh Leonard n/a John Gorrie 10 November 1966 No[4]
206 “The World in Silence” John Rankine Robert Gould Naomi Capon 17 November 1966 No
207 “The Eye” Henry Kuttner Stanley Miller Peter Sasdy 24 November 1966 No
208 “Tunnel Under the World” Frederik Pohl David Campton Alan Cooke 1 December 1966 Yes
209 “The Fastest Draw” Larry Eisenberg Julian Bond Herbert Wise 8 December 1966 No[4]
210 “Too Many Cooks” Larry Eisenberg Hugh Whitemore John Gibson 15 December 1966 No
211 “Walk's End” William Trevor n/a Ian Curteis 22 December 1966 No
212 “Satisfaction Guaranteed” Isaac Asimov Hugh Leonard John Gorrie 29 December 1966 No[5]
213 “The Prophet”[6] Isaac Asimov Robert Muller Naomi Capon 1 January 1967 No[4]

Series 3

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Series 3 was broadcast on Wednesday nights at 9:00pm. It was produced by Alan Bromly and the script editor was Roger Parkes. However, all the scripts used in this series were commissioned by Irene Shubik. This was the first series to be made in colour. Only two episodes are known to exist (one partially), making it the most incomplete season of the show. This season also has the most surviving off-air soundtracks, with three in total used to reconstruct their respective episodes.

Episode Title Story Adapted by Director Airdate Exists?
301 “Immortality, Inc.” Robert Sheckley Jack Pulman Terence Dudley 7 January 1969 No[5]
302 “Liar!” Isaac Asimov David Campton Gerald Blake 14 January 1969 No[5]
303 “The Last Lonely Man” John Brunner Jeremy Paul Douglas Camfield 21 January 1969 Yes
304 “Beach Head” Clifford D. Simak Robert Muller James Cellan Jones 28 January 1969 No[7] (reconstruction exists)
305 “Something in the Cellar” Donald Bull n/a Roger Jenkins 4 February 1969 No[4]
306 “Random Quest” John Wyndham Owen Holder Christopher Barry 11 February 1969 No[5]
307 “The Naked Sun” Isaac Asimov Robert Muller Rudolph Cartier 18 February 1969 No[4] (reconstruction exists)
308 “The Little Black Bag” C. M. Kornbluth Julian Bond Eric Hills 25 February 1969 Partially[8]
309 “1 1=1.5” Brian Hayles n/a Michael Ferguson 4 March 1969 No[4]
310 “The Fosters” Michael Ashe n/a Philip Dudley 11 March 1969 No[4]
311 “Target Generation” Clifford D. Simak Clive Exton[9] Roger Jenkins 18 March 1969 No[4]
312 “The Yellow Pill” Rog Phillips Leon Griffiths[9] Michael Ferguson 25 March 1969 No[7] (reconstruction exists)
313 “Get Off My Cloud” Peter Phillips David Climie Peter Cregeen 1 April 1969 No[4]

Series 4

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Series 4 was broadcast on Wednesday nights at 9:20pm. It was produced by Alan Bromly and the script editor was Roger Parkes. Unlike previous series, only one episode was an adaptation. Six of the eleven episodes are missing, leaving five episodes surviving. A reconstruction using surviving audio exists for one episode.

Episode Title Story Adapted by Director Airdate Exists?
401 “Taste of Evil” John Wiles n/a Michael Ferguson 21 April 1971 No
402 “To Lay a Ghost” Michael J. Bird n/a Ken Hannam 28 April 1971 Yes
403 “This Body Is Mine” John Tully n/a Eric Hills 5 May 1971 Yes
404 “Deathday” Angus Hall Brian Hayles Raymond Menmuir 12 May 1971 Yes
405 “The Sons and Daughters of Tomorrow” Edward Boyd n/a Gerald Blake 19 May 1971 No
406 “Welcome Home” Moris Farhi n/a Eric Hills 26 May 1971 Yes
407 “The Last Witness”[10] Martin Worth n/a Michael Ferguson 2 June 1971 No[3]
408 “The Man in My Head” John Wiles n/a Peter Cregeen 9 June 1971 Yes
409 “The Chopper” Nigel Kneale n/a Peter Cregeen 16 June 1971 No
410 “The Uninvited”[11] Michael J. Bird n/a Eric Hills 23 June 1971 No[7] (reconstruction exists)
411 “The Shattered Eye” David T. Chantler n/a Peter Hammond 30 June 1971 No

Notes

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  1. ^ This was an adaptation of two stories by Wyndham: "Time to Rest" and its sequel "No Place on Earth".
  2. ^ Later remade as an episode of Journey to the Unknown.
  3. ^ a b c Some short video clips survive from this episode.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Some short audio clips survive of this episode.
  5. ^ a b c d Some short video and audio clips survive from this episode.
  6. ^ This was an adaptation of Asimov's short story Reason.
  7. ^ a b c A complete audio recording of this episode exists.
  8. ^ Approximately 30 minutes of this episode has survived. Additionally, some audio clips of missing scenes also survive.
  9. ^ a b Originally adapted by this writer for Out of this World (1962).
  10. ^ Remade as an episode of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense under the title “A Distant Scream”.
  11. ^ Remade as an episode of Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense under the title “In Possession”.

References

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  • Cutler, Colin (January 2007). "Out of the Unknown Clips Guide". Zeta Minor. Retrieved 13 February 2008.
  • Fulton, Roger (1997). The Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction (3rd ed.). London: Boxtree. pp. 289–300. ISBN 0-7522-1150-1.
  • Ward, Mark (2004). Out of the Unknown: A Guide to the legendary BBC series. Bristol: Kaleidescope. ISBN 1-900203-10-3.
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