Armchair Mystery Theatre is a 60-minute UK television anthology mystery series.[1][2] Thirty-four episodes aired from 1960–1965.[3] It was hosted by Donald Pleasence and produced by Leonard White.[4] It was a spin-off from the successful Armchair Theatre series.[5]
Guest stars included Edward Woodward,[6] Cyril Cusack, Sam Wanamaker, Ron Moody, Tom Bell, Denholm Elliott, and Sybil Thorndike.[7]
A large number of episodes from this series have been junked, out of the thirty-four episodes that were transmitted, twenty-five episodes are missing from the archives and only ten episodes exist as 16mm telerecordings.[8] Two further episodes were additionally made, but not included in the run. "The Cupboard" by Ray Rigby, was originally scheduled for the first series, but was postponed due to a real-life murder case that had similarities to the plot in the episode, that was concurrently being tried in the courts;[9] the episode was eventually transmitted later that year as part of the Armchair Theatre run. Another episode "And Where It Stops" by Alan Seymour, had to be stopped mid-way during filming as they ran out of studio time, producer Leonard White notes "it was a difficult teleplay to tackle and Voytek had designed an extremely complex set. I'd hoped to win the challenge, but not so."[10] A twenty minute excerpt of the unfinished episode survives as a 2" 405-line videotape copy.[11]