Performance (British TV series)


Performance is a UK television anthology series produced by Simon Curtis for the BBC. Twenty-six episodes aired on BBC2 between 5 October 1991 and 21 March 1998, almost all of which were productions of classic and contemporary plays, including Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov, A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello, King Lear by William Shakespeare, and The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan.
Among its directors were Karel Reisz, Anthony Page, Richard Eyre, Simon Curtis, and Harold Pinter.
Its high-profile cast included Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth McGovern, Jeremy Irons, Judi Dench, Hugh Grant, Alec Guinness, Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson, Ian Holm, Bill Nighy, John Gielgud, Geraldine Somerville and Juliet Stevenson.

List of episodes

The main sources for compiling this list was the BFI Film and TV Database and the website of the BBC Genome Project.
Legend: Se = Season; Ep = Episode
SeEpTitleAuthorProducer/
Director
PerformersUK
Transmission
date
11'Rodney AcklandAnthony Page,
Simon Curtis
Judi Dench,
Bill Nighy,
Ronald Pickup,
Charles Gray,
Anthony Calf
5 October 1991
12'Anton ChekhovGregory Mosher,
Simon Curtis
David Warner,
Ian Holm,
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio,
Ian Bannen,
Roger Hammond
12 October 1991
13'Roberto Cossa,
Michael Hastings
Simon Curtis Les Dawson,
Liz Smith,
Jim Broadbent,
Timothy Spall,
Jane Horrocks,
Maurice Denham
19 October 1991
14'Harold PinterSimon Curtis John Malkovich,
Kate Nelligan,
Miranda Richardson
26 October 1991
15'Caryl ChurchillMax Stafford-Clark,
Simon Curtis
Deborah Findlay,
Beth Goddard,
Lesley Manville
2 November 1991
16'Geoffrey Robertson
John Mortimer
Sheree Folkson,
Simon Curtis
Hugh Grant,
Peter O'Brien,
Kevin Allen
Leslie Phillips,
Nigel Hawthorne,
Simon Callow,
David Troughton,
Alfred Molina,
Nicholas Farrell,
Nigel Planer,
Lee Cornes
9 November 1991
21'Christopher HamptonHoward Davies,
Simon Curtis
Jeremy Irons,
Alec Guinness,
Elizabeth McGovern,
Sinéad Cusack
Ian Thompson,
George Raistrick,
Jack Shepherd,
Lynn Farleigh,
Mike McShane,
Iain Rattray
19 October 1992
14 November 1992
22'Henrik IbsenDavid Thacker,
Simon Curtis
Juliet Stevenson,
Trevor Eve,
Geraldine James,
Patrick Malahide,
David Calder,
Helen Blatch
21 November 1992
23'Arnold WeskerSimon Curtis Jane Horrocks,
Pam Ferris,
Imelda Staunton,
Christopher Eccleston,
Timothy Spall
28 November 1992
24'Terence RattiganStuart Burge,
Simon Curtis
Anton Rodgers,
Gemma Jones,
Imogen Stubbs,
John Bird,
Geoffrey Beevers
5 December 1992
25'Luigi PirandelloBill Bryden,
Simon Curtis
Brian Cox,
John Hurt,
Tara Fitzgerald,
Susan Fleetwood,
Brian Glover,
Steven Mackintosh
12 December 1992
31'Robert MacKenzieLindsay Posner,
Simon Curtis
Eileen Atkins,
Jennifer Ehle,
Bill Nighy,
Edward Fox,
Samuel West
13 November 1993
32'Henrik IbsenDeborah Warner,
Simon Curtis
Fiona Shaw,
Nicholas Woodeson,
Stephen Rea
27 November 1993
33'John OsborneNicholas Renton,
Simon Curtis
Michael Gambon,
Helen McCrory,
Bill Owen,
Billie Whitelaw
4 December 1993
34'Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
Michael Hastings
Simon Curtis Bob Hoskins,
Elizabeth McGovern,
Hugh Grant,
Leslie Phillips,
Sean Pertwee
11 December 1993
41'Dennis PotterDavid Jones,
Simon Curtis
John Neville,
Eric Porter,
Ronald Pickup,
Sophie Thompson,
Abigail Cruttenden,
Annette Crosbie,
Tony Haygarth,
Patrick Godfrey,
Nicholas Selby,
Stephen Moore
29 October 1994
42'William ShakespeareDavid Thacker Tom Wilkinson,
Corin Redgrave,
Juliet Aubrey,
Ian Bannen,
David Bradley,
Geoffrey Beevers,
Rob Edwards,
Sue Johnston
5 November 1994
43'Terence RattiganKarel Reisz
Simon Curtis
Penelope Wilton,
Ian Holm,
Colin Firth,
Stephen Tompkinson,
Geraldine Somerville,
Edward Tudor-Pole
12 November 1994
44'Paddy ChayefskySimon Curtis Anne Bancroft,
Katherine Borowitz,
Joan Cusack
19 November 1994
45'J. B. PriestleyChristopher Morahan,
Simon Curtis
John Gielgud,
Terence Rigby,
Rosemary Harris,
Mike McShane
Vincent Wong
26 November 1994
51'Sean O'CaseyNye HeronKenneth Branagh,
Stephen Rea,
James Ellis
7 October 1995
52'D. H. LawrenceKatie Mitchell Zoë Wanamaker,
Stephen Dillane,
Colin Firth,
Brenda Bruce
14 October 1995
53a'Harold PinterHarold Pinter,
Simon Curtis
Ian Holm,
Penelope Wilton
21 October 1995
53b'Jim CartwrightSteve Shill,
Kevin Loader
Renée Asherson,
Robin Bailey,
June Brown,
Maurice Denham,
Richard E. Grant,
Lionel Jeffries
21 October 1995
54' William Shakespeare,
John Caird
John Caird,
Annie Castledine
Ronald Pickup,
John Woodvine,
Peter Jeffrey,
Joseph O'Conor,
David Calder,
Geoffrey Hutchings,
Jane Horrocks,
Elizabeth Spriggs,
Peter-Hugo Daly,
Paul Eddington,
Clive Kneller,
Toby Jones
28 October 1995
55'Patrick Marber,
August Strindberg
Patrick Marber,
Fiona Finlay
Geraldine Somerville,
Phil Daniels,
Kathy Burke
4 November 1995
61'Stephen SondheimSam Mendes,
Simon Curtis
Adrian Lester,
Sheila Gish,
Sophie Thompson
1 March 1997
62'Kevin ElyotRoger Michell,
Kevin Loader
David Bamber,
John Sessions,
Anthony Calf,
Kenneth MacDonald
15 March 1997
63'William ShakespeareDeborah Warner,
John Wyver
Fiona Shaw,
Graham Crowden,
Richard Bremmer,
Julian Rhind-Tutt,
Donald Sinden
22 March 1997
64'Arthur MillerDavid Thacker,
Fiona Finlay
Henry Goodman,
Margot Leicester,
Mandy Patinkin,
Elizabeth McGovern,
Ed Bishop
29 March 1997
65'William Shakespeare,
Penny Woolcock
Penny Woolcock,
Alison Gilby
James Frain,
Susan Vidler,
Ray Winstone
5 April 1997
71'William ShakespeareRichard Eyre,
Sue Birtwistle, Joy Spink
Ian Holm
Timothy West,
Amanda Redman,
Michael Bryant
21 March 1998