United Kingdom The British television "serial" is rooted in dramatic radio productions developed between the
first and
second World Wars. In the 1920s, the
BBC pioneered dramatic readings of books. In 1925, it broadcast
A Christmas Carol, which became a holiday favourite. Later,
John Reith, wanting to use radio waves to "part the clouds of ignorance", came up with the idea for
Classic Serial, based on a "classical" literary text. In 1939, the BBC adapted the romantic novel
The Prisoner of Zenda for radio broadcast. Its adapter, Jack Inglis, compressed several characters into one and simplified the plotline. The production struck a chord with listeners and served as a prototype for serials that followed it. Post-war,
BBC Television picked up the classic radio serial tradition by broadcasting
The Warden by
Anthony Trollope over six episodes in 1951.
Pride and Prejudice was serialised in 1952,
Jane Eyre in 1955. In 1953, the BBC broadcast the first serial written specifically for television: the six-part
The Quatermass Experiment. Its success paved the way for two more six-part serials:
Quatermass II in 1955 and
Quatermass and the Pit in 1958. In November 1960, the BBC televised a 13-episode adaptation of
Charles Dickens's
Barnaby Rudge. In December of that year, it broadcast a four-episode dramatisation of
Jane Austen's
Persuasion. To compete with commercial television, BBC launched
BBC2 in 1964. It had a new time slot allocated for classic serial adaptations on Saturday evenings. The late-night broadcast allowed for more risky and sophisticated choices and for longer episodes. In 1967,
The Forsyte Saga was broadcast in 26 50-minute episodes. Following its success in Britain, the series was shown in the United States on public television and broadcast all over the world and became the first BBC television series to be sold to the
Soviet Union.
North America Anthology series dominated American dramatic programming during the
Golden Age of Television, when "every night was opening night; one never knew when a flick of the knob would spark the birth of great theatrical literature". A different story and a different set of characters were presented in each episode. Very rarely, the stories were split into several episodes, like the 1955
Mr. Lincoln, from the
Omnibus series, which was presented in two parts, or the 1959 adaptation of
For Whom the Bell Tolls from the
Playhouse 90 series, which was initially planned by the director
John Frankenheimer to consist of three parts but was ultimately broadcast in two 90-minute installments. The high price and technical difficulties of staging a new play every week, which would cost as much as—or more than—an episode of a filmed television series, led to the demise of anthology programming by the end of the 1950s. The void was filled with less expensive series like
Gunsmoke or
Wagon Train, which featured the same characters every week and had higher potential for lucrative rebroadcast and syndication rights. It was the American success in 1969–1970 of the British 26-episode serial
The Forsyte Saga that made TV executives realize that finite, multi-episode stories based on novels could be popular and could provide a boost to weekly viewing figures.
The Blue Knight, a four-hour, made-for-television movie broadcast in one-hour segments over four nights in November 1973, has elsewhere been credited as the first miniseries on American television. The miniseries form continued in earnest in the spring of 1974, with the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's eight-part serial
The National Dream, based on
Pierre Berton's nonfiction book of the same name about the building of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, and
ABC's two-part
QB VII, based on the
novel of the same name by
Leon Uris. Following these initial forays, broadcasters used miniseries to bring other books to the screen.
Rich Man, Poor Man, based on the
eponymous novel by
Irwin Shaw, was broadcast in 12 one-hour episodes in 1976 by ABC. It popularized the miniseries format and started a decade-long golden age of television miniseries versions of popular books featuring stars above television class.
Japan Japanese serialized television production can be traced back to the
Sunday Diary of My Home, which was aired by
NTV in 1953 and consisted of 25 half-hour episodes. This "home drama" focused on generational differences and the contradictions of being a loving family in a confined space, outlining a style of drama that lives on to this day. In the same year, NHK tried its own variation of the home drama format in
Ups and Downs Toward Happiness, which comprised 13 episodes. Its protagonists, a formerly wealthy family fallen on hard times, is forced to struggle for its own existence. Since then,
Japanese television drama, also called , became a staple of
Japanese television.
South Korea South Korea began to broadcast
television series (,
Hangul transcription of "drama") in the 1960s. Since then, the shows have become popular worldwide, partially due to the spread of the
Korean Wave, with streaming services that offer multiple-language subtitles. Korean dramas are usually helmed by one director and written by one screenwriter, thus having a distinct directing style and language, unlike American television series, where often several directors and writers work together.
Soviet Union/Russia While the
Soviet Union was among the first European countries to resume television broadcast after the
Second World War, early Soviet television did not indulge its viewers with a variety of programming. News, sports, concerts, and movies were the main staples during the 1950s. With state control over television production and broadcast, television was intended not merely for entertainment but also as the means of education and propaganda. Soap operas, quiz shows and games were considered too lowbrow. In the beginning of the 1960s, television was expanding rapidly. The increase in the number of channels and the duration of daily broadcasts caused a shortage of content deemed suitable for broadcast. This led to the production of television films, in particular
multiple-episode television films ()—the official Soviet moniker for miniseries. a WWII
period drama, is considered the first Soviet miniseries. Other popular miniseries of the Soviet era include the 1973
Seventeen Moments of Spring;
Days of the Turbins (1976)—an adaptation of the
play of the same name by
Mikhail Bulgakov, about the fate of intelligentsia during the
October Revolution;
The Twelve Chairs (1976)—an adaptation of the
satirical novel of the same name by
Ilf and Petrov;
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979);
Little Tragedies (1979)—a collection of short theatrical plays based on works by
Alexander Pushkin;
The Suicide Club, or the Adventures of a Titled Person (1981) about the adventures of Prince Florizel, a character from
Robert Louis Stevenson's
Suicide Club stories;
Dead Souls (1984,)—an adaptation of the
novel of that name by
Nikolai Gogol; and
TASS Is Authorized to Declare... (1984). Numerous miniseries were produced for children in the 1970s–1980s. Among them are
The Adventures of Buratino (1976)—an adaptation of
The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino by
Alexey Tolstoy, which in turn is a retelling of
The Adventures of Pinocchio by
Carlo Collodi;
The Adventures of the Elektronic (1979); and
Guest from the Future (1985). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian television experienced a period of privatization and liberalization. Starting from the 2000s, a resurgence of book adaptations took place, such as
The Idiot (2003)—an adaptation of the
novel by
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and
The Master and Margarita (2005)—an adaptation of the
novel by Mikhail Bulgakov.
Brazil In Brazil, the
Rede Globo television network commenced the production of miniseries with the transmission of
Lampião e Maria Bonita, written by
Aguinaldo Silva and
Doc Comparato and directed by Paulo Afonso Grisolli, and broadcast in 1982 in eight episodes. Over one hundred miniseries were produced in Australia over the next decade. Historical dramas were particularly popular with Australian audiences during this period. Between 1984 and 1987, 27 out of a total of 34 Australian-made miniseries had historical themes. Some notable examples included
The Dismissal,
Bodyline,
Eureka Stockade,
The Cowra Breakout,
Vietnam, and
Brides of Christ. The narratives of these miniseries often followed one or two fictionalized individuals in the context of actual historical events and situations. Literary adaptations were also popular, with notable examples including
A Town like Alice,
A Fortunate Life,
The Harp in the South, and
Come in Spinner. The 1983 miniseries
Return to Eden was Australia's most successful to date, with over 300 million viewers around the world. It has been described as "the best Australian example of the melodramatic miniseries". The number of Australian-made miniseries declined in the 1990s, and many of those that were produced had more of an "international" focus, often starring American or British actors in leading roles and/or being filmed outside of Australia. ==Popularity==