borrowed a great deal from dramatic radio productions developed between the First and the Second World Wars. In the 1920s the BBC pioneered dramatic readings of books. In 1925 it broadcast A Christmas Carol. Later, John Reith, wanting to use radio waves to "part the clouds of ignorance", came up with the idea of a 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, summarised his approach as follows: "The story is simple, with clear cut characters, and falls easily into episodes. It always seems to me, that it is the first duty of an adapter to reproduce in another medium the original flavour and atmosphere of the book". Inglis compressed several characters into one and simplified the plotline. The production struck a chord with listeners and served as a prototype for dramatic productions that followed it. BBC television broadcasts ceased in 1939, as did the production of television receivers, resuming in 1946 after World War II. The golden age of British television enjoyed its peak around the same time as in the United States, ranging from approximately 1949 to 1955 – although the term has been used to describe the period until the mid-1970s. Soviet Union/Russia The "Golden Age" of the Soviet media culture is usually associated with Khrushchev Thaw, which spanned from the mid-1950s until the end of 1960s. The live nature of television and relatively young age of the people involved in its development afforded certain level of exuberance, edginess, debate and criticism. Like in the United States, this period is notable for many television plays broadcast on Soviet television. For example, in 1951–1954 the Central Television Studio broadcast three to six plays a week. As time went on, the quantity and quality of the theatrical television productions diminished. The reasons were technical, social, and economic. Staging a new production in a television studio every other day was expensive. The shortage of mobile cameras often precluded broadcasting live performance from a theater. Theaters became increasingly reluctant to offer their shows to television, claiming that television draws the public away from theaters. Some theatrical directors prohibited actors to participate in television shows. Theaters started demanding payment for broadcasting of their plays, and by the end of 1960s the frequency of theatrical shows fell to one show a week. Because the