from the social realism of which he had grown tired. Although the Independent Television Authority (ITA), the regulator of the commercial channel at the time, had not objected to the production, Howard Thomas of ABC feared that it would give offence to viewers. The programme controller at ABC, Brian Tesler, explained the later change of heart: "We believe that the climate of opinion concerning black comedy has changed in the past two years. When the play was recorded we felt that many people might fail to appreciate the compassion which underlies the irony in Mr Exton's play." Another play from this period was not so lucky. The Blood Knot (recorded 18 May 1963), a two-hander by the South African writer Athol Fugard with apartheid as its theme, was never scheduled. Spin-offs and influence The programme occasionally spun off ideas into full-blown series such as Armchair Mystery Theatre, hosted by Donald Pleasence, which specialised in crime and mystery thrillers. A 1962 adaptation of John Wyndham's short story Dumb Martian, scripted by Clive Exton, was a deliberate showcase for the spin-off science fiction anthology Out of This World. Two 1967 episodes became series. One of these was developed into the sitcom Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width, while the other, A Magnum for Schneider, became the pilot for the spy series Callan. After the 1968 ITV franchise changes and ABC's merger into Thames, the programme continued until 1974. Hugely popular at its peak, with audiences occasionally touching twenty million, Armchair Theatre had an important influence on later programmes such as the BBC's The Wednesday Play (1964–70), a series initiated by Sydney Newman after he had moved to the BBC. Overall, 452 plays were made and broadcast under the Armchair Theatre banner between 1956 and 1974. As with much early British television, not all of the plays from the original ABC series survive in the archives, owing either to live plays not being recorded or to recordings being destroyed. Two later Thames series used the Armchair... prefix: Armchair Cinema, effectively a series of TV movies, and Armchair Thriller (1978–80), which used a serial format. Armchair Theatre was satirised on the BBC Radio comedy series Round the Horne as Armpit Theatre. Home media A DVD boxset featuring eight colour episodes from 1970 to 1973 was released by Network DVD in January 2010. It contains the following episodes: Say Goodnight to Your Grandma Office