The Eleventh Hour

was...

Little is known about this series. It probably originated in Australia for South African distribution. OTRR dates this show from the early 1940s, but that seems unlikely—the sound quality is too good. [Update: I have found a 15-minute episode dated 1941, but the closing commercial mentions missles that were first produced in 1959 (Navy Bullpup, Air Force Hound Dog).] The Wikipedia entry for Springbok Radio lists this series as having run from 1963-1971. That seems more likely. The episodes in my collection are dated 1969. Perhaps there were two series with the same name? Perhaps the 1940s episodes were cleaned up and rebroadcast? Perhaps one series was Australian and the other South African? I don't know. At least 51 episodes exist, some of which are reproductions of old Arch Oboler scripts from Lights Out! The show was engaging and well produced. I wouldn't be surprised if several hundred episodes were aired.

"Time... the silent herald of life and death, success or failure... the unseen force that measures Man's destiny, reaching its most fateful moment as it slowly strikes the Eleventh Hour." --- from the intro

[Update from OTR Trade Forum: "Major. I had a look at the episodes you made available on Multiply. The ones you list were the ones made in Australia [AU] by Artransa. 52 Episodes were made, of which 51 were broadcast in SA by Springbok Radio in 1965. When the Australian series ended, Springbok Radio continued the series with SA-made episodes produced at the CRC Studios in Johannesburg. The series ended in 1971. A total of 312 were made here [South Africa] of which 277 have been identified and archived here."

The previous post points to an arrchive where the 277 shows were stored [ZA]. That page now states: "Please note that no further updates of material will be made available here. The material that was available here has been removed. In future, newly restored material will only be available via Springbok Radio Preservation Society of South Africa Website. The material can be found in the 'Listen To / Luister Na' section of the site and will not be available as a download, but as streaming audio file through Windows Media Player. In order to make the stream easier, the bitrate on the material will be lowered slightly. This way, the people that really want to hear the material can do so. Downloads have been stopped because of misuse by certain pople and to stop the unauthorized broadcast of material. This site sadly became a milking cow and no longer will be. Your comment and suggestions are always welcome. Regards, The Springbok Preservation Society of South Africa."

Sources used to create my own log and double-check titles, dates and cast members: OTR Trade Forum (post long gone), SABC Radio Archives.