Play for Today

1h 15min

Drama

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Episodes

Cast

The Long Distance Piano Player

1. The Long Distance Piano Player

1h 15min

15th Oct 1970

A man tries to break the world's record for nonstop piano playing

The Right Prospectus

2. The Right Prospectus

1h 15min

22nd Oct 1970

A couple look for the proper school, not for their children but for themselves.

The Lie

3. The Lie

1h 15min

29th Oct 1970

""The Lie"" refers to the 8-year marriage of a couple who are constantly hurting each other.

Angels Are So Few

4. Angels Are So Few

1h 15min

5th Nov 1970

A man claiming to be an angel enters the household of a bored housewife and teaches the family a few lessons.

The Write-Off

5. The Write-Off

1h 15min

12th Nov 1970

A man is made redundant but can't bring himself to let anyone know, plunging into a web of deceit as he keeps up the charade he is still in work.

I Can't See My Little Willie

6. I Can't See My Little Willie

1h 15min

19th Nov 1970

A man has a mid-life crisis in his brother's pub where sees life as a game show

A Distant Thunder

7. A Distant Thunder

1h 15min

26th Nov 1970

A newly-appointed knight finds his celebrations cut short by someone who was witness to his treachery during the war.

Hearts and Flowers

8. Hearts and Flowers

1h 15min

3rd Dec 1970

A TV host and his architect brother attend their father's funeral

Robin Redbreast

9. Robin Redbreast

1h 15min

10th Dec 1970

A woman living in a country cottage thinks that someone is trying to get her.

The Hallelujah Handshake

10. The Hallelujah Handshake

1h 15min

17th Dec 1970

A petty thief and social misfit finagles his way into a church congregation

Alma Mater

11. Alma Mater

1h 15min

7th Jan 1971

A civil servant working abroad revisits his old school

Circle Line

12. Circle Line

1h 15min

14th Jan 1971

A cynical student has a radically different view of life from his landlady, leading to conflict. Matters come to a head when he sleeps with her fourteen-year-old brother.

Hell's Angel

13. Hell's Angel

1h 15min

21st Jan 1971

A couple are distressed by the changes in their adopted teenage son when he joins a biker gang.

The Piano

14. The Piano

1h 15min

28th Jan 1971

An old couple refuse to move when they find out that they can't take their piano with them

Billy's Last Stand

15. Billy's Last Stand

1h 15min

4th Feb 1971

Billy, a self-employed coal-shoveller, gains a seedy business partner and competition in the form of a rival coal-shoveller.

The Rainbirds

16. The Rainbirds

1h 15min

11th Feb 1971

A man who attempted suicide by jumping out a window is saved only to live in a coma, in which he has fantasies about his relatives and nightmare creatures.

Reddick

17. Reddick

1h 15min

18th Feb 1971

Charges that the Rev 'Red' Reddick is exploiting his youth club members leads to an explosive confrontation.

The Foxtrot

18. The Foxtrot

1h 15min

29th Apr 1971

An odd menage a trois results when a woman and her lover are visited by her long-lost husband

When the Bough Breaks

19. When the Bough Breaks

1h 15min

6th May 1971

When an injured baby arrives at the hospital, a social worker looks for the parents

Orkney

20. Orkney

1h 15min

13th May 1971

A trilogy of plays--A Time to Keep, The Whaler's Return, and Celia--exploring the life of the islanders in the past and present

The Rank and File

21. The Rank and File

1h 15min

20th May 1971

The story of the Pilkington glass workers strike of 1970

The Man in the Sidecar

22. The Man in the Sidecar

1h 15min

27th May 1971

A succesful novelist Edith lives with her husband and his friend, but she decides to ask the friend to leave.

Everybody Say Cheese

23. Everybody Say Cheese

1h 15min

3rd Jun 1971

The story of a disintegrating marriage told through family photos

The Cellar and the Almond Tree

24. The Cellar and the Almond Tree

10th Jun 1971

First air date

15th Oct 1970

Last air date

28th Aug 1984

Status

Ended

Type

Scripted

Original language

en

Networks