Play for Today

1970 - 1985

The Long Distance Piano Player

15th October 1970

Episode 1

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

The Right Prospectus

22nd October 1970

Episode 2

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

The Lie

29th October 1970

Episode 3

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

Angels Are So Few

5th November 1970

Episode 4

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

The Write-Off

12th November 1970

Episode 5

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

19th November 1970

Episode 6

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

A Distant Thunder

26th November 1970

Episode 7

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

Hearts and Flowers

3rd December 1970

Episode 8

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

Robin Redbreast

10th December 1970

Episode 9

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

The Hallelujah Handshake

17th December 1970

Episode 10

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

Alma Mater

7th January 1971

Episode 11

A civil servant working abroad revisits his old school

Circle Line

14th January 1971

Episode 12

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

21st January 1971

Episode 13

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

The Piano

28th January 1971

Episode 14

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

Billy's Last Stand

4th February 1971

Episode 15

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

The Rainbirds

11th February 1971

Episode 16

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

18th February 1971

Episode 17

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

The Foxtrot

29th April 1971

Episode 18

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

When the Bough Breaks

Episode 19

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

Orkney

Episode 20

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

Episode 21

The story of the Pilkington glass workers strike of 1970

The Man in the Sidecar

Episode 22

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

Everybody Say Cheese

Episode 23

The story of a disintegrating marriage told through family photos

The Cellar and the Almond Tree

Episode 24

No overview available.

Top Cast

Writer

Colin Welland

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.

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Graeme MacDonald

Producer

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Colin Welland

Writer

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