Play for Today

A fanatical Elvis Presley fan is working as a disc jockey when his idol dies

A watchmaker finds his livelihood is threatened by cheaply imported digital watches.

Budding comedians take an evening class taught by a retired performer and, for their final exam, must perform for an impresario in a nightclub.

Stephen Piper is a quiet young man. A virgin, he shows no interest in sex, and is cruelly scorned by an aggressive female neighbour when he rebuffs her advances. He lives with his mother, an overbearing woman who mocks him for being wet. But Stephen has a secret. An accurate and heartfelt depiction of the challenges he faces and a fascinating glimpse at the gender politics of the day.

In Glasgow, a young man's sole aim is to be as tough as his dying grandfather once was

A 4-year-old boy is abused by his father

Exploration of the events leading up to 1975 Spaghetti House siege in London and the motivation of its three protagonists, T-Bone Wilson, Archie Pool, and Trevor Thomas.

The story of a young man who works in a carpet factory

A teenage girl from a family of Irish Travellers is left to look after her brothers and sisters while her father is away.

What do Rose from Devon and Christina from Stuttgart have in common? And in what way is their fate linked to that of wealthy Fiona Dunkerley?

A young man quits school and joins the army.

Family picnics should not be like this: bugging devices, men with X-ray eyes. Mary doesn't understand what terrifies Simon, nor the bizarre events of the next six months.

A journalist moves to London and gets caught up in the big city and his romance with a rich debutante.

Various characters have adventures on the way to a black pudding festival in Normandy.

An Englishman's home is his castle, and Wally aims to prove it.

Weekend enlightenment seminars serve as a form of brainwashing.

Mr. Germanou arrives from Cyprus with his family to settle in England. But on his arrival he's arrested for an historical rape with seemingly no defence.

Twenty years ago, at the age of 56, this extraordinary woman became a national hero by walking from John O'Groats to Land's End. One of the last great English eccentrics (even though she was Russian) in the last days of English innocence.

The marital and career problems of a middle-aged, middle-class man in Glasgow in the 1960s

A compassionate elderly woman comes to the realization that she can no longer care for herself or others.

A story about the regulation of the bus industry in 1930

The problems of an 11-year-old boy living in the Catholic part of Londonderry

The A Shift at the MHS department store are organising a wedding gift presentation for Elaine. But what's on Miriam's mind, and why does she seem so out of sorts?

A story about the highs and lows of peacetime army life

"I dunno, years of putting up with it, waiting on you all, for what? Eh? To become a 14-stone invisible woman?"

Jan and Meg Citron are on holiday in Germany. Their car is stopped by the police. A simple traffic offence? But their seemingly innocent past is ripped open and life will never be the same again.

During World War II, an idealistic young woman joins the Army Transport Service

A writer gets involved with a Soviet dissident