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Play for Today

Play for Today

Season 11

October 21, 1980 27 episodes

All Episodes

Pasmore
E1
Guide

E1. Pasmore

75m Oct 21, 1980

Colin Pasmore tests his strength against his family ties but finds them stronger than he ever imagined.

C2H5OH
E2
Guide

E2. C2H5OH

75m Oct 28, 1980

"In heaven there is no drama - drama depends on failure and conflict. My trade is a scrutiny of hell. For any proud dramatist his style is his prejudice."

The Adventures of Frank: Everybody's Fiddling Something
E3
Guide

E3. The Adventures of Frank: Everybody's Fiddling Something

75m Nov 4, 1980

Writer-director John McGrath deliberately shies away from naturalism in an experiment that mixes blue screen, songs, and characters realising they're acting within a play. This first of two parts sees Frank travel to a hostile London.

The Adventures of Frank: Seeds of Ice
E4
Guide

E4. The Adventures of Frank: Seeds of Ice

75m Nov 11, 1980
Minor Complications
E5
Guide

E5. Minor Complications

75m Nov 18, 1980

Kay Gilbert goes into hospital for a minor operation which goes badly wrong. This play tells the story of her fight for compensation.

Number on End
E6
Guide

E6. Number on End

75m Nov 25, 1980

What could Steve Jackson's documentary film expose that must be concealed from the African leaders meeting in Brussels? Steve Jackson is on the run and the wrong decision could prove fatal.

Jude
E7
Guide

E7. Jude

75m Dec 2, 1980

Twelve-year-old Jude has never met Dick, his father. One Sunday afternoon Dick impulsively engineers a meeting, which has distressing consequences.

The Flipside of Dominick Hide
E8
Guide

E8. The Flipside of Dominick Hide

75m Dec 9, 1980

Dominick Hide, a time traveller from London in the year 2130, is studying the city's transport system of 1980. Breaking the rules, he lands his craft to seek out his great-grandfather. Compared to his anaesthetised home, 80s London is filthy and polluted...and yet...it exudes an excitement that soon draws him in.

Name for the Day
E9
Guide

E9. Name for the Day

75m Dec 16, 1980

Clive admits himself to a psychiatric hospital after undergoing a breakdown. His wife wants him back home, but in order for Clive to be released, he has to want to be cured.

Jessie
E10
Guide

E10. Jessie

75m Dec 23, 1980

In Victorian times, a nanny cares for a mute boy, who becomes overly attached to her.

Beyond the Pale
E11
Guide

E11. Beyond the Pale

75m Jan 6, 1981

A vacation at a seaside hotel in Ireland changes the lives of four friends.

The Muscle Market
E12
Guide

E12. The Muscle Market

75m Jan 13, 1981

The problems of an owner of a building contractor company in Liverpool

A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado
E13
Guide

E13. A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado

75m Jan 20, 1981

"They're nice affable gobblers and we're in the nice affable gobbling business." Tom and Gwen soon find that their gastronomical retreat from the rat race is anything but an escape when the Porters come to dine.

Dear Brutus
E14
Guide

E14. Dear Brutus

75m Jan 27, 1981

"They say that in the wood you get what nearly everybody here is longing for - a second chance." J. M. Barrie's fantasy play, depicting alternative realities for its characters and their eventual return to real life.

The Cause
E15
Guide

E15. The Cause

75m Feb 3, 1981

A confused industrial dispute at a London hospital triggers off in trade unionist George Harley's mind memories of his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War, when the issues seemed so much clearer.

Beloved Enemy
E16
Guide

E16. Beloved Enemy

75m Feb 10, 1981

The head of a multinational corporation wants to do business with the Soviets

The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner
E17
Guide

E17. The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner

75m Feb 17, 1981

A group of men hold a reunion dinner in Tokyo

The Union
E18
Guide

E18. The Union

75m Feb 24, 1981

You know the nuts and bolts of our policy? To penetrate the unions. To use all sorts of stratagems, manoeuvres, illegal measures, evasions, subterfuges, to carry on Communist activities inside them at all cost.

Sorry
E19
Guide

E19. Sorry

75m Mar 3, 1981

Two very different women share an office, a common enemy, and a sense of humour.

Shai Mãlã Khani: The Garland
E20
Guide

E20. Shai Mãlã Khani: The Garland

75m Mar 10, 1981

When her 17-year-old son Roy falls in love with a Muslim girl, and a Bangladeshi butcher seeks help from her husband Raji, Leela realizes that the tears and romance of Indian cinema are closer to her own life than she has ever imagined.

The Sin Bin
E21
Guide

E21. The Sin Bin

75m Mar 17, 1981

Six lifers living in an experimental self-rehabilitation unit attached to an ordinary prison participate in a group therapy session. All of them have spent many years in prison and have little chance of ever getting out.

Before Water Lillies
E22
Guide

E22. Before Water Lillies

75m Mar 24, 1981

An evening with the Parent-Teacher Association gets out of hand.

Bavarian Night
E23
Guide

E23. Bavarian Night

75m Mar 31, 1981

When the dynamic young head-master of St Peter's Primary School decides to liven up a parents' fund-raising social by hiring a Bavarian band, he little suspects the hidden passions that are about to be unleashed.

The Good Time Girls
E24
Guide

E24. The Good Time Girls

75m Apr 7, 1981

Nancy and Ella are two bored housewives starved of affection when their husbands are away on the oil rigs. The rules are simple: have some fun, just make sure nobody finds out, and you don't get emotionally involved.

Baby Talk
E25
Guide

E25. Baby Talk

75m Apr 14, 1981

It's such a simple, natural thing to have a baby, thinks Mary. But she and husband Paul are preoccupied with their careers. Can their young neighbour Tessa help - or are the emotions around a new baby more complex than anyone had expected?

A Turn for the Worse
E26
Guide

E26. A Turn for the Worse

75m Apr 28, 1981

Soldiers are subjected to a brutal and sadistic kind of psychological training exercise

Psy-Warriors
E27
Guide

E27. Psy-Warriors

75m May 12, 1981

Soldiers are captured and interrogated by terrorists: but is it real or only a sadistic form of psychological training exercise?

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