← Play for Today

Series 12

22 episodes · 1981

  1. 1

    Country

    Oct 20, 198175 min★ 6.9

    The story of the disintegration of an aristocratic country estate after World War II

  2. 2

    London Is Drowning

    Oct 27, 198175 min★ 6.3

    A docudrama about what would happen if London was hit by severe flooding

  3. 3

    A Room for the Winter

    Nov 3, 198175 min★ 6.2

    James, an expatriate South African anti-apartheid fighter, deals with his nightmares and his complaining landlady in a run-down area of London, while dreaming of his lover Stephen, left behind.

  4. 4

    No Visible Scar

    Nov 17, 198175 min★ 6.7

    A nurse is subjected to an interrogation after giving medical treatment to a terrorist leader.

  5. 5

    Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain

    Nov 24, 198175 min★ 7.8

    In Belfast, Ruby has a cold and is caught in the rain while Iris is looking for work and gets caught in traffic

  6. 6

    Protest

    Dec 1, 198175 min★ 6.0

    In an adaptation of Václav Havel's play, a dissident, newly released from prison for political reasons, attempts to get his well-connected friend to sign a protest. In this one man play, both the roles are played by Nigel Hawthorne.

  7. 7

    United Kingdom

    Dec 8, 198175 min★ 8.6

    Two men on a local council fight the system when forced with massive spending cuts.

  8. 8

    PQ17

    Dec 15, 198175 min★ 6.7

    During World War II, a British officer is ordered to abandon a Russian convoy.

  9. 9

    The Factory

    Dec 22, 198175 min★ 6.2

    A manager, a foreman, and two workers are all that remains of a factory yet labor relations stay the same

  10. 10

    England's Green and Pleasant Land

    Jan 5, 198275 min★ 7.2

    A planning decision must be made, and the motorway extension must go through on either the Golf Course or the Allotments - will the greens survive or the peasant lands?

  11. 11

    A Cotswold Death

    Jan 12, 198275 min★ 6.1

    A police inspector investigates the murder of an Arab sheik who had become a village's Lord of the Manor.

  12. 12

    Under the Skin

    Jan 19, 198275 min★ 5.5

    Three women involved in different ways in the women's movement.

  13. 13

    Commitments

    Jan 26, 198275 min★ 6.0

    Politics and relationships during the last years of the Heath government

  14. 14

    Life After Death

    Feb 2, 198275 min★ 6.6

    Meg: We were so close, we loved each other, we made a whole together. I feel cut in half.

  15. 15

    The Silly Season

    Feb 9, 198275 min★ 7.0

    Malcolm goes through life hating the mundanity of his existence as a factory worker and an unloved husband. But when students take up summer jobs at the factory, it reawakens both his passion for political feeling and romantic urges.

  16. 16

    Too Late to Talk to Billy

    Feb 16, 198275 min★ 8.0

    A family in Belfast deals with life after the death of the mother from cancer

  17. 17

    Willie's Last Stand

    Feb 23, 198275 min★ 7.6

    Willie and his friends notice the passage of time around them, and how society is changing as their marriages stagnate. Can Willie prove to himself that he still has it, by being able to cheat on his wife just once?

  18. 18

    Tishoo

    Mar 9, 198275 min★ 6.6

    Frank has dedicated 19 years to researching a cure for the common cold, and is almost ready to publish a paper. Yet budget cuts and his own inability to form real relationships with those around him threaten to derail the project.

  19. 19

    Home Sweet Home

    Mar 16, 198288 min★ 7.2

    Three postal workers and their dysfunctional families interact over cups of tea and Sunday dinner. Home Sweet Home is a 1982 television film devised and directed by Mike Leigh, for BBC TV, 'about postmen, parenthood, social workers and sex.' It was Leigh's second collaboration with Play for Today producer Louis Marks, and cinematographer Remi Adefarasin, and with composer Carl Davis—the music score featured a quartet of basses. The film was shot on location in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

  20. 20

    A Sudden Wrench

    Mar 23, 198275 min★ 7.5

    "My life is over - and I just didn't notice it passing." A call to a radio helpline leads to depressed housewife Christine finding a new direction in life.

  21. 21

    Eve Set the Balls of Corruption Going

    Mar 30, 198275 min★ 7.0

    Adolescents will always be obsessed by the same old subject, even when they are educated by nuns. Six ex-Classmates meet for the first time in 12 years and hilarious memories change into highly emotional situations.

  22. 22

    Whistling Wally

    Apr 6, 198275 min★ 6.9

    While Wally was happy there wasn't much wrong with the world, and pints seemed a small price to pay for what he gave us. But don't forget what we gave him. We gave him the knowledge he was important, at least to us.