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.
Showing Season 10 of 15
Season 10
1979
No overview available.
01. Long Distance Information
1979-10-11
A fanatical Elvis Presley fan is working as a disc jockey when his idol dies
02. Cries from a Watchtower
1979-10-18
A watchmaker finds his livelihood is threatened by cheaply imported digital watches.
03. Comedians
1979-10-25
Budding comedians take an evening class taught by a retired performer and, for their final exam, must perform for an impresario in a nightclub.
04. Even Solomon
1979-11-01
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.
05. Just a Boy's Game
1979-11-08
In Glasgow, a young man's sole aim is to be as tough as his dying grandfather once was
06. Billy
1979-11-15
A 4-year-old boy is abused by his father
07. A Hole in Babylon
1979-11-29
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.
08. The Slab-Boys
1979-12-06
The story of a young man who works in a carpet factory
09. Katie: The Year of a Child
1979-12-13
A teenage girl from a family of Irish Travellers is left to look after her brothers and sisters while her father is away.
10. The Network
1979-12-20
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?
11. Chance of a Lifetime
1980-01-03
A young man quits school and joins the army.
12. Keep Smiling
1980-01-10
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.
13. Dreams of Leaving
1980-01-17
A journalist moves to London and gets caught up in the big city and his romance with a rich debutante.
14. Thicker Than Water
1980-01-24
Various characters have adventures on the way to a black pudding festival in Normandy.
15. Murder Rap
1980-01-31
An Englishman's home is his castle, and Wally aims to prove it.
16. Instant Enlightenment Including VAT
1980-02-07
Weekend enlightenment seminars serve as a form of brainwashing.
17. No Defence
1980-02-14
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.
18. That Crazy Woman
1980-02-21
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.
19. A Gift from Nessus
1980-02-28
The marital and career problems of a middle-aged, middle-class man in Glasgow in the 1960s
20. Kate, the Good Neighbour
1980-03-06
A compassionate elderly woman comes to the realization that she can no longer care for herself or others.
21. Buses
1980-03-13
A story about the regulation of the bus industry in 1930
22. Shadows on Our Skin
1980-03-20
The problems of an 11-year-old boy living in the Catholic part of Londonderry
23. Ladies
1980-03-27
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?
24. The Vanishing Army
1980-04-03
A story about the highs and lows of peacetime army life
25. Not for the Likes of Us
1980-04-10
"I dunno, years of putting up with it, waiting on you all, for what? Eh? To become a 14-stone invisible woman?"
26. The Executioner
1980-04-17
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.
27. The Imitation Game
1980-04-24
During World War II, an idealistic young woman joins the Army Transport Service
28. A Walk in the Forest
1980-05-14
A writer gets involved with a Soviet dissident