Play for Today

1. 1. The Long Distance Piano Player

   Oct 15, 1970

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

2. 2. The Right Prospectus

   Oct 22, 1970

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

3. 3. The Lie

   Oct 29, 1970

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

4. 4. Angels Are So Few

   Nov 5, 1970

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

5. 5. The Write-Off

   Nov 12, 1970

   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.

6. 6. I Can't See My Little Willie

   Nov 19, 1970

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

7. 7. A Distant Thunder

   Nov 26, 1970

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

8. 8. Hearts and Flowers

   Dec 3, 1970

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

9. 9. Robin Redbreast

   Dec 10, 1970

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

10. 10. The Hallelujah Handshake

    Dec 17, 1970

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

11. 11. Alma Mater

    Jan 7, 1971

    A civil servant working abroad revisits his old school

12. 12. Circle Line

    Jan 14, 1971

    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.

13. 13. Hell's Angel

    Jan 21, 1971

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

14. 14. The Piano

    Jan 28, 1971

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

15. 15. Billy's Last Stand

    Feb 4, 1971

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

16. 16. The Rainbirds

    Feb 11, 1971

    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.

17. 17. Reddick

    Feb 18, 1971

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

18. 18. The Foxtrot

    Apr 29, 1971

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

19. 19. When the Bough Breaks

    May 6, 1971

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

20. 20. Orkney

    May 13, 1971

    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

21. 21. The Rank and File

    May 20, 1971

    The story of the Pilkington glass workers strike of 1970

22. 22. The Man in the Sidecar

    May 27, 1971

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

23. 23. Everybody Say Cheese

    Jun 3, 1971

    The story of a disintegrating marriage told through family photos

24. 24. The Cellar and the Almond Tree

    Jun 10, 1971

About

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.

First aired

1970-10-15

Era

70s

Length

14 seasons · 314 episodes

Genres

Drama