| Network: | BBC1 |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Num Episodes: | 306 (28 missing, 1 incomplete) |
| Genre: | Drama, television plays, anthology, social realism, kitchen-sink drama |
| Runtime: | Various |
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 (with a few exceptions noted below) between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration. A handful of these plays, including Rumpole of the Bailey, subsequently became television series in their own right.
The strand was a successor to The Wednesday Play, the 1960s anthology series, the title being changed when the day of transmission moved to Thursday to make way for a sport programme. Some works, screened in anthology series on BBC2, like Willy Russell's Our Day Out (1977), were repeated on BBC1 in the series. The producers of The Wednesday Play, Graeme MacDonald and Irene Shubik, transferred to the new series. Shubik continued with the series until 1973[1] while MacDonald remained with the series until 1977 when he was promoted. Later producers included Kenith Trodd (1973–1982), David Rose (1972–1980), Innes Lloyd (1975–1982), Margaret Matheson (1977–1979), Sir Richard Eyre (1978–1980), and Pharic MacLaren (1974–1982).
Plays covered all genres. In its time, Play for Today featured contemporary social realist dramas, historical pieces, fantasies, biopics and occasionally science-fiction[2] (The Flipside of Dominick Hide, 1980). Most pieces were written directly for television, but there were also occasional adaptations from other narrative forms, such as novels and stage plays.
Writers who contributed plays to the series included Ian McEwan, John Osborne, Dennis Potter, Stephen Poliakoff, Sir David Hare, Willy Russell, Alan Bleasdale, Arthur Hopcraft, Alan Plater, Graham Reid, David Storey, Andrew Davies, Rhys Adrian and John Hopkins.
Several prominent directors also featured, including Stephen Frears, Alan Clarke, Michael Apted, Mike Newell, Roland Joffé, Ken Loach, Lindsay Anderson, and Mike Leigh. Some of the best remembered plays broadcast in the strand include Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971), The Foxtrot (1971), Home (1972), The Fishing Party (1972), Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976), The Other Woman (1976), Abigail's Party (1977), Blue Remembered Hills (1979) and Just a Boys' Game (1979). Certain other plays, including Penda's Fen (1974) and Nuts in May (1976), were commissioned by David Rose of the BBC's English Regions Drama department based in Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham.
Some installments in the series were spun off into full-blown series, including Rumpole of the Bailey, which was produced as a one-off in the Play for Today strand in 1975 and three years later became a series for Thames Television, again with Leo McKern. Alan Bleasdale's The Black Stuff, was a single play broadcast on BBC2 in January 1980, which was developed into Boys from the Blackstuff. It was never part of the Play For Today strand, although it was repeated on BBC1 later that year as a single play.[3] [4]
Other offshoots were Gangsters, Headmaster, and a single series of science fiction-based plays styled as Play for Tomorrow. Towards the end of the run, three plays set in Northern Ireland were written by Graham Reid. Known as the Billy Plays, they starred Kenneth Branagh as Billy Martin in his first acting role following his graduation from RADA.
There were also some groups of plays transmitted that — for various reasons — did not go out under the Play for Today banner, but which were funded from the same department, used much the same production team and are generally regarded in episode guides and analysis as being part of the Play for Today canon.
Several plays were BAFTA award winners. John Le Mesurier and Patricia Hayes were named Best Actor and Actress, respectively, for their roles in the 1971 series Traitor and Edna, The Inebriate Woman, the latter also being named Best Drama Production. Dame Celia Johnson was named Best Actress for Mrs. Palfrey At The Claremont, broadcast in 1973. Stocker's Copper (1972), Kisses At Fifty (1973), Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976), Spend, Spend, Spend! (1977), Licking Hitler (1978) and Blue Remembered Hills (1979) were all named Best Single Play by BAFTA.
Videotapes of thirty-seven of the episodes produced between 1970 and 1975 were wiped after transmission, and no copies of many of them are known to exist.[5] [6]
Two plays were controversially pulled from transmission shortly before broadcast due to concerns over their content: these were Dennis Potter's Brimstone & Treacle in 1976 and Roy Minton's Scum the following year. In the case of Brimstone & Treacle it was due to concerns over the play's depiction of a disabled woman's rape at the hands of a man who may possibly have been the devil, and with Scum the worry was its supposed sensationalism of life in a borstal. Scum and Brimstone & Treacle were eventually transmitted, although in the meantime both had circumvented their withdrawal by being re-made as cinema films.
One play, The Other Woman, generated some mild controversy for its "graphic depiction" of lesbianism, and for the onscreen kiss between Jane Lapotaire and Lynne Frederick.[7] [8]
After fourteen series and numerous repeats of individual productions, the programme officially ended in August 1984, although two series of single dramas without Play for Today billing were broadcast on BBC1 in a similar time slot from July to December 1983 and from November 1984 to February 1985. Thereafter the strand of single dramas became Screen Two on BBC2 from January 1985, and later also Screen One on BBC1 from September 1989. The general trend in 1980s television production was away from one-off plays and towards a greater concentration on series and serials. When one-offs were produced, such as Film on Four on Channel 4, they tended to be made with a cinematic approach rather than betraying television drama's roots in the theatre that Play for Today and earlier series on both the BBC and ITV had often demonstrated.
Nonetheless, the series is generally remembered as a benchmark of high-quality British television drama, and has become a byword for what many continue to argue was a golden age of British television. In 2000, the British Film Institute produced a poll of industry professionals to determine the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century, and five of the programmes included in the final tally were from Play for Today.
A new programme publicised as a return of Play for Today, but under the working title of The Evening Play, was announced at the beginning of March 2006,[9] but nothing has been heard from it since. Kevin Spacey, film star and director of the Old Vic, in March 2008 told BBC News that he would like to see the return of the show,[10] but the journalists Michael Gove and Mark Lawson expressed disagreement, Gove (by then a Conservative MP) describing them, at best counter-intuitively, as "exercises in viewer patronisation".[11] [12] Jan Moir in The Daily Telegraph wrote in support of Spacey, saying "the British loved Play for Today once, and would do so again. A good piece of drama looks at the human condition, and tells us something we should know about ourselves."[13]
A book detailing the origins of the series, by Simon Farquhar, was published in 2021.
The following list was sourced according to the BBC Genome archive of Radio Times magazines.[14] Titles that carried the tag Play For Today on the BBC listings for their first or subsequent transmission are included, along with some repeats such as the repeat of the Days of Hope quartet, where the initial broadcast was not branded Play for Today, but the repeat was. Repeats of the individual productions are excluded. All episodes were broadcast on BBC1, except for the delayed broadcast of Scum in 1991 which was broadcast on BBC2.
Some early episodes are missing or no longer exist in colour.
| Original Air Date | Title | Author(s) | Producer | Director | Lead Actor | Home Media | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1 | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Long Distance Piano Player, The" | The Long Distance Piano Player | Repeated 13 Apr 1972. 16 mm b&w print | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Right Prospectus, The" | The Right Prospectus | Repeated 16 Dec 1971. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Lie, The" | The Lie | data-sort-value="Bergman, Ingmar" | Ingmar Bergman & Paul Britten Austin | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set[15] | Written by Ingmar Bergman, translated by Paul Britten Austin. A production for The Largest Theatre in the World project of the EBU. Winner of the SFTA award for best drama production of 1970. Repeated on BBC2 31 Mar 1971, and on BBC1 16 Mar 1972. | |||||
| Angels Are So Few | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Write-Off, The" | The Write-Off | Canadian production. Missing. | ||||||||
| I Can't See My Little Willie | Repeated 18 May 1972. Missing except for domestic audio recording. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Distant Thunder, A" | A Distant Thunder | Missing. | ||||||||
| Hearts and Flowers | Repeated 9 Mar 1972. 16 mm b&w print | |||||||||
| Robin Redbreast | DVD release by the BFI[16] | Due to a power cut, the ending of this episode was blacked out in many areas, necessitating a repeat of the full episode on 25 Feb 1971.[17] 16mm b&w print | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Hallelujah Handshake, The" | The Hallelujah Handshake | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set [18] | Repeated 23 Dec 1971. | |||||||
| Alma Mater | Repeated 4 May 1972. Missing. | |||||||||
| Circle Line | The Winner of the BBCtv Student Play Competition. Missing. | |||||||||
| Hell's Angel | David Agnew is a BBC in-house pen name typically used when multiple writers contributed to a script. Anthony Read was the author commissioned to write the play. Repeated 25 May 1972. Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Piano, The" | The Piano | Repeated 10 Aug 1972. | ||||||||
| Billy's Last Stand | Repeated 20 Apr 1972. Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Rainbirds, The" | The Rainbirds | A production for The Largest Theatre in the World project of the EBU. | ||||||||
| Reddick | Canadian production. Missing. | |||||||||
| No Trams to Lime Street | data-sort-value="Owen, Alun" | Alun Owen (Book), Marty Wilde & Ronnie Scott (Music & Lyrics) | Musical. First shown under The Wednesday Play, 18/03/1970.[19] | |||||||
| Mad Jack | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 04/02/1970. Winner of the first prize and the silver Dore Catholic Prize at the 1971 Monte Carlo International Television Festival. | |||||||||
| Scenes from Family Life | First shown under Plays of Today on BBC2, 25/09/1969. | |||||||||
| Wind Versus Polygamy | First shown under Theatre 625 15/07/1968 and then The Wednesday Play, 27/05/1970. | |||||||||
| Playmates | First shown within Double Bill of The Wednesday Play on 26/11/1969. | |||||||||
| Sovereign's Company | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 22/04/1970. | ||||||||
| Season of the Witch | data-sort-value="McCarthy, Desmond" | Desmond McCarthy & Johnny Byrne | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 07/01/1970. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Foxtrot, The" | The Foxtrot | Repeated 30 Mar 1972. 16 mm b&w print | ||||||||
| When The Bough Breaks | Repeated 11 May 1972. | |||||||||
| Orkney | data-sort-value="Mackay Brown, George" | Three stories by George Mackay Brown, adapted by John McGrath: A Time to Keep, The Whaler's Return and Celia. Repeated 27 Apr 1972. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Rank and File, The" | The Rank And File | Included on the Ken Loach at the BBC DVD boxset[20] | Entertain BBCDVD3395, 2011 | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Man in the Sidecar, The" | The Man in the Sidecar | Repeated 24 Aug 1972. Missing. | ||||||||
| Everybody Say Cheese | Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Cellar And The Almond Tree, The" | The Cellar and the Almond Tree | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 04/03/1970. Repeated on BBC2 13 Dec 1980 and on BBC1 14 Jul 1988. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Italian Table, The" | The Italian Table | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 18/02/1970. | ||||||||
| There Is Also Tomorrow | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 19/11/1969. | |||||||||
| Chariot of Fire | First shown under The Wednesday Play, 20/05/1970. | |||||||||
| Series 2 | ||||||||||
| Traitor | BAFTA Best Actor (John Le Mesurier). Repeated on BBC2 27 Feb 1973 and on BBC1 21 Jul 1987. | |||||||||
| Edna, the Inebriate Woman | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set[21] | BAFTA Best Actress (Patricia Hayes) & Drama Production. Repeated 2 Mar 1972, on BBC2 20 Aug 1977 and on BBC2 3 Nov 1986. | ||||||||
| Evelyn | Repeated 27 Jul 1972 and on BBC2 20 Feb 1973. | |||||||||
| O Fat White Woman | Repeated 16 Jul 1973. | |||||||||
| Thank You Very Much | Duration 40 minutes. 16 mm b&w print. | |||||||||
| Michael Regan | Repeated 17 Aug 1972. | |||||||||
| Skin Deep | data-sort-value="O'Neill, Michael" | Michael O'Neill & Jeremy Seabrook | Missing. | |||||||
| Pal | Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Pigeon Fancier, The" | The Pigeon Fancier | 16mm b&w print | ||||||||
| Home | DVD release by Metrodome[22] | A NET/CBC production. Adapted by the playwright from his original stage play. Repeated on BBC2 6 Feb 1973. | ||||||||
| Still Waters | Repeated 3 Aug 1972. | |||||||||
| Stocker's Copper | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set[23] | BAFTA Best Single Play. Writers' Guild Awards 1972: Best British Original Teleplay. Repeated 18 Dec 1972 and 31 Aug 1982. Shown in the USA on 23 July 1977 as a Piccadilly Circus episode. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="House On Highbury Hill, The" | The House On Highbury Hill | Missing. | ||||||||
| In the Beautiful Caribbean | Missing. | |||||||||
| Ackerman, Dougall and Harker | Repeated 6 Aug 1973. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Villa Maroc, The" | The Villa Maroc | Repeated 30 Jul 1973. | ||||||||
| Cows | Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Fishing Party, The" | The Fishing Party | DVD release by Simply Media[24] | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 9 Jul 1973 and on BBC2 4 Aug 1993. | |||||||
| Series 3 | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Reporters, The" | The Reporters | Repeated 3 Jan 1974 and 18 Apr 1974. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Life Is For Ever, A" | A Life Is For Ever | Repeated 11 Jul 1974. Missing. | ||||||||
| Carson Country | ||||||||||
| Man Friday | Missing. | |||||||||
| Triple Exposure | ||||||||||
| Better Than the Movies | Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="General's Day, The" | The General's Day | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Bankrupt, The" | The Bankrupt | |||||||||
| Just Your Luck | BBC DVD[25] | Repeated 18 Jul 1974. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Bouncing Boy, The" | The Bouncing Boy | Repeated 25 Apr 1974. | ||||||||
| Shakespeare or Bust | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 4 Apr 1974. | ||||||||
| Land of Green Ginger | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 24 Jan 1974 and on BBC4 26 Mar 2005. | |||||||||
| Kisses at Fifty | BAFTA Best Single Play. Repeated 20 Dec 1973 and on BBC2 11 Aug 1993. | |||||||||
| Highway Robbery | data-sort-value="O'Neill, Michael" | Michael O'Neill & Jeremy Seabrook | Missing. | |||||||
| Song at Twilight | Missing. | |||||||||
| Only Make Believe | Repeated 2 May 1974. | |||||||||
| For Sylvia, or the Air Show | data-sort-value="Burrows, John" | John Burrows & John Harding | Missing. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Operation, The" | The Operation | |||||||||
| Access to the Children | Repeated 9 May 1974. | |||||||||
| Hard Labour | Included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set[26] | Entertain, 2009 | Repeated 30 May 1974, on BBC2 18 Aug 1993, and on BBC4 14 Jul 2008 and 7 Dec 2021. | |||||||
| Man Above Men | Missing. | |||||||||
| Speech Day | Repeated 10 Jan 1974. | |||||||||
| Steps Back | ||||||||||
| Three's One | Missing. | |||||||||
| Edward G - Like the Filmstar | Missing. | |||||||||
| Blooming Youth | Repeated 16 May 1974. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Stretch, The" | The Stretch | Missing. | ||||||||
| Making the Play | data-sort-value="Brady, Terence" | Terence Brady & Charlotte Bingham | Missing. | |||||||
| Series 4 | ||||||||||
| Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont | Adapted from the novel. BAFTA Best Actress (Celia Johnson). Repeated 20 Mar 1975. | |||||||||
| Her Majesty's Pleasure | ||||||||||
| Jack Point | Repeated 3 Apr 1975. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Emergency Channel, The" | The Emergency Channel | Missing. | ||||||||
| Mummy and Daddy | Incomplete. | |||||||||
| Private Practice | Missing. | |||||||||
| Shutdown | Repeated 19 Jun 1975. | |||||||||
| Baby Blues | ||||||||||
| Jingle Bells | Missing. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Lonely Man's Lover, The" | The Lonely Man's Lover | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 6 Feb 1975. | ||||||||
| All Good Men | ||||||||||
| Joe's Ark | Repeated 19 Dec 1974, 7 Jul 1987, and on BBC4 30 Jan 2005. | |||||||||
| Hot Fat | Missing. | |||||||||
| Easy Go | data-sort-value="Clark, Brian" | Brian Clark & Ronnie King, Cliff Norris, Peter French, Paul Stuart, Tony Ali, Paul Bishop, Deirdre Walsh, Janice Reeves | Postponed from 7 Feb 1974. | |||||||
| Headmaster | Repeated 12 Jun 1975. Spun off as a series in 1977. | |||||||||
| Penda's Fen | Blu-ray and DVD by the BFI;[27] also included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 13 Feb 1975. | ||||||||
| Pidgeon - Hawk or Dove? | ||||||||||
| Three for the Fancy | Repeated 28 Aug 1974. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil, The" | Blu-ray & DVD releases by Panamint Cinema[28] | Adapted from the stage play. Repeated 17 Apr 1975. | ||||||||
| Schmoedipus | Repeated 10 Apr 1975. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Childhood Friend, The" | The Childhood Friend | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Follower For Emily, A" | A Follower for Emily | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | ||||||||
| Series 5 | ||||||||||
| " | Leeds — United! | Duration 115 minutes. Repeated 12 Aug 1976. Repeated on BBC4 3 Nov 2020. | ||||||||
| Baby Love | Adapted from the play. | |||||||||
| Back of Beyond | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set | Repeated 5 Aug 1976. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Bevellers, The" | The Bevellers | From BBC Scotland | ||||||||
| Taking Leave | ||||||||||
| Fugitive | ||||||||||
| Eleanor | ||||||||||
| Gangsters | Included on the 'Gangsters' DVD set[29] | Entertain CCTV30272, 2006 | From BBC Birmingham. Duration 110 minutes. Repeated 2 Sep 1976. Spun off as a series. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="After Dinner Game, The" | The After Dinner Game | data-sort-value="Bradbury, Malcolm" | Malcolm Bradbury & Christopher Bigsby | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||
| Breath | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Death Of A Young Young Man, The" | The Death of a Young Young Man | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| Sunset Across the Bay | Included on the Alan Bennett at the BBC DVD boxset[30] | Entertain BBCDVD3041, 2009 | Repeated 19 Aug 1976 and on BBC2 26 Jul 1992. | |||||||
| Funny Farm | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | |||||||||
| Goodbye | From the novel by William Sansom. | |||||||||
| Just Another Saturday | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set & The Peter McDougall Collection DVD set[31] | Winner of the 1975 Italia Prize for Television Drama Programmes. Repeated on BBC2 7 Nov 1975, on BBC1 26 Aug 1976 and on BBC2 24 Aug 1977. | ||||||||
| Child of Hope | Based on Joel Carlson's book No Neutral Ground. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Saturday Party, The" | The Saturday Party | Repeated 25 April 1977, the day before its sequel, The Country Party. | ||||||||
| Wednesday Love | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Dandelion Clock, The" | The Dandelion Clock | Missing. | ||||||||
| Brassneck | data-sort-value="Brenton, Howard" | Howard Brenton & David Hare | Adapted from the play. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Floater, The" | The Floater | |||||||||
| Series 6 | ||||||||||
| Plaintiffs and Defendants | Shown in the USA on 16 July 1977 as a Piccadilly Circus episode. | |||||||||
| Two Sundays | Repeated 1 Sep 1977. | |||||||||
| Moss | ||||||||||
| 84, Charing Cross Road | data-sort-value="Hanff, Helene" | Helene Hanff & Hugh Whitemore | Adapted from the book. Repeated 21 Jul 1977. | |||||||
| Keep an Eye on Albert | ||||||||||
| Children of the Sun | data-sort-value="O'Neill, Michael" | Michael O'Neill & Jeremy Seabrook | Missing. Final missing episode. | |||||||
| After the Solo | ||||||||||
| Through the Night | Repeated 4 Aug 1977. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Passage to England, A" | A Passage to England | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set | Repeated 25 Aug 1977. | |||||||
| Rumpole of the Bailey | DVD release by Acorn[32] | Repeated 16 May 1993, and on BBC4 18 and 19 Jan 2009. Spun off as a long-running series on ITV (Thames Television). | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Other Woman, The" | The Other Woman | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| Nuts in May | Included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 11 Aug 1977, on BBC2 5 Sep 1982 and 27 Dec 1993, and on BBC4 19 Apr 2009, 20 Jul 2010, 6 May 2012 and 1 Dec 2014. | ||||||||
| Doran's Box | From BBC Birmingham. Exists only as a domestic video recording. | |||||||||
| Packman's Barn | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Story to Frighten the Children, A" | A Story to Frighten the Children | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Happy Hunting Ground, The" | The Happy Hunting Ground | |||||||||
| Jumping Bean Bag | ||||||||||
| Clay, Smeddum and Greenden | data-sort-value="Grassic Gibbon, Lewis" | Trilogy by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, dramatised by Bill Craig; from BBC Scotland. Repeated 18 Aug 1977. | ||||||||
| Love Letters on Blue Paper | ||||||||||
| Willie Rough | Adapted from the stage play. | |||||||||
| Tiptoe Through the Tulips | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Peddler, The" | The Peddler | |||||||||
| Early Struggles | ||||||||||
| Double Dare | Repeated 28 Jul 1977, and on BBC4 6 Feb 2005. | |||||||||
| Series 7 | ||||||||||
| Bar Mitzvah Boy | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set & the Jack Rosenthal at the BBC DVD set.[33] | BAFTA Best Single Play and Best Writer awards, 1976. Repeated 6 May 1977, 28 Feb 1978 and 23 Jun 1997, and on BBC4 18 Jul 2004 and 17 Mar 2005. | ||||||||
| Bet Your Life | ||||||||||
| Rocky Marciano Is Dead | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Elephants' Graveyard, The" | The Elephants' Graveyard | Included on the Play for Today Vol .2 BFI Blu-ray set & The Peter McDougall Collection DVD set | Repeated 25 Jul 1978. | |||||||
| Housewives' Choice | ||||||||||
| Your Man from Six Counties | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set | |||||||||
| Buffet | ||||||||||
| Love on a Gunboat | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Kiss Of Death, The" | The Kiss of Death | Included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||
| Our Flesh and Blood | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set | From BBC Birmingham. Repeated 29 Aug 1978. | ||||||||
| Do As I Say | ||||||||||
| " | Spend, Spend, Spend! | Included on the Jack Rosenthal at the BBC DVD set | Based on the book by Vivian Nicholson and Stephen Smith. BAFTA Best Single Play. Repeated 1 Jun 1978. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Photograph, A" | A Photograph | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 1 BFI Blu-ray set | ||||||||
| Gotcha | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set | Double Bill. Repeated 15 Aug 1978. | ||||||||
| Campion's Interview | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Choice of Evils, A" | A Choice of Evils | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Country Party, The" | The Country Party | Sequel to The Saturday Party. | ||||||||
| Series 8 | ||||||||||
| Stronger Than the Sun | Repeated 21 Feb 1978, and on BBC4 21 Jan 2003, 14 May 2003 and 5 Mar 2006. | |||||||||
| Come the Revolution | ||||||||||
| Abigail's Party | DVD release by BBC;[34] also included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set | Adapted from the stage play. Repeated 7 Aug 1979, on BBC2 6 Sep 1982, 5 Jul 1992 and 1 Nov 1997, and on BBC4 26 Jun 2002, 11 Aug 2002, 28 Oct 2007, 17 Dec 2007, 7 Nov 2010, 21 Mar 2013, 24 Nov 2014, 14 Oct 2020 and 1 Jun 2022. | ||||||||
| Oy Vay Maria | ||||||||||
| Nipper | ||||||||||
| One Day at a Time | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Mayor's Charity, The" | The Mayor's Charity | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set | ||||||||
| Catchpenny Twist | Repeated 21 Aug 1979. | |||||||||
| Charades | From BBC Scotland | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Thin End of the Wedge, The" | The Thin End of the Wedge | From BBC Scotland | ||||||||
| Scully's New Year's Eve | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| Licking Hitler | From BBC Birmingham. BAFTA Best Single Play. Repeated 31 Jul 1979. | |||||||||
| Red Shift | BFI DVD[35] | From BBC Birmingham. Adapted from the novel. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Spongers, The" | The Spongers | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set | Duration 105 minutes. Prix Italia 1978, Golden Award and Best Script at Prague 1978. Repeated 6 Sep 1979, and on BBC2 25 Aug 1993 and 17 Jul 1999. | |||||||
| Destiny | Adapted from the play. Duration 105 minutes. Repeated 14 Aug 1979. | |||||||||
| Our Day Out | DVD release by Simply Media[36] | First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2, 28 December 1977. Repeated on BBC2 26 Dec 1979, and in 3 instalments under Scene, 14, 21 & 28 Jan 1994, and on BBC4 22 Aug 2008. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="After Dinner Joke, The" | The After Dinner Joke | |||||||||
| Days of Hope 1916 - Joining Up | Included on the Ken Loach at the BBC DVD boxset | First shown 11 September 1975. | ||||||||
| Days of Hope 1921 - Every Pit in Britain Is Idle | First shown 18 September 1975. | |||||||||
| Days Of Hope 1924 - A Miracle | First shown 25 September 1975. | |||||||||
| Days Of Hope 1926 - General Strike | First shown 2 October 1975. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Price of Coal: Meet the People, The" | The Price of Coal Meet the People | Included on the Ken Loach at the BBC DVD boxset | First shown 29 March 1977. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Price of Coal: Back to Reality, The" | The Price of Coal Back to Reality | First shown 5 April 1977. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Legion Hall Bombing, The" | The Legion Hall Bombing | |||||||||
| Series 9 | ||||||||||
| Nina | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | |||||||||
| Victims of Apartheid | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Touch of the Tiny Hacketts, A" | A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts | data-sort-value="Esmonde, John" | John Esmonde & Bob Larbey | |||||||
| Dinner at the Sporting Club | DVD release by Simply Media[37] | |||||||||
| Donal and Sally | Best Direction, 1979 Prague International Television Festival. Repeated 8 Jul 1980. | |||||||||
| Sorry… | data-sort-value="Havel, Václav" | Václav Havel & Vera Blackwell | Adapted and translated by Vera Blackwell from the Vaněk plays Private View (a.k.a. Unveiling) and Audience. Repeated 6 Jan 1990. | |||||||
| Butterflies Don't Count | ||||||||||
| Soldiers Talking, Cleanly | ||||||||||
| One Bummer News Day | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Out of Town Boys, The" | The Out of Town Boys | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| Vampires | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Chief Mourner, The" | The Chief Mourner | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| Waterloo Sunset | Repeated 5 Aug 1980. | |||||||||
| Blue Remembered Hills | Included on the Helen Mirren at the BBC DVD set | BAFTA Best Single Play and Best Director 1979. Repeated on BBC2 30 May 1980 and 6 Nov 1986, and on BBC4 5 Jun 2008. | ||||||||
| Who's Who | Included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set | Repeated on BBC2 7 Sep 1982. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Last Window Cleaner, The" | The Last Window Cleaner | |||||||||
| Ploughman's Share | From BBC Scotland | |||||||||
| Degree of Uncertainty | From BBC Scotland | |||||||||
| Light | ||||||||||
| Coming Out | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set | Repeated on BBC2 13 Jun 1980. | ||||||||
| Don't Be Silly | Repeated 12 Aug 1980. Repeated on BBC4 10 Nov 2020. | |||||||||
| Series 10 | ||||||||||
| Long Distance Information | Repeated on BBC2 4 Oct 1980. | |||||||||
| Cries from a Watchtower | ||||||||||
| Comedians | Adapted from the stage play. Repeated 19 Aug 1980, and on BBC2 9 May 1993. | |||||||||
| Even Solomon | ||||||||||
| Just a Boys' Game | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 2 BFI Blu-ray set; The Peter McDougall Collection DVD set | Repeated 26 Aug 1980. Repeated on BBC4 27 Oct 2020. | ||||||||
| Billy | Repeated 10 Nov 1981. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Hole in Babylon, A" | A Hole in Babylon | data-sort-value="Hawkins, Jim" | Jim Hawkins & Horace Ové | Included on the Play for Today Vol. 3 BFI Blu-ray set | Based on events of the 1975 Spaghetti House siege. Repeated on BBC2 27 Jun 1992. Repeated on BBC4 20 Oct 2020. | |||||
| data-sort-value="Slab Boys, The" | The Slab Boys | DVD release by John Williams Productions[38] | Adapted from the play. | |||||||
| Katie: The Year of a Child | data-sort-value="Cullen, Ian" | Ian Cullen & John Norton | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Network, The" | The Network | |||||||||
| The Black Stuff | Included on the 'Boys from the Black Stuff' DVD set[39] | The Black Stuff was commissioned and produced for the Play for Today strand in 1978, but not broadcast until 1980, as a one-off play on BBC2 (not billed as a Play for Today). However BBC sources today generally do refer to it as a Play for Today.[40] Repeated on BBC1 30 Jul 1981, and on BBC4 19 Sep 2010 and 17 Nov 2020. | ||||||||
| Chance of a Lifetime | Repeated 3 Sep 1981. | |||||||||
| Keep Smiling | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| Dreams of Leaving | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| Thicker Than Water | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| Murder Rap | Repeated 13 Aug 1981. | |||||||||
| Instant Enlightenment Including VAT | Postponed from 22 Nov 1979. | |||||||||
| No Defence | ||||||||||
| That Crazy Woman | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Gift From Nessus, A" | A Gift from Nessus | data-sort-value="McIlvanney, William" | William McIlvanney & Bill Craig | Novel by William McIlvanney, dramatised by Bill Craig; from BBC Scotland. | ||||||
| Kate, the Good Neighbour | Repeated 27 Aug 1981. | |||||||||
| Buses | ||||||||||
| Shadows on Our Skin | data-sort-value="Johnston, Jennifer" | Jennifer Johnston & Derek Mahon | Screenplay by Derek Mahon from the novel by Jennifer Johnston. Repeated 20 Aug 1981. | |||||||
| Ladies | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Vanishing Army, The" | The Vanishing Army | First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2 29 Nov 1978, and repeated on BBC1 28 Aug 1979. | ||||||||
| Not for the Likes of Us | From BBC Bristol | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Executioner, The" | The Executioner | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Imitation Game, The" | The Imitation Game | DVD release by Simply Media[41] | Repeated on BBC2 8 Sep 1981 and 12 May 1993. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Walk in the Forest, A" | A Walk in the Forest | Repeated on BBC2 6 Jul 1980. | ||||||||
| On Giant's Shoulders | data-sort-value="Wallace, Marjorie" | Marjorie Wallace, Michael Robson, William Humble & Anthony Simmons | Based on the book by Marjorie Wallace and Michael Robson, dramatised by William Humble and Anthony Simmons. First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2, 28 Mar 1979. Repeated on BBC2 4 Nov 1986. | |||||||
| Fearless Frank | First shown as a Play of the Week on BBC2, 4 Oct 1978. | |||||||||
| Series 11 | ||||||||||
| Pasmore | data-sort-value="Eyre, Richard" | Richard Eyre & David Storey | Screenplay by Richard Eyre from the novel by David Storey. Repeated 10 Aug 1982. | |||||||
| C2H5OH | Title is the chemical formula for ethanol (alcohol). | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Adventures of Frank: 1 - Everybody's Fiddling Something, The" | The Adventures of Frank: 1 - Everybody's Fiddling Something | A musical play in two parts by John McGrath, with music by Mark Brown and additional songs by Mike O'Neill and Si Cowe. | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Adventures of Frank: 2 - Seeds of Ice, The" | The Adventures of Frank: 2 - Seeds of Ice | |||||||||
| Minor Complications | Repeated 3 Aug 1982. | |||||||||
| Jude | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Flipside of Dominick Hide, The" | The Flipside of Dominick Hide | data-sort-value="Paul, Jeremy" | Jeremy Paul & Alan Gibson | DVD release by BBC[42] | Entertain, 2005 | Repeated 7 Dec 1982, and on BBC4 26 Feb 2006, 20 May 2006 and 26 Jul 2008. | ||||
| Name for the Day | ||||||||||
| Jessie | Repeated 11 Dec 1982. | |||||||||
| Beyond the Pale | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Muscle Market, The" | The Muscle Market | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado, A" | A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Cause, The" | The Cause | |||||||||
| Beloved Enemy | data-sort-value="Leland, David" | David Leland & Charles Levinson | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | Derived from the book Vodka Cola by Charles Levinson. | ||||||
| data-sort-value="Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner, The" | The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Union, The" | The Union | |||||||||
| Sorry | Repeated 17 Aug 1982. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Garland, The" | Shai Mala Khani The Garland | data-sort-value="Nazareth, H.O." | H. O. Nazareth & Horace Ové | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||
| data-sort-value="Sin Bin, The" | The Sin Bin | |||||||||
| Before Water Lilies | ||||||||||
| Bavarian Night | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Good Time Girls, The" | The Good Time Girls | From BBC Scotland. Repeated 27 Jul 1982. | ||||||||
| Baby Talk | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Turn for the Worse, A" | A Turn for the Worse | |||||||||
| Psy-Warriors | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | Adapted from the play. | ||||||||
| Series 12 | ||||||||||
| Country | Repeated on BBC2 26 May 1993. Repeated on BBC4 12 Oct 2020. | |||||||||
| London Is Drowning | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Room for the Winter, A" | A Room for the Winter | |||||||||
| No Visible Scar | ||||||||||
| Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain | Repeated on BBC2 15 Feb 1989. | |||||||||
| Protest | data-sort-value="Havel, Václav" | Václav Havel & Vera Blackwell | Translated and adapted by Vera Blackwell from the play. | |||||||
| United Kingdom | ||||||||||
| P.Q. 17 | data-sort-value="Milner, Roger" | Roger Milner & Captain Jack Broome | From the book Convoy Is to Scatter by Captain Jack Broome. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Factory, The" | The Factory | |||||||||
| England's Greens and Peasant Land | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Cotswold Death, A" | A Cotswold Death | |||||||||
| Under the Skin | ||||||||||
| Commitments | Adapted from the play. Exists only as a domestic video recording. | |||||||||
| Life After Death | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Silly Season, The" | The Silly Season | From BBC Scotland | ||||||||
| Too Late to Talk to Billy | First of the Billy trilogy. Repeated 3 May 1983.Repeated on BBC4 5 October 2022. | |||||||||
| Willie's Last Stand | ||||||||||
| Tishoo | ||||||||||
| Home, Sweet Home | Included on the Mike Leigh at the BBC DVD set | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Sudden Wrench, A" | A Sudden Wrench | Repeated on BBC2 18 Mar 1983. | ||||||||
| Eve Set the Balls of Corruption Rolling | From BBC Scotland. Pye Award for Best Writer New to Television, 1982 | |||||||||
| Whistling Wally | ||||||||||
| Series 13 | ||||||||||
| Soft Targets | Included on the Helen Mirren at the BBC DVD set[43] | Entertain, 2008 | Repeated on BBC4 25 Jan 2003. | |||||||
| 3 Minute Heroes | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Remainder Man, The" | The Remainder Man | |||||||||
| Intensive Care | Repeated on BBC2 9 Aug 1992. | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Mother Like Him, A" | A Mother Like Him | |||||||||
| John David | ||||||||||
| Aliens | From BBC Scotland | |||||||||
| Another Flip for Dominick | data-sort-value="Paul, Jeremy" | Jeremy Paul & Alan Gibson | BBC DVD release | Repeated on BBC4 27 May 2006 and 2 Aug 2008. | ||||||
| Last Love | ||||||||||
| Gates of Gold | ||||||||||
| Wayne and Albert | ||||||||||
| Atlantis | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Last Term, The" | The Last Term | |||||||||
| Reluctant Chickens | From BBC Birmingham | |||||||||
| Shall I Be Mother? | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Falklands Factor, The" | The Falklands Factor | |||||||||
| data-sort-value="Matter of Choice for Billy, A" | A Matter of Choice for Billy | Second of the Billy trilogy.Repeated on BBC4 5 October 2022. | ||||||||
| Series 14 | ||||||||||
| Young Shoulders | data-sort-value="Wain, John" | John Wain & Robert Smith | Screenplay by Robert Smith and John Wain of the novel. | |||||||
| data-sort-value="Coming to Terms for Billy, A" | A Coming to Terms for Billy | Third of the Billy trilogy. From BBC Northern Ireland. Repeated on BBC4 12 October 2022. | ||||||||
| Z for Zachariah | Adapted from the novel. Duration 120 minutes. | |||||||||
| Moving on the Edge | ||||||||||
| Desert of Lies | ||||||||||
| Hard Feelings | Adapted from the play. | |||||||||
| Under the Hammer | ||||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| Rainy Day Women | Repeated on BBC2 8 Sep 1990. | |||||||||
| Dog Ends | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Groundling and the Kite, The" | The Groundling and the Kite | From BBC Birmingham | ||||||||
| data-sort-value="Cry, The" | The Cry | data-sort-value="Mahon, Derek" | Derek Mahon & Chris Menaul from a story by John Montague | Adapted from a story by John Montague. | ||||||
| It Could Happen to Anybody | From BBC Scotland | |||||||||
| Only Children | ||||||||||
| data-sort-value="Amazing Miss Stella Estelle, The" | The Amazing Miss Stella Estelle | |||||||||
| Postponed broadcasts | ||||||||||
| Brimstone & Treacle | BBC DVD release[44] | Entertain, 2004 | Postponed from 6 April 1976. Repeated on BBC2 5 Sep 1998 and on BBC4 2 Jan 2005. | |||||||
| Scum | Included in the Dissent & Disruption: Alan Clarke at the BBC Blu-ray set | Postponed from 8 November 1977. | ||||||||
| Unbroadcast | Pillion | Recorded in 1979 but never transmitted. | ||||||||
The BFI have released three box sets of the series on Blu-ray, each consisting of various plays from throughout the show's run. Volume 1 contains seven plays broadcast between 1970 and 77; The Lie (1970), Shakespeare or Bust (1973), Back of Beyond (1974), Passage to England (1975), Your Man from Six Counties (1976), Our Flesh and Blood (1977), and A Photograph (1977). Five of the productions were remastered using the original 16mm film negatives which still exist in the BBC Archives.
Volume 2 contains six plays broadcast between 1972 and 79; Stocker's Copper (1972), The Elephants' Graveyard (1976), Gotcha / Campion's Interview (1977), The Spongers (1978), Victims of Apartheid (1978), and Just a Boys' Game (1979).
Volume 3, released on 21 March 2022, contains six plays broadcast between 1971 and 79; Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971), Just Another Saturday (1975), Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976), The Mayor's Charity (1977), Coming Out (1979), and A Hole in Babylon (1979).
Robin Redbreast, Penda's Fen, Abigail's Party, Our Day Out, The Imitation Game and several others have received standalone releases on DVD and Blu-ray, whilst others have been released on compilation DVDs with the creators' other works.