Drama1970–1985BBC One

The Best Episodes of Play for Today

Every episode of Play for Today ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Play for Today!

Best episode
S8E14 The Spongers
8.584 votes
Worst episode
S9E16 The Last Window Cleaner
4.915 votes
Top season
Season 6
7.4avg
Binge time
16d 7h
314 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons14

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Play for Today Season 8 Episode 14 - The Spongers
    8.5/10(84 votes)

    S8:E14

    The story of a single mother of four living on welfare

    Director:Roland Joffé
    Writer:Jim Allen

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  2. Play for Today Season 4 Episode 19 - The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
    8.5/10(72 votes)

    S4:E19

    The exploitation of the Scottish land and its people from the 18th century to the present

    Director:John Mackenzie
    Writer:John McGrath

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  3. Play for Today Season 2 Episode 18 - A Time to Keep
    8.4/10(103 votes)

    S2:E18

    No description available

    Director:Michael Simpson
    Writer:Peter Terson

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  4. Play for Today Season 6 Episode 10 - Rumpole of the Bailey
    8.2/10(176 votes)

    S6:E10

    Rumpole defends a young West Indian boy accused of attempted murder.

    Director:John Gorrie
    Writer:John Mortimer

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  5. Play for Today Season 11 Episode 12 - The Muscle Market
    8.4/10(59 votes)

    S11:E12

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

    Director:Alan Dossor
    Writer:Alan Bleasdale

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  6. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 7 - United Kingdom
    8.6/10(34 votes)

    S12:E7

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

    Director:Roland Joffé
    Writer:Jim Allen

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Play for Today

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  7. Play for Today Season 11 Episode 17 - The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner
    8.7/10(28 votes)

    S11:E17

    A group of men hold a reunion dinner in Tokyo

    Director:Baz Taylor
    Writer:Stewart Parker

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  8. Play for Today Season 11 Episode 8 - The Flipside of Dominick Hide
    8.1/10(429 votes)

    S11:E8

    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.

    Director:Alan Gibson
    Writers:Jeremy Paul, Alan Gibson

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  9. Play for Today Season 7 Episode 12 - Spend, Spend, Spend
    8.2/10(82 votes)

    S7:E12

    The rags-to-riches-to-rags story of a 1960s football pools winner, based on a true story

    Director:John Goldschmidt
    Writer:Jack Rosenthal

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  10. Play for Today Season 10 Episode 5 - Just a Boy's Game
    8.0/10(286 votes)

    S10:E5

    In Glasgow, a young man's sole aim is to be as tough as his dying grandfather once was

    Director:John Mackenzie
    Writer:Peter McDougall

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  11. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 16 - Our Day Out
    8.0/10(271 votes)

    S8:E16

    When a teacher takes a group of troubled school children on a school trip to Conwy in Wales, the children understand life outside of Liverpool.

    Director:Pedr James
    Writer:Willy Russell

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  12. Play for Today Season 5 Episode 1 - Leeds--United!
    8.1/10(94 votes)

    S5:E1

    About a strike in a textile factory, based on a true story

    Director:Roy Battersby
    Writer:Colin Welland

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  13. Play for Today Season 10 Episode 3 - Comedians
    8.1/10(72 votes)

    S10:E3

    Budding comedians take an evening class taught by a retired performer and, for their final exam, must perform for an impresario in a nightclub.

    Director:Richard Eyre
    Writer:Trevor Griffiths

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  14. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 3 - Abigail's Party
    7.9/10(2577 votes)

    S8:E3

    Comedy of manners focusing on the bourgeois affectation and sexual frustration of a young married couple. Abigail's mother Sue is invited to take refuge from her teenage daughter's party with a neighbouring couple, Beverly and Laurence. They have also invited Angela and Tony, new arrivals in the street. Beverly plies her guests with alcohol as Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on. Slowly, marital tensions emerge and the evening is breaking up in disarray.

    Director:Mike Leigh
    Writer:Mike Leigh

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  15. Play for Today Season 5 Episode 8 - Gangsters
    8.1/10(65 votes)

    S5:E8

    A story exploring the Birmingham underworld

    Director:Philip Saville
    Writer:Philip Martin

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  16. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 16 - Too Late to Talk to Billy
    8.0/10(97 votes)

    S12:E16

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

    Director:Paul Seed
    Writer:Graham Reid

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  17. Play for Today Season 9 Episode 13 - Waterloo Sunset
    8.4/10(22 votes)

    S9:E13

    A young man and an old woman try to fit in when their neighborhood goes West Indian

    Director:Richard Eyre
    Writer:Barrie Keeffe

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  18. Play for Today Season 6 Episode 12 - Nuts in May
    7.8/10(2399 votes)

    S6:E12

    Smug married couple Keith and Candice Marie “keen exponents of their belief in organic health food, exercise and the environment” are on a camping holiday, where they find that it is not always easy to be tolerant of others when they don't share the same enthusiasms.

    Director:Mike Leigh
    Writer:Mike Leigh

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  19. Play for Today Season 4 Episode 1 - Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont
    8.1/10(39 votes)

    S4:E1

    Mrs Palfrey tries hard to be accepted by the other residents at the Claremont. But then she meets Ludo and a real friendship begins.

    Director:Michael Lindsay-Hogg
    Writers:Ray Lawler, Elizabeth Taylor

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  20. Play for Today Season 6 Episode 3 - Moss
    8.5/10(17 votes)

    S6:E3

    Moss is a miser whose only love is his grandson. Then tragedy strikes, and Moss is "reborn."

    Director:Philip Saville
    Writer:Bernard Kops

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  21. Play for Today Season 9 Episode 21 - Don't Be Silly
    8.0/10(55 votes)

    S9:E21

    A young wife tries to cope with her abusive husband.

    Director:Kenneth Ives
    Writer:Rachel Billington

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  22. Play for Today Season 2 Episode 2 - Edna, the Inebriate Woman
    7.8/10(247 votes)

    S2:E2

    Edna, the Inebriate Woman is a British television drama written by Jeremy Sandford which was transmitted by the BBC as part of the Play for Today series on 21 October 1971. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, Irene Shubik produced it. The play deals with an elderly woman, Edna, who wanders through life in an alcoholic haze without a home, a job or any money. A rambling, pathetic yet defiant woman, Edna sleeps rough and begs for food and shelter and the drama follows her progress as she moves from hostel to hostel, going to a psychiatric ward and then prison along the way. Jeremy Sandford, who had previously written Cathy Come Home, researched the play by living rough himself for two weeks. A great deal of the dialogue and the incidents in the play come from the book, 'Down and Out in Britain' published by Jeremy Sandford in 1971; although the majority of the speakers in the book are male, Jeremy Sandford puts much of their speech into the mouth of the female character.

    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writer:Jeremy Sandford

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  23. Play for Today Season 5 Episode 17 - The Saturday Party
    8.1/10(32 votes)

    S5:E17

    When a stockbroker loses his job, he decides to throw a party.

    Director:Barry Davis
    Writer:Brian Clark

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  24. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 15 - Destiny
    8.1/10(32 votes)

    S8:E15

    A story dealing with racial tensions and fascism during a by-election in a West Midlands town

    Director:Mike Newell
    Writer:David Edgar

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  25. Play for Today Season 5 Episode 15 - Just Another Saturday
    7.8/10(183 votes)

    S5:E15

    A young man participating in the Orange Parade in Glasgow becomes disillusioned with the pageant when he discovers its unpleasant and violent history and witnesses the participants' attacks on Catholics.

    Director:John Mackenzie
    Writer:Peter McDougall

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Best Episodes Summary

"The Spongers" is the best rated episode of Play for Today. It scored 8.5/10 from 84 votes. Directed by Roland Joffé and written by Jim Allen, it aired on January 24, 1978.

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