Drama

All Episodes of Play for Today

Browse all episodes of Play for Today

Binge this in 16d 7h•Peaking at 8.7/10

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

Airs on

Select Season:

Season 1

6.4/1035 votes
The Long Distance Piano Player
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 10/15/1970
A man tries to break the world's record for nonstop piano playing
Director: Philip Saville
Writer: Alan Sharp
6.3/1023 votes
The Right Prospectus
Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 10/22/1970
A couple look for the proper school, not for their children but for themselves.
Director: Alan Cooke
Writer: Unknown
7.4/1093 votes
The Lie
Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 10/29/1970
""The Lie"" refers to the 8-year marriage of a couple who are constantly hurting each other.
Director: Alan Bridges
Writer: Ingmar Bergman
7.8/1038 votes
Angels Are So Few
Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 11/5/1970
A man claiming to be an angel enters the household of a bored housewife and teaches the family a few lessons.
Director: Gareth Davies
Writer: Dennis Potter
N/A/100 votes
The Write-Off
Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 11/12/1970
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.
Director: Rudi Dorn
Writer: George Salverson
N/A/100 votes
I Can't See My Little Willie
Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 11/19/1970
A man has a mid-life crisis in his brother's pub where sees life as a game show
Director: Alan Clarke
Writer: Douglas Livingstone
N/A/100 votes
A Distant Thunder
Season 1 Episode 7 - Aired 11/26/1970
A newly-appointed knight finds his celebrations cut short by someone who was witness to his treachery during the war.
Director: James Ferman
Writer: Maurice Edelman
6.5/1030 votes
Hearts and Flowers
Season 1 Episode 8 - Aired 12/3/1970
A TV host and his architect brother attend their father's funeral
Director: Christopher Morahan
Writer: Peter Nichols
7.2/10716 votes
Robin Redbreast
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 12/10/1970
A woman living in a country cottage thinks that someone is trying to get her.
Director: James MacTaggart
Writer: John Bowen
7.4/10100 votes
The Hallelujah Handshake
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 12/17/1970
A petty thief and social misfit finagles his way into a church congregation
Director: Alan Clarke
Writer: Colin Welland
N/A/100 votes
Alma Mater
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 1/7/1971
A civil servant working abroad revisits his old school
Director: James Ferman
Writer: David Hodson, Dion Boucicault
N/A/100 votes
Circle Line
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/14/1971
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.
Director: Claude Whatham
Writer: W. Stephen Gilbert
N/A/100 votes
Hell's Angel
Season 1 Episode 13 - Aired 1/21/1971
A couple are distressed by the changes in their adopted teenage son when he joins a biker gang.
Director: Alan Cooke
Writer: Anthony Read
7.5/1020 votes
The Piano
Season 1 Episode 14 - Aired 1/28/1971
An old couple refuse to move when they find out that they can't take their piano with them
Director: James Cellan Jones
Writer: Julia Jones
N/A/100 votes
Billy's Last Stand
Season 1 Episode 15 - Aired 2/4/1971
Billy, a self-employed coal-shoveller, gains a seedy business partner and competition in the form of a rival coal-shoveller.
Director: John Glenister
Writer: Barry Hines
5.4/1018 votes
The Rainbirds
Season 1 Episode 16 - Aired 2/11/1971
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.
Director: Philip Saville
Writer: Clive Exton
N/A/100 votes
Reddick
Season 1 Episode 17 - Aired 2/18/1971
Charges that the Rev 'Red' Reddick is exploiting his youth club members leads to an explosive confrontation.
Director: Mervyn Rosenzveig
Writer: Munroe Scott
5.6/1015 votes
The Foxtrot
Season 1 Episode 18 - Aired 4/29/1971
An odd menage a trois results when a woman and her lover are visited by her long-lost husband
Director: Philip Saville
Writer: Rhys Adrian
7.8/1024 votes
When the Bough Breaks
Season 1 Episode 19 - Aired 5/6/1971
When an injured baby arrives at the hospital, a social worker looks for the parents
Director: James Ferman
Writer: Tony Parker
6.8/1020 votes
Orkney
Season 1 Episode 20 - Aired 5/13/1971
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
Director: James MacTaggart
Writer: John McGrath, George Mackay Brown
6.8/1090 votes
The Rank and File
Season 1 Episode 21 - Aired 5/20/1971
The story of the Pilkington glass workers strike of 1970
Director: Ken Loach
Writer: Jim Allen
N/A/100 votes
The Man in the Sidecar
Season 1 Episode 22 - Aired 5/27/1971
A succesful novelist Edith lives with her husband and his friend, but she decides to ask the friend to leave.
Director: James MacTaggart
Writer: Simon Gray
N/A/100 votes
Everybody Say Cheese
Season 1 Episode 23 - Aired 6/3/1971
The story of a disintegrating marriage told through family photos
Director: Alan Clarke
Writer: Douglas Livingstone
N/A/100 votes
The Cellar and the Almond Tree
Season 1 Episode 24 - Aired 6/10/1971
No description available
Director: Unknown
Writer: Unknown