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The Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 12

Every episode of Play for Today Season 12 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 12!

Binge this in 1d 3h•Peaking at 8.6/10

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

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Play for Today Season 12 Episode 7 - United Kingdom
    8.6/10(33 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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  2. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 16 - Too Late to Talk to Billy
    8.0/10(96 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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  3. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 5 - Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain
    7.8/10(13 votes)

    S12:E5

    In Belfast, Ruby has a cold and is caught in the rain while Iris is looking for work and gets caught in traffic

    Director:John Bruce
    Writer:Stewart Parker

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  4. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 17 - Willie's Last Stand
    7.6/10(30 votes)

    S12:E17

    Willie and his friends notice the passage of time around them, and how society is changing as their marriages stagnate. Can Willie prove to himself that he still has it, by being able to cheat on his wife just once?

    Director:Brian Parker
    Writer:Jim Allen

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  5. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 20 - A Sudden Wrench
    7.5/10(16 votes)

    S12:E20

    "My life is over - and I just didn't notice it passing." A call to a radio helpline leads to depressed housewife Christine finding a new direction in life.

    Director:Jon Amiel
    Writer:Paula Milne

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  6. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 10 - England's Green and Pleasant Land
    7.2/10(11 votes)

    S12:E10

    A planning decision must be made, and the motorway extension must go through on either the Golf Course or the Allotments - will the greens survive or the peasant lands?

    Director:Jim Hill
    Writer:Rita May

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  7. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 19 - Home Sweet Home
    7.2/10(328 votes)

    S12:E19

    Three postal workers and their dysfunctional families interact over cups of tea and Sunday dinner. Home Sweet Home is a 1982 television film devised and directed by Mike Leigh, for BBC TV, 'about postmen, parenthood, social workers and sex.' It was Leigh's second collaboration with Play for Today producer Louis Marks, and cinematographer Remi Adefarasin, and with composer Carl Davis—the music score featured a quartet of basses. The film was shot on location in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

    Director:Mike Leigh
    Writer:Mike Leigh

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  8. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 15 - The Silly Season
    7.0/10(10 votes)

    S12:E15

    Malcolm goes through life hating the mundanity of his existence as a factory worker and an unloved husband. But when students take up summer jobs at the factory, it reawakens both his passion for political feeling and romantic urges.

    Director:Alex Marshall
    Writer:Stephen Mulrine

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  9. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 21 - Eve Set the Balls of Corruption Going
    7.0/10(12 votes)

    S12:E21

    Adolescents will always be obsessed by the same old subject, even when they are educated by nuns. Six ex-Classmates meet for the first time in 12 years and hilarious memories change into highly emotional situations.

    Director:David Maloney
    Writer:Marcella Evaristi

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  10. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 1 - Country
    6.9/10(114 votes)

    S12:E1

    The story of the disintegration of an aristocratic country estate after World War II

    Director:Richard Eyre
    Writer:Trevor Griffiths

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  11. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 22 - Whistling Wally
    6.9/10(13 votes)

    S12:E22

    While Wally was happy there wasn't much wrong with the world, and pints seemed a small price to pay for what he gave us. But don't forget what we gave him. We gave him the knowledge he was important, at least to us.

    Director:Gerald Blake
    Writer:Wally K. Daly

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  12. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 4 - No Visible Scar
    6.7/10(13 votes)

    S12:E4

    A nurse is subjected to an interrogation after giving medical treatment to a terrorist leader.

    Director:Moira Armstrong
    Writer:Rosemary Davies

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  13. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 8 - PQ17
    6.7/10(15 votes)

    S12:E8

    During World War II, a British officer is ordered to abandon a Russian convoy.

    Director:Frank Cox
    Writer:Roger Milner

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  14. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 14 - Life After Death
    6.6/10(20 votes)

    S12:E14

    Meg: We were so close, we loved each other, we made a whole together. I feel cut in half.

    Director:Anthony Simmons
    Writer:Rachel Billington

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  15. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 18 - Tishoo
    6.6/10(12 votes)

    S12:E18

    Frank has dedicated 19 years to researching a cure for the common cold, and is almost ready to publish a paper. Yet budget cuts and his own inability to form real relationships with those around him threaten to derail the project.

    Director:Gerald Blake
    Writer:Brian Thompson

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  16. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 2 - London Is Drowning
    6.3/10(18 votes)

    S12:E2

    A docudrama about what would happen if London was hit by severe flooding

    Director:Martyn Friend
    Writer:Graham Williams

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  17. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 3 - A Room for the Winter
    6.2/10(10 votes)

    S12:E3

    James, an expatriate South African anti-apartheid fighter, deals with his nightmares and his complaining landlady in a run-down area of London, while dreaming of his lover Stephen, left behind.

    Director:Jim Goddard
    Writer:Rose Tremain

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  18. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 9 - The Factory
    6.2/10(23 votes)

    S12:E9

    A manager, a foreman, and two workers are all that remains of a factory yet labor relations stay the same

    Director:Gerald Blake
    Writer:David Hopkins

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  19. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 11 - A Cotswold Death
    6.1/10(93 votes)

    S12:E11

    A police inspector investigates the murder of an Arab sheik who had become a village's Lord of the Manor.

    Director:Tony Bicât
    Writer:Tony Bicât

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  20. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 6 - Protest
    6.0/10(11 votes)

    S12:E6

    In an adaptation of Václav Havel's play, a dissident, newly released from prison for political reasons, attempts to get his well-connected friend to sign a protest. In this one man play, both the roles are played by Nigel Hawthorne.

    Director:Alistair Clarke
    Writers:Vera Blackwell, Václav Havel

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  21. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 13 - Commitments
    6.0/10(10 votes)

    S12:E13

    Politics and relationships during the last years of the Heath government

    Director:Richard Wilson
    Writer:Dusty Hughes

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  22. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 12 - Under the Skin
    5.5/10(11 votes)

    S12:E12

    Three women involved in different ways in the women's movement.

    Director:Tony Smith
    Writer:Janey Preger

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Season 12 Ratings Summary

"United Kingdom" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today" season 12. It scored 8.6/10 based on 33 votes. Directed by Roland Joffé and written by Jim Allen, it aired on 12/8/1981. This episode is rated 0.6 points higher than the second-best, "Too Late to Talk to Billy".