- 7.0/1096 votes
#1 - Country
Season 12 Episode 1 - Aired 10/20/1981
The story of the disintegration of an aristocratic country estate after World War II
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.3/1016 votes
#2 - London Is Drowning
Season 12 Episode 2 - Aired 10/27/1981
A docudrama about what would happen if London was hit by severe flooding
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#3 - A Room for the Winter
Season 12 Episode 3 - Aired 11/3/1981
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1013 votes
#4 - No Visible Scar
Season 12 Episode 4 - Aired 11/17/1981
A nurse is subjected to an interrogation after giving medical treatment to a terrorist leader.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1013 votes
#5 - Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain
Season 12 Episode 5 - Aired 11/24/1981
In Belfast, Ruby has a cold and is caught in the rain while Iris is looking for work and gets caught in traffic
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.0/109 votes
#6 - Protest
Season 12 Episode 6 - Aired 12/1/1981
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.8/1030 votes
#7 - United Kingdom
Season 12 Episode 7 - Aired 12/8/1981
Two men on a local council fight the system when forced with massive spending cuts.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1014 votes
#8 - PQ17
Season 12 Episode 8 - Aired 12/15/1981
During World War II, a British officer is ordered to abandon a Russian convoy.
Director: Frank Cox
Writer: N/A
- 6.3/1021 votes
#9 - The Factory
Season 12 Episode 9 - Aired 12/22/1981
A manager, a foreman, and two workers are all that remains of a factory yet labor relations stay the same
Director: Gerald Blake
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/109 votes
#10 - England's Green and Pleasant Land
Season 12 Episode 10 - Aired 1/5/1982
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.1/1088 votes
#11 - A Cotswold Death
Season 12 Episode 11 - Aired 1/12/1982
A police inspector investigates the murder of an Arab sheik who had become a village's Lord of the Manor.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/109 votes
#12 - Under the Skin
Season 12 Episode 12 - Aired 1/19/1982
Three women involved in different ways in the women's movement.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.0/1010 votes
#13 - Commitments
Season 12 Episode 13 - Aired 1/26/1982
Politics and relationships during the last years of the Heath government
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.5/1020 votes
#14 - Life After Death
Season 12 Episode 14 - Aired 2/2/1982
Meg: We were so close, we loved each other, we made a whole together. I feel cut in half.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.7/1010 votes
#15 - The Silly Season
Season 12 Episode 15 - Aired 2/9/1982
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1093 votes
#16 - Too Late to Talk to Billy
Season 12 Episode 16 - Aired 2/16/1982
A family in Belfast deals with life after the death of the mother from cancer
Director: Paul Seed
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1022 votes
#17 - Willie's Last Stand
Season 12 Episode 17 - Aired 2/23/1982
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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.6/1012 votes
#18 - Tishoo
Season 12 Episode 18 - Aired 3/9/1982
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: N/A
- 7.2/10299 votes
#19 - Home Sweet Home
Season 12 Episode 19 - Aired 3/16/1982
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 -. It stars Timothy Spall, here working with Leigh for the first time, Eric Richard, Tim Barker, Kay Stonham, Su Elliot, Frances Barber, Sheila Kelley, and Lorraine Brunning. It was first broadcast on 16 March 1982. The film was shot on location in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. 90 minutes.
Director: Mike Leigh
Writer: Mike Leigh
- 7.2/1014 votes
#20 - A Sudden Wrench
Season 12 Episode 20 - Aired 3/23/1982
"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: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 6.9/1013 votes
#21 - Eve Set the Balls of Corruption Going
Season 12 Episode 21 - Aired 3/30/1982
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: N/A
- 6.9/1010 votes
#22 - Whistling Wally
Season 12 Episode 22 - Aired 4/6/1982
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: N/A
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!
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,...
Genre:Drama
Network:BBC One
Season 12 Ratings Summary
"Country" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today" season 12. It scored 7/10 based on 96 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 10/20/1981. This episode is rated 0.7 points higher than the second-best, "London Is Drowning".