7.6/10114 votes#1 - Traitor
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 10/14/1971
A British aristocrat turned Russian spy is visited in Moscow by Western journalists
Director: Alan Bridges
Writer: Dennis Potter
7.9/10175 votes#2 - Edna, the Inebriate Woman
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/21/1971
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. The film features the only notable acting role of British actor Vivian MacKerrell, the real-life inspiration for the character Withnail in Withnail and I. At the 1972 British Academy Television Awards, the play won the Best Drama Production category, with Patricia Hayes receiving the award for Best Actress.
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Writer: Jeremy Sandford
- 6.8/1032 votes
#3 - Evelyn
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/28/1971
Frank is worried that he's over the hill when he reaches his 38th birthday. Conversations with his wife, lover and best friend do nothing to allay his concerns.
Director: Piers Haggard
Writer: N/A
- 7.2/1020 votes
#4 - O Fat White Woman
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 11/4/1971
The wife of a headmaster discovers that he has been physically abusing his students
Director: Philip Saville
Writer: N/A
- 5.6/1010 votes
#5 - Thank You Very Much
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 11/11/1971
A social satire in which advertisers realise that having a blind beggar as the public face of charities would help make them seem more appealing to donors.
Director: Claude Whatham
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#6 - Michael Regan
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 11/18/1971
A man gets revenge on a pub owner
Director: John Gorrie
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#7 - Skin Deep
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 11/25/1971
An awkward relationship develops between the families of a trade unionist and the regional manager when the son of the former wins a university scholarship from their employer.
Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#8 - Pal
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 12/2/1971
Two sworn enemies, one black and the other white, are forced to confront their prejudices when they are forced together by circumstance.
Director: N/A
Writer: Alun Owen
- NaN/100 votes
#9 - The Pigeon Fancier
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 12/9/1971
A retired miner devotes his waking hours to his racing pigeons.
Director: James Ferman
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1071 votes
#10 - Home
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 1/6/1972
A story about four elderly "loonies" living in a rest home
Director: Lindsay Anderson
Writer: N/A
- 7.5/1020 votes
#11 - Still Waters
Season 2 Episode 11 - Aired 1/13/1972
A marriage can be lonely when the children have left home, as Nelson and Maud find out. Maud leaves in the middle of an unloving picnic, and Nelson follows - both sharing their stories with a series of strangers.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.3/1044 votes
#12 - Stocker's Copper
Season 2 Episode 12 - Aired 1/20/1972
In Cornwall, just before World War I, a striking miner befriends a cop
Director: Jack Gold
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#13 - The House on Highbury Hill
Season 2 Episode 13 - Aired 1/27/1972
A married couple move into the house on Highbury Hill and find some eccentric neighbours.
Director: John Glenister
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#14 - In the Beautiful Caribbean
Season 2 Episode 14 - Aired 2/3/1972
A story about unemployment and the Black Movement in Jamaica
Director: Philip Saville
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#15 - Ackerman, Dougall and Harker
Season 2 Episode 15 - Aired 2/10/1972
A salesman learns a few lessons from the locals when he goes to Yorkshire for a business course
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Writer: N/A
- 6.8/1016 votes
#16 - The Villa Maroc
Season 2 Episode 16 - Aired 2/17/1972
A couple and their daughter take a trip to Africa
Director: Herbert Wise
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#17 - Cows
Season 2 Episode 17 - Aired 2/24/1972
A social worker tries to help a painfully shy young man and takes him for a visit to a country farm.
Director: John Gorrie
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/10103 votes
#18 - A Time to Keep
Season 2 Episode 18 - Aired 4/27/1972
No description available
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votes
#19 - The Fishing Party
Season 2 Episode 19 - Aired 6/1/1972
The adventures of three Derbyshire miners going fishing
Director: Michael Simpson
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 2
Every episode of Play for Today Season 2 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 2!
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 2 Ratings Summary
"Traitor" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today" season 2. It scored 7.6/10 based on 114 votes. Directed by Alan Bridges and written by Dennis Potter, it aired on 10/14/1971. This episode is rated 0.3 points higher than the second-best, "Edna, the Inebriate Woman".