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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!

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,...
  1. Background image for Traitor
    7.5/10(121 votes)

    #1 - Traitor

    S2:E1

    A British aristocrat turned Russian spy is visited in Moscow by Western journalists

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  2. Background image for Edna, the Inebriate Woman
    7.9/10(183 votes)

    #2 - Edna, the Inebriate Woman

    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. 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.

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  3. Background image for Evelyn
    6.8/10(32 votes)

    #3 - Evelyn

    S2:E3

    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.

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    Director:Piers Haggard
    Writer:Unknown
  4. Background image for O Fat White Woman
    7.2/10(20 votes)

    #4 - O Fat White Woman

    S2:E4

    The wife of a headmaster discovers that he has been physically abusing his students

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    Writer:Unknown
  5. Background image for Thank You Very Much
    5.8/10(11 votes)

    #5 - Thank You Very Much

    S2:E5

    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.

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    Writer:Unknown
  6. Background image for Michael Regan
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Michael Regan

    S2:E6

    A man gets revenge on a pub owner

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    Director:John Gorrie
    Writer:Unknown
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  8. Background image for Skin Deep
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Skin Deep

    S2:E7

    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.

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  9. Background image for Pal
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Pal

    S2:E8

    Two sworn enemies, one black and the other white, are forced to confront their prejudices when they are forced together by circumstance.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Alun Owen
  10. Background image for The Pigeon Fancier
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #9 - The Pigeon Fancier

    S2:E9

    A retired miner devotes his waking hours to his racing pigeons.

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    Director:James Ferman
    Writer:Unknown
  11. Background image for Home
    7.8/10(75 votes)

    #10 - Home

    S2:E10

    A story about four elderly "loonies" living in a rest home

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    Writer:Unknown
  12. Background image for Still Waters
    7.4/10(21 votes)

    #11 - Still Waters

    S2:E11

    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.

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  13. Background image for Stocker's Copper
    7.3/10(44 votes)

    #12 - Stocker's Copper

    S2:E12

    In Cornwall, just before World War I, a striking miner befriends a cop

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    Director:Jack Gold
    Writer:Unknown
  14. Background image for The House on Highbury Hill
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #13 - The House on Highbury Hill

    S2:E13

    A married couple move into the house on Highbury Hill and find some eccentric neighbours.

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    Writer:Unknown
  15. Background image for In the Beautiful Caribbean
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #14 - In the Beautiful Caribbean

    S2:E14

    A story about unemployment and the Black Movement in Jamaica

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    Writer:Unknown
  16. Background image for Ackerman, Dougall and Harker
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Ackerman, Dougall and Harker

    S2:E15

    A salesman learns a few lessons from the locals when he goes to Yorkshire for a business course

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    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writer:Unknown
  17. Background image for The Villa Maroc
    7.1/10(17 votes)

    #16 - The Villa Maroc

    S2:E16

    A couple and their daughter take a trip to Africa

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    Director:Herbert Wise
    Writer:Unknown
  18. Background image for Cows
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Cows

    S2:E17

    A social worker tries to help a painfully shy young man and takes him for a visit to a country farm.

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    Director:John Gorrie
    Writer:Unknown
  19. Background image for A Time to Keep
    8.3/10(104 votes)

    #18 - A Time to Keep

    S2:E18

    No description available

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown
  20. Background image for The Fishing Party
    NaN/10(0 votes)

    #19 - The Fishing Party

    S2:E19

    The adventures of three Derbyshire miners going fishing

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    Writer:Unknown

Season 2 Ratings Summary

"Traitor" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today" season 2. It scored 7.5/10 based on 121 votes. Directed by Alan Bridges and written by Dennis Potter, it aired on 10/14/1971. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Edna, the Inebriate Woman".