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The Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 8

Every episode of Play for Today Season 8 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 8!

Binge this in 22h 30m•Peaking at 8.5/10

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 8 Episode 14 - The Spongers
    8.5/10(83 votes)

    S8:E14

    The story of a single mother of four living on welfare

    Director:Roland Joffé
    Writer:Jim Allen

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  2. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 15 - Destiny
    8.1/10(32 votes)

    S8:E15

    A story dealing with racial tensions and fascism during a by-election in a West Midlands town

    Director:Mike Newell
    Writer:David Edgar

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  3. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 6 - One Day at a Time
    8.0/10(16 votes)

    S8:E6

    "People coming to their first AA meeting, prosperous people, sometimes, accustomed to the best. They look round the places where we meet, and you can see them thinking: what am I doing here? I owe my life to these rooms!"

    Director:Ronald Wilson
    Writer:Denis Cannan

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  4. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 16 - Our Day Out
    8.0/10(270 votes)

    S8:E16

    When a teacher takes a group of troubled school children on a school trip to Conwy in Wales, the children understand life outside of Liverpool.

    Director:Pedr James
    Writer:Willy Russell

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  5. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 3 - Abigail's Party
    7.9/10(2574 votes)

    S8:E3

    Comedy of manners focusing on the bourgeois affectation and sexual frustration of a young married couple. Abigail's mother Sue is invited to take refuge from her teenage daughter's party with a neighbouring couple, Beverly and Laurence. They have also invited Angela and Tony, new arrivals in the street. Beverly plies her guests with alcohol as Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on. Slowly, marital tensions emerge and the evening is breaking up in disarray.

    Director:Mike Leigh
    Writer:Mike Leigh

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  6. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 5 - Nipper
    7.9/10(22 votes)

    S8:E5

    Teenager Jimmy's life begins to unravel after the death of his father. With his mother promiscuous and his new stepfather and stepbrother difficult to get along with, he begins to fall into a cycle of petty crime and self harm.

    Director:Brian Farnham
    Writer:Barrie Keeffe

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  7. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 4 - Oy Vay Maria
    7.7/10(18 votes)

    S8:E4

    The story of the romance between a Jewish boy and an Irish Catholic girl

    Director:Richard Loncraine
    Writer:Mary O'Malley

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  8. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 12 - Licking Hitler
    7.6/10(47 votes)

    S8:E12

    During World War II, a young woman joins the propaganda department and makes radio broadcasts to Germany from a British country house.

    Director:David Hare
    Writer:David Hare

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  9. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 1 - Stronger than the Sun
    7.4/10(84 votes)

    S8:E1

    A worker discovers a radioactive leak at the nuclear power plant where she works and tries to make it public knowledge.

    Director:Michael Apted
    Writer:Stephen Poliakoff

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  10. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 11 - Scully's New Year's Eve
    7.4/10(26 votes)

    S8:E11

    A Liverpool teenager has a hectic night out on New Year's Eve.

    Director:Michael Simpson
    Writer:Alan Bleasdale

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  11. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 18 - The Legion Hall Bombing
    6.8/10(9 votes)

    S8:E18

    The story of the trial of Willie Gallagher, convicted of bombing the Strabane British Legion Hall in 1976.

    Director:Roland Joffé
    Writer:Caryl Churchill

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  12. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 10 - The Thin End of the Wedge
    6.7/10(9 votes)

    S8:E10

    "Five days of darkness then. Unless you get it together we will have five days of darkness. And on the sixth day you will say, let there be light, and no doubt it'll be such an effort that on the seventh day you'll have to rest!"

    Director:John Black
    Writer:Sean McCarthy

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  13. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 2 - Come the Revolution
    6.6/10(11 votes)

    S8:E2

    Mike and his commune have a performance of their musical theatre "Diver" at the local pub, and ITV's Beth Bailey is coming along to see it. But will Beth's visions for the play as an incitement to revolution please everyone?

    Director:Michael Darlow
    Writer:Robin Chapman

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  14. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 13 - Red Shift
    6.5/10(92 votes)

    S8:E13

    A stone axehead links three couples living at different times in the same place in Wales.

    Director:John Mackenzie
    Writer:Alan Garner

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  15. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 7 - The Mayor's Charity
    6.4/10(18 votes)

    S8:E7

    Olive Major is determined that her year of office as Mayor will be a happy and successful one. But her appointment of Ex-Warrant Officer Higham as Attendant and Mace-bearer causes the storm-clouds to gather over Medburgh Town Hall.

    Director:Mike Newell
    Writer:Henry Livings

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  16. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 9 - Charades
    6.4/10(17 votes)

    S8:E9

    "We've just got to get it right. It'll be our little secret. When all the other servants have gone out, we'll play this little game to amuse ourselves. A sort of private charade."

    Director:Roderick Graham
    Writer:Antonia Fraser

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  17. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 17 - The After-Dinner Joke
    5.8/10(13 votes)

    S8:E17

    The story of a well-meaning charity worker

    Director:Colin Bucksey
    Writer:Caryl Churchill

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  18. Play for Today Season 8 Episode 8 - Catchpenny Twist
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    S8:E8

    Three schoolteachers in Belfast give up teaching to become singers/songwriters.

    Director:Robert Knights
    Writer:Stewart Parker

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Season 8 Ratings Summary

"The Spongers" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today" season 8. It scored 8.5/10 based on 83 votes. Directed by Roland Joffé and written by Jim Allen, it aired on 1/24/1978. This episode is rated 0.4 points higher than the second-best, "Destiny".