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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!

The Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 8

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,...

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  1. 8.5/10(77 votes)

    #1 - The Spongers

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    S8:E14

    The story of a single mother of four living on welfare

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  2. 8.0/10(31 votes)

    #2 - Destiny

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    S8:E15

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

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    Director:Mike Newell
    Writer:N/A
  3. 8.0/10(254 votes)

    #3 - Our Day Out

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    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.

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  4. 7.9/10(2.4k votes)

    #4 - Abigail's Party

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    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 Beverly plies her guests with alcohol as Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on.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.

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    Director:Mike Leigh
    Writer:Mike Leigh
  5. 7.9/10(15 votes)

    #5 - Nipper

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    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.

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  6. 7.8/10(14 votes)

    #6 - One Day at a Time

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    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!"

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
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  8. 7.5/10(19 votes)

    #7 - Oy Vay Maria

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    S8:E4

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

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    Writer:N/A
  9. 7.5/10(47 votes)

    #8 - Licking Hitler

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    S8:E12

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

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    Director:David Hare
    Writer:N/A
  10. 7.3/10(97 votes)

    #9 - Stronger than the Sun

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    S8:E1

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

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  11. 7.3/10(23 votes)

    #10 - Scully's New Year's Eve

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    S8:E11

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

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  12. 6.5/10(81 votes)

    #11 - Red Shift

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    S8:E13

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

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  13. 6.5/10(9 votes)

    #12 - The Legion Hall Bombing

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    S8:E18

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

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  14. 6.3/10(13 votes)

    #13 - The Mayor's Charity

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    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.

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    Director:Mike Newell
    Writer:N/A
  15. 6.3/10(13 votes)

    #14 - Charades

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    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."

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  16. 6.1/10(11 votes)

    #15 - Come the Revolution

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    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?

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    Writer:N/A
  17. 5.5/10(12 votes)

    #16 - The After-Dinner Joke

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    S8:E17

    The story of a well-meaning charity worker

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  18. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Catchpenny Twist

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    S8:E8

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

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    Writer:N/A
  19. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #18 - The Thin End of the Wedge

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    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!"

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    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A

Season 8 Ratings Summary

"The Spongers" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today" season 8. It scored 8.5/10 based on 77 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/24/1978. This episode is rated 0.5 points higher than the second-best, "Destiny".