The Best Episodes of Play for Today Season 8

Episode Rankings

1. #1 Fan Favorite
   

   7.3/10(85 votes)

   #1 - Stronger than the Sun

   S8:E110/18/1977

   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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   Director:Michael Apted

   Writer:Stephen Poliakoff
2. 

   6.6/10(11 votes)

   #2 - Come the Revolution

   S8:E210/25/1977

   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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   Director:Michael Darlow

   Writer:Robin Chapman
3. 

   7.9/10(2570 votes)

   #3 - Abigail's Party

   S8:E311/1/1977

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 Beverly plies her guests with alcohol as Sue becomes increasingly withdrawn and embarrassed by the pretentious goings-on.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

   Writer:Mike Leigh
4. 

   7.7/10(18 votes)

   #4 - Oy Vay Maria

   S8:E411/8/1977

   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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   Director:Richard Loncraine

   Writer:Mary O'Malley
5. 

   7.9/10(22 votes)

   #5 - Nipper

   S8:E511/15/1977

   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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   Director:Brian Farnham

   Writer:Barrie Keeffe
6. 

   8.0/10(16 votes)

   #6 - One Day at a Time

   S8:E611/22/1977

   "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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   Director:Ronald Wilson

   Writer:Denis Cannan
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7. 

   6.4/10(18 votes)

   #7 - The Mayor's Charity

   S8:E711/29/1977

   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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   Director:Mike Newell

   Writer:Henry Livings
8. 

   0.0/10(0 votes)

   #8 - Catchpenny Twist

   S8:E812/6/1977

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

   Director:Robert Knights

   Writer:Stewart Parker

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   Director:Robert Knights

   Writer:Stewart Parker
9. 

   6.4/10(17 votes)

   #9 - Charades

   S8:E912/13/1977

   "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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   Director:Roderick Graham

   Writer:Antonia Fraser
10. 

    6.7/10(9 votes)

    #10 - The Thin End of the Wedge

    S8:E1012/20/1977

    "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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    Director:John Black

    Writer:Sean McCarthy
11. 

    7.4/10(26 votes)

    #11 - Scully's New Year's Eve

    S8:E111/3/1978

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

    Director:Michael Simpson

    Writer:Alan Bleasdale

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    Director:Michael Simpson

    Writer:Alan Bleasdale
12. 

    7.6/10(46 votes)

    #12 - Licking Hitler

    S8:E121/10/1978

    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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    Director:David Hare

    Writer:David Hare
13. 

    6.6/10(90 votes)

    #13 - Red Shift

    S8:E131/17/1978

    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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    Director:John Mackenzie

    Writer:Alan Garner
14. 

    8.5/10(83 votes)

    #14 - The Spongers

    S8:E141/24/1978

    The story of a single mother of four living on welfare

    Director:Roland Joffé

    Writer:Jim Allen

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    Director:Roland Joffé

    Writer:Jim Allen
15. 

    8.1/10(32 votes)

    #15 - Destiny

    S8:E151/31/1978

    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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    Director:Mike Newell

    Writer:David Edgar
16. 

    8.0/10(268 votes)

    #16 - Our Day Out

    S8:E162/7/1978

    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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    Director:Pedr James

    Writer:Willy Russell
17. 

    5.9/10(14 votes)

    #17 - The After-Dinner Joke

    S8:E172/14/1978

    The story of a well-meaning charity worker

    Director:Colin Bucksey

    Writer:Caryl Churchill

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    Director:Colin Bucksey

    Writer:Caryl Churchill
18. 

    6.8/10(9 votes)

    #18 - The Legion Hall Bombing

    S8:E188/22/1978

    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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    Director:Roland Joffé

    Writer:Caryl Churchill