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The Best Episodes of Playhouse Season 8

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

Binge this in 4h 50m•Peaking at 6.8/10

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

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BBC Two
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Seasons8

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Playhouse Season 8 Episode 1 - Mrs. Reinhardt
    6.8/10(61 votes)

    #1 - Mrs. Reinhardt

    S8:E1

    An Englishwoman seeking to escape her marriage arrives at French hotel.

    Director:Piers Haggard
    Writer:Edna O'Brien

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  2. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 2 - Last Summer's Child
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #2 - Last Summer's Child

    S8:E2

    A boy feels restless during a hot summer in prewar Cornwall.

    Director:Giles Foster
    Writer:Susan Hill

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  3. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 3 - Autumn Sunshine
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #3 - Autumn Sunshine

    S8:E3

    No description available

    Director:Rodney Bennett
    Writer:William Trevor

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  4. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 4 - The Grudge Fight
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #4 - The Grudge Fight

    S8:E4

    No description available

    Director:Mike Vardy
    Writer:John Hale

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  5. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 5 - Virginia Fly Is Drowning
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - Virginia Fly Is Drowning

    S8:E5

    Secure in her suburban home, Virginia Fly dreams of a life of unbridled passion and romance. She feels her fantasies are about to become reality when she is asked to take part in a TV documentary about pre-marital love - a subject about which she is sadly ignorant...

    Director:Mark Cullingham
    Writer:Angela Huth

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  6. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 6 - Findings on a Late Afternoon
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - Findings on a Late Afternoon

    S8:E6

    Gerald is on the edge of a complete breakdown. During an afternoon with his father, he starts to come to terms with the wounding confusions and mistakes of his past—his lies, his girlfriend's suicide, his mother's obsessive love of his younger brother, and her death in a hospital when he arrived too late to communicate his real feelings for her.

    Director:Richard Martin
    Writer:Rose Tremain

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  7. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 7 - Dancing Country
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - Dancing Country

    S8:E7

    The local country dancing team of old-age pensioners is forced to change its style when Jack, its leader, arrives with a new partner, one who is younger and prettier.

    Director:Michael Darlow
    Writer:Peter Buckman

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  8. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 8 - The Combination
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - The Combination

    S8:E8

    No description available

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 9 - A Silly Little Habit
    6.0/10(9 votes)

    #9 - A Silly Little Habit

    S8:E9

    An apparently happy and privileged woman begins shoplifting.

    Director:Sarah Pia Anderson
    Writer:Carol Bunyan

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  10. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 10 - Aubrey
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - Aubrey

    S8:E10

    The story of Aubrey Beardsley, an English illustrator and author, whose black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler.

    Director:Peter Hammond
    Writer:John Selwyn Gilbert

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  11. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 11 - Preview
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - Preview

    S8:E11

    Four television critics gather in a Wardour Street preview theatre to see a documentary and get the surprise of their lives.

    Director:Jon Amiel
    Writer:Sylvia Clayton

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  12. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 12 - Out of Step
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Out of Step

    S8:E12

    A keen ballroom dancer becomes an alcoholic after discovering she's infertile.

    Director:Bill Hays
    Writer:Carol Bunyan

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  13. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 13 - A Shilling Life
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - A Shilling Life

    S8:E13

    A once-famous writer, now long out of fashion, is interviewed by a disconcerting young woman.

    Director:Michael Heffernan
    Writer:Guy Meredith

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  14. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 14 - The Workshop
    6.6/10(132 votes)

    #14 - The Workshop

    S8:E14

    In 1945, just a year since the allied troops entered Paris, Simone arrives for her first day at M. Leon's tailoring workshop.

    Director:Nicolas Kent
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 15 - How Many Miles to Babylon?
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - How Many Miles to Babylon?

    S8:E15

    Wealthy Alexander Moore and working-class Jerry Crowe are childhood friends and, in 1914, find themselves in the same Army unit – Alex as an officer and Jerry as a private. They still remain close, however, until Jerry is court-martialed for desertion, and Alex is put in charge of the firing squad.

    Director:Moira Armstrong
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 16 - The Pigman's Protégé
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - The Pigman's Protégé

    S8:E16

    In 1919, the carnage of WWI has left the country desperately short of young men. Maud, who runs the farm for her crippled father, decides that it is time for her young sister Clara to be married, and a husband could provide a strong pair of hands around the place. Stan the pigman seems to fix most things, why not this?

    Director:John Madden
    Writer:Thomas Ellice

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  17. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 17 - A Pocketful of Dreams
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - A Pocketful of Dreams

    S8:E17

    At the moment, money is scarce and times are hard for everyone—even villains like Charlie and Denny are feeling the pinch. But their luck could change when a chance encounter with a film crew provides them with an eccentric method of getting their hands on a lot of loot.

    Director:Stuart Urban
    Writer:Jim Hill

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  18. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 18 - Keeping in Touch
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - Keeping in Touch

    S8:E18

    When James pays one of his periodic visits to his mother, he finds her curiously resigned to the loneliness she's suffered for the years since her husband's death. Somehow, she has managed to keep all the family ties intact.

    Director:Terry Devaney
    Writer:Alan Drury

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  19. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 19 - The Guest
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - The Guest

    S8:E19

    Gerald fancies himself as a bit of a gourmet and a trip to the gastronomic delights of France promises well. His wife Hilary isn't so sure; she isn't sure of a lot of things about Gerald just recently, but the menu at the extravagantly recommended La Petite Chanson provides an unexpected solution.

    Director:Paul Bamborough
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 20 - The Sidmouth Letters
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Sidmouth Letters

    S8:E20

    Academic scavenger Shorty believes he's tracked down some letters that reveal an unexpected side to Miss Jane Austen's nature.

    Director:Nicholas Renton
    Writer:Unknown

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  21. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 21 - The Queen of Annagh
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - The Queen of Annagh

    S8:E21

    Nancy is the sole inhabitant of the Isle of Annagh off the west coast of Scotland. Although World War III is raging all around she sees little of it until Michael, a young pilot officer, pays an involuntary visit and is in danger of dragging the hostilities along with him.

    Director:Jane Jackson
    Writer:Terry Hodgkinson

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  22. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 22 - By George
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - By George

    S8:E22

    An anthropologist observed by one of his erstwhile victims — a sophisticated comedy.

    Director:Nicholas Renton
    Writer:Denis Cannan

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  23. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 23 - Lunch
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Lunch

    S8:E23

    Two women meet for lunch every two weeks to swap news. But this week is different.

    Director:Jon Amiel
    Writer:Elaine Feinstein

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  24. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 24 - Passing Through
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Passing Through

    S8:E24

    At a railway public house, two strangers engage in a conversation and begin to open up about their life's. Richard is an alcoholic and former stockbroker is just been released from jail. Arthur works for the railway as a points operator.

    Director:Desmond Davis
    Writer:Rhys Adrian

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  25. Playhouse Season 8 Episode 25 - Jake's End
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Jake's End

    S8:E25

    Jake's a professional, a married man with a reputation to maintain—and a bank to rob.

    Director:Jim O'Brien
    Writer:Desmond Lowden

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Season 8 Ratings Summary

"Mrs. Reinhardt" is the best rated episode of "Playhouse" season 8. It scored 6.8/10 based on 61 votes. Directed by Piers Haggard and written by Edna O'Brien, it aired on 10/30/1981. This episode is rated 6.8 points higher than the second-best, "Last Summer's Child".