Play for Today
Series 12
198122 episodes
Episode 1
Country
Oct 20, 19811h 15m
The story of the disintegration of an aristocratic country estate after World War II
Episode 2
London Is Drowning
Oct 27, 19811h 15m
A docudrama about what would happen if London was hit by severe flooding
Episode 3
A Room for the Winter
Nov 3, 19811h 15m
James, an expatriate South African anti-apartheid fighter, deals with his nightmares and his complaining landlady in a run-down area of London, while dreaming of his lover Stephen, left behind.
Episode 4
No Visible Scar
Nov 17, 19811h 15m
A nurse is subjected to an interrogation after giving medical treatment to a terrorist leader.
Episode 5
Iris in the Traffic, Ruby in the Rain
Nov 24, 19811h 15m
In Belfast, Ruby has a cold and is caught in the rain while Iris is looking for work and gets caught in traffic
Episode 6
Protest
Dec 1, 19811h 15m
In an adaptation of Václav Havel's play, a dissident, newly released from prison for political reasons, attempts to get his well-connected friend to sign a protest. In this one man play, both the roles are played by Nigel Hawthorne.
Episode 7
United Kingdom
Dec 8, 19811h 15m
Two men on a local council fight the system when forced with massive spending cuts.
Episode 8
PQ17
Dec 15, 19811h 15m
During World War II, a British officer is ordered to abandon a Russian convoy.
Episode 9
The Factory
Dec 22, 19811h 15m
A manager, a foreman, and two workers are all that remains of a factory yet labor relations stay the same
Episode 10
England's Green and Pleasant Land
Jan 5, 19821h 15m
A planning decision must be made, and the motorway extension must go through on either the Golf Course or the Allotments - will the greens survive or the peasant lands?
Episode 11
A Cotswold Death
Jan 12, 19821h 15m
A police inspector investigates the murder of an Arab sheik who had become a village's Lord of the Manor.
Episode 12
Under the Skin
Jan 19, 19821h 15m
Three women involved in different ways in the women's movement.
Episode 13
Commitments
Jan 26, 19821h 15m
Politics and relationships during the last years of the Heath government
Episode 14
Life After Death
Feb 2, 19821h 15m
Meg: We were so close, we loved each other, we made a whole together. I feel cut in half.
Episode 15
The Silly Season
Feb 9, 19821h 15m
Malcolm goes through life hating the mundanity of his existence as a factory worker and an unloved husband. But when students take up summer jobs at the factory, it reawakens both his passion for political feeling and romantic urges.
Episode 16
Too Late to Talk to Billy
Feb 16, 19821h 15m
A family in Belfast deals with life after the death of the mother from cancer
Episode 17
Willie's Last Stand
Feb 23, 19821h 15m
Willie and his friends notice the passage of time around them, and how society is changing as their marriages stagnate. Can Willie prove to himself that he still has it, by being able to cheat on his wife just once?
Episode 18
Tishoo
Mar 9, 19821h 15m
Frank has dedicated 19 years to researching a cure for the common cold, and is almost ready to publish a paper. Yet budget cuts and his own inability to form real relationships with those around him threaten to derail the project.
Episode 19
Home Sweet Home
Mar 16, 19821h 28m
TMDB rating 6.4TMDB
Three postal workers and their dysfunctional families interact over cups of tea and Sunday dinner. Home Sweet Home is a 1982 television film devised and directed by Mike Leigh, for BBC TV, 'about postmen, parenthood, social workers and sex.' It was Leigh's second collaboration with Play for Today producer Louis Marks, and cinematographer Remi Adefarasin, and with composer Carl Davis—the music score featured a quartet of basses. The film was shot on location in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
Episode 20
A Sudden Wrench
Mar 23, 19821h 15m
"My life is over - and I just didn't notice it passing." A call to a radio helpline leads to depressed housewife Christine finding a new direction in life.
Episode 21
Eve Set the Balls of Corruption Going
Mar 30, 19821h 15m
Adolescents will always be obsessed by the same old subject, even when they are educated by nuns. Six ex-Classmates meet for the first time in 12 years and hilarious memories change into highly emotional situations.
Episode 22
Whistling Wally
Apr 6, 19821h 15m
While Wally was happy there wasn't much wrong with the world, and pints seemed a small price to pay for what he gave us. But don't forget what we gave him. We gave him the knowledge he was important, at least to us.