Play for Today
Series 2
197119 episodes
Episode 1
Traitor
Oct 14, 19711h 15m
A British aristocrat turned Russian spy is visited in Moscow by Western journalists
Episode 2
Edna, the Inebriate Woman
Oct 21, 19711h 30m
TMDB rating 9.0TMDB
Edna, the Inebriate Woman is a British television drama written by Jeremy Sandford which was transmitted by the BBC as part of the Play for Today series on 21 October 1971. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, Irene Shubik produced it. The play deals with an elderly woman, Edna, who wanders through life in an alcoholic haze without a home, a job or any money. A rambling, pathetic yet defiant woman, Edna sleeps rough and begs for food and shelter and the drama follows her progress as she moves from hostel to hostel, going to a psychiatric ward and then prison along the way. Jeremy Sandford, who had previously written Cathy Come Home, researched the play by living rough himself for two weeks. A great deal of the dialogue and the incidents in the play come from the book, 'Down and Out in Britain' published by Jeremy Sandford in 1971; although the majority of the speakers in the book are male, Jeremy Sandford puts much of their speech into the mouth of the female character.
Episode 3
Evelyn
Oct 28, 19711h 15m
Frank is worried that he's over the hill when he reaches his 38th birthday. Conversations with his wife, lover and best friend do nothing to allay his concerns.
Episode 4
O Fat White Woman
Nov 4, 19711h 15m
The wife of a headmaster discovers that he has been physically abusing his students
Episode 5
Thank You Very Much
Nov 11, 19711h 15m
A social satire in which advertisers realise that having a blind beggar as the public face of charities would help make them seem more appealing to donors.
Episode 6
Michael Regan
Nov 18, 19711h 15m
A man gets revenge on a pub owner
Episode 7
Skin Deep
Nov 25, 19711h 15m
An awkward relationship develops between the families of a trade unionist and the regional manager when the son of the former wins a university scholarship from their employer.
Episode 8
Pal
Dec 2, 19711h 15m
Two sworn enemies, one black and the other white, are forced to confront their prejudices when they are forced together by circumstance.
Episode 9
The Pigeon Fancier
Dec 9, 19711h 15m
A retired miner devotes his waking hours to his racing pigeons.
Episode 10
Home
Jan 6, 19721h 15m
A story about four elderly "loonies" living in a rest home
Episode 11
Still Waters
Jan 13, 19721h 15m
A marriage can be lonely when the children have left home, as Nelson and Maud find out. Maud leaves in the middle of an unloving picnic, and Nelson follows - both sharing their stories with a series of strangers.
Episode 12
Stocker's Copper
Jan 20, 19721h 15m
In Cornwall, just before World War I, a striking miner befriends a cop
Episode 13
The House on Highbury Hill
Jan 27, 19721h 15m
A married couple move into the house on Highbury Hill and find some eccentric neighbours.
Episode 14
In the Beautiful Caribbean
Feb 3, 19721h 15m
A story about unemployment and the Black Movement in Jamaica
Episode 15
Ackerman, Dougall and Harker
Feb 10, 19721h 15m
A salesman learns a few lessons from the locals when he goes to Yorkshire for a business course
Episode 16
The Villa Maroc
Feb 17, 19721h 15m
A couple and their daughter take a trip to Africa
Episode 17
Cows
Feb 24, 19721h 15m
A social worker tries to help a painfully shy young man and takes him for a visit to a country farm.
Episode 18
A Time to Keep
Apr 27, 19721h 15m
Episode 19
The Fishing Party
Jun 1, 19721h 15m
The adventures of three Derbyshire miners going fishing