Play for Today Season 10 Episodes

Episode 0

Pillion

63 mins

Developed by Paul Copley from his own 1977 stage play, Pillion tells the story of motorbike enthusiast Fenton and his friends, meeting in a rural shed. Recorded in the first half of 1979, the finished play was never broadcast.

Episode 1

Long Distance Information

62 mins

Life at a local radio station on the night of Elvis Presley's death.

Episode 2

Cries from a Watchtower

71 mins

A watchmaker finds his livelihood is threatened by cheaply imported digital watches.

Episode 3

Comedians

94 mins

Six wannabe stand-up comedians attend an evening class run by Eddie Waters. Eddie is a professional comic and he's determined to teach them that comedy is much more than just jokes.

Episode 4

Even Solomon

83 mins

Everyone seems to have a theory about young Stephen's private life. So quiet and self-contained, he must have some secret. Only he is sure of his own identity - both sexual and social. But perhaps he's got it wrong?

Episode 5

Just a Boys' Game

71 mins

Jake lives in the shadow of his dying grandfather, who was once the town's toughest hard man. Despite their hatred of each other, Jake's sole aim is to be as tough as the old man was. One day in Jake's life, as he drifts, drinks and fights, leads to a bleak realisation.

Episode 6

Billy

79 mins

Four-year-old Billy lives with an abusive father in a terrible home situation. But can anything be done to change this?

Episode 7

A Hole in Babylon

68 mins

A siege situation develops when an attempted robbery of a restaurant goes wrong.

Episode 8

The Slab Boys

Follows the antics of Slab Boys Phil, Spanky and Hector as they try to scrape through life in the 50s

Episode 9

Katie: The Year of a Child

A teenage girl from a family of Irish Travellers is left to look after her brothers and sisters while her father is away.

Episode 10

The Network

76 mins

What do Rose from Devon and Christina from Stuttgart have in common? And in what way is their fate linked to that of wealthy Fiona Dunkerley?

Episode 11

Chance of a Lifetime

72 mins

A young man is devastated when his older brother joins the army and is killed in Northern Ireland.

Episode 12

Keep Smiling

83 mins

Family picnics should not be like this: bugging devices, men with X-ray eyes. Mary doesn't understand what terrifies Simon, nor the bizarre events of the next six months.

Episode 13

Dreams of Leaving

60 mins

Lovers dream of changing their lives - but it's not easy.

Episode 14

Thicker Than Water

73 mins

Various characters have adventures on the way to a black pudding festival in Normandy.

Episode 15

Murder Rap

89 mins

An Englishman's home is his castle, and Wally aims to prove it.

Episode 16

Instant Enlightenment Including VAT

81 mins

A weekend seminar for 17 people is held in a London hotel room. Each day runs from 9am till midnight. No one may leave for any reason.

Episode 17

No Defence

78 mins

Mr. Germanou arrives from Cyprus with his family to settle in England. But on his arrival he's arrested for an historical rape with seemingly no defence.

Episode 18

'That crazy woman'

55 mins

Twenty years ago, at the age of 56, this extraordinary woman became a national hero by walking from John O'Groats to Land's End. One of the last great English eccentrics (even though she was Russian) in the last days of English innocence.

Episode 19

A Gift from Nessus

77 mins

"You've been a good man with us, Eddie. Made a lot of contacts. But two things you'd better realise. One: a salesman who doesn't sell is a liability. Two: don't charge your private life to our account."

Episode 20

Kate the Good Neighbour

91 mins

An elderly English spinster lady lives alone, is heartily disliked, and will not accept aid from anyone. She has lived a life of total denial, but preserves her past in the diaries she keeps on her shelf, one for each year. We learn that her memories of one particular year continue to haunt her. She picks the journal up from time to time, revisiting the early war years, when she met and came to know the one love of her life, an RAF pilot during the Battle of Britain, and how it ended in pregnancy and ultimately grief. At the end, she learns to adjust to the idea that managed care can indeed bring new ways to deal with life's disappointments.

Episode 21

Buses

51 mins

In Yorkshire during the 20s, it seems that everyone who holds a driver's licence wants to run his own private bus company, and young Jim Stone is no exception.

Episode 22

Shadows on Our Skin

79 mins

Joe is an 11-year-old boy growing up on the Bogside of Derry, Northern Ireland. A chance meeting with a girl on his way home from school promises to open up his life in an unexpected and exciting way.

Episode 23

Ladies

66 mins

The A Shift at the MHS department store are organising a wedding gift presentation for Elaine. But what's on Miriam's mind, and why does she seem so out of sorts?

Episode 24

The Vanishing Army

"Why don't you keep that missus o' yours under control? She ain't exactly doin' you a packet o' good, is she? If she was mine I'd bloody put 'er right, I'll tell yer."

Episode 25

Not for the Likes of Us

56 mins

"I dunno, years of putting up with it, waiting on you all, for what? Eh? To become a 14-stone invisible woman?"

Episode 26

The Executioner

77 mins

Jan and Meg Citron are on holiday in Germany. Their car is stopped by the police. A simple traffic offence? But their seemingly innocent past is ripped open and life will never be the same again.

Episode 27

The Imitation Game

92 mins

A young woman involved in secret work during World War II finds herself in difficulties, and maybe even danger - from her own side.

Episode 28

A Walk in the Forest

94 mins

A group of people come together to help Soviet dissidents - "to act as horseflies on the Kremlin's rump".