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Play for Today Season 3 Episodes

28 Episodes 1972 - 1973

Episode 1

The Reporters

77 mins

Two provincial newspaper reporters - one a young idealist starting out on his career, the other an embittered man who previously wrote for a failed national daily - swap views.

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Episode 2

A Life Is Forever

Johnson begins his life sentence for the murder of a policeman. It is not long before he will experience the harsh realities of the brutality and day to day drudgery of prison life. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 3

Carson Country

63 mins

The origin of Northern Ireland.

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Episode 4

Man Friday

The familiar story of Robinson Crusoe - this time told from the viewpoint of his companion, Friday. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 5

Triple Exposure

A hippie breaks into the house of a middle-aged couple and forms a relationship with them.

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Episode 6

Better Than the Movies

A man celebrating his birthday comes to appreciate the difference between media fantasy and mundane reality. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 7

The General's Day

59 mins

An elderly general woos a shy school teacher.

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Episode 8

The Bankrupt

76 mins

Ellis is 50, bankrupt and showing signs of psychosis. He fantasises about killing his father, has dreams of the occult, and feels the only thing he can communicate with in life is a garden worm.

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Episode 9

Just Your Luck

64 mins

A pregnant teenager sets about wooing a sailor in a sectarian council estate in Greenock.

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Episode 10

The Bouncing Boy

70 mins

A young couple have a baby boy. However, the new father doesn't take to his new position quite as well as expected.

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Episode 11

Shakespeare or Bust

82 mins

Three miners take a boat trip to Stratford-on-Avon.

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Episode 12

Land of Green Ginger

49 mins

Faced with the prospect of being sent to work abroad, Sally Brown returns home from London to Hull, to see if she still feels the same attachment for her home town - and for her old boyfriend Mike Thurlow. Will she decide to take the job abroad or return to live with Mike in Hull?

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Episode 13

Kisses at Fifty

69 mins

A fifty-year-old factory worker leaves his wife of many years for another woman.

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Episode 14

Highway Robbery

A man fights council plans to demolish his home to make way for a new bypass. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 15

Song at Twilight

The story of a defiant football manager in terminal decline. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 16

Only Make Believe

74 mins

Playwright Christopher Hudson finds his medical problem hinders his writing. He employs secretary Sandra George and dictates his new play to her, but tensions soon develop between the two. As Hudson creates, scenes from his play are dramatized and interpolated. The play being created is Dennis Potter's Angels Are So Few, seen with a totally different cast from the 1970 BBC production.

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Episode 17

For Sylvia, or the Air Show

Was this the finest hour? Sifting the truth and fiction about the Battle of Britain, Burrows and Harding give their own account of how the nation sees its heroes - and itself. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 18

The Operation

81 mins

David Adler is an operator. He strips assets, other men's wives, and his oldest friend's soul - anything for a cool million.

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Episode 19

Access to the Children

64 mins

Malcolmson (Joss Ackland) spends every Sunday taking his children to the zoo, reflecting on the breakdown of his marriage and the events that brought about his divorce. Is there a chance the family can be brought back together?

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Episode 20

Hard Labour

71 mins

Mrs. Thornley works very hard without notice or appreciation. Every day she keeps her own house clean, attends to her husband and unmarried daughter, Ann, then cleans other women's houses. She looks tired and has little affect. She does have a married son and a daughter-in-law who's chatty and pleasant. Mrs. Thornley's husband works nights, except for Saturdays, when he expects conjugal attention. Ann's worried about pregnancy and talks to her mum about labor and childbirth. Later, Mrs. Thornley goes to confession at her parish church, and she makes an extraordinary revelation.

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Episode 21

Man Above Men

"I'm the judge's daughter - I think he's a monstrous old man. I think all men who say 'I'm only doing my job' are monstrous. I've despaired of changing him. But I'd stop short of killing him." This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 22

Speech Day

50 mins

Three underachievers have fun at a school speech day.

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Episode 23

Steps Back

"Fifteen years since I was forced t' leave, forced t' leave me roots, the territory of me heart." When Gerry takes his fiancée Nita home to Brighouse, what will they find?

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Episode 24

Three's One

Are Maggie and Tony using each other as a means of communicating with Dr Leafer? Or are they using Dr Leafer as a means of communicating with each other? This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 25

Edward G: Like the Filmstar

Edward G. is nothing like a film star; his life has been ordinary - until now. But he's just had a shattering experience. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 26

Blooming Youth

70 mins

Four students go through their third year studying literature at a polytechnic, and trying to live peacefully together. This includes Jeff and Jim, who have a very opposing dedication towards their study.

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Episode 27

The Stretch

Everyone always looked after Maureen. But her husband comes home after two years in prison and finds she has grown up and he's not ready for the change. This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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Episode 28

Making the Play

They no longer live together because, after 11 years, the marriage is over. So why is she always turning up to see him at the most embarrassing times? And why doesn't he send her away? This edition is missing from the BBC archives.

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