Play for Today
Series 1
1970
E1 · 75 min
The Long Distance Piano Player
A man tries to break the world's record for nonstop piano playing
E2 · 75 min
The Right Prospectus
A couple look for the proper school, not for their children but for themselves.
E3 · 75 min
The Lie
""The Lie"" refers to the 8-year marriage of a couple who are constantly hurting each other.
E4 · 75 min
Angels Are So Few
A man claiming to be an angel enters the household of a bored housewife and teaches the family a few lessons.
E5 · 75 min
The Write-Off
A man is made redundant but can't bring himself to let anyone know, plunging into a web of deceit as he keeps up the charade he is still in work.
E6 · 75 min
I Can't See My Little Willie
A man has a mid-life crisis in his brother's pub where sees life as a game show
E7 · 75 min
A Distant Thunder
A newly-appointed knight finds his celebrations cut short by someone who was witness to his treachery during the war.
E8 · 75 min
Hearts and Flowers
A TV host and his architect brother attend their father's funeral
E9 · 75 min
Robin Redbreast
A woman living in a country cottage thinks that someone is trying to get her.
E10 · 75 min
The Hallelujah Handshake
A petty thief and social misfit finagles his way into a church congregation
E11 · 75 min
Alma Mater
A civil servant working abroad revisits his old school
E12 · 75 min
Circle Line
A cynical student has a radically different view of life from his landlady, leading to conflict. Matters come to a head when he sleeps with her fourteen-year-old brother.
E13 · 75 min
Hell's Angel
A couple are distressed by the changes in their adopted teenage son when he joins a biker gang.
E14 · 75 min
The Piano
An old couple refuse to move when they find out that they can't take their piano with them
E15 · 75 min
Billy's Last Stand
Billy, a self-employed coal-shoveller, gains a seedy business partner and competition in the form of a rival coal-shoveller.
E16 · 75 min
The Rainbirds
A man who attempted suicide by jumping out a window is saved only to live in a coma, in which he has fantasies about his relatives and nightmare creatures.
E17 · 75 min
Reddick
Charges that the Rev 'Red' Reddick is exploiting his youth club members leads to an explosive confrontation.
E18 · 75 min
The Foxtrot
An odd menage a trois results when a woman and her lover are visited by her long-lost husband
E19 · 75 min
When the Bough Breaks
When an injured baby arrives at the hospital, a social worker looks for the parents
E20 · 75 min
Orkney
A trilogy of plays--A Time to Keep, The Whaler's Return, and Celia--exploring the life of the islanders in the past and present
E21 · 75 min
The Rank and File
The story of the Pilkington glass workers strike of 1970
E22 · 75 min
The Man in the Sidecar
A succesful novelist Edith lives with her husband and his friend, but she decides to ask the friend to leave.
E23 · 75 min
Everybody Say Cheese
The story of a disintegrating marriage told through family photos
E24
The Cellar and the Almond Tree