Play for Today - Season 11

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Pasmore

1 - Pasmore

Air Date: October 21, 1980

Colin Pasmore tests his strength against his family ties but finds them stronger than he ever imagined.

C2H5OH

2 - C2H5OH

Air Date: October 28, 1980

"In heaven there is no drama - drama depends on failure and conflict. My trade is a scrutiny of hell. For any proud dramatist his style is his prejudice."

The Adventures of Frank: Everybody's Fiddling Something

3 - The Adventures of Frank: Everybody's Fiddling Something

Air Date: November 4, 1980

Writer-director John McGrath deliberately shies away from naturalism in an experiment that mixes blue screen, songs, and characters realising they're acting within a play. This first of two parts sees Frank travel to a hostile London.

The Adventures of Frank: Seeds of Ice

4 - The Adventures of Frank: Seeds of Ice

Air Date: November 11, 1980

Minor Complications

5 - Minor Complications

Air Date: November 18, 1980

Kay Gilbert goes into hospital for a minor operation which goes badly wrong. This play tells the story of her fight for compensation.

Number on End

6 - Number on End

Air Date: November 25, 1980

What could Steve Jackson's documentary film expose that must be concealed from the African leaders meeting in Brussels? Steve Jackson is on the run and the wrong decision could prove fatal.

Jude

7 - Jude

Air Date: December 2, 1980

Twelve-year-old Jude has never met Dick, his father. One Sunday afternoon Dick impulsively engineers a meeting, which has distressing consequences.

The Flipside of Dominick Hide

8 - The Flipside of Dominick Hide

Air Date: December 9, 1980

Dominick Hide, a time traveller from London in the year 2130, is studying the city's transport system of 1980. Breaking the rules, he lands his craft to seek out his great-grandfather. Compared to his anaesthetised home, 80s London is filthy and polluted...and yet...it exudes an excitement that soon draws him in.

Name for the Day

9 - Name for the Day

Air Date: December 16, 1980

Clive admits himself to a psychiatric hospital after undergoing a breakdown. His wife wants him back home, but in order for Clive to be released, he has to want to be cured.

Jessie

10 - Jessie

Air Date: December 23, 1980

In Victorian times, a nanny cares for a mute boy, who becomes overly attached to her.

Beyond the Pale

11 - Beyond the Pale

Air Date: January 6, 1981

A vacation at a seaside hotel in Ireland changes the lives of four friends.

The Muscle Market

12 - The Muscle Market

Air Date: January 13, 1981

The problems of an owner of a building contractor company in Liverpool

A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado

13 - A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado

Air Date: January 20, 1981

"They're nice affable gobblers and we're in the nice affable gobbling business." Tom and Gwen soon find that their gastronomical retreat from the rat race is anything but an escape when the Porters come to dine.

Dear Brutus

14 - Dear Brutus

Air Date: January 27, 1981

"They say that in the wood you get what nearly everybody here is longing for - a second chance." J. M. Barrie's fantasy play, depicting alternative realities for its characters and their eventual return to real life.

The Cause

15 - The Cause

Air Date: February 3, 1981

A confused industrial dispute at a London hospital triggers off in trade unionist George Harley's mind memories of his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War, when the issues seemed so much clearer.

Beloved Enemy

16 - Beloved Enemy

Air Date: February 10, 1981

The head of a multinational corporation wants to do business with the Soviets

The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner

17 - The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner

Air Date: February 17, 1981

A group of men hold a reunion dinner in Tokyo

The Union

18 - The Union

Air Date: February 24, 1981

You know the nuts and bolts of our policy? To penetrate the unions. To use all sorts of stratagems, manoeuvres, illegal measures, evasions, subterfuges, to carry on Communist activities inside them at all cost.

Sorry

19 - Sorry

Air Date: March 3, 1981

Two very different women share an office, a common enemy, and a sense of humour.

Shai Mãlã Khani: The Garland

20 - Shai Mãlã Khani: The Garland

Air Date: March 10, 1981

When her 17-year-old son Roy falls in love with a Muslim girl, and a Bangladeshi butcher seeks help from her husband Raji, Leela realizes that the tears and romance of Indian cinema are closer to her own life than she has ever imagined.

The Sin Bin

21 - The Sin Bin

Air Date: March 17, 1981

Six lifers living in an experimental self-rehabilitation unit attached to an ordinary prison participate in a group therapy session. All of them have spent many years in prison and have little chance of ever getting out.

Before Water Lillies

22 - Before Water Lillies

Air Date: March 24, 1981

An evening with the Parent-Teacher Association gets out of hand.

Bavarian Night

23 - Bavarian Night

Air Date: March 31, 1981

When the dynamic young head-master of St Peter's Primary School decides to liven up a parents' fund-raising social by hiring a Bavarian band, he little suspects the hidden passions that are about to be unleashed.

The Good Time Girls

24 - The Good Time Girls

Air Date: April 7, 1981

Nancy and Ella are two bored housewives starved of affection when their husbands are away on the oil rigs. The rules are simple: have some fun, just make sure nobody finds out, and you don't get emotionally involved.

Baby Talk

25 - Baby Talk

Air Date: April 14, 1981

It's such a simple, natural thing to have a baby, thinks Mary. But she and husband Paul are preoccupied with their careers. Can their young neighbour Tessa help - or are the emotions around a new baby more complex than anyone had expected?

A Turn for the Worse

26 - A Turn for the Worse

Air Date: April 28, 1981

Soldiers are subjected to a brutal and sadistic kind of psychological training exercise

Psy-Warriors

27 - Psy-Warriors

Air Date: May 12, 1981

Soldiers are captured and interrogated by terrorists: but is it real or only a sadistic form of psychological training exercise?