Play for Today - Season 5
1 - Leeds--United!
Air Date: October 31, 1974
About a strike in a textile factory, based on a true story
2 - Baby Love
Air Date: November 7, 1974
After the stillbirth of her illegitimate baby, a woman steals a baby at random and is sentenced to 9 months in prison.
3 - Back of Beyond
Air Date: November 14, 1974
Olwen lives in a tumbledown farm up in the mountains - a lonely widow, virtually a recluse. Her only human contact is with the occasional shopkeeper and young Rachel, who delivers her papers. For Rachel, her visits to Olwen are half adventure, half honest friendship. But they also mean a time to 'put aside childish things.'
4 - The Bevellers
Air Date: November 21, 1974
The first (and last) day at work of a young apprentice in a bevelling shop at a Glasgow glass factory
5 - Taking Leave
Air Date: November 28, 1974
"Well, I hope I won'be seeing you come home in that uniform much more. Six years - that's long enough out of any man's life." Mike's time is nearly up. The army gives him a weekend pass so he's home from Ulster to decide whether to sign on again. His parents want him to stay but he's wondering whether the family's own flare-ups aren't a bit too like the Troubles he has left behind.
6 - Fugitive
Air Date: December 5, 1974
After 18 years as a friar, Peter is no longer sure of his vocation. It is a happy life, maybe too much so, and now he has met Clare. Will his doubts run away with him? Runaway friars are officially "fugitives" who must be persuaded back to their order.
7 - Eleanor
Air Date: December 12, 1974
Eleanor is unable to communicate her inner thoughts as she's bullied at school and virtually ignored by her parents. With a mundane working existence awaiting her, she desires a chance at another life - but at what cost?
8 - Gangsters
Air Date: January 9, 1975
A story exploring the Birmingham underworld
9 - The After Dinner Game
Air Date: January 16, 1975
Vice-Chancellor Bartley Humbolt has problems. His young university is almost bankrupt, his wife is threatening to leave him, his protége professor from industry is threatening to overshadow him, and his prestigious professor of history is threatening to resign. But Bartley is a born manipulator. And when he gives a dinner party, he has something very special in mind - for afters.
10 - Breath
Air Date: January 23, 1975
A story about an asthma sufferer
11 - The Death of a Young, Young Man
Air Date: January 30, 1975
Three young students suspended from school face various problems.
12 - Sunset Across the Bay
Air Date: February 20, 1975
A elderly couple become disillusioned when they retire to their favorite holiday resort.
13 - Funny Farm
Air Date: February 27, 1975
One day in the life a nurse in a mental hospital
14 - Goodbye
Air Date: March 6, 1975
"All I said was the gramophone's too loud." Tony and Zoe Lyle 's silly row starts like any other, but Tony finds that Zoe means it this time. She's walking out and he's got a week to save a marriage that he hasn't looked at in 18 years, and with it all the trappings of a good life in Maida Vale.
15 - Just Another Saturday
Air Date: March 13, 1975
A young man participating in the Orange Parade in Glasgow becomes disillusioned with the pageant when he discovers its unpleasant and violent history and witnesses the participants' attacks on Catholics.
16 - A Child of Hope
Air Date: April 24, 1975
Thirty-seven men from the disputed territory of South West Africa are on trial for their lives in Pretoria, 1,000 miles from their home. They are to be tried under South Africa's Terrorism Act despite the UN ruling that South Africa must abandon its "illegal administration" of their country.
17 - The Saturday Party
Air Date: May 1, 1975
When a stockbroker loses his job, he decides to throw a party.
18 - Wednesday Love
Air Date: May 8, 1975
Two women, looking for amusement on their afternoons off, visit a drinking club.
19 - The Dandelion Clock
Air Date: May 15, 1975
In Belfast, a girl awaits the return of her missing father.
20 - Brassneck
Air Date: May 22, 1975
England, 1945-75: Builder Alfred Bagley makes a fortune, with a little help from his friends.
21 - The Floater
Air Date: May 29, 1975
A comedy about the law - seen from the inside. All formality and procedure on the surface but not quite so convincing when you see the works.
22 - By Common Consent
Air Date: June 5, 1975
Political fantasy about a fascist regime