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A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
1974
Two Black South Africans discover what it means to lose their passbooks, which they must carry to prove their identity during the apartheid era.
An eccentric Jewish writer is drawn into the world of an apparently delusional young woman and her invalid father.
1977
A play about the (celibate) relationship between writer George Bernard Shaw and a famous drug addict actress.
1976
Psychic investigator George Livingston is asked to attend a séance. Can it be that he has finally discovered a genuine supernatural phenomena!?
Alison has suffered Autism since childhood. Now 17, her parents take her to Dr. Mallam for psychotherapy. Alison is tested with Zener cards, leading him to suspect she is telepathic.
A pair of childhood sweethearts have their peaceful life interrupted when a vulgar woman from her dreams show up in reality.
During a séance, a medium transcribes complex equations that seem to be the final work of a recently deceased physicist revealing the secret of cold fusion, to the consternation of a rationalistic scientist.
Stones and curses go together. A series of strange events connected with Stonehenge lead Professor Reeve, an Oxford historian, to wonder if this superstition is true.
An ordinary man suddenly discovers that he possesses psychic powers.
1975
On a remote Cornish coast, a small group of scientists at an out of the way research laboratory delve into the mystery of what happens at the moment of death.
An isolated woman is haunted by the ghosts of her dead siblings.
Teenager Diane Weaver lives with her abusive single father. A religious local boy only who wants to be her friend, but she doesn't like him as much as he does her. What no one realizes is how far the abuse goes.
1976
Retired prep school headmaster Lawrence Hastings has few pleasures in life. One is kite flying, until this too is spoilt by the intrusions of an irritating small boy.
A school lecturer is possessed by the spirit of Othello during the teaching of Classics.
Joe, chauffeur to a South American embassy, enjoys the small perks of privilege his job provides. When a coup results in the ambassador's recall, his halcyon life is upended.
A young man volunteers to work with a children's play group in a desolate London area.
1981
An Englishwoman seeking to escape her marriage arrives at French hotel.
A boy feels restless during a hot summer in prewar Cornwall.
Secure in her suburban home, Virginia Fly dreams of a life of unbridled passion and romance. She feels her fantasies are about to become reality when she is asked to take part in a TV documentary about pre-marital love - a subject about which she is sadly ignorant...
Gerald is on the edge of a complete breakdown. During an afternoon with his father, he starts to come to terms with the wounding confusions and mistakes of his past—his lies, his girlfriend's suicide, his mother's obsessive love of his younger brother, and her death in a hospital when he arrived too late to communicate his real feelings for her.
The local country dancing team of old-age pensioners is forced to change its style when Jack, its leader, arrives with a new partner, one who is younger and prettier.
An apparently happy and privileged woman begins shoplifting.
The story of Aubrey Beardsley, an English illustrator and author, whose black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler.
Four television critics gather in a Wardour Street preview theatre to see a documentary and get the surprise of their lives.
A keen ballroom dancer becomes an alcoholic after discovering she's infertile.
A once-famous writer, now long out of fashion, is interviewed by a disconcerting young woman.
In 1945, just a year since the allied troops entered Paris, Simone arrives for her first day at M. Leon's tailoring workshop.
Wealthy Alexander Moore and working-class Jerry Crowe are childhood friends and, in 1914, find themselves in the same Army unit – Alex as an officer and Jerry as a private. They still remain close, however, until Jerry is court-martialed for desertion, and Alex is put in charge of the firing squad.
In 1919, the carnage of WWI has left the country desperately short of young men. Maud, who runs the farm for her crippled father, decides that it is time for her young sister Clara to be married, and a husband could provide a strong pair of hands around the place. Stan the pigman seems to fix most things, why not this?
At the moment, money is scarce and times are hard for everyone—even villains like Charlie and Denny are feeling the pinch. But their luck could change when a chance encounter with a film crew provides them with an eccentric method of getting their hands on a lot of loot.
When James pays one of his periodic visits to his mother, he finds her curiously resigned to the loneliness she's suffered for the years since her husband's death. Somehow, she has managed to keep all the family ties intact.
Gerald fancies himself as a bit of a gourmet and a trip to the gastronomic delights of France promises well. His wife Hilary isn't so sure; she isn't sure of a lot of things about Gerald just recently, but the menu at the extravagantly recommended La Petite Chanson provides an unexpected solution.
Academic scavenger Shorty believes he's tracked down some letters that reveal an unexpected side to Miss Jane Austen's nature.
Nancy is the sole inhabitant of the Isle of Annagh off the west coast of Scotland. Although World War III is raging all around she sees little of it until Michael, a young pilot officer, pays an involuntary visit and is in danger of dragging the hostilities along with him.
An anthropologist observed by one of his erstwhile victims — a sophisticated comedy.
Two women meet for lunch every two weeks to swap news. But this week is different.
At a railway public house, two strangers engage in a conversation and begin to open up about their life's. Richard is an alcoholic and former stockbroker is just been released from jail. Arthur works for the railway as a points operator.
Jake's a professional, a married man with a reputation to maintain—and a bank to rob.
Her husband Gary is behind on the central heating installation. Eunice, her best friend, has a crush on the lodger — an actor appearing in a violent play at the local rep. No wonder Tina is anxious about the housewarming.
At a concert, Marcia picked Terry out of the crowd. So he no longer feels alone. Until he learns about her secret life and dare not tell his friends.
Stan McVay has given up smoking, gone on a diet and feels like hell. He's also abandoned the Ulster spud and just learned that his teenage daughter is having an affair with a married man.
Three short stories by Irwin Shaw.
Eddie's 40th birthday party reunites friends not seen since the old days of ton-up bikes and early rock and roll. It could be a chance to relive those 'good times', if the others can only match Eddie's enthusiasm.
A henpecked American visiting Europe is able to throw off his ghastly wife and find love.
A famous writer finds that a long-suppressed secret is about to be revealed by his former mistress.
Streaming availability information not available
1979
A play about the horrors of life at an English public school - with all the schoolboys played by adults.
A dissident, Alexander, has been pronounced insane by the authorities (although he isn't), and finds himself sharing a cell with a genuine mental patient, Ivanov.
Cpl. George Hunn's sentry post is knocked over and he wakes to find he is suffering from frost bite of the face. Sent to hospital he is put on a ward with aircrew who have mental issues. He is trapped reenacting their missions at night.
Keith and Alec have been making holiday movies, together for 25 years. Alec suddenly spots a moment between wife Sybil and Keith. He realises daughter Katie is actually Keith's and she is in a sexual relationship with her 'brother' John.
In 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell's obsession is to win the World's Land Speed Record in his car Bluebird. Speed King is about the man, the car, and the ruthless, but irresistible, public ambition of a world hero.
Set in a north country synagogue, a group of Jewish men have to organise a shiva, however, not having the required number of their faith, resort to recruiting George, a 'non-Jew', to make up the numbers.
An Edwardian house party given by a Fabian woman, her business-man husband and assorted guests from politics and the Arts—including a young man prone to disturbing premonitions.
Gregory has troubles enough when Ella moves him out and sets him up for a job with the radio. Suspicions of infidelity can make the world a disturbing place. But then he still has to meet the new neighbours...
A comprehensive school is praised for its authenticity, but one schoolboy does not agree with this assessment.
An upper-class young man has rejected his affluent background, but, when a crisis comes, reverts to type pretty quickly.
Cousin, W. Clifford Mill, ran a dirty postcard business; which brings Paul to the country in search of a profitable afternoon. Hesther knows the value of most things and, when evening falls, she turns his visit to her own advantage.
What is friendship? Why do two grown men behave like egomaniac children or flustered prima donnas? And when they meet unexpectedly after ten years, how will things be?
A teenager learns about life and death while staying with his aunt during the school holidays.
Mother is manic, Father frustrated. Son sees himself as quite an operator. Daughter wants to change the dreary world of Jubilee-year England. The day has come. Back to Rottingdean... if all goes smoothly.
A married transvestite comes to terms with their true gender identity.
Nobody goes to Amsterdam to wander about. It's either the Rijksmuseum or the red-light district. On the boat going home Clive and Stewart admit to not having spent long in the museums – so what did they get up to in Amsterdam?
A physicist has visions of his unborn baby – it turns out that the child will grow up to become a Hitler-like dictator responsible for World War III.
Repeated from Play for Today
A talented, independent artist lives by the sea with her daughter. As summer approaches, she faces two threats to her way of life: the local doctor who is in love with her and her unhappy sister who comes to stay.
Our gamble is over, Dalhousie. You'll walk at dawn tomorrow as agreed, but in case you've no mind to return, there's one fact might persuade you. On what you do hangs not only your life but hers .
German composer Anton Webern survives Naziism only to be shot by an American GI in the closing days of WWII. His son, against his father's wishes, joins the Wehrmacht and is killed in a railway accident in 1943.
1980
Peter boards a train to attend an important business meeting across Europe. His trip is complicated by two women also assigned to his compartment. One is an independent American whom Peter finds attractive. The other is Frau Messner, an extremely particular and demanding older European woman. Between the two of them, they try different aspects of Peter's patience...
Using a remarkable blend of dramatic techniques, this study of three English poets – also three courageous soldiers – gradually develops towards their historical and crucial meeting.
Lou Parker feels very strongly that she and her husband, Ray, are different from the Farrells and the Ackerleys. With them it's all television. But she and Ray have the local library and The Observer. They keep abreast. They're different.
Young working class couple Dick and Mandy move into a council house in Canterbury, and find Mr. Butcher, one of their former teachers, living next door. Mandy's unmarried sister, Gloria, is constantly dropping in, and will not take any hints that the couple would prefer to be left alone, until her presence finally goads them to action.
At a Nottingham advertising agency, young graphic designer Graham is recruited as a temporary replacement for the iconic Henry. The agency are desperate to be part of the Swinging Sixties but not without Henry. Can Graham replace him?
John Fothergill, aesthete and scholar, becomes the proprietor of the Spread Eagle, in Thame, Oxfordshire, with the intent of turning it into the most celebrated Inn in England, catering to the brightest lights in London's literati.
A darts tournament is put in peril when the players' wives stage a sit-in in the pub.
A day in the life of Mrs Radcliffe, who believes that the advice she so freely gives is done only out of kindness.
In prison the night before his execution, Republican preacher Hugh Peter prepares to be hanged, drawn and quartered for treason.
An Irishwoman married to a German in pre-WWI Liverpool prepares to meet her brother-in-law, a young man named Adolf Hitler.
In 1920, a trio of British soldiers have to guard an unexploded mine that has washed up on a beach.
In 1978, Changes Magazine journalist Neville Morris writes an essay about Bob Dylan called 'A Jewish Massiah'. Dylan's publicist Elle Smith reaches out that The Bard wants to meet him at Earl's Court.
A mother, waiting for a visit through a hospital day, reflects on her life. Dreams haunt her, fantasies seduce her, memories crowd in on her, distorting the drab reality of her day to day existence. Must her daughter follow in her footsteps? How can she find a way to guide her towards a brighter future?
VE Night, 1945: In a Yorkshire pub, not everyone is in a mood to celebrate. Lorna Thorpe's 'All-Star' dance band is down two members, the beer has run out, and some influential friends on the city council have booked flights to Buenos Aires.
An exploration of the personal and professional conflicts of a string quartet who have been playing together for many years, but are on the point of disintegrating.
The true story of Unity Mitford who, in the 1930s, moves to Germany, where she befriends Adolf Hitler.
After nineteen years of marriage, three children, and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go for an emergency operation. From her bed, she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly, it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17-year-old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc caused by the affair. No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?
After nineteen years of marriage, three children, and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go for an emergency operation. From her bed, she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly, it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17-year-old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc caused by the affair. No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?
After nineteen years of marriage, three children, and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go for an emergency operation. From her bed, she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly, it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17-year-old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc caused by the affair. No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?
Albie Warren and his girlfriend Carla are second on the bill of variety artists and musicians performing to half empty venues. Albie impersonates wartime comic Rob Wilton to people who don't know him. Will he take the chance to top the bill?
Two men sharing a hospital room after their diagnoses of terminal cancer struggle with fear, physical pain, the difficulties of being in hospital, family members unable to cope, loneliness, and their unusual friendship.
