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The Best Episodes of Play for Today

Every episode of Play for Today ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Play for Today!

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Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Play for Today Season 4 Episode 16 - Penda's Fen
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - Penda's Fen

    S4:E16

    Summer 1955, and pastor's son Stephen must come to terms with his own identity amid societal pressure, religious guilt and his own imaginings. Penda's Fen is a British television play which was written by David Rudkin and directed by Alan Clarke. Commissioned by BBC producer David Rose, it was transmitted as part of the corporation's Play for Today series.

    Director:Alan Clarke
    Writer:David Rudkin

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  2. Play for Today Season 2 Episode 2 - Edna, the Inebriate Woman
    9.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - Edna, the Inebriate Woman

    S2:E2

    Edna, the Inebriate Woman is a British television drama written by Jeremy Sandford which was transmitted by the BBC as part of the Play for Today series on 21 October 1971. Directed by Ted Kotcheff, Irene Shubik produced it. The play deals with an elderly woman, Edna, who wanders through life in an alcoholic haze without a home, a job or any money. A rambling, pathetic yet defiant woman, Edna sleeps rough and begs for food and shelter and the drama follows her progress as she moves from hostel to hostel, going to a psychiatric ward and then prison along the way. Jeremy Sandford, who had previously written Cathy Come Home, researched the play by living rough himself for two weeks. A great deal of the dialogue and the incidents in the play come from the book, 'Down and Out in Britain' published by Jeremy Sandford in 1971; although the majority of the speakers in the book are male, Jeremy Sandford puts much of their speech into the mouth of the female character. The film features the only notable acting role of British actor Vivian MacKerrell, the real-life inspiration for the character Withnail in Withnail and I. At the 1972 British Academy Television Awards, the play won the Best Drama Production category, with Patricia Hayes receiving the award for Best Actress.

    Director:Ted Kotcheff
    Writer:Jeremy Sandford

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  3. Play for Today Season 14 Episode 11 - Dog Ends
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #3 - Dog Ends

    S14:E11

    In a future society where euthansia is common, a man signs papers to have his father put down

    Director:Carol Wiseman
    Writer:Richard Harris

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  4. Play for Today Season 12 Episode 19 - Home Sweet Home
    6.4/10(5 votes)

    #4 - Home Sweet Home

    S12:E19

    Home Sweet Home is a 1982 television film devised and directed by Mike Leigh, for BBC TV, 'about postmen, parenthood, social workers and sex.' It was Leigh's second collaboration with Play for Today producer Louis Marks, and cinematographer Remi Adefarasin, and with composer Carl Davis - the music score featured a quartet of basses -. It stars Timothy Spall, here working with Leigh for the first time, Eric Richard, Tim Barker, Kay Stonham, Su Elliot, Frances Barber, Sheila Kelley, and Lorraine Brunning. It was first broadcast on 16 March 1982. The film was shot on location in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. 90 minutes.

    Director:Mike Leigh
    Writer:Mike Leigh

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  5. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 1 - The Long Distance Piano Player
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #5 - The Long Distance Piano Player

    S1:E1

    A man tries to break the world's record for nonstop piano playing

    Director:Philip Saville
    Writer:Alan Sharp

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  6. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 2 - The Right Prospectus
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #6 - The Right Prospectus

    S1:E2

    A couple look for the proper school, not for their children but for themselves.

    Director:Alan Cooke
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Play for Today

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  7. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 3 - The Lie
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #7 - The Lie

    S1:E3

    ""The Lie"" refers to the 8-year marriage of a couple who are constantly hurting each other.

    Director:Alan Bridges
    Writer:Ingmar Bergman

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  8. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 4 - Angels Are So Few
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #8 - Angels Are So Few

    S1:E4

    A man claiming to be an angel enters the household of a bored housewife and teaches the family a few lessons.

    Director:Gareth Davies
    Writer:Dennis Potter

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  9. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 5 - The Write-Off
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #9 - The Write-Off

    S1:E5

    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.

    Director:Rudi Dorn
    Writer:George Salverson

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  10. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 6 - I Can't See My Little Willie
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #10 - I Can't See My Little Willie

    S1:E6

    A man has a mid-life crisis in his brother's pub where sees life as a game show

    Director:Alan Clarke
    Writer:Douglas Livingstone

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  11. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 7 - A Distant Thunder
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #11 - A Distant Thunder

    S1:E7

    A newly-appointed knight finds his celebrations cut short by someone who was witness to his treachery during the war.

    Director:James Ferman
    Writer:Maurice Edelman

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  12. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 8 - Hearts and Flowers
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #12 - Hearts and Flowers

    S1:E8

    A TV host and his architect brother attend their father's funeral

    Director:Christopher Morahan
    Writer:Peter Nichols

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  13. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 9 - Robin Redbreast
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #13 - Robin Redbreast

    S1:E9

    A woman living in a country cottage thinks that someone is trying to get her.

    Director:James MacTaggart
    Writer:John Bowen

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  14. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 10 - The Hallelujah Handshake
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #14 - The Hallelujah Handshake

    S1:E10

    A petty thief and social misfit finagles his way into a church congregation

    Director:Alan Clarke
    Writer:Colin Welland

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  15. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 11 - Alma Mater
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #15 - Alma Mater

    S1:E11

    A civil servant working abroad revisits his old school

    Director:James Ferman
    Writers:David Hodson, Dion Boucicault

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  16. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 12 - Circle Line
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #16 - Circle Line

    S1:E12

    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.

    Director:Claude Whatham
    Writer:W. Stephen Gilbert

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  17. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 13 - Hell's Angel
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #17 - Hell's Angel

    S1:E13

    A couple are distressed by the changes in their adopted teenage son when he joins a biker gang.

    Director:Alan Cooke
    Writer:Anthony Read

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  18. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 14 - The Piano
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #18 - The Piano

    S1:E14

    An old couple refuse to move when they find out that they can't take their piano with them

    Director:James Cellan Jones
    Writer:Julia Jones

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  19. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 15 - Billy's Last Stand
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #19 - Billy's Last Stand

    S1:E15

    Billy, a self-employed coal-shoveller, gains a seedy business partner and competition in the form of a rival coal-shoveller.

    Director:John Glenister
    Writer:Barry Hines

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  20. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 16 - The Rainbirds
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #20 - The Rainbirds

    S1:E16

    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.

    Director:Philip Saville
    Writer:Clive Exton

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  21. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 17 - Reddick
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #21 - Reddick

    S1:E17

    Charges that the Rev 'Red' Reddick is exploiting his youth club members leads to an explosive confrontation.

    Director:Mervyn Rosenzveig
    Writer:Munroe Scott

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  22. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 18 - The Foxtrot
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #22 - The Foxtrot

    S1:E18

    An odd menage a trois results when a woman and her lover are visited by her long-lost husband

    Director:Philip Saville
    Writer:Rhys Adrian

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  23. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 19 - When the Bough Breaks
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #23 - When the Bough Breaks

    S1:E19

    When an injured baby arrives at the hospital, a social worker looks for the parents

    Director:James Ferman
    Writer:Tony Parker

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  24. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 20 - Orkney
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #24 - Orkney

    S1:E20

    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

    Director:James MacTaggart
    Writers:John McGrath, George Mackay Brown

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  25. Play for Today Season 1 Episode 21 - The Rank and File
    0.0/10(0 votes)

    #25 - The Rank and File

    S1:E21

    The story of the Pilkington glass workers strike of 1970

    Director:Ken Loach
    Writer:Jim Allen

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Best Episodes Summary

"Penda's Fen" is the best rated episode of "Play for Today". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Alan Clarke and written by David Rudkin, it aired on 3/21/1974. This episode scored 1.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Edna, the Inebriate Woman".