Play for Today — Series 11

01 Pasmore

Oct 21, 19801h 15m

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

02 C2H5OH

Oct 28, 19801h 15m

"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."

03 The Adventures of Frank: Everybody's Fiddling Something

Nov 4, 19801h 15m

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.

04 The Adventures of Frank: Seeds of Ice

Nov 11, 19801h 15m

05 Minor Complications

Nov 18, 19801h 15m

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

06 Number on End

Nov 25, 19801h 15m

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.

07 Jude

Dec 2, 19801h 15m

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

08 The Flipside of Dominick Hide

Dec 9, 19801h 15m

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.

09 Name for the Day

Dec 16, 19801h 15m

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.

10 Jessie

Dec 23, 19801h 15m

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

11 Beyond the Pale

Jan 6, 19811h 15m

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

12 The Muscle Market

Jan 13, 19811h 15m

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

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

Jan 20, 19811h 15m

"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.

14 Dear Brutus

Jan 27, 19811h 15m

"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.

15 The Cause

Feb 3, 19811h 15m

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.

16 Beloved Enemy

Feb 10, 19811h 15m

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

17 The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner

Feb 17, 19811h 15m

A group of men hold a reunion dinner in Tokyo

18 The Union

Feb 24, 19811h 15m

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.

19 Sorry

Mar 3, 19811h 15m

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

20 Shai Mãlã Khani: The Garland

Mar 10, 19811h 15m

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.

21 The Sin Bin

Mar 17, 19811h 15m

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.

22 Before Water Lillies

Mar 24, 19811h 15m

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

23 Bavarian Night

Mar 31, 19811h 15m

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.

24 The Good Time Girls

Apr 7, 19811h 15m

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.

25 Baby Talk

Apr 14, 19811h 15m

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?

26 A Turn for the Worse

Apr 28, 19811h 15m

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

27 Psy-Warriors

May 12, 19811h 15m

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