Play For Today

[tali122]

How many times have The Play For Today's been screened?- When was the last screenings?
Finally apart from iirc Brimstone and Treacle what are the most disturbing /controversial Play For Today's
Thanks

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by tali122 How many times have The Play For Today's been screened?- When was the last screenings? Finally apart from iirc Brimstone and Treacle what are the most disturbing /controversial Play For Today's Thanks

The IMDb lists 308 of them.
The last one they have a date for was screened on 28 August 1984.

Other classics include:
Edna, the Inebriate Woman
The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
Just Another Saturday
84 Charing Cross Road
Rumpole of the Bailey
Nuts in May
Bar Mitzvah Boy
The Price of Coal (2 parter)
Abigail's Party
Blue Remembered Hills
The Flipside of Dominick Hide
Another Flip for Dominick
and many others

The ones in bold were in the BFI list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes of the 20th century.

They had some great writers producing those plays and they were well performed and produced

Steve

[hankoler]

Was THE Camamile lawn one of those.?

[batman]

Originally Posted by hankoler Was THE Camamile lawn one of those.?

The Camomile Lawn was an ITV production.

Bats.

[batman]

The original version of Scum caused a bit of a stir (no pun intended) in 1977.

Bats.

[Mark O]

I recall one Play for today, I think it was called 'The Scroungers' , made in the Jubilee year of 1977 set on a Sheffield housing Estate, Christine Hargreaves played a Mum whose Husband had left her and also left her in Debt with the Rent, after trying unsuccesfully to sort her problems out she killed her herself and her three kids with a late-night Milk drink laced with some sort of Poison........I thought that was quite a controversial Play for today.

[Matthew Hopkins]

It was actually called The Spongers. Directed by Roland Joffe, no less.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by batman The original version of Scum caused a bit of a stir (no pun intended) in 1977. Bats.

So much so that it was never a Play for Today - because the BBC decided not to show it. The BBC said that they banned it because "There was too much incident packed into too short a time and that they doubted the veracity." So they thought it was pure fiction. But they also said that it "looked too much like a documentary and was too realistic."

Steve

[oxfam1uk]

I have only seen "Blue Remembered Hills" once, aged about 13, and it was truly disturbing and nightmarish. That was the intention, of course, and maybe it could be considered Dennis Potter's most successful play, in that respect.

I have "Brimstone and Treacle" on DVD, and I don't like it much. The story is unneccesarily muddled, and drawn out far too long. There's a kernel of a really great story in there, but Potter should have been told to edit the script right down.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hopkins It was actually called The Spongers. Directed by Roland Joffe, no less.

They had a lot of great directors doing the Play for Today. They weren't always well known at the time, it was a bit of a training ground. But the list includes Alan Clarke, Mike Newell, Michael Apted, Mike Leigh, Richard Eyre, Ken Loach, Stephen Frears, Roland Joffé, Richard Wilson, David Hare and many others that have gone on to fame and glory.

Similarly with the writers, it was a training ground for new writers and let up and coming writers get their work aired. The writers included Dennis Potter, Mike Leigh, Colin Welland, Barry Hines, David Hare, Jack Rosenthal, Alan Bennett, Willy Russell, Malcolm Bradbury, Stephen Poliakoff, Alan Bleasdale and lots of others

If only some bright young TV executive would realise that there is still a place for the one-off TV play. Not just as BBC's Play for Today but also the equivalent on the other channels like Armchair Theatre, Saturday Night Theatre, ITV Playhouse etc. It would be interesting to see how today's "talent" would manage with that format.

Of course not every one of them was a gem, some didn't work and some were only "ordinary". But a lot of them are still on most people list of best TV shows

Steve

[Mark O]

Originally Posted by Matthew Hopkins It was actually called The Spongers. Directed by Roland Joffe, no less.

Thank you for correcting me Matthew!........there's an interesting piece about this particular Play for today here........

"Play for Today" The Spongers (1978)

[Greyandwhite]

Hello All,
I've tried to find out some info about this on my own and haven't got very far. I think that it was a PFT and I know it must be post mid 77 because the Sex Pistols "Pretty Vacant" was used (released July 1st 77). I reckon it might be "Nipper" but can't get enough detail to be sure. The only couple of scenes that I remember were when a local tobacconist tries to commit an, ahem, indecent act on the "lad" for a couple of ciggies and a sequence involving the "lad" running along streets at night - which was when the Pistols track was used. Googling John Fowler doesn't give much nor do BFI or IMDB. It only stays with me because the song sparked my interest in punk.

Which Play was it? Is it all in my imagination? Can anybody help , please?

[Mark O]

Originally Posted by Greyandwhite Hello All, I've tried to find out some info about this on my own and haven't got very far. I think that it was a PFT and I know it must be post mid 77 because the Sex Pistols "Pretty Vacant" was used (released July 1st 77). I reckon it might be "Nipper" but can't get enough detail to be sure. The only couple of scenes that I remember were when a local tobacconist tries to commit an, ahem, indecent act on the "lad" for a couple of ciggies and a sequence involving the "lad" running along streets at night - which was when the Pistols track was used. Googling John Fowler doesn't give much nor do BFI or IMDB. It only stays with me because the song sparked my interest in punk. Which Play was it? Is it all in my imagination? Can anybody help , please?

It was called Nipper, I recall watching it but can only remember a few scenes, Coral Atkins is hysterical after the Funeral of her Lorry Driver husband, particulary so after 'When I need you' by Leo Sayer is played at the Funeral Tea, I can see the faces of two of the Teenagers in the Play though I don't think they're much on our Screens these days, one of them was in a Public information Movie about a young couple (the girl was played by he Actress who played 'Martello' in The Bill) who have Sex in on the back seat of a Car and she says "if I do get pregnant, you will marry me won't ya"?......the Lad replys "Of course I will"!

I recall the Tobacconist who is referred to as a 'Eunuch', one of the Lads let's out a yell when 'Eunuch' tries to have his way with him, then at the end the same Lad is driving his late Dad's Ford Cortina Mk3 (very proficiently too being underage and having picked up the technique of driving from his Lorry driving Dad whom he worshiped) and then, sadly, the Lad crashes the Car and he is killed too..........not exactly a happy 'Play for today' but I wouldn't mind seeing most of them again!

[Joenoir]

Originally Posted by batman The Camomile Lawn was an ITV production. Bats.

It was actually a Channel 4 production. I was always impressed by the fact that Mary Wesley had taken up writing so late in life.


Tuesday, 31 December, 2002, 13:34 GMT
Author Mary Wesley dies

Author Mary Wesley, who wrote The Camomile Lawn, has died at the age of 90.
Wesley was seen as one of the UK's finest authors after having her first novel published when she was 70. She died at her home in Totnes, Devon, on Monday.

The Camomile Lawn, a delicate story of a family's last holiday before World War II, was her most famous work. It was turned into a television drama starring Felicity Kendal and Jennifer Ehle in 1991.

[bhowells]

Who remember the Play For Today called "Gotcha." starring a very young Phil Davies it was set in a school.