Miss X

Just thought some of you may like to know that John Byrne's The Slab Boys- the BBC Play for Today version, not the remake movie - is out now on DVD exclusively from HMV.

HMV.com: Music CDs, DVDs, Games & More

Also available exclusively to HMV, is Leaving - a Screen Two drama by Daniel Boyle.

Coming soon will be Peter McDougall's first Play for Today; Just Your Luck, and a later drama, Down Where the Buffalo Go.

CaptainWaggett

Interesting article about Play for Today in today's Guardian

sippog

Yes, indeed. Makes some very interesting points.

I think the real reason for the demise of the "tv play" as those of us remember it in the 60's and 70's was technology and economics. In the days when most drama had to be studio based because filming on location was too expensive, writers naturally tended to write in a theatrical style and their subject matter, which had to reach beyond the walls of the studio set, tended to be more issue driven and cerebral. These are essentially theatrical virtues.

Plays like CATHY COME HOME with its extensive location shooting were therefore not typical of this time; they were the exceptions. As it became possible to increase production values (because improved technology made it cheaper) the single tv drama aspired to be more filmic and many examples actually ended up in the cinema.

The best of these dramas justified this transition but many nowadays seem (to some of us at least) to have sacrificed ideas and inspiration for a surface glossiness. High production values but vapid content.

Unfortunately I doubt if this is reversible any more. We get the tv drama we want - and deserve.

Steve Crook

Of course it wasn't just the BBC's "Play for Today". ITV were doing the Playhouse, Armchair Theatre, Saturday Night Theatre and other series of TV plays.

Maureen Lipman's obituary programme about Jack Rosenthal mentioned that it seemed to be a general trend. All stations were stopping doing TV plays at about that time. And it wasn't just the cost of location based vs. studio based, they stopped doing studio based plays as well.

Steve

zandycap

I think with the emergence of BBC3 and 4 we have the ideal place to put on weekly plays. Look what its done to enable many new comedies etc.

PS: Where can i get a selection of Wednesday Play/ Play for today? Anyone have any for swaps ? I just got a 4 pack DVD from the Peter Mcdougal Collection. The elephants graveyard. Just a boys game Just another saturday. down among the big boys. So its whetted my appetite for more of the kind of stuff i loved as a kid.
Anyone ?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes

Steve Crook

Not the BBC ones, but Jack Rosenthal at ITV includes a nice selection from one of the masters of the genre.

It includes:
Another Sunday and Sweet F.A. - sheer genius
Ready When You Are, Mr. McGill - one for people who have worked as extras
The Knowledge - brilliant, a true classic
episodes of The Lovers & Coronation Street
and many more

Steve