Memories of Play for Today
Play for Today was the BBC’s flagship plays strand from 1970 to 1984. Carrying on from The Wednesday Play (but not shown on Wednesdays, hence the change of title), it continued presenting some of the best playwriting talent around at the time.
Writers who contributed included Dennis Potter, Jack Rosenthal, Caryl Churchill, Alan Bennett, Jim Allen… the list goes on and on, since the series devoured scripts at an alarming rate: and unlike drama series with their regular cast of characters and stock sets, each Play for Today would have an all-new cast and settings each week.
With a series that was by its very nature eclectic, it is hard to sum up the ethos of Play for Today. The plays presented ranged from the grimly downbeat like The Spongers or Spend, Spend, Spend, to comedies such as Mike Leigh’s Nuts in May and Abigail’s Party. Here’s a snapshot, in pictures, of some of the productions…
Mike Leigh's comedy-drama Nuts in May arrived on BBC One in 1976. Central characters Candice Marie and Keith (played by Alison Steadman and Roger Sloman) embark on a camping trip with the intention of enjoying the wonders of rural Britain... but the countryside is not quite ready for them. In all, Steadman appeared in numerous episodes of Play for Today, including the much-celebrated Abigail's Party.
Wartime drama The Imitation Game was written by Ian McEwan and aired in 1980. Harriet Walter starred as Cathy Raine, a young woman who joins the ATS (Auxiliary Territorial Service) against the wishes of her parents. Patricia Routledge and Brenda Blethyn also featured.
The Long-distance Piano Player was the first Play for Today, airing on 15 October 1970. Ray Davies (of The Kinks) played a pianist trying to break the World Record for continuous piano playing.
Dennis Potter's 1971 drama Traitor was about a Foreign Office man (played by John le Mesurier) who defects to Russia. That week's Radio Times billing described the play as "based on the real-life story of the British Intelligence defector and Cambridge graduate Kim Philby". Potter was a frequent Play for Today contributor, also writing - among others - Blue Remembered Hills. Le Mesurier, even then best known for Dad's Army, won the Society of Film and Television Arts (now known as BAFTA) award for best actor for his performance.
An Indian man attempts to smuggle himself and his family from the Netherlands into England in the 1977 drama, A Passage to England, by Leon Griffiths. The Sunday Times called it "a first-class play which played some neat tricks on preconceived notions."
Retirement isn't what "Mam and Dad" were expecting in the gentle comedy, Sunset Across the Bay by Alan Bennett. Harry Markham and Gabrielle Daye starred.
Not everyone knows that Rumpole of the Bailey began as part of the Play for Today strand. Here, Leo McKern (right) as barrister Rumpole speaks to his son (David Yelland)
Rumpole of the Bailey, John Mortimer’s series about irascible "Old Bailey hack", barrister Horace Rumpole, ran for many years on ITV, but actually started life as a Play for Today. Australian actor Leo McKern, long a familiar face on British television, was cast as the wily old lawyer, a role he made his own – although Michael Hordern was originally approached for the part.
