Play for Today (1970)

Comedy · Drama · Horror

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 adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

IMDb rating: 7.8 (497 votes)
Seasons: 14
Language: EN
Type: TV series

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Ratings refreshed Aug 19, 2026 · 14 seasons indexed

Seasons

Season 1 (1970)

6.85 avg 13 episodes 6.4 → 6.9 75 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Long Distance Piano Player	6.4	35
2	The Right Prospectus	6.3	23
3	The Lie	7.4	93
4	Angels Are So Few	7.8	38
8	Hearts and Flowers	6.5	30
9	Robin Redbreast	7.2	697
10	The Hallelujah Handshake	7.4	99
14	The Piano	7.5	20
16	The Rainbirds	5.4	18
18	The Fox Trot	5.6	15
19	When the Bough Breaks	7.8	24
20	Orkney	6.8	20
21	The Rank and File	6.9	87

Season 2 (1971)

7.38 avg 10 episodes 7.6 → 8.4 67 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Traitor	7.6	122
2	Edna The Inebriate Woman	7.9	232
3	Evelyn	6.9	31
4	O Fat White Woman	7.2	20
5	Thank You Very Much	5.8	10
10	Home	7.8	76
11	Still Waters	7.4	22
12	Stocker's Copper	7.4	49
16	The Villa Maroc	7.4	19
18	The Fishing Party	8.4	103

Season 3 (1972)

7.18 avg 16 episodes 7.0 → 6.9 68 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Reporters	7.0	14
3	Carson Country	6.7	13
7	The General's Day	7.7	31
8	The Bankrupt	5.2	12
9	Just Your Luck	7.5	33
10	The Bouncing Boy	6.8	9
11	Shakespeare or Bust	7.9	52
12	Land of Green Ginger	7.5	38
13	Kisses at Fifty	7.4	116
15	Song at Twilight	7.7	10
16	Only Make Believe	7.5	21
18	The Operation	7.9	15
19	Access to the Children	7.0	18
20	Hard Labour	7.3	453
22	Speech Day	6.8	14
26	Blooming Youth	6.9	19

Season 4 (1973)

7.15 avg 15 episodes 8.1 → 6.8 70 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont	8.1	37
3	Jack Point	6.0	14
7	Shutdown	7.2	15
8	Baby Blues	5.6	10
10	The Lonely Man's Lover	7.4	15
11	All Good Men	7.3	26
12	Joe's Ark	7.3	41
14	Easy Go	7.3	11
15	Headmaster	6.0	16
16	Penda's Fen	7.1	1,183
17	Pidgeon - Hawk or Dove?	6.5	9
19	The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black Black Oil	8.7	61
20	Schmoedipus	8.2	79
21	The Childhood Friend	7.8	30
22	A Follower for Emily	6.8	74

Season 5 (1974)

7.35 avg 17 episodes 8.1 → 7.7 74 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Leeds United!	8.1	90
3	Back of Beyond	7.5	52
4	The Bevellers	6.6	15
5	Taking Leave	7.1	13
7	Eleanor	6.9	11
8	Gangsters	8.2	62
9	The After Dinner Game	7.4	8
10	Breath	6.0	9
11	The Death of a Young Young Man	6.9	11
12	Sunset Across the Bay	7.7	153
13	Funny Farm	7.0	80
14	Goodbye	7.6	12
15	Just Another Saturday	7.8	182
17	The Saturday Party	8.1	30
18	Wednesday Love	7.7	18
20	Brassneck	6.6	12
21	The Floater	7.7	10

Season 6 (1975)

7.37 avg 20 episodes 6.7 → 7.8 72 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Plaintiffs and Defendants	6.7	24
2	Two Sundays	7.2	31
3	Moss	8.5	16
4	84, Charing Cross Road	7.7	78
7	After the Solo	6.8	8
8	Through the Night	8.0	16
9	A Passage to England	7.7	43
10	Rumpole of the Bailey	8.2	173
11	The Other Woman	7.5	31
12	'Nuts in May'	7.8	2,362
15	A Story to Frighten the Children	6.4	10
16	The Happy Hunting Ground	6.6	11
17	Jumping Bean Bag	7.1	17
18	Clay, Smeddum and Greenden	7.3	51
19	Love Letters on Blue Paper	7.2	13
20	Willie Rough	7.3	10
21	Tiptoe Through the Tulips	7.6	13
22	The Peddler	7.0	16
23	Early Struggles	7.0	13
24	Double Dare	7.8	51

Season 7 (1976)

7.31 avg 17 episodes 7.6 → 7.3 77 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Bar Mitzvah Boy	7.6	120
2	Bet Your Life	6.9	20
3	Rocky Marciano Is Dead	8.0	15
4	The Elephants' Graveyard	7.4	177
5	Housewives' Choice	7.2	19
6	Your Man from Six Counties	7.8	43
7	Buffet	5.8	15
9	The Kiss of Death	6.6	366
10	Our Flesh and Blood	6.5	31
11	Do As I Say	7.0	28
12	Spend Spend Spend	8.2	81
13	A Photograph	7.4	119
14	The Price of Coal: Part 1 - Meet the People	7.8	127
15	The Price of Coal: Part 2 - Back to Reality	7.8	95
16	Gotcha/Campion's Interview	7.7	25
17	A Choice of Evils	7.3	9
18	The Country Party	7.3	31

Season 8 (1977)

7.28 avg 17 episodes 7.3 → 6.8 79 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Stronger Than the Sun	7.3	85
2	Come the Revolution	6.6	11
3	Abigail's Party	7.9	2,561
4	Oy Vay Maria	7.7	18
5	Nipper	7.9	22
6	One Day at a Time	8.0	16
7	The Mayor's Charity	6.4	18
9	Charades	6.2	16
10	The Thin End of the Wedge	6.7	9
11	Scully's New Year's Eve	7.4	26
12	Licking Hitler	7.6	46
13	Red Shift	6.7	88
14	The Spongers	8.5	81
15	Destiny	8.1	32
16	Our Day Out	8.0	267
17	The After Dinner Joke	5.9	14
18	The Legion Hall Bombing	6.8	9

Season 9 (1978)

7.01 avg 20 episodes 6.4 → 8.0 72 min avg

Season 9 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Nina	6.4	64
2	Victims of Apartheid	6.8	20
3	A Touch of the Tiny Hacketts	6.4	15
4	Dinner at the Sporting Club	7.2	46
5	Donal and Sally	7.2	13
6	Sorry...	7.6	19
7	Butterflies Don't Count	6.6	8
8	Soldiers Talking, Cleanly	6.6	8
9	One Bummer News Day	6.8	9
10	The Out of Town Boys	7.7	10
11	Vampires	7.1	42
12	The Chief Mourner	7.5	18
13	Waterloo Sunset	8.4	21
14	Blue Remembered Hills	7.6	370
15	Who's Who	6.6	289
16	The Last Window Cleaner	4.7	13
18	Degree of Uncertainty	6.8	11
19	Light	6.8	8
20	Coming Out	7.5	47
21	Don't Be Silly	8.0	54

Season 10 (1979)

7.29 avg 26 episodes 7.4 → 6.7 76 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 10 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Long Distance Information	7.4	18
2	Cries from a Watchtower	7.9	18
3	Comedians	8.1	71
4	Even Solomon	8.2	17
5	Just a Boys' Game	8.0	283
6	Billy	8.0	18
7	A Hole in Babylon	7.0	96
8	The Slab Boys	7.2	24
9	Katie: The Year of a Child	7.0	10
10	The Network	7.4	11
11	Chance of a Lifetime	7.0	11
12	Keep Smiling	6.4	11
13	Dreams of Leaving	7.2	23
15	Murder Rap	7.1	20
16	Instant Enlightenment Including VAT	6.3	18
17	No Defence	7.2	19
19	A Gift from Nessus	6.8	13
20	Kate the Good Neighbour	8.0	19
21	Buses	6.1	11
22	Shadows on Our Skin	7.6	17
23	Ladies	6.6	14
24	The Vanishing Army	7.5	35
25	Not for the Likes of Us	7.6	11
26	The Executioner	7.8	18
27	The Imitation Game	7.5	44
28	A Walk in the Forest	6.7	16

Season 11 (1980)

7.24 avg 22 episodes 6.6 → 7.3 77 min avg

Season 11 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Pasmore	6.6	9
2	C2H5OH	7.4	29
5	Minor Complications	8.3	13
6	Number on End	6.7	12
7	Jude	6.9	10
8	The Flipside of Dominick Hide	8.1	413
9	Name for the Day	6.8	15
10	Jessie	7.6	26
11	Beyond the Pale	6.5	11
12	The Muscle Market	8.4	58
13	A Brush with Mr. Porter on the Road to El Dorado	8.4	8
14	Dear Brutus	6.4	10
16	Beloved Enemy	6.6	79
17	The Kamikaze Ground Staff Reunion Dinner	8.9	27
19	Sorry	7.1	11
20	Shai Mãlã Khani: The Garland	7.2	9
21	The Sin Bin	5.5	11
23	Bavarian Night	8.0	14
24	The Good Time Girls	6.4	18
25	Baby Talk	6.6	11
26	A Turn for the Worse	7.5	17
27	Psy-Warriors	7.3	107

Season 12 (1981)

6.85 avg 22 episodes 6.9 → 6.9 72 min avg

Season 12 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Country	6.9	110
2	London Is Drowning	6.3	18
3	A Room for the Winter	6.2	10
4	No Visible Scar	6.7	13
5	Iris in the traffic... ...Ruby in the rain.	7.8	13
6	Protest	6.0	11
7	United Kingdom	8.6	33
8	P.Q. 17	6.8	14
9	The Factory	6.2	23
10	England's Greens and Peasant Land	7.2	11
11	A Cotswold Death	6.1	93
12	Under the Skin	5.5	11
13	Commitments	6.0	10
14	Life After Death	6.6	20
15	The Silly Season	7.0	10
16	Too Late to Talk to Billy	8.0	96
17	Willie's Last Stand	7.6	30
18	"Tishoo"	6.6	12
19	Home Sweet Home	7.2	322
20	A Sudden Wrench	7.5	16
21	Eve Set the Balls of Corruption Rolling	7.0	12
22	Whistling Wally	6.9	13

Season 13 (1982)

7.21 avg 12 episodes 7.3 → 7.5 75 min avg

Season 13 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Soft Targets	7.3	86
2	3 Minute Heroes	7.4	15
4	Intensive Care	7.4	22
7	Aliens	7.2	8
8	Another Flip for Dominick	7.3	162
9	Last Love	7.9	12
10	Gates of Gold	6.8	8
11	Wayne and Albert	7.6	8
12	Atlantis	6.6	12
13	The Last Term	6.4	8
15	Shall I Be Mother?	7.1	12
17	A Matter of Choice for Billy	7.5	57

Season 14 (1984)

6.93 avg 15 episodes 7.6 → 6.8 73 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 14 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Young Shoulders	7.6	13
2	A Coming to Terms for Billy	7.7	54
3	Z for Zachariah	6.3	121
4	Moving on the Edge	6.8	12
5	Desert of Lies	6.6	12
6	Hard Feelings	6.6	20
7	Under the Hammer	7.0	17
8	King	8.2	15
9	Rainy Day Women	7.2	66
10	Dog Ends	7.1	40
11	The Groundling and the Kite	6.2	13
12	The Cry	6.4	10
13	It Could Happen to Anybody	7.1	19
14	Only Children	6.4	8
15	The Amazing Miss Stella Estelle	6.8	11