Play for Today: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

Play for Today, an anthology series of plays carrying on in the tradition of its predecessor The Wednesday Play, presented controversial works by such writers as Dennis Potter, David Mercer, Alan Bennett, and Jim Allen, with such directors as Ken Loach, Alan Clarke, Philip Saville, and Mike Newell. Several plays in the series led to various spin-offs, including Play for Tomorrow and Rumpole of the Bailey.

Series details

• Title: Play for Today
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama
• Premiere date: 1970-10-15
• Final broadcast date listed: 1984-08-28
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: BBC One
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 75 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 699

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1970-10-15; final listed air date 1971-06-03; episode order: 23.
• Season 2: premiered 1971-10-14; final listed air date 1972-06-01; episode order: 19.
• Season 3: premiered 1972-10-09; final listed air date 1973-07-02; episode order: 28.
• Season 4: premiered 1973-10-18; final listed air date 1974-07-04; episode order: 22.
• Season 5: premiered 1974-10-31; final listed air date 1975-06-05; episode order: 22.
• Season 6: premiered 1975-10-14; final listed air date 1976-07-28; episode order: 25.
• Season 7: premiered 1976-09-14; final listed air date 1977-04-26; episode order: 19.
• Season 8: premiered 1977-10-18; final listed air date 1978-08-22; episode order: 17.
• Season 9: premiered 1978-10-17; final listed air date 1979-07-24; episode order: 21.
• Season 10: premiered 1979-10-11; final listed air date 1980-05-14; episode order: 28.
• Season 11: premiered 1980-10-21; final listed air date 1981-05-12; episode order: 27.
• Season 12: premiered 1981-10-20; final listed air date 1982-04-06; episode order: 22.
• Season 13: premiered 1982-10-19; final listed air date 1983-08-24; episode order: 18.
• Season 14: premiered 1983-10-25; final listed air date 1984-08-28; episode order: 16.

Source and licence

Adapted from Play for Today on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.