Plays for Britain: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

This hard-hitting anthology series continued the single-play format that had proved so successful with ITV's legendary Armchair Theatre, presenting six contemporary plays by writers at relatively early stages in their careers.

The plays are both compelling and provocative: Stephen Poliakoff's Hitting Town is an intense portrayal of siblings who find refuge from their bleak lives in one incestuous night; Roger McGough's The Lifeswappers is a darkly comic take on the theme of exchanged identities; Howard Brenton's The Paradise Run centres on an inexperienced soldier in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

These and other powerful screenplays feature strong performances from Kevin McNally, Pete Postlethwaite, Denis Lawson, Sheila Gish, Miriam Margolyes and Ray Winstone; directors include Alan Clarke, Philip Saville and Michael Apted.

Series details

• Title: Plays for Britain
• Format: Scripted
• Language: English
• Genres: Drama
• Premiere date: 1976-04-06
• Final broadcast date listed: 1976-05-11
• Status in TVmaze: Ended
• Network listed by TVmaze: ITV1
• Network country: United Kingdom
• Typical episode runtime: 60 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 12255
• IMDb ID: tt1595052
• TVDB ID: 278585

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1: premiered 1976-04-06; final listed air date 1976-05-11; episode order: 6.

Source and licence

Adapted from Plays for Britain 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.