Play For Today Volume One (1970 - 1977)

 

"Fantastic. Let's Have More"

Play For Today, late and very much lamented by many, was a series of original single dramas made and shown by the BBC from 1970 to 1984. Around 300 of them were made over this time, and they covered a wide range of social and political issues using a wide variety of storytelling styles. Play for Today could be angry and biting one week, gentle and wistful another, and hilariously funny another. You never knew what you were going to get, which for many was part of its appeal. Peppered into the mix time to time was horror like John Bowen's Robin Redbreast (reviewed elsewhere on here) or A Photograph (included in this set) or Vampires (hopefully to be included on a future release).

The BFI are releasing seven Play For Todays in a box set, along with original scripts and an excellent detailed book with essays on each story that gives added context in terms of the socio-cultural attitudes of the time (for those who aren't old enough to have been there!). So without any further ado, here's what you get:

Disc 1

The Lie (1970)

Written by Ingmar Bergman (translated by Paul Britten Austin) and directed by Alan Bridges, best known to readers here for 1966 low budget British SF classic INVASION, The Lie tells the story of a disintegrating marriage. Gemma Jones (wearing a wig that only John Waters' regular makeup man Van Smith could possibly love) and Frank Finlay play the professional couple who sleep in separate beds, lead separate lives and even have separate lovers, with everything coming crashing down about their ears during a climax that has Finlay hacking through a door with an axe to get at his faithless wife. Did Stanley Kubrick see this? Probably. 

Despite its UK setting there's a very European feel to the locations, and especially to the kinds of houses people live in. Posh dinner parties are held with guests standing talking on balconies more suited to the Mediterranean than the obviously awful freezing weather.

It's a typically Bergmanesque tale of gloom and misery with a fascinating cast of familiar faces including Richard O'Sullivan, Jennifer Daniel, John Carson and Joss Ackland. If those eerie violins in the soundtrack seem familiar that's because it's by BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW's Marc Wilkinson. 

Shakespeare or Bust (1972)

Three miners (Brian Glover, Ray Mort and Douglas Livingstone) from Leeds go on a pilgrimage to Stratford on Avon with the intention of seeing Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra, travelling by canal barge to get there. On the way they meet a variety of colourful characters, pursue a gorgeous woman they spot on another boat (Katya Wyeth familiar to readers here from Hammer Films and A CLOCKWORK ORANGE) and getting involved in a number of shenanigans before finally reaching their destination, which comes complete with guest appearances by Richard Johnson (best known here for ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS) and Janet Suzman. Utterly charming, this was one of three plays to feature the same three characters and it makes one hope the BFI release 'The Fishing Party' and 'Three for the Fancy' in future sets. 

Disc 2

Back of Beyond (1974)

Desmond Davis (CLASH OF THE TITANS) directs this tale of lonely Olwen (Rachel Roberts) living an hermetic lifestyle in her tumbledown farm in Wales. She makes an unlikely friend in the form of teenaged Rachel (Lynne Jones) whose parents would prefer if she didn't bother with the 'old woman'. 

A fascinating time capsule of a time now long gone, with beautiful location photography in and around Hay-on-Wye and boasting an excellent, melancholy and slightly sinister music score from John Addison, Julia Jones' Back of Beyond (the fourth and last of her Play For Todays) is an unexpected delight. Filmed at what looks like the height of summer the story constantly feels as if it's about to develop into kind of folk horror tale that ITV children's show Shadows was doing so well at around the same time. It never quite does, even though people refer to Olwen as a witch and it's obvious she wants to pass on what she owns to Rachel, whose parents seem to have their own mysterious reasons for shunning the woman. 

A Passage to England (1975)

Anand (Tariq Yunus) lives in Amsterdam with his sick uncle (Renu Setna) and his cousin Pramila (Emily Bolton). He needs to get his uncle to the UK for treatment but they have no passports. He asks Onslow (Colin Welland) if Onslow and his small crew will take them on Onslow's boat. In exchange Anand will sell Onslow one of the gold bars his uncle has converted his savings into for a knock down price in cash. As Onslow remortages his boat, a plan starts to form that maybe he could keep the gold and the money and get in with the immigration authorities in England. But who is double crossing whom?

This one's written by Leon Griffiths (Minder) and directed by John MacKenzie (THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY and APACHES) who gives this caper a slightly gritty edge that helps build the suspense as to what is actually going to happen. Frequent Pete Walker collaborator Stanley Myers provides the score. 

Disc 3

Your Man From Six Counties (1976)

This one's written by Colin Welland and set in contemporary Ireland. Young Jimmy (Joseph Reynolds) witnesses his father blown up in a Belfast pub bombing and moves to Ireland to live with his Uncle Danny (Donal McCann) and Aunt Mollie (a pre-Oscar-winning Brenda Fricker). But the tensions Jimmy left behind in Northern Ireland are still very much present in the tiny village he finds himself living in, and he ends up becoming the focus of many of them. 

Like Back of Beyond, Your Man From Six Counties has beautiful scenery as the backdrop to its considerably more political story. Carl Davis provides the melancholy music score for this one. 

Our Flesh and Blood (1977)

Jan (Alison Steadman from Abigail's Party and a vast amount of other TV) is expecting a baby with husband Bernard (Bernard Hill, best known to one generation for Boys From the Blackstuff and another for LORD OF THE RINGS). Jan wants a 'natural birth' (still a novel concept in 1977) and Bernard wants to support her, despite his boss and colleague treating Jan's pregnancy as a mistake on Bernard's part, refusing to reschedule interviews and suggesting a sports car might be a better investment than a child. Richard Briers (best known to one generation for The Good Life and another, rather wonderfully, for COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES) is the icy head of the maternity ward, embodying what were perceived as the attitudes and principles of late 1970s medicine, urging Jan to take the drugs and wanting Bernard to leave because 'fathers just get in the way'. 

Disc 4

A Photograph (1977)

Michael (John Stride), a media personality "for the intelligentsia" who reviews the arts for the BBC is sent a photograph of two girls sitting outside a caravan. His wife Gillian (Stephanie Turner) is convinced he is having an affair and there's the implication that it isn't the first. There's the suggestion he is up to something he shouldn't be, and it's obvious all is not too happy at home. To placate his wife Michael goes on a search for the caravan but only horror waits him at the end of his journey.

Written by John Bowen (Robin Redbreast and The Ice House amongst others), A Photograph builds slowly and almost imperceptibly to a full-on horror climax that feels as if Pete Walker might have directed it. To say any more would be to spoil the surprises but this is a splendid 72 minutes of television that gradually tightens the knot on its lead character with plenty for the viewer to think about afterwards. 

    As mentioned above, extras on the discs are limited to the scripts but the real bonus here is the detailed book that accompanies the set and provides detailed essays on each film. Thank you BFI. Let's have some more of these. 

PLAY FOR TODAY Volume One is out on Blu-ray in a four disc set from the BFI on Monday 16th November 2020