Episodes
School Play
November 7, 1979
A play about the horrors of life at an English public school - with all the schoolboys played by adults.
Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
November 14, 1979
A dissident, Alexander, has been pronounced insane by the authorities (although he isn't), and finds himself sharing a cell with a genuine mental patient, Ivanov.
The Brylcreem Boys
November 21, 1979
Cpl. George Hunn's sentry post is knocked over and he wakes to find he is suffering from frost bite of the face. Sent to hospital he is put on a ward with aircrew who have mental issues. He is trapped reenacting their missions at night.
An Affinity with Dr. Still
November 28, 1979
Home Movies
December 5, 1979
Keith and Alec have been making holiday movies, together for 25 years. Alec suddenly spots a moment between wife Sybil and Keith. He realises daughter Katie is actually Keith's and she is in a sexual relationship with her 'brother' John.
Sweet Wine of Youth
December 12, 1979
Speed King
December 19, 1979
In 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell's obsession is to win the World's Land Speed Record in his car Bluebird. Speed King is about the man, the car, and the ruthless, but irresistible, public ambition of a world hero.
Pews
January 12, 1980
Set in a north country synagogue, a group of Jewish men have to organise a shiva, however, not having the required number of their faith, resort to recruiting George, a 'non-Jew', to make up the numbers.
Gentle Folk
January 19, 1980
An Edwardian house party given by a Fabian woman, her business-man husband and assorted guests from politics and the Arts—including a young man prone to disturbing premonitions.
Trouble with Gregory
January 23, 1980
Gregory has troubles enough when Ella moves him out and sets him up for a job with the radio. Suspicions of infidelity can make the world a disturbing place. But then he still has to meet the new neighbours...
Lifelike
January 26, 1980
A comprehensive school is praised for its authenticity, but one schoolboy does not agree with this assessment.
The Enigma
February 9, 1980
An upper-class young man has rejected his affluent background, but, when a crisis comes, reverts to type pretty quickly.
Hesther for Example
February 16, 1980
Cousin, W. Clifford Mill, ran a dirty postcard business; which brings Paul to the country in search of a profitable afternoon. Hesther knows the value of most things and, when evening falls, she turns his visit to her own advantage.
The Best of Friends
March 8, 1980
What is friendship? Why do two grown men behave like egomaniac children or flustered prima donnas? And when they meet unexpectedly after ten years, how will things be?
In Hiding
March 15, 1980
A teenager learns about life and death while staying with his aunt during the school holidays.
Rottingdean
March 22, 1980
Mother is manic, Father frustrated. Son sees himself as quite an operator. Daughter wants to change the dreary world of Jubilee-year England. The day has come. Back to Rottingdean... if all goes smoothly.
The Dig
April 18, 1980
Happy
April 25, 1980
Mary's Wife
May 2, 1980
A married transvestite comes to terms with their true gender identity.
Games Without Frontiers
May 9, 1980
Nobody goes to Amsterdam to wander about. It's either the Rijksmuseum or the red-light district. On the boat going home Clive and Stewart admit to not having spent long in the museums – so what did they get up to in Amsterdam?
The Unborn
May 16, 1980
A physicist has visions of his unborn baby – it turns out that the child will grow up to become a Hitler-like dictator responsible for World War III.
Electric in the City
May 23, 1980
Blue Remembered Hills
May 30, 1980
Repeated from Play for Today
Thank You Comrades
June 6, 1980
Coming Out
June 13, 1980
Crest of a Wave
June 20, 1980
Freedom of the Dig
June 20, 1980
A Walk in the Forest
July 6, 1980
Hallelujah, Mary Plum
July 13, 1980
A talented, independent artist lives by the sea with her daughter. As summer approaches, she faces two threats to her way of life: the local doctor who is in love with her and her unhappy sister who comes to stay.
Dalhousie's Luck
August 3, 1980
Our gamble is over, Dalhousie. You'll walk at dawn tomorrow as agreed, but in case you've no mind to return, there's one fact might persuade you. On what you do hangs not only your life but hers .
An Ordered Life
August 10, 1980
German composer Anton Webern survives Naziism only to be shot by an American GI in the closing days of WWII. His son, against his father's wishes, joins the Wehrmacht and is killed in a railway accident in 1943.
