BBC2 Play of the Week
An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.
Seasons
1. Professional Foul
Air Date: 1977-09-21
Professor Anderson attends a conference in Prague, but what he really wants to do is attend a football match. Then he meets a former student unexpectedly, and must consider putting his philosophical ideas into practice.
2. Exiles
Air Date: 1977-09-28
In the 1920s, Michael Arlen was one of the most popular and acclaimed writers in the world, but he mysteriously stopped writing altogether. His son tries to work out why.
3. Abie's Will
Air Date: 1977-10-05
A once-celebrated writer who has written nothing since the war, lies paralysed and dying as his family gathers at the family home.
4. The Sinking of HMS Victoria
Air Date: 1977-10-12
A dramatisation of events surrounding the loss of the turret ship HMS Victoria during fleet exercises off Tripoli on 22 June 1893.
5. True Patriot
Air Date: 1977-10-19
A biopic of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose opposition to Adolf Hitler led to his involvement in an assassination plot.
6. Shooting the Chandelier
Air Date: 1977-10-26
Czechoslovakia, April 1945. A chance meeting between a professor and his former student turns into a violent trial of strength.
7. The Kitchen
Air Date: 1977-11-02
A busy day in the kitchen of a great hotel.
8. Arnhem: The Story of an Escape
Air Date: 1977-11-16
Graeme Warrack was Divisional Chief Doctor of the 1st Airborne Division at the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944. With other doctors, medical personnel and padres, he stayed behind with the wounded.
9. Forgotten Love Songs
Air Date: 1978-01-04
A man seeks the perfect relationship.
10. A Visit from Miss Prothero
Air Date: 1978-01-11
Arthur Dodsworth has recently retired. He lives alone except for his budgie and memories of his late wife Winnie. One afternoon his nap is interrupted by the doorbell; his former secretary, Peggy Prothero, has come to visit.
11. Mr. & Mrs. Bureaucrat
Air Date: 1978-01-18
Satire set at the Department of Something or Other, where mistakes in form-filling can bring careers to a sudden end.
12. Foreign Affairs
Air Date: 1978-01-25
Moscow is the setting for a reunion between Viktor and Susan which brings about unforeseen complications.
13. The Dissolution of Marcus Fleischman
Air Date: 1978-02-01
Marcus Fleischman's reincarnation proves a frustrating one. His widow, in his absence, leads the simple life of a shopkeeper, and brings up their son as best she can.
14. The O'Hooligan File
Air Date: 1978-02-08
A former teacher takes on the system armed only with pen, paper and stamps.
15. The Turkey Who Lives on the Hill
Air Date: 1978-02-15
Married life starts off full of bright hopes for Alex and Lynda, but soon they are trapped in a nightmare with their friend Bill.
16. Flayed
Air Date: 1978-02-22
A disparate group of guests find themselves locked into a largely empty television studio controlled by an anonymous man.
17. She Fell Among Thieves
Air Date: 1978-03-01
France, 1924. Two English gentlemen join forces to investigate notorious villainess Vanity Fair in her fortified chateau. Tongue-in-cheek 1978 TV film based on the novel by Dornford Yates.
18. Stargazy on Zummerdown
Air Date: 1978-03-15
In the 23rd century, Albion (formerly Britain) is made up of two distinct communities — the Aggros (farm workers) and the Toonies (industrial workers). They meet at Zummerdown for the annual midsummer festival of Stargazy.
19. Liza
Air Date: 1978-03-22
Lavretsky returns to Russia from Europe and joins the group of admirers of his beautiful young cousin Liza.
20. For Tea on Sunday
Air Date: 1978-03-29
Some young women, sharing accommodation, invite their boyfriends for tea on Sunday. But one of them proves to be alarmingly disturbed.
21. When the Actors Come
Air Date: 1978-05-03
In 19th-century Eastern Europe, a group of actors, led by Janos, arrive at a castle to give the Count and his friends a private performance. But the actors are also revolutionaries, and they have another agenda.
22. Ice Age
Air Date: 1978-05-17
An unexpected stranger arrives at the old peoples home in Norway where a famous writer is kept in confinement after the war. A young partisan plots his assassination, while others advocate handing him over for trial for collaboration.
23. The Copyist
Air Date: 1978-05-24
A fateful day in the life of a celebrated composer.
1. Langrishe Go Down
Air Date: 1978-09-20
In the late 1930s, three reclusive middle-aged spinster sisters live on their run down family estate in Ireland. Otto Beck, a perpetual graduate student from Bavaria with a habit of making pompous declamations, rents the back lodge to work on his esoteric thesis. Imogen Langrishe, the least repressed of the sisters, begins an affair with Otto. Imogen takes the love affair seriously, but Otto just enjoys the cheap lodging and the comfort of Imogen.
2. Fairies
Air Date: 1978-09-27
How could photographs, taken on a simple camera by two Yorkshire village girls, have momentous implications for man's understanding of the world?
3. Fearless Frank
Air Date: 1978-10-04
The outrageous – and not entirely reliable – memoirs of Irish writer Frank Harris, sometime cowboy in the Old West, friend to the famous in the literary world, essayist and critic, and seducer of beautiful women.
4. The Lost Boys: Part 1 – We Set Out to Be Wrecked
Air Date: 1978-10-11
1897: A quiet afternoon in Kensington Gardens. A little boy in a red tam-o'-shanter realises he is being watched by a small man with a huge St. Bernard. The man is J. M. Barrie...
5. The Lost Boys: Part 2 – Dark and Sinister Man
Air Date: 1978-10-18
1906: Arthur is gravely ill. Sylvia turns more and more to Barrie for help. A wealthy man following the huge success of Peter Pan, Barrie is only too happy to respond.
6. The Lost Boys: Part 3 – An Awfully Big Adventure
Air Date: 1978-10-25
1913: Three years have passed since Sylvia's death. George is now a man and Michael, 13 years old. For the Llewelyn Davieses, childhood is at an end, and illusions are about to be destroyed.
7. Return Fare
Air Date: 1978-11-01
A man adjusts to freedom after years incarcerated.
8. Another Day
Air Date: 1978-11-22
Abandoned by her husband, Eileen tries to make the best of bringing up her children in a rundown bed-sit. A man called George shows her attention, but others are suspicious of his motives.
9. The Vanishing Army
Air Date: 1978-11-29
The promotion of an ambitious, decorated NCO is put in jeopardy when he marries an unconventional wife and faces the snobbery of his superiors and their families.
10. Night People
Air Date: 1978-12-06
A classical string quartet stop at a motorway cafe in the early hours. Among the people they meet are a football supporter, a travelling salesman and an elderly couple who are going to Gretna Green to get married.
11. Renoir, My Father
Air Date: 1978-12-13
A dramatisation of the life and work of the artist Auguste Renoir, based on the book by his filmmaker son, Jean Renoir.
12. On Giant's Shoulders
Air Date: 1979-03-28
A middle-aged childless couple on a remote farm adopt a Black boy with no limbs due to the effects of Thalidomide. They encounter a great deal of resistance and scepticism from their friends and neighbours.
13. Stepping Out
Air Date: 1979-04-04
A middle-aged woman who enjoys making lavish ballgowns wishes her daughter would visit more often.
14. A Light That Shines
Air Date: 1979-04-11
At a teaching Order, Conroy is asked to mentor promising student Stephen, who is feeling pressured.
15. In England's Green and Pleasant Land
Air Date: 1979-05-16
Authorities must decide if the repentance of a reformed convicted murderer is genuine so he can be prepared for release.
Select an episode to start watching
Rating
7.0/10
Release Date
1977-09-21
Episodes
38 (2 seasons)
Status
Ended
Cast
Production Companies
BBC