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Remember "Play For Today" Back In The Seventies?

(37 Posts)
madeleine45 Sat 24-Aug-24 07:02:37

Yes, remember many of these plays. Oh come back play for today and all the other good dramas. When my son was little there wasnt much that I could really be in charge of, but I used to look in the radio times and it would give a structure to my day. I would see what plays or music on radio 3 I wanted to listen to and arrange my jobs accordingly. Ironing was a lot less boring listening to the play. Actually I still check the radio times these days but mostly to look at what music there is on 3. Bach before 7 is my time for coffee, then at least it galvanises me to go and get the shopping before my favourite music comes on the radio. Thank the lord for the radio, something I can still listen to without worrying about the cost!!

mae13 Sat 24-Aug-24 05:27:13

Lovetopaint037

Yes remember all mentioned but also Saturday Night Theatre on the radio when I was a youngster. The family all settled down ready to hear it and there was no talking! The one I remember the most was An Inspector Calls. Not sure but think it was by J M Barrie. Everyone interviewed believes they are responsible for a death but it is their guilt which misleads them.

"An Inspector Calls" is an all time classic. I think Alistair Sim played the police inspector in the film version. It also featured an astonishingly young Brian Forbes!

Lovetopaint037 Sat 24-Aug-24 05:03:20

Yes remember all mentioned but also Saturday Night Theatre on the radio when I was a youngster. The family all settled down ready to hear it and there was no talking! The one I remember the most was An Inspector Calls. Not sure but think it was by J M Barrie. Everyone interviewed believes they are responsible for a death but it is their guilt which misleads them.

mae13 Sat 24-Aug-24 04:46:25

Mt61

I liked Abigail’s party, with Alison Steadman, not sure if that was “play for today” I was 8

Oh yes - "Abigails' Party" is in the same category. Highlighting the angst and petty pretentions of some parts of suburbia, and Alison Steadman's portrayal of the Demis Rousoss obsessed hostess. She was almost frightening.

(And the guys in kipper ties and suits with those very wide lapels!)

Mt61 Sat 24-Aug-24 02:03:03

I liked Abigail’s party, with Alison Steadman, not sure if that was “play for today” I was 8

Anniebach Fri 23-Aug-24 23:27:30

Edna The Inebriated Woman was on Play for Today

JenniferEccles Fri 23-Aug-24 22:52:44

The fact that older programmes hadn’t yet been infected by the politically correct nonsense, makes them all the more appealing to me.

Opinions on this will vary of course!

Luckygirl3 Fri 23-Aug-24 22:26:29

And then there were the Wednesday Plays - my grandma thought they were quite disgusting, but was very cross with me when I suggested she might switch them off!!

QuaintIrene Fri 23-Aug-24 22:20:23

Cathy Come Home was ground-breaking. I think it was 1970 ? I remember watching it and reading the papers afterwards. Was it then that Shelter the charity came about as a result of that play ?
I live in a really run down area in the North of England and two bedroomed houses no garden are up for £ 900 pounds a month.
It's terrible. But I do know that Shelter do their best. My neighbours were helped with a deposit and guarantor through them.

flappergirl Fri 23-Aug-24 21:47:32

Play for Today was brilliant, really gritty. I think I'm correct in saying that "Cathy come Home" was one of them but possibly aired in the 60's. I vaguely remember "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" too.

Rosemary Leach was quite prolific back then. She was an understated beauty and very talented.

I also loved Armchair Theatre and Armchair Thriller. Some episodes of the latter were really quite chilling. There really isn't anything comparable to such programmes these days. The 60's and 70's saw an explosion of talented and experimental writers.

QuaintIrene Fri 23-Aug-24 21:43:54

I remember watching. Some of them were quite daring for the time.

mae13 Fri 23-Aug-24 20:40:22

I accidentally stumbled across an episode called "Tiptoe Through The Tulips" from 1976, featuring the late Michael Gambon and the also late Rosemary Leach, so much younger.

And the seventies decor was mesmerizing but the not-very-politically-correct turns of speech were pretty cringeworthy, plus the overtones of mysoginy which the script got away with.

Worth watching just the same.