Playhouse (1974)
BBC2 Playhouse is a one hour UK anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas created by Sara Pia Anderson and produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Among its many notable guest stars were Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Paul Scofield, Deborah Kerr, Ben Kingsley, Donald Pleasence, Brenda Blethyn, and Peggy Ashcroft. It premiered in the UK on March 13, 1974 and ran through May 20, 1983.
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Episode 1 - School Play
Release Date: 1979-11-07A play about the horrors of life at an English public school - with all the schoolboys played by adults.
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Episode 2 - Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Release Date: 1979-11-14A 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.
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Episode 3 - The Brylcreem Boys
Release Date: 1979-11-21Cpl. 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.
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Episode 4 - An Affinity with Dr. Still
Release Date: 1979-11-28 -
Episode 5 - Home Movies
Release Date: 1979-12-05 -
Episode 6 - Sweet Wine of Youth
Release Date: 1979-12-12 -
Episode 7 - Speed King
Release Date: 1979-12-19In 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.
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Episode 8 - Pews
Release Date: 1980-01-12Set 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. I only saw the play once, but there were a number of memorable lines, including, when Kugleman comes out of the 'gents', he says to Liftchick, "George won't pass as Jewish, he's got a foreskin as long as my nose!" Another line was, when asked his occupation, George replied that he was an electrician. "If anyone askes", said Liftchick, " tell them you're an electrical contractor!" A great play with an excellent cast.
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Episode 9 - Gentle Folk
Release Date: 1980-01-19 -
Episode 10 - Trouble with Gregory
Release Date: 1980-01-23 -
Episode 11 - Lifelike
Release Date: 1980-01-26A television play about a comprehensive school is praised for its authenticity, but the lead schoolboy actor does not agree with this assessment.
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Episode 12 - The Enigma
Release Date: 1980-02-09An upper-class young man has rejected his affluent background, but, when a crisis comes, reverts to type pretty quickly.
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Episode 13 - Hesther for Example
Release Date: 1980-02-16Cousin, 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.
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Episode 14 - The Best of Friends
Release Date: 1980-03-08 -
Episode 15 - In Hiding
Release Date: 1980-03-15A teenager learns about life and death while staying with his aunt during the school holidays.
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Episode 16 - Rottingdean
Release Date: 1980-03-22 -
Episode 17 - The Dig
Release Date: 1980-04-18 -
Episode 18 - Happy
Release Date: 1980-04-25 -
Episode 19 - Mary's Wife
Release Date: 1980-05-02A married transvestite comes to terms with their true gender identity.
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Episode 20 - Games Without Frontiers
Release Date: 1980-05-09Nobody 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?
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Episode 21 - The Unborn
Release Date: 1980-05-16A 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.
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Episode 22 - Electric in the City
Release Date: 1980-05-23 -
Episode 23 - Blue Remembered Hills
Release Date: 1980-05-30Repeated from Play for Today
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Episode 24 - Thank You Comrades
Release Date: 1980-06-06 -
Episode 25 - Coming Out
Release Date: 1980-06-13 -
Episode 26 - Crest of a Wave
Release Date: 1980-06-20 -
Episode 27 - Freedom of the Dig
Release Date: 1980-06-20 -
Episode 28 - A Walk in the Forest
Release Date: 1980-07-06 -
Episode 29 - Hallelujah, Mary Plum
Release Date: 1980-07-13A 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.
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Episode 30 - Dalhousie's Luck
Release Date: 1980-08-03Our 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 .
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Episode 31 - An Ordered Life
Release Date: 1980-08-10Colin Jeavons is the German composer Anton Webern who survives Naziism only to be shot by an American GI in the closing days of WW2. Daniel Gerroll plays his son Stephen who, against his father's wishes, joined the Wehrmacht and was killed in a railway accident in 1943.