About this season
The Afternoon Play is a British television anthology series of standalone contemporary dramas aired during the afternoons of 2003–07 on BBC One, featuring well-known actors in one-off stories. A daytime drama strand showcasing a variety of genres, from comedy to mystery, it was part of a long tradition of afternoon plays on BBC Radio 4, which would go on to influence the television version.
Episodes (5)
1. The Hitch
Aired 24 January 2005 • 60 min
Two couples learn that their ten-year marriages were not legal as the priest was a fake reflect on their lives while preparing for a new ceremony.
2. The Trouble with George
Aired 25 January 2005 • 60 min
Rose Lapwood finds that marriage to her sweet-but-dull husband George is becoming intolerable, but as her friendship blooms with neighbour Donna, they soon find themselves planning ways to do away with him, collect the life insurance, and live together unhindered.
3. The Good Citizen
Aired 26 January 2005 • 60 min
A man enters a rural police station and announces he is seceding from Britain and starting his own republic. As he is hounded by the press, threatened by the government and exposed by his fame-seeking ex-wife, he struggles to retain the rural simplicity he thought would solve all his problems, while his growing relationship with a tabloid journalist only complicates his life further.
4. Reverse Psychology
Aired 27 January 2005 • 60 min
Sonia, a very successful sexual health doctor, is unhappy about her parents' constant interference in her day-to-day life, and decides to speak out. But her father is anything less than happy about that, and tries everything to correct her life and hook her up with a man.
5. The Singing Cactus
Aired 28 January 2005 • 60 min
14-year-old schoolboy John Reilly, suffering from his father's death, finds escape in his own world with an imaginary 'singing cactus', Native American mysticism, Morris dancers, and an ominous wolf.