About this season
A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Episodes (31)
1. School Play
Aired 7 November 1979
A play about the horrors of life at an English public school - with all the schoolboys played by adults.
2. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour
Aired 14 November 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.
3. The Brylcreem Boys
Aired 21 November 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.
4. An Affinity with Dr. Still
Aired 28 November 1979
5. Home Movies
Aired 5 December 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.
6. Sweet Wine of Youth
Aired 12 December 1979
7. Speed King
Aired 19 December 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.
8. Pews
Aired 12 January 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.
9. Gentle Folk
Aired 19 January 1980 • 75 min
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.
10. Trouble with Gregory
Aired 23 January 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...
11. Lifelike
Aired 26 January 1980
A comprehensive school is praised for its authenticity, but one schoolboy does not agree with this assessment.
12. The Enigma
Aired 9 February 1980
An upper-class young man has rejected his affluent background, but, when a crisis comes, reverts to type pretty quickly.
13. Hesther for Example
Aired 16 February 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.
14. The Best of Friends
Aired 8 March 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?
15. In Hiding
Aired 15 March 1980
A teenager learns about life and death while staying with his aunt during the school holidays.
16. Rottingdean
Aired 22 March 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.
17. The Dig
Aired 18 April 1980
18. Happy
Aired 25 April 1980
19. Mary's Wife
Aired 2 May 1980
A married transvestite comes to terms with their true gender identity.
20. Games Without Frontiers
Aired 9 May 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?
21. The Unborn
Aired 16 May 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.
22. Electric in the City
Aired 23 May 1980
23. Blue Remembered Hills
Aired 30 May 1980
Repeated from Play for Today
24. Thank You Comrades
Aired 6 June 1980
25. Coming Out
Aired 13 June 1980
26. Crest of a Wave
Aired 20 June 1980
27. Freedom of the Dig
Aired 20 June 1980
28. A Walk in the Forest
Aired 6 July 1980
29. Hallelujah, Mary Plum
Aired 13 July 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.
30. Dalhousie's Luck
Aired 3 August 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 .
31. An Ordered Life
Aired 10 August 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.