Playhouse — Season 7

Aired 31 October 1980

Peter boards a train to attend an important business meeting across Europe. His trip is complicated by two women also assigned to his compartment. One is an independent American whom Peter finds attractive. The other is Frau Messner, an extremely particular and demanding older European woman. Between the two of them, they try different aspects of Peter's patience...

Aired 7 November 1980

Using a remarkable blend of dramatic techniques, this study of three English poets – also three courageous soldiers – gradually develops towards their historical and crucial meeting.

Aired 14 November 1980 • 50 min

Lou Parker feels very strongly that she and her husband, Ray, are different from the Farrells and the Ackerleys. With them it's all television. But she and Ray have the local library and The Observer. They keep abreast. They're different.

Aired 21 November 1980

Aired 28 November 1980 • 95 min

Young working class couple Dick and Mandy move into a council house in Canterbury, and find Mr. Butcher, one of their former teachers, living next door. Mandy's unmarried sister, Gloria, is constantly dropping in, and will not take any hints that the couple would prefer to be left alone, until her presence finally goads them to action.

Aired 5 December 1980

Aired 12 December 1980

Aired 19 December 1980

At a Nottingham advertising agency, young graphic designer Graham is recruited as a temporary replacement for the iconic Henry. The agency are desperate to be part of the Swinging Sixties but not without Henry. Can Graham replace him?

Aired 9 January 1981

John Fothergill, aesthete and scholar, becomes the proprietor of the Spread Eagle, in Thame, Oxfordshire, with the intent of turning it into the most celebrated Inn in England, catering to the brightest lights in London's literati.

Aired 16 January 1981

A darts tournament is put in peril when the players' wives stage a sit-in in the pub.

Aired 23 January 1981

A day in the life of Mrs Radcliffe, who believes that the advice she so freely gives is done only out of kindness.

Aired 30 January 1981

In prison the night before his execution, Republican preacher Hugh Peter prepares to be hanged, drawn and quartered for treason.

Aired 6 February 1981

An Irishwoman married to a German in pre-WWI Liverpool prepares to meet her brother-in-law, a young man named Adolf Hitler.

Aired 13 February 1981 • 90 min

In 1920, a trio of British soldiers have to guard an unexploded mine that has washed up on a beach.

Aired 20 February 1981

In 1978, Changes Magazine journalist Neville Morris writes an essay about Bob Dylan called 'A Jewish Massiah'. Dylan's publicist Elle Smith reaches out that The Bard wants to meet him at Earl's Court.

Aired 27 February 1981

A mother, waiting for a visit through a hospital day, reflects on her life. Dreams haunt her, fantasies seduce her, memories crowd in on her, distorting the drab reality of her day to day existence. Must her daughter follow in her footsteps? How can she find a way to guide her towards a brighter future?

Aired 6 March 1981

VE Night, 1945: In a Yorkshire pub, not everyone is in a mood to celebrate. Lorna Thorpe's 'All-Star' dance band is down two members, the beer has run out, and some influential friends on the city council have booked flights to Buenos Aires.

Aired 13 March 1981

An exploration of the personal and professional conflicts of a string quartet who have been playing together for many years, but are on the point of disintegrating.

Aired 20 March 1981

The true story of Unity Mitford who, in the 1930s, moves to Germany, where she befriends Adolf Hitler.

Aired 27 March 1981

Aired 3 April 1981

After nineteen years of marriage, three children, and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go for an emergency operation. From her bed, she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly, it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17-year-old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc caused by the affair. No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?

Aired 10 April 1981

After nineteen years of marriage, three children, and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go for an emergency operation. From her bed, she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly, it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17-year-old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc caused by the affair. No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?

Aired 17 April 1981

After nineteen years of marriage, three children, and a brief but passionate affair followed by a quick divorce, Elizabeth Aidallbery has to go for an emergency operation. From her bed, she has the leisure to take stock of her life, and frankly, it doesn't look very edifying: there's the 17-year-old daughter who's run off to a commune with her boyfriend; an old hopeless suitor who continues to press his claims; and of course the memory of the havoc caused by the affair. No doubt she could put her life back in order. But need that involve all those people who cause her so much heartache?

Aired 24 April 1981

Aired 1 May 1981

Aired 15 May 1981

Albie Warren and his girlfriend Carla are second on the bill of variety artists and musicians performing to half empty venues. Albie impersonates wartime comic Rob Wilton to people who don't know him. Will he take the chance to top the bill?

Aired 22 May 1981

Aired 5 June 1981

Two men sharing a hospital room after their diagnoses of terminal cancer struggle with fear, physical pain, the difficulties of being in hospital, family members unable to cope, loneliness, and their unusual friendship.

Aired 10 July 1981