Underrated Play Fsor Todays

[Phoenix Lazarus]

Nah, you could be thinking of Alan Clarke's Made in Britain. Came out the same year as Oi (82) so us skins felt very special indeed.

Yes, I think I am.  The main character in that was a skinhead called Trevor and I think that was on Channel Four.

[sevendaughters]

Made in Britain was part of Tales out of School, four films written by David Leland on the theme of education, but directed by others for ITV. Others were Rhino, Flying into the Wind, and Birth of a Nation.

[sevendaughters]

beating many of the famous folk horrors to the punch (but three years after The Owl Service, so not that quick) was Robin Redbreast (directed by James MacTaggart and written by John Bowen, who would write two of the teleplays for the MR James A Ghost Story for Christmas strand). It isn't perfect or quite as strange, but has a fine tinge of weirdness and a great ending. Shot in Evesham, where I can imagine they get up to the sort of stuff depicted to this day.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Nah, you could be thinking of Alan Clarke's Made in Britain. Came out the same year as Oi (82) so us skins felt very special indeed.

Was that the one where they break into an office looking for their files, prompting the dialogue...
"I'm pissing on my files"
"I'm shitting on mine" (and he was!)
That's literally the only bit I can remember from that film (or whatever film it is.)

[sevendaughters]

Was that the one where they break into an office looking for their files, prompting the dialogue...
"I'm pissing on my files"
"I'm shitting on mine" (and he was!)
That's literally the only bit I can remember from that film (or whatever film it is.)

Yes. It's on Youtube in full btw.

[Indomitable Spirit]

beating many of the famous folk horrors to the punch (but three years after The Owl Service, so not that quick) was Robin Redbreast (directed by James MacTaggart and written by John Bowen, who would write two of the teleplays for the MR James A Ghost Story for Christmas strand). It isn't perfect or quite as strange, but has a fine tinge of weirdness and a great ending. Shot in Evesham, where I can imagine they get up to the sort of stuff depicted to this day.

Also worth mentioning is Bowen's final PfT A Photograph (1977). A kind of spiritual sequel to Robin Redbreast (and in fact shares at least one character). The loveless marriage of a minor public intellectual and his much younger wife is torn asunder by the arrival of a rather innocuous photograph through the post. A nicely slow and creeping dread builds through the whole thing and I won't spoil the ending, but it's very much in Bowen's wheelhouse.

A non-broadcast copy used to be on Youtube (timecodes and all) but seems to have been taken down. However,  I did manage to snag it when it was first uploaded, so if you anyone wants to see it send us a DM and I'll upload it somewhere. Or if you are rich you can just buy the Play For Today vol.1 boxset and watch it that way.

[itsfredtitmus]

oi for england is one of the realest thing ive ever seen genuinely seen its a must watch that

[itsfredtitmus]

If anyone knows where I can find a copy of Angels Are So Few, please PM me. I've been looking for it for years!

check ya messages

[poodlefaker]

Can anyone supply the name or any info about a BBC play from the  80s about a skinhead lad in  Coventry (I think) who was an amateur swimming champion. Featured music by the Specials, esp. Enjoy Yourself, iirc.

[dissolute ocelot]

Alan Clarke's Stars of the Roller State Disco (starring the great Perry Benson as a disaffected youth) is certainly dystopian.

[Indomitable Spirit]

Can anyone supply the name or any info about a BBC play from the  80s about a skinhead lad in  Coventry (I think) who was an amateur swimming champion. Featured music by the Specials, esp. Enjoy Yourself, iirc.

Sounds like this to me

EDIT: seems like the whole thing is on Youtube

[buzby]

re: people not being aware of the connection with the series - I suspect that it depends on age. A couple of friends, who are a 'few' years older than me, were certainly knew it (but one has an encyclopaedic knowledge about British TV) but one (maybe both) didn't know that prior to Play for Today, there had been a stage play, which evolved from radio broadcasts.

Yes, Scully had been around for a while before he made it to TV. He first appeard on on BBC Radio Merseyside's 'First Heard' segment in the early 70s, read by Bleasdale  and later moved to Radio City where Scully got his own show, which I used to listen to when I was little. Even before the Play For Today appeared, Scully was famous enough in Liverpool to be the cartoon 'face' of a children's safety campaign by the council (I distinctly remember one of the 3-panel cartoons being aobut the dangers of playing in abandoned fridges).

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

Yes, Scully had been around for a while before he made it to TV. He first appeard on on BBC Radio Merseyside's 'First Heard' segment in the early 70s, read by Bleasdale  and later moved to Radio City where Scully got his own show, which I used to listen to when I was little. Even before the Play For Today appeared, Scully was famous enough in Liverpool to be the cartoon 'face' of a children's safety campaign by the council (I distinctly remember one of the 3-panel cartoons being aobut the dangers of playing in abandoned fridges).

Yeeeerrrrrrsssss buzby la. Had no idea he existed before PFT. Wikipedia doesn't mention it.

[poodlefaker]

Sounds like this to me

EDIT: seems like the whole thing is on Youtube

Cor yes, thanks. Written by Leslie Stewart who went on to write the hard-hitting Mistletoe and Wine for Cliff Richard