Playhouse (Season 7)

Caught on a Train (Episode 1)

Writer: Stephen Poliakoff

Air date: 1980-10-31

Overview: 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...

Fatal Spring (Episode 2)

Writer: George Baker

Air date: 1980-11-07

Overview: 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.

The Black Madonna (Episode 3)

Air date: 1980-11-14

Runtime: 50 min

Overview: 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.

The Happy Autumn Fields (Episode 4)

Air date: 1980-11-21

Grown-Ups (Episode 5)

Writer: Mike Leigh

Air date: 1980-11-28

Runtime: 95 min

Overview: 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.

My Dear Palestrina (Episode 6)

Writer: Bernard MacLaverty

Air date: 1980-12-05

Shaping Up (Episode 7)

Writer: Sarah Pia Anderson

Air date: 1980-12-12

Standing in for Henry (Episode 8)

Writer: Malcolm Bradbury

Air date: 1980-12-19

Overview: 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?

Fothergill (Episode 9)

Air date: 1981-01-09

Overview: 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.

One Hundred and Eighty!!! (Episode 10)

Writer: Rita May

Air date: 1981-01-16

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

The Kindness of Mrs. Radcliffe (Episode 11)

Writer: Stanley Price

Air date: 1981-01-23

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

A Last Visitor for Mr. Hugh Peter (Episode 12)

Writer: Don Taylor

Air date: 1981-01-30

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

Journal of Bridget Hitler (Episode 13)

Air date: 1981-02-06

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

Days at the Beach (Episode 14)

Writer: Malcolm Mowbray

Air date: 1981-02-13

Runtime: 90 min

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

Bobby Wants to Meet Me (Episode 15)

Writer: Janey Preger

Air date: 1981-02-20

Overview: 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.

Days (Episode 16)

Writer: Eva Figes

Air date: 1981-02-27

Overview: 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?

Clapperclaw (Episode 17)

Writer: Jack Shepherd

Air date: 1981-03-06

Overview: 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.

The Potsdam Quartet (Episode 18)

Writer: David Pinner

Air date: 1981-03-13

Overview: 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.

Unity (Episode 19)

Air date: 1981-03-20

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

Skylark (Episode 20)

Writer: Julian Bond

Air date: 1981-03-27

Elizabeth Alone: Part 1 (Episode 21)

Writer: William Trevor

Air date: 1981-04-03

Overview: 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?

Elizabeth Alone: Part 2 (Episode 22)

Writer: William Trevor

Air date: 1981-04-10

Overview: 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?

Elizabeth Alone: Part 3 (Episode 23)

Writer: William Trevor

Air date: 1981-04-17

Overview: 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?

The Man Who Almost Knew Eamonn Andrews (Episode 24)

Writer: John Heilpern

Air date: 1981-04-24

You're All Right, How Am I? (Episode 25)

Writer: William Douglas-Home

Air date: 1981-05-01

The Day War Broke Out (Episode 26)

Writer: Peter Tinniswood

Air date: 1981-05-15

Overview: 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?

Random Moments in a May Garden (Episode 27)

Writer: James Saunders

Air date: 1981-05-22

Going Gently (Episode 28)

Writer: Thomas Ellice

Air date: 1981-06-05

Overview: 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.

Marriage (Episode 29)

Writer: Nikolai Gogol

Air date: 1981-07-10