Playhouse (Season 8)

Mrs. Reinhardt (Episode 1)

Writer: Edna O'Brien

Air date: 1981-10-30

Runtime: 115 min

Overview: An Englishwoman seeking to escape her marriage arrives at French hotel.

Last Summer's Child (Episode 2)

Writer: Susan Hill

Air date: 1981-11-06

Overview: A boy feels restless during a hot summer in prewar Cornwall.

Autumn Sunshine (Episode 3)

Writer: William Trevor

Air date: 1981-11-13

The Grudge Fight (Episode 4)

Writer: John Hale

Air date: 1981-11-27

Virginia Fly Is Drowning (Episode 5)

Writer: Angela Huth

Air date: 1981-12-04

Overview: Secure in her suburban home, Virginia Fly dreams of a life of unbridled passion and romance. She feels her fantasies are about to become reality when she is asked to take part in a TV documentary about pre-marital love - a subject about which she is sadly ignorant...

Findings on a Late Afternoon (Episode 6)

Writer: Rose Tremain

Air date: 1981-12-11

Overview: Gerald is on the edge of a complete breakdown. During an afternoon with his father, he starts to come to terms with the wounding confusions and mistakes of his past—his lies, his girlfriend's suicide, his mother's obsessive love of his younger brother, and her death in a hospital when he arrived too late to communicate his real feelings for her.

Dancing Country (Episode 7)

Writer: Peter Buckman

Air date: 1981-12-18

Overview: The local country dancing team of old-age pensioners is forced to change its style when Jack, its leader, arrives with a new partner, one who is younger and prettier.

The Combination (Episode 8)

Air date: 1982-01-08

A Silly Little Habit (Episode 9)

Writer: Carol Bunyan

Air date: 1982-01-15

Overview: An apparently happy and privileged woman begins shoplifting.

Aubrey (Episode 10)

Writer: John Selwyn Gilbert

Air date: 1982-01-22

Overview: The story of Aubrey Beardsley, an English illustrator and author, whose black ink drawings were influenced by Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James McNeill Whistler.

Preview (Episode 11)

Writer: Sylvia Clayton

Air date: 1982-01-29

Overview: Four television critics gather in a Wardour Street preview theatre to see a documentary and get the surprise of their lives.

Out of Step (Episode 12)

Writer: Carol Bunyan

Air date: 1982-02-05

Overview: A keen ballroom dancer becomes an alcoholic after discovering she's infertile.

A Shilling Life (Episode 13)

Writer: Guy Meredith

Air date: 1982-02-12

Overview: A once-famous writer, now long out of fashion, is interviewed by a disconcerting young woman.

The Workshop (Episode 14)

Air date: 1982-02-19

Overview: In 1945, just a year since the allied troops entered Paris, Simone arrives for her first day at M. Leon's tailoring workshop.

How Many Miles to Babylon? (Episode 15)

Air date: 1982-02-26

Runtime: 111 min

Overview: Wealthy Alexander Moore and working-class Jerry Crowe are childhood friends and, in 1914, find themselves in the same Army unit – Alex as an officer and Jerry as a private. They still remain close, however, until Jerry is court-martialed for desertion, and Alex is put in charge of the firing squad.

The Pigman's Protégé (Episode 16)

Writer: Thomas Ellice

Air date: 1982-03-05

Overview: In 1919, the carnage of WWI has left the country desperately short of young men. Maud, who runs the farm for her crippled father, decides that it is time for her young sister Clara to be married, and a husband could provide a strong pair of hands around the place. Stan the pigman seems to fix most things, why not this?

A Pocketful of Dreams (Episode 17)

Writer: Jim Hill

Air date: 1982-03-12

Runtime: 29 min

Overview: At the moment, money is scarce and times are hard for everyone—even villains like Charlie and Denny are feeling the pinch. But their luck could change when a chance encounter with a film crew provides them with an eccentric method of getting their hands on a lot of loot.

Keeping in Touch (Episode 18)

Writer: Alan Drury

Air date: 1982-03-19

Overview: When James pays one of his periodic visits to his mother, he finds her curiously resigned to the loneliness she's suffered for the years since her husband's death. Somehow, she has managed to keep all the family ties intact.

The Guest (Episode 19)

Air date: 1982-03-26

Overview: Gerald fancies himself as a bit of a gourmet and a trip to the gastronomic delights of France promises well. His wife Hilary isn't so sure; she isn't sure of a lot of things about Gerald just recently, but the menu at the extravagantly recommended La Petite Chanson provides an unexpected solution.

The Sidmouth Letters (Episode 20)

Air date: 1982-04-02

Runtime: 35 min

Overview: Academic scavenger Shorty believes he's tracked down some letters that reveal an unexpected side to Miss Jane Austen's nature.

The Queen of Annagh (Episode 21)

Writer: Terry Hodgkinson

Air date: 1982-04-16

Overview: Nancy is the sole inhabitant of the Isle of Annagh off the west coast of Scotland. Although World War III is raging all around she sees little of it until Michael, a young pilot officer, pays an involuntary visit and is in danger of dragging the hostilities along with him.

By George (Episode 22)

Writer: Denis Cannan

Air date: 1982-04-23

Overview: An anthropologist observed by one of his erstwhile victims — a sophisticated comedy.

Lunch (Episode 23)

Writer: Elaine Feinstein

Air date: 1982-04-30

Overview: Two women meet for lunch every two weeks to swap news. But this week is different.

Passing Through (Episode 24)

Writer: Rhys Adrian

Air date: 1982-05-07

Overview: At a railway public house, two strangers engage in a conversation and begin to open up about their life's. Richard is an alcoholic and former stockbroker is just been released from jail. Arthur works for the railway as a points operator.

Jake's End (Episode 25)

Writer: Desmond Lowden

Air date: 1982-05-14

Overview: Jake's a professional, a married man with a reputation to maintain—and a bank to rob.

Housewarming (Episode 26)

Writer: Stephen Bill

Air date: 1982-05-21

Overview: Her husband Gary is behind on the central heating installation. Eunice, her best friend, has a crush on the lodger — an actor appearing in a violent play at the local rep. No wonder Tina is anxious about the housewarming.

Easy Money (Episode 27)

Writer: Michael Abbensetts

Air date: 1982-05-28

Overview: At a concert, Marcia picked Terry out of the crowd. So he no longer feels alone. Until he learns about her secret life and dare not tell his friends.

Potatohead Blues (Episode 28)

Writer: Bill Morrison

Air date: 1982-06-04

Overview: Stan McVay has given up smoking, gone on a diet and feels like hell. He's also abandoned the Ulster spud and just learned that his teenage daughter is having an affair with a married man.

Irwin Shaw Triple Bill: The Man Who Married a French Wife / The Monument / The Girls in Their Summer Dresses (Episode 29)

Air date: 1982-06-11

Overview: Three short stories by Irwin Shaw.

Chains (Episode 30)

Writer: Janey Preger

Air date: 1982-06-18

Overview: Eddie's 40th birthday party reunites friends not seen since the old days of ton-up bikes and early rock and roll. It could be a chance to relive those 'good times', if the others can only match Eddie's enthusiasm.

Come Into the Garden, Maud (Episode 31)

Writer: Noël Coward

Air date: 1982-07-07

Overview: A henpecked American visiting Europe is able to throw off his ghastly wife and find love.

A Song at Twilight (Episode 32)

Writer: Noël Coward

Air date: 1982-07-09

Overview: A famous writer finds that a long-suppressed secret is about to be revealed by his former mistress.

Fraulein Else (Episode 33)

Air date: 1983-01-14

Imaginary Friends (Episode 34)

Air date: 1983-04-01

Possibilities (Episode 35)

Air date: 1983-05-20