Series of single made-for-television dramas.
Screen Two (Season 2)
The McGuffin (Episode 1)
Writer: John Bowen
Air date: 1986-01-12
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: From his window, film critic Paul Hatcher watches neighbour Mrs. Forbes-Duthie and her transvestite grandson, Gavin. He sees two men attacking them and Gavin falling to his death. The men were looking for something and believe he has it.
The Silent Twins (Episode 2)
Writer: Marjorie Wallace
Air date: 1986-01-19
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Twins June and Jennifer Gibbons speak only to each other in a language of their own creation. As young teens, they commit a violent crime. After 14 years in Broadmoor Psychiatric Institution, freedom visits them in a mysterious way.
Time After Time (Episode 3)
Writer: Andrew Davies
Air date: 1986-01-26
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The aging Swift family of one brother, Jasper, and three sisters, April, May and June, are forced to live together in the run-down family mansion and they all get on each others nerves. One-eyed Jasper is the only one who does the cooking and he has occasional meetings with a monk from the nearby monastery. April was left some money when her husband died and is now practically deaf. May is a spinster who gives talks on flower arranging and also steals ornaments. The youngest, still called Baby June, was an avid horsewoman, but now relies on her farmhand Christy Lucey to train and ride her horse. One day, to their surprise, cousin Leda comes to visit and elicits various embarrassing family secrets. Leda, who is half Jewish and used to live in Vienna, stayed with the family when she was a teenager, but they thought she died in a concentration camp in the war.
Frankie and Johnnie (Episode 4)
Writer: Paula Milne
Air date: 1986-02-02
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: When two teenagers commit suicide the police and the press assume the motive to be some kind of love pact. However, Allan Blakeston, a local reporter, has too many unanswered questions. As he digs deeper into the case, he learns why the kids really died and his knowledge puts his own life at risk.
Honest, Decent and True (Episode 5)
Writer: Les Blair
Air date: 1986-02-09
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The launch of Chaser lager could be big for KFS if Alun shows some commitment; if Mike's lifestyle doesn't catch up with him; if the rest of the team concern themselves more with the product's image and less with their own - they might just have a winner on their hands.
Song of Experience (Episode 6)
Writer: Martin Allen
Air date: 1986-02-16
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: As the Lady Chatterley court case puts its seal on the 1950s, three boys set out for a day's train-spotting. They see more than just trains, though, on a day when innocence and illusion are lost.
Insurance Man (Episode 7)
Writer: Alan Bennett
Air date: 1986-02-23
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Franz, a young man, works in a dye factory in Prague. One day he notices a skin-rash, like eczema, growing on his hands. All attempts to treat it with ointment fail, and the rash gradually spreads over his body. After complaining to the management he is laid off work; his relationship with his fiancee is affected. In an attempt to get compensation from his former employers he goes to insurance firm Assicurazion Generali, where he encounters an enigmatic clerk called Kafka
Hotel du Lac (Episode 8)
Writer: Christopher Hampton
Air date: 1986-03-02
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: An authoress, whose career is more successful than her private life, arrives at a Swiss hotel and finds her life changing in unexpected ways.
The Russian Soldier (Episode 9)
Writer: Brian Phelan
Air date: 1986-03-09
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: What is it that Edgar Garrett sees, or thinks he sees, on his farm one morning in the mists of early spring? Whatever it is, one thing is certain. Life will never be the same again for him and his family.
Blood Hunt (Episode 10)
Writer: Neil M. Gunn
Air date: 1986-03-16
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: The Highlands of Scotland. A fight outside the village hall. Robert Menzies lies dead and Allan Innes flees to the hills, pursued by Robert's brother. An old friend, Sandy Ross, tries to prevent the inevitable blood hunt.
Shergar (Episode 11)
Writer: Bill Morrison
Air date: 1986-03-23
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Malachy: "Who do you kidnap? You can't touch children, women, no sons of Irish mothers. What's left?" When Frankie is released from Portlaoise Prison, his old comrades are expecting some action. He hits on a plan for raising £2 million, but his plan goes wrong.
Hard Travelling (Episode 12)
Writer: Hugh Stoddart
Air date: 1986-03-30
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: Jessica's promising debut as a young artist is shattered by a sudden violent death. She escapes into a restless succession of journeys. Encounters on the way bring humour, some comfort, but also danger.
Double Image (Episode 13)
Writer: Stephen Davis
Air date: 1986-04-06
Runtime: 90 min
Overview: This film tells the true-life story of Yuri Nosenko, a top Soviet KGB agent who defected to the West at the height of the Cold War in 1962.
