This anthology of 55-minute plays aired on Thursday nights on BBC2.
The stand-out was arguably “Pity in History” (4/7/85) starring Ian McDiarmid, Norman Rodway and Anna Massey.
Long Term Memory
Build A Little Home was one of Gerald’s (Patrick Troughton) favourite numbers when he used to play the saxophone. His son Peter plays the guitar but Gerald wouldn’t know about that as he walked out on his wife and children 21 years ago when he lost his memory.
Now illness brings him face to face with the future and he wants a reunion. His wife, Joan (Pat Heywood) and the family aren’t so sure.
“With a thousand little stars, we will decorate the ceiling, With an optimistic feeling, we will build a little home”
Gerald
Patrick Troughton Joan
Pat Heywood Doctor Lawrence
John Normington Matron
Doreen Mantle Peter
Robert Glenister Cheryl
Vicky Ogden Ronnie
John Bott Robin
Gilly Coman Dave
G.B. Zoot Money Phil
Tim Whitnall
Rachel and the Roarettes
The Roarettes are a 20th-century gang of women bikers led by dazzling, androgynous Rachel (Josie Lawrence). She walks into a pub, and into the life of Melanie (Susannah Bunyan) who, observing the free lifestyle of the Roarettes, starts questioning her own values and expectations.
She is suddenly faced with the choice of an anarchic, action-packed future or domestic drudgery and marriage to a dull local lad.
Parallels are drawn between the bikers and 18th-century gangs of highwaywomen so that Rachel is framed in the 20th Century for stealing from the pub till, and in the 19th century she is condemned to hang for robbery.
It’s a rollicking fantasy with songs, robberies, motorbikes and stagecoaches.
Rachel
Josie Lawrence Melanie
Susannah Bunyan Priest
Norman Beaton Hero
Karen Crewe Harold
Alan Ford Jane
Louise Gold Judge
James Grout Eustace
Howard Lew Lewis Maggie
Terry Neason Gary
Gary Oldman Elizabeth
Linda Polan Belinda
Deborah Poplett Twerp
Christopher Ryan
Phoebe
Phoebe (Kathryn Pogson) comes straight from a farm and a very religious family to work as a kitchen maid in a girls’ school. It is wartime and the other maid is Stella (Sylvestra Le Touzel), a Londoner whose approach to life is, to say the least, more forthright.
Phoebe
Kathryn Pogson Stella
Sylvestra Le Touzel George
Charles Dale Mr Ruddle
Roger Hume Alex
Patrina Law Mrs Ruddle
Penelope Lee Zeke
Pete Lee-Wilson Miss Quint
Cherith Mellor Riva
Lesley O’Donnell Jill
Anya Phillips Miss Fenton
Harriet Reynolds Arthur
Stephen Watson
You’ve Never Slept in Mine
Life in the Assessment Centre is far from easy: all the other girls want to know what you are in for. Shop-lifting? Truanting? Or something far more spectacular?
Miss McCabe
Anne Downie Debbie
Sheron Houston Kathy
Michelle Scott Carole
Angie Murphy Ruby
Mary Waters Pat
Louise Higgins Liz
Kirsty Young Sarah
Faye Milligan Anna
Teri Hernon Miss Miller
Myra McFadyen Mr Rogers
Alexander West Miss Kynoch
Nan Forsythe Debbie’s mother
Donalda Samuel Debbie’s father
Andrew Barr
Paris
You see them everywhere: dear sweet old ladies; harmless, eccentric – but not always quite what they seem.
Miss McLeod
Jean Anderson Miss Nesbit
Noel Dyson Woman in patisserie
Sheila Latimer French waitress
Susie Maguire Mrs Black
Eileen McCallum
Picture Friend
It’s Bonfire Night in Manchester and when Sheila Goodwin (June Ritchie) falls off a bus, drunk, in Piccadilly Gardens, and has to spend the night in hospital, memories start to intrude.
Sheila Goodwin
June Ritchie Ted Goodwin
Jim Broadbent Audrey Goodwin
Barbara Ewing Young Sheila
Jane Hazlegrove Christine
Janette Beverley Mrs Gorrie
Sandra Voe Mr Hancock
Stephen Hancock Stephen
Matthew Long Mrs Butterworth
Anna Wing Night Nurse
Gillian Freedman Day Nurse
Marianne Di Marko David
Will Leonard
Pity in History
This marvellous roaring play by Howard Barker is set in a cathedral ravaged by Oliver Cromwell’s troops during the English civil war.
A cook (Ian McDiarmid) dies lengthily and noisily – after being accidentally shot by one of his own comrades – and a Royalist sculptor (Norman Rodway) works to carve his last masterpiece, which is certain to be smashed. And so the play centres on the simultaneous acts of destruction and creation taking place.
Alan Rickman has a bit part as a priest.
Spillman
Paul Dalton Murgatroyd
Ian McDiarmid Gaukroger
Norman Rodway Apps
Patrick Field Sponge
Roger Frost Boys
Paul Jesson Factor
Patrick Malahide Venables
Anna Massey Skinner
Ian Mercer Croop
Alan Rickman Pool
Stevan Rimkus
Glamour Night
At the local camera club, the men are arriving for a glamour session. The model, June (Charon Bourke) is on her way. Stuffy club chairman George (Rodney Bewes) wants a “nice friendly evening’s photography”. The others have rather different hopes.
The smooth-tongued Bob (Philip Jackson) charms the model into taking off her bikini while George tries to keep order as the leering members forget themselves and their photography.
Written by John Minson.
June (The Model) Charon Bourke George
Rodney Bewes Bob
Philip Jackson Malcolm
Reece Dinsdale Glyn
John Salthouse Dave
Nick Wilton
Time Trouble
Tensions between the East and the West escalate and the radio warns that a nuclear war is becoming a distinct possibility.
Liverpudlian Jack Shaughnessy (Michael Angelis) takes his two young sons to London by train. The older of the two boys, 11-year-old Carl (Tony Carney), is a chess prodigy. The younger son, Lee (Anthony Mcinerney) is a normal boy with no interest in chess.
They arrive at a Chess event where visiting Russian Chess Grand Master Krylov (Michael Poole) plays several games simultaneously. Unbeknown to his accompanying KGB escort Krylov is hoping to manufacture an opportunity in which he can defect.
Jack Shaughnessy
Michael Angelis Carl Shaughnessy
Tony Carney Lee Shaughnessy
Anthony Mcinerney Krylov
Michael Poole Gilly Shaughnessy
Eileen Pollock Jenny
Janie Booth Reporter
David Cardy Robinson
Neil Cunningham Stoller
Matthew Guinness Wringer
Ian Lindsay Carol
Cathy Murphy Makov
Donald Sumpter Russian Embassy official
Owen Brenman
Radio Pictures
A play about the rehearsal and recording of a radio play. The director believes “radio is very akin to film, except radio is more visual”. The play within a play is about a Peeping Tom.
Edgar Brimble
Michael Bilton Dolly McNally
Sheila Burrell Rory Colquhoun
Dermot Crowley The Announcer
Jeremy Gittins Harry Tremlett
Dinsdale Landen Donna Melchett
Frances Low Glyn Bryce
Geoffrey Palmer Valerie Hulton
Jean Rimmer Jim Finch
Ian Sears Jim Middleditch
Richard Speight Jim Dench
David Thewlis Susana Prine
Frances Tomelty
Maybe Baby
A comic exploration of the pros and cons of bringing a baby into the modern world, featuring not only Jill and Michael, the potential parents, but elephants, dwarf mongooses – and sticklebacks!
All the parts are played by Helen Bourne and author Jack Klaff.
Michael
Jack Klaff Jill
Helen Bourne
The Dumb Waiter
This two-hander Harold Pinter comedy revolves around two men, Gus (Kenneth Cranham) and Ben (Colin Blakely), killing time in the basement of an abandoned restaurant while waiting for their instructions for a “job” – they pick over snippets in a newspaper and bicker to quell their nerves.
Ben
Colin Blakely Gus
Kenneth Cranham
One for the Road
“You probably think I’m part of a predictable, long-established pattern; i.e. I chat away, friendly, insouciant . . . while another waits in the wings . . . coiled like a puma”.
“No, no. It’s not quite like that. I run the place. God speaks through me”.
Harold Pinter’s menacing play is a chilling study of the psychology of torture with Alan Bates as Nicholas, the tormentor and Roger Lloyd Pack as Victor, his victim.
Nicholas
Alan Bates Victor
Roger Lloyd Pack Gila
Rosie Kerslake Nicky
Paul Adams
Pythons on the Mountain
John Prothero (Richard Pasco), internationally famous for his witty and iconoclastic TV criticism, treats us to an outrageously comic helping of autobiography, Scenes from a Welsh Adolescence.
John Prothero Richard Pasco John, aged 4
Alyn Lewis John, aged 11
Edward Lewis John, aged 17
Howard Cooke Gareth, aged 17
Charles Dale The Reverend Prothero
Alan David Mr Watkins
Dudley Jones Marion
Rhoda Lewis Kelyth Pritchard
Karen Lucas Gareth
Tim Wylton
A Still Small Shout
“I always wanted to be what you brought me up to be, what you called a grain of sand in the eye of the world. I wanted to be it so I could feel terror; the terror you feel on a big dipper; the terror you feel when you are starting an affair.”
This spy spoof has John Duttine as Alan Hardacre, the innocent roped in by his old chum from college days to do a bit of spying on the side, with disastrous results.
Kania
Terence Bayler Merton
Nicholas Day Alan Hardacre
John Duttine Conrad Hawker
Nicholas Gecks Todescu
Milos Kirek Eleanor
Carol Royle Prodescu
Granville Saxton Thompson
Richard Vernon
A Crack in the Ice
A comedy about injustice set in St Petersburg in 1839. The Tsar has tightened up security and mounted a round-the-clock guard at his palace – the Peter and Paul Fortress. Unfortunately for Private Postnikov, he hears the cries of a drowning man and goes to his rescue.
Pte. Postnikov Timothy Spall Sergeant Platov
Tony Caunter General Kokoshin
Michael Bryant Kokoshin’s aide
Robert Burbage Lt-Col. Svinin
Freddie Jones Painter
Peter Postlethwaite Superintendent of Police
Bryan Pringle Police constable
Ivan Steward Prisoner
Tim Barker Bishop
Peter Bayliss Hospital orderly
Eric Richard Peasant
Don Henderson Captain Miller
Christopher Strauli
Flights
Henry Potter (Donald Gee) is a teacher, and a very good one, but his dream of man-powered flight, and his habit of destroying the odd greenhouse on his test runs, threatens his career. There is also his daughter Ruth (Anna Kipling), who would dearly love to retrieve her bicycle wheels from his flying machine.
Henry Potter Donald Gee Joanna Potter
Marion Bailey Ruth Potter
Anna Kipling Primrose
Sasha Mitchell Headmaster
Bert Parnaby Mrs Moult
Gillian Raine Alan
Ian Sharp
Tuesday’s Child
Teresa (co-writer Kate Lock) has been on a visit to the Holy Land. When she returns, she goes to Father Doyle (Donal McCann) at confession to confide news of a miracle and his faith is put to the test.
Written by Kate Lock and Terry Johnson.
Teresa
Kate Lock Father Doyle
Donal McCann
Urban Jungle
Young Home Counties reporter Tristan Hanley (Tim Roth) is now working in Bradford and is told by his proprietor (Roy Kinnear) to get the story on a missing young local prostitute. His trail leads through the undergrowth of the city which, to him, is an alien world.
Tristan Hanley Tim Roth Eric Burke
Roy Kinnear Judy Gibbons
Jacqueline Beatty Inspector Burton
David Calder Amazon
Tessa Crockett Leo Lyon
David Daker Villmore
Tyrone Huggins Bone
Anthony Milner Mandrill
Michael Moor Maureen Wilde
Kazia Pelka Dorothy Savage
Anne Raitt Chimp
David Rappaport Hoods
John Michaelson
Lloyd Newson
Frank Rozelaar-Green
Broken Homes
Independent pensioner Mrs Malby (Rosamund Greenwood) is not the least bit interested in an offer of domestic or decorating help from pupils at a local school. Tim Wylton plays the teacher who misinterprets her refusal and dispatches his community action quartet to brighten up the old lady’s life.
Mrs Malby
Rosamund Greenwood Teacher
Tim Wylton Cora
Janet Behan Red
Mark Burdis Ron
Bryan Burdon Fuzzy
Christopher Karallis Billo
Steven Mackintosh May
Julie Sullivan Mrs King
Lesley Joseph Mr King
David Swift
Kisses on the Bottom
A saucy comedy for the Bank Holiday about saucy seaside postcards.
Mam
Judy Cornwell Dad
Peter Benson Vera
Hetty Baynes Charlie
Max Hafler Vicar
Tim Wylton Jock
Harry Jones
The House on Kirov Street
It is November 1941, and the German Army is sweeping through the Crimea. German officers are billeted in Yalta – some of them in Anton Chekhov’s old house in Kirov Street. The house is now a museum, but it is guarded by Chekhov’s sister for whom the war, like the Revolution before it, is just another unwelcome disturbance.
Irina Nikolayevna
Lysette Anthony Natalaya Sergeyvena
Sarah Badel Pelageya
Mona Bruce Maria Pavlovna
Patience Collier Major Beckman
Alan Dobie Lt Kaltz
Rupert Frazer Sergeant
James Gaddas Osip Akmatov
Barrie Houghton Captain Schiller
Maurice O’Connell Levitan
Keith Rawlings
After You, Hugo
Set in a 1920s music hall, this “play with very few words” was the work of John David who also directed, and Chris Harris and Nola Rae, who also led the cast as Alfonso, the singing Gondolier and Mlle Entrechat the ballerina.
Languishing at the bottom of the bill, neither artiste is enjoying fame or acclaim – but they save the day by conjuring up a stunning new act when the stars fail to show up.
Alfonso
Chris Harris Mlle Entrechat
Nola Rae
Portrait of Isa Mulvenny
It is the 1950s: Bill Thompson (Nicholas Farrell) is a middle-class English boy sent by his father to serve an engineering apprenticeship on the Clyde. He lodges with a Greenock family and forms an attachment to his landlady, Mrs Mulvenny (Jennifer Piercey), which is to affect his life for the next 20 years.
Bill Thompson
Nicholas Farrell Isa Mulvenny
Jennifer Piercey Andy Mulvenny
Andy Gray Andrew Mulvenny
David Hayman Joe Harper
Alex McAvoy Paterson
Nicholas Sherry Ella Harper
Julia Wallace Frank Foget
Jonathan Watson
Reservations
A young couple book a hotel room for a dirty weekend in Tony Marchant’s play.
Linda: When are we going?
Gary: Next Friday.
Linda: Have you booked?
Gary: It’s called making a reservation.
Linda: I feel excited Gal. My stomach feels all funny.
Gary If it feels funny now, wait till next Friday.
Linda
Cassie Stuart Gary
Perry Fenwick
Video
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Now illness brings him face to face with the future and he wants a reunion. His wife, Joan (Pat Heywood) and the family aren’t so sure.
