Playhouse

E1 Episode 1: Mrs. Reinhardt

• Now playing
• 1h 55m
• Oct 30, 1981

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

E2 Episode 2: Last Summer's Child

• Nov 6, 1981

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

E3 Episode 3: Autumn Sunshine

• Nov 13, 1981

E4 Episode 4: The Grudge Fight

• Nov 27, 1981

E5 Episode 5: Virginia Fly Is Drowning

• Dec 4, 1981

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...

E6 Episode 6: Findings on a Late Afternoon

• Dec 11, 1981

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.

E7 Episode 7: Dancing Country

• Dec 18, 1981

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.

E8 Episode 8: The Combination

• Jan 8, 1982

E9 Episode 9: A Silly Little Habit

• Jan 15, 1982

An apparently happy and privileged woman begins shoplifting.

E10 Episode 10: Aubrey

• Jan 22, 1982

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.

E11 Episode 11: Preview

• Jan 29, 1982

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

E12 Episode 12: Out of Step

• Feb 5, 1982

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

E13 Episode 13: A Shilling Life

• Feb 12, 1982

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

E14 Episode 14: The Workshop

• Feb 19, 1982

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

E15 Episode 15: How Many Miles to Babylon?

• 1h 51m
• Feb 26, 1982

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.

E16 Episode 16: The Pigman's Protégé

• Mar 5, 1982

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?

E17 Episode 17: A Pocketful of Dreams

• 29m
• Mar 12, 1982

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.

E18 Episode 18: Keeping in Touch

• Mar 19, 1982

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.

E19 Episode 19: The Guest

• Mar 26, 1982

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.

E20 Episode 20: The Sidmouth Letters

• 35m
• Apr 2, 1982

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

E21 Episode 21: The Queen of Annagh

• Apr 16, 1982

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.

E22 Episode 22: By George

• Apr 23, 1982

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

E23 Episode 23: Lunch

• Apr 30, 1982

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

E24 Episode 24: Passing Through

• May 7, 1982

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.

E25 Episode 25: Jake's End

• May 14, 1982

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

E26 Episode 26: Housewarming

• May 21, 1982

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.

E27 Episode 27: Easy Money

• May 28, 1982

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.

E28 Episode 28: Potatohead Blues

• Jun 4, 1982

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.

E29 Episode 29: Irwin Shaw Triple Bill: The Man Who Married a French Wife / The Monument / The Girls in Their Summer Dresses

• Jun 11, 1982

Three short stories by Irwin Shaw.

E30 Episode 30: Chains

• Jun 18, 1982

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.

E31 Episode 31: Come Into the Garden, Maud

• Jul 7, 1982

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

E32 Episode 32: A Song at Twilight

• Jul 9, 1982

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

E33 Episode 33: Fraulein Else

• Jan 14, 1983

E34 Episode 34: Imaginary Friends

• Apr 1, 1983

E35 Episode 35: Possibilities

• May 20, 1983