Play for Today review – Channel 5 turns a high-impact TV drama into a run-of-the-mill pantomime | TV and radio

FShocking news! Channel 5 has revived the BBC’s hugely moving romantic drama Play for Today. Well, it seemed like great news until it became clear that the broadcaster had merely copied the name and necessarily broad premise – a collection of independent dramas from different, often unestablished, writers and directors – and duly heralded a return to the pioneering television format.

Trading this cherished cultural heritage without any connection to the original cultural heritage is a shameless move. Will the programs themselves be bold? The BBC’s Play for Today programme, which ended 41 years ago, had a radical spirit, pushing the boundaries of contemporary taste and confronting the viewer with topics rarely seen on television at the time.

When the reboot was announced, Ben Frew, Channel 5’s chief content officer, said the series would “reflect on some of the thorny issues affecting our audience”. This was probably the first indication that this wasn’t going to be your mother’s — or your grandmother’s — play of the day. The four new shows deal with tough issues, as all dramas certainly must, but they’re common. These television plays are highly interconnected and circulating. What is not – and what we always remember as new – is new, innovative or shocking.

The first installment, It’s Not Too Late, sticks less tightly to the legacy of the format. The film’s events revolve around Cynthia, whose daughter sends her to a retirement village after her second fall. Played with tremendous energy by Anita Dobson, Cynthia plans an escape, but her feelings are complicated by her new neighbour: her ex-boyfriend and former rock star Frank (Nigel Havers, effortlessly charming as always). What follows, unfortunately, is a tacky pantomime – it even concludes with a big old sing-along – maddeningly predictable in plot and silly daytime soap opera in presentation.

Never Too Late has one advantage: it gives the seventy-year-old protagonist a full personality. Cynthia is ill-tempered, arrogant and generally unlikable – but she’s far from two-dimensional (other residents including the odd birdwatcher, an unsmiling Morris dancer and friend Daffy aren’t so lucky). This is important, especially when you realize who this series is aimed at. Three of the four parts focus on retirees: rather than trying to upend the status quo, the new Play for Today is clearly set to appeal to older viewers. Perhaps this is wise: according to a 2024 Ofcom report, over-65s watch more live TV than under-54s combined.

The big winners target the same demographic – albeit with much greater weight. Written by Martha Watson Allpress, it stars Sue Johnston as Edith, a woman trapped in a frustrating suburban marriage with her emotionally unavailable husband Arthur, played by writer and actor Paul Copley (whose 1979 motorcycle mechanics drama Pillion has the honor of being the only episode of Play for Today that has never been broadcast). Moments after Arthur discovers he’s won the lottery, Edith files for divorce. What follows is a devastating post-mortem of their relationship, buoyed by an exceptional performance from Copley and a chillingly bleak ending.

Going down a little in age is a “knock on the door.” Alan Davies is a famous comedian who is now living lavishly off his past success in a lavish home – until a disheveled man arrives on his doorstep claiming to have been robbed. This is where it becomes clear that Inside No 9 has spoiled us when it comes to one-off thrillers. Unlike the anthology horror comedies by Rhys Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, this isn’t an exercise in witty errors: you can see the denouement a mile away.

The only episode of interest to over-50s is “Special Measures”, in which Jessica Plummer (formerly The Girl) plays an overworked teacher who must take charge of an entire department after her colleague resigns on the day of an Ofsted inspection. The dialogue and direction are completely natural, and Bloomer is wonderful as a quiet woman capable of despair. However, the chaos at this underfunded high school feels depressingly familiar.

With my pragmatist hat on, I can appreciate that this is a clever, headline-grabbing pseudo-revival by a TV channel uninterested in culturally revolutionary material. I also realize that maybe we should be grateful for the arrival of four one-off dramas that aren’t about murders or the unhealthy affairs of rich people. But what if we aren’t? What if we refused to lower our expectations and kept searching for the next Dennis Potter, Mike Leigh, or Stephen Poliakoff, makers of distinctive, beautiful, thought-provoking, and uncomfortable television? They’re out there somewhere, but broadcasters have to be willing to take much bigger risks to get them on TV.