Play for Tomorrow
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Play for Tomorrow
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|---|---|
| Episodes: | 6 |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Seasons: | 1 |
| Seasons Breakdown: | (1) 6 |
| Category: | Dystopian |
| Colour: | Yes |
| Format: | Anthology |
| Company: | A BBC Production |
| Creator: | |
| Run Time (mins): | 60 |
| Language: | English |
| Type of Show: | Live Action |
| Status: | Ended |
| Broadcaster: | BBC |
| First Aired: | |
| Last Aired: | |
Summary
Across the six prophetic plays, the series presented a cumulative portrait of a society in sustained decline, characterised by an increasingly redundant population and a state apparatus that maintained control through dreams, drugs, and pervasive technology. The dramas explored how early twenty‑first‑century society might respond to its misfits, outcasts, and criminal elements, ranging from a lobotomised murderer to an individual imprisoned for refusing to restrict himself to designated leisure zones.
Bright Eyes offered a stark examination of late‑twentieth‑century attitudes toward dissent and political conviction. The Nuclear Family depicted the bleakness of emotionally and spiritually empty lives. Shades portrayed a teenage population paid to live in enforced idleness while indulging in computer‑generated fantasies. Easter 2016 provided an unoptimistic assessment of continuing sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland.
Only one play, Cricket, adopted the form of a comedy, centring on a cricket team that conspires to defeat its rivals with the assistance of a computerised version of Wisden, voiced by Brian Johnston. Even this instalment carried darker undertones: the cricket club is revealed to be a front for a guerrilla organisation resisting the Forestry Commission, which is acquiring hill farms to satisfy an ever‑increasing demand for timber.
Cast
including PETER WHITBREAD, RUFUS COLLINS, ROBERT ELLIS, SARAH BERGER, MALCOLM TERRIS, JEREMY CHILD, JIMMY LOGAN, TRACY CHILDS.
Tags: Dystopian, United Kingdom, 1982, English
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