Margaret Matheson

Marking Play for Today’s 50th anniversary, Drama Out of a Crisis is a compelling exploration of the series, its origins, achievements, controversies and legacies. Featuring a rich and surprising range of archive extracts and original interviews with many who created the series, including producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, and directors Mike Leigh, David Hare and Ken Loach.

A former boyracer who married his first love and took a job in one of the fish factories, now has a 17 year-old-son of his own following in his footsteps and can no longer ignore the fact he’s going nowhere. Unable to be physically or emotionally present with his family, he takes his son’s car out for one final joy ride and risks losing the love that surrounds him

What happened when we built Utopia? New Town Utopia is feature documentary about the power of art, architecture, the state of the nation – and some rather angry puppets.

A multi-part documentary about Alan Clarke, featuring interviews with various actors, writers and producers.

Abandoned by her mother when she was a child, Shell has stayed to take care of her dying father but now feels trapped within the beautiful but desolate landscape that surrounds her. With only her routine of running the decaying petrol station, taking care of her father, and spending afternoons in her bedroom with a local mechanic, life is passing Shell by with every passing truck that rattles her walls. One day a salesman stops to re-fuel and offers Shell a taste of the outside world that takes her closer than ever to the edge of the road and her desire to escape.

A teenage girl comes to terms with the unexplained death of the boy next door.

1945年、敗戦して間もないドイツ。ナチスの幹部だった両親が去り、14歳の少女ローレは、妹と弟と共に南ドイツから900キロ離れたハンブルクの祖母の家へ向かうことに。途中、貼り出されたホロコーストの写真を見たローレは困惑する。翌日、連合軍兵士に呼び止められたローレはユダヤ人青年のトーマスに助けられる。

Ex-con Johnny is forced into pulling a heist he wants nothing to do with. Mob boss ‘Shrewd’ Eddie has one million is dirty cash stashed at his home, just waiting to be stolen. But what Johnny doesn’t know is that seven other very dangerous criminals also have plans to steal the money...

Set in a small farming community in mid Wales, a place where Koppel's parents - both refugees - found a home. This is a landscape and population that is changing rapidly as small scale agriculture is disappearing and the generation who inhabited a pre-mechanised world is dying out. Much influenced by his conversations with the writer Peter Handke, the film maker leads us on a poetic and profound journey into a world of endings and beginnings; a world of stuffed owls, sheep and fire.

A film adaptation of the 1606 satirical tragedy by Thomas Middleton, relocated to a post-apocalyptic Liverpool. Christopher Eccleston plays the revenge-obsessed Vindice, who has sworn to kill the evil Duke (Derek Jacobi) who murdered his one true love.

In 1970s Britain, 18-year old Dean feels hampered by his working-class background and his family. In order to make something of himself, he assumes another identity and manages to enter high society.

Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.

Diana and Deric have an ideal marriage: they thrive in each other's company, they're funny, and they enjoy their two grown children and Deric's dotty mother; the trouble is, Diana can no longer walk and her malady defies medical diagnosis. To care for Diana, Deric is letting his business slide, but at a civic luncheon, he is seated next to Aileen Armitage, a novelist who is blind. They have a nice time, and on the sly, Diana contacts Aileen to made an odd request. Diana's declining health and her resolve bring this triangle of unlikely friends to a surprising place.

January 1978. After their success in England, the punk rock band Sex Pistols venture out on their tour of the southern United States. Temperamental bassist Sid Vicious is forced by his band mates to travel without his troubled girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, who will meet him in New York. When the band breaks up and Sid begins his solo career in a hostile city, the turbulent couple definitely falls into the depths of drug addiction.

An isolated, overweight girl with a penchant for shoplifting, gets pushed from pillar to post as the authorities struggle to know what to do with her.

The Wyatts wish to educate their children at home, but the education authorities have other ideas. Moving between 1969 and 1980, we see how this affects the various individuals and attitudes.

A new teacher at a highly problematic comprehensive school feels that corporal punishment may just be inflaming the problems, and so begins to campaign against it.

After being sent to a detention centre, a teenage skinhead clashes with the social workers who want to conform him to the status quo.

Slice-of-life look at class divisions among employees of a brokerage house. Alan, with his portrait of the Queen and love of the peerage; his wife April, who raises cats; youthful and pretentious friends Nigel, Giles, and Anthony, who gather for a wine-soaked dinner party with the chatty and risque Samantha and the mousy Caroline; the plummy Lord and Lady Crouchurst, in a spot of bother needing the help of Francis, a senior partner, to assist with the family's cash flow. Alan comes home from work to find Mr. Shakespeare doing a photo shoot of one of April's cats and a wealthy stranger, Miss Hunt, waiting to purchase one. His instincts for sycophantic palaver kick in.

The story of the trial of Willie Gallagher, convicted of bombing the Strabane British Legion Hall in Northern Ireland, 1976. The transmission of this film was postponed by the BBC several times, and when it did finally air, it was shown with cuts; the writer, Caryl Churchill, and director, Roland Joffé, had their names removed from the credits in protest.

Kate works in the nuclear industry. She is concerned about the way things are being run. So she smuggles out some Plutonium to prove how easy it is. She tries to pass it on to protest groups, but nobody is interested as they have their own agendas.

A comic extravaganza about a young woman's adventures in the world of big business charity.

A small town shopkeeper is conned into standing for an extreme right-wing party at a by-election and later discovers his financed by the corporation that has dispossessed him of his business.

Teenager Jimmy's life begins to unravel after the death of his father. With his mother promiscuous and his new stepfather and stepbrother difficult to get along with, he begins to fall into a cycle of petty crime and self harm.

Jewish boy loves Catholic girl - will love triumph over family objections?

Beverly wears low-cut dresses, too much make-up, and has a reputation as a man-eating monster. She turns a social get-together between married couples into a virtual time-bomb of emotional tension.

During the closing days of the Second World War, a young Czechoslovakian woman, Blanka, is caught between ideologies of the Soviet regime. Part of BBC2 Play of the Week.

Cardinal Volponi tries to save his old friend, a priest-turned-militant communist, from being executed by the Nazis alongside 334 other hostages but struggles to reason with either the Vatican, the Nazis or his friend.

Two stories about school. Gotcha by Barrie Keeffe: On his last day at school, a 'no hope' 16-year-old pupil holds his teachers hostage using a motor-bike petrol tank as a bomb. Campion's Interview by Brian Clark: A headmaster takes on the Education Authorities on behalf on his pupils, exposing the political pressures behind the creation of a comprehensive school.

Based on James Herriot's books about life as a 1930s' veterinarian in Yorkshire, John Alderson plays the kindly doctor who ministers to animals in this enjoyable family film. Sequel to the 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small.