Play For Today: The After Dinner Game (BBC-1 1975, Timothy West)

The After Dinner Game, made for the Play For Today strand was a typical Malcolm Bradbury piece set in the Academic environs of a modern university.

The story focuses on Vice Chancellor Bartley Humbolt who feels his world is crumbling around him (his wife wants to leave him, his job is under threat from a new up and coming professor and the university is heavily in debt) and plans a very special dinner party to put things aright.

Made at BBC Birmingham.

production details
UK / BBC-1 / 1×70 minute episode / Broadcast Thursday 16 January 1975 @ 9.25pm

Writers: Malcolm Bradbury,Christopher Bigsby / Script Editor: William Smethurst / Production Design: Ian Ashurst / Producer: David Rose / Director: Robert Knights

Play For Today / Season 5 Episode 9

cast
Timothy West as Mark Childers
Rupert Davies as Bartley Humbolt
Margaret Whiting as Gaynor Humbolt
Mark Wing-Davey as Ben Good
Georgine Anderson as Helen Childers
Connie Booth as Lee-Ann Good
Ian Gelder as Andrew Patterson
Diane Fletcher as Flora Beniform
Ronald Mayer as Mason
Marguerite Young as Maid

Head of film reviews at The Viewers Guide with an erudite, insightful, slightly sardonic, deep appreciation for classic cinema. Has a habit of quoting obscure lines from old films in everyday conversation. He keeps a meticulously organized film logbook. He's a bit of a tea snob.