Playhouse Presents

6.0

2012•30m

Playhouse Presents is a series of self-contained TV plays, made by British broadcaster Sky Arts. The series started airing on 12 April 2012, on Sky Arts 1. Each episode is written by a different writer and stars a different cast. The four-part adaptation of A Country Doctor's Notebook was also broadcast on the strand in December 2012. Sky Arts have announced that they are ordering a five-part spin-off of the third play, Nixon’s The One. They say the full cast, including Harry Shearer as Nixon and Henry Goodman as Kissinger, will return for the series run, which will be filmed in September 2012. The series will broadcast in 2013. The second series began airing in April 2013 featuring Kathy Burke, Frances Barber, Julia Davis, Idris Elba, Anna Friel, Rebecca Front, Stephen Graham, David Harewood, Ian Hart, Sharon Horgan, Mathew Horne, Suranne Jones, Kylie Minogue, Vanessa Redgrave, Peter Serafinowicz, Matt Smith, Johnny Vegas, Marc Warren, Jack Whitehall and Reggie Yates.

Seasons

11 Episodes • Premiered 2012

1. The Minor Character

Drama written by Will Self and starring David Tennant as Will, the artist, who observes life in minute detail, providing a witty and acerbic critique of his life. When a tragedy occurs, Will is forced to reconsider the trust he has in the urban-suburban, middle-class landscape of his middle-aged friends.

2. Nellie and Melba

Melba teaches ballroom dancing and likes to play whist. Her 51 year-old son still lives at home working at the dreaded social security office. His dream is to go onto the stage which, despite a catalogue of disasters, he triumphantly does – with a little help from his mother.

3. Nixon's the One

Comedy-drama starring Harry Shearer (This is Spinal Tap, The Simpsons) as Nixon. This is a verbatim account of Nixon’s time in the Oval office, based on more than 198 hours of recordings made between February 1971 and 1973. This brilliant film is a fascinating account of his controversial and often farcical time in office.

4. King of the Teds

Tina works part time as a cleaner. Ron’s been made redundant by the bottle factory. The lives of this long-term married couple are turned upside-down with the surprise visit of their best friend from the fifties and deep feelings are rekindled.

5. City Hall

Riding a wave of popular opinion after footage of her defiant stance against London rioters becomes an internet hit, an ordinary woman finds herself as the capital’s first female Mayor.

6. Care

CARE stars Gina McKee as Natalie, a nurse whose relationship with an elderly patient and other residents on the notorious Byker Estate forces her to confront her own fears and isolation.

7. The Snipist

Set in a post-apocalyptic Britain, a lone sniper (Henshall) must fend off plague carriers and rescue stranded communities in order to survive. But is this landscape of a destroyed civilisation all that it seems?

8. Walking the Dogs

An intruder breaks into the Queen’s bedroom at dawn. They discuss love, family and personal freedom before the police arrive to take him away.

9. The Man

Hidden in an exclusive hotel, a cabal of powerful individuals debates international politics, economics and war. A chilling look at how an unelected few control the fate of the masses.

10. The Other Woman

Life imitates art as a successful TV writer and his actress wife’s failing marriage is mirrored in the show he writes and she stars in. But can they work out their problems on screen or is their relationship doomed to fail?

11. Psychobitches

This comedy puts history’s most famous women into the psychiatrist’s chair. Starring Rebecca Front as the therapist, and featuring Catherine Tate as Eva Braun and Édith Piaf, Sharon Horgan as Jane Austen and Frieda Kahlo, Katy Brand as Joan of Arc and George Eliot, Sheila Reid as Mother Theresa, Sam Spiro as Mary Whitehouse and Judy Garland, Selina Griffiths as Beatrix Potter and Andy Nyman as Sarah, Abraham’s wife.