4 Play was an anthology series of disparate individual plays. Writers were mostly new to TV and included Mike Bradwell, Peter Barnes, Nigel Moffatt and Sandy Welch. Alexei Sayle co-wrote Itch, and also starred,
The casts were quite high profile and included Anne Reid, Jack Shepherd, David Suchet, Michael Maloney, Anton Rodgers, Ian Hogg, Penelope Wilton, Sean Bean, Juliet Stevenson, Jim Broadbent, Ralph Brown, Lynsey Baxter and Phoebe Nicholls.
production details
UK / Channel 4 / 25 episodes of varying lengths / Broadcast 11 November 1989 – 13 April 1991
THE EPISODES
SEASON ONE 11 November 1989 – 10 February 1990
1. CHAINS OF LOVE (11 Nov 1989)
2. DAWN AND THE CANDIDATE (18 Nov 1989)
3. NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS (25 Nov 1989)
4. MORE THAN A TOUCH OF ZEN (25 Nov 1989)
5. NOT AS BAD AS THEY SEEM (25 Nov 1989 – Screened together with the above two – all written by Peter Barnes for a combined running time of 69 minutes)
6. THE BOOK LIBERATOR (2 Dec 1989)
7. GOODBYE AND I HOPE WE MEET AGAIN (16 Dec 1989)
8. SHALOM JOAN COLLINS (23 Dec 1989)
9. FAMILY (30 Dec 1989)
10. VALENTINE FALLS (6 Jan 1990)
11. WHEN LOVE DIES (20 Jan 1990)
12. MADLY IN LOVE (27 Jan 1990)
13. A FAIR AND EASY PASSAGE (3 Feb 1990)
14. TALKING TAKES TWO (10 Feb 1990)
SEASON TWO 16 February – 13 April 1991
1. DEPTFORD GRAFFITTI (16 Feb 1990)
2. ITCH (23 Feb 1990)
3. IN THE BORDER COUNTRY (2 Mar 1990)
4. WORK! (9 Mar 1990)
5. BALL ON THE SLATES (16 Mar 1990)
6. SAY HELLO TO THE REAL DR SNIDE (23 Mar 1990)
7. FINDING SARAH (6 Apr 1990)
8. SEDUCTION: ULTIMATE OBJECT OF DESIRE (13 Apr 1990)
9. SEDUCTION: WELL WISHERS (13 Apr 1990)
10. SEDUCTION: BUT BEAUTIFUL (13 Apr 1990)
11. SEDUCTION: TELL ME MORE (13 Apr 1990)
The Seduction stories, all by different writers, went out together, each around 15 minutes long.