Abigail’s Party (BBC-1 1977, Alison Steadman, Tim Stern)

Abigail, the eponymous entertainer of this exalted Play For Today, was never actually seen. She was in the house next door, throwing a party for her teenage friends. It might, therefore, have been more appropriate to call the drama ‘Beverly’s Party’, for that is where the action took place.

To coincide with the teenage bash, neurotic neighbour Beverly had organized her own little gathering for the grown-ups. Along with Abigail’s anxious mother, Sue, local residents Angela and Tony were invited, and making up the select group was Beverly’s stressed-out husband, Laurence. As the evening dragged by, the drink flowed freely, the grating Beverly forced everyone to endure the ‘fantastic’ Demis Roussos on the stereo, and marital tensions reached fever pitch as she obliviously sailed through a series social blunders.

Abigail’s Party was the play that confirmed the talents of writer/director Mike Leigh and his then wife, actress Alison Steadman, who had previously collaborated on an earlier Play for Today, Nuts in May (1976).

It had first been performed on stage at the Hampstead Theatre and some of the dialogue, even in the televised version, was improvised. The play has become a cult and, in 1997, BBC 2 presented an Abigail’s Party night to commemorate the 20th anniversary of its first transmission.

production details
UK / BBC-1 / 1×100 minute episode / Broadcast 1 November 1977

Creator & Director: Mike Leigh / Producer: Margaret Matheson

Series: Play For Today Season 8 Episode 3

cast
ALISON STEADMAN as Beverly
TIM STERN as Laurence
JOHN SALTHOUSE as Tony
JANINE DUVITSKI as Angela
HARRIET REYNOLDS as Sue

• Alison Steadman Interview on BBC One’s Here We Go

• Come Rain Come Shine (ITV Drama, David Jason, Shaun Evans)

• Pride and Prejudice: Part 1 (S1EP1 BBC One 24 Sep 1995, Alison Steadman)

• Pride and Prejudice: Part 2 (S1EP2 BBC One 1 Oct 1995, Julia Sawalha)

• Pride and Prejudice: Part 3 (S1EP3 BBC One 8 Oct 1995, Susannah Harker)

• Pride and Prejudice: Part 4 (S1EP4 BBC One 15 Oct 1995, Anna Chancellor)

• Pride and Prejudice: Part 5 (S1EP5 BBC One 22 Oct 1995, Lucy Briers)

• Play For Today: The Bankrupt (BBC 1972, Joss Ackland)

• Hamlet at Elsinore (BBC 1964, Christopher Plummer, Robert Shaw)

• A Handful of Thieves (BBC One 1969, Helen Worth, Martin Ratcliffe)

• Hands Across the Sea (BBC, 1938, Nadine March, Nicholas Phipps)

• My Son Reuben (Thames 1975, Bernard Spear, Lila Kaye,)

• The Franchise Affair (BBC 1962, Rosalie Crutchley, Michael Aldridge)

• The Galactic Garden