In what would be a brave move even for a channel with a noted track record in drama but feels in this case like off-the-scale audacity, UK broadcaster 5 (formerly Channel 5) is bringing back Play For Today, the BBC’s once-celebrated but long-defunct platform for challenging new work.

Now if you know your Abigail’s Party from your Scum and your Blue Remembered Hills from your Nuts In May, this news should set your pulse racing. If you’re one of those who views the BBC’s current drama output as a shadow of its former self in terms of promoting young talent, taking risks, and giving funding and airtime to working-class voices and the issues and themes which concern them, it definitely will.

Announcing the new initiative at the weekend, 5’s Commissioning Editor Paul Testar said: “Play for Today is synonymous with high quality stand-alone television dramas and we’re incredibly excited to be reviving it with a new slate of single films. What makes this particularly important for us as a public service broadcaster is the opportunity to support emerging talent behind the scenes – from writers and directors to production teams, especially those from lower-income backgrounds who haven’t always had clear pathways into the industry. It’s a chance to tell great stories while helping to shape the future of British drama.”

No arguments there. Put like that it makes you wonder why the BBC ever canned the series in the first place – and exactly what the panjandrums at Broadcasting House make of 5’s cheeky re-boot and their co-opting of one of the best regarded ‘brands’ in British television history. For the record, Play For Today ran between 1970 and 1984 but also encompasses a slew of television dramas from its 1960s predecessor, The Wednesday Play. Read through them and you can see they’re not short of wow factor.

Many were........

© Herald Scotland