ScreenPlay

ScreenPlay was introduced by the BBC as a showcase for feature-length, made-for-television dramas after traditional single-play anthology series had gone off the air.

The series episode 'Needle', about the Merseyside needle exchange programme of the 1980s, was written by Jimmy McGovern at the request of producer George Faber and featured Sean McKee, Emma Bird, and Pete Postlethwaite.

The final episode, 'Boswell and Johnson's Tour of the Western Islands', was partly filmed at Lennoxlove House in East Lothian and in the Scottish Borders.

That final episode starred Robbie Coltrane as writer Samuel Johnson, alongside John Sessions and Celia Imrie, and was directed by John Byrne.

Several ScreenPlay episodes, including Starlings, The Englishman's Wife, Available Light, and Afters, were released on VHS through BBC Video World, a fortnightly subscription service aimed primarily at expatriates.