Deborah Orr (Why can’t TV make new plays for today?, 14 January) correctly points out that British playwrights are tackling many of the major social issues today in the theatre instead of using the more democratic medium of television. She laments the loss of Play for Today, saying it “fostered such talents as Mike Leigh, Alan Bleasdale, Dennis Potter and Jack Rosenthal (though this was the 70s, so no women.)” There was at least one – me. I wrote a play for that series which was directed by the late Alan Clarke. It was called Nina, based on the lives of two Russian dissidents, and it starred Eleanor Bron and Jack Shepherd.
Jehane Markham
London
• Over the 14 years (1970-84) that Play for Today ran, at least 21 female dramatists (including Julia Jones, Beryl Bainbridge, Caryl Churchill and Paula Milne) had plays produced for it. Play for Today also employed four female producers (Irene Shubik, Ann Scott, Margaret Matheson and June Roberts) and four female directors (including Moira Armstrong and Jane Howell). Women’s contributions to British television drama have been comparatively neglected and forgotten in cultural history.
Dr Billy Smart
London
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