Play for Today (TV Series) Edna The Inebriate Woman (1971) User Reviews

Realistic and moving

[Tony-166 · 9/10 · 7 August 2005]

Although nowhere near as influential as "Cathy Come Home" this play nevertheless perfectly portrays the sad and tragic life awaiting anyone unlucky enough to fall from life's terrible roller-coaster ride.

A story simply told with lots that is still very relevant over 30 years later.

Patricia Hayes is quite simply masterful in the role of Edna. Intensely moving. Certainly deserves to be more widely shown. Another example of quality TV material that just languishes in some vault somewhere. The film companies are finally realising the market that exists for even very obscure material. Why can't the TV companies do the same?

A Crime to be without a home

[arthurcrown · 9/10 · 4 February 2019]

Ted Kotcheff's (1971) TV film of Jeremy Sandford's screenplay was first aired on BBC Television in their 'Play for Today' series. Set during the 60's in a variety of doss-houses and other temporary lodgings it highlights the plight of the homeless at a time in British history when it was simply illegal (i.e. an arrestable, criminal office) to be without a home.

Like Jeremy Sandford's other tour de force 'Cathy Come Home' aired by the BBC during 1966 in their series 'The Wednesday Play', this film charts the progressive deterioration of homeless alcoholic Edna (Patricia Hayes).

A sullen and haunting portrayal of a rootless existence relieved only by the temporary oblivion brought about by the slow and self-destructive effect of alcohol, 'Edna' shows us a quite unimaginable level of despair and confusion.

As a teenager, working with homeless people in Oxford, I was fortunate in obtaining a print of this film to show to school groups whose teachers had shown an interest in the work that was being done to reach out to people like Edna who found themselves criminalised for little more than their obvious personal misfortune.

Without a screenplay like this and the telling characterisation by Patricia Hayes, I cannot think how you could possibly begin to explain to schoolchildren the reality that lies behind the beguiling and romantic notion of the tramp.

This television film stands alongside Orwell's 'Down and Out in Paris and London' and 'The Road to Wigan Pier' in its ability to involve us in the everyday human tragedy it portrays.

This really should be seen more.

[Essex_Rider · 10/10 · 13 August 2004]

This won several BAFTA's when first aired. It is a compelling dark story, wonderfully acted and directed. It tells the story of Edna, a bag lady and alcoholic. It tells us how she started down the slippery slope in her miserable life, and I have to say, it reduced me to tears. I really hope that someone somewhere has the rights to this masterpiece so it can be released on DVD, because it is a landmark in television drama. In television terms, I would rank in alongside other social classics such as 'Cathy Come Home' or 'Kes' (a co-production with the BBC). If anyone out there in film land wants to see something they'll never forget, demand your TV company airs this!

A crime to be without a home

[john-3109 · 10/10 · 19 January 2006]

Ted Kotcheff's (1971) TV film of Jeremy Sandford's screenplay was first aired on BBC Television in their 'Play for Today' series. Set during the 60's in a variety of doss-houses and other temporary lodgings it highlights the plight of the homeless at a time in British history when it was simply illegal (i.e. an arrestable, criminal office) to be without a home.

Like Jeremy Sandford's other tour de force 'Cathy Come Home' aired by the BBC during 1966 in their series 'The Wednesday Play', this film charts the progressive deterioration of homeless alcoholic Edna (Patricia Hayes).

A sullen and haunting portrayal of a rootless existence relieved only by the temporary oblivion brought about by the slow and self-destructive effect of alcohol, 'Edna' shows us a quite unimaginable level of despair and confusion.

As a teenager, working with homeless people in Oxford, I was fortunate in obtaining a print of this film to show to school groups whose teachers had shown an interest in the work that was being done to reach out to people like Edna who found themselves criminalised for little more than their obvious personal misfortune.

Without a screenplay like this and the telling characterisation by Patricia Hayes, I cannot think how you could possibly begin to explain to schoolchildren the reality that lies behind the beguiling and romantic notion of the tramp.

This television film stands alongside Orwell's 'Down and Out in Paris and London' and 'The Road to Wigan Pier' in its ability to involve us in the everyday human tragedy it portrays.

Edna The Enibriate Woman

[paul-631-821770 · 10 January 2010]

I had to cover a media class at very short notice and decided to use this play as a case study of public broadcasting. At the time the "Play for Today" series was a huge hit with me and my contemporaries and this, along with others has stood the test of time. The audience in their early 20's was completely mesmerized by performance, and at the end there was a noticeable, sideways glancing silence, which is a first since a room full of Maltese abhor silence. This was followed by a standing ovation and a lot of conversation about the play. I was almost moved to tears. We followed this a few weeks later by an episode of Steptoe and Son which featured Len Rossitter as an escaped convict, the effect was almost similar. I am about to show them Cathy Come Home. I don't think the BBC knows what it has in its archive and ought to air it more often.

Edna the inebriate woman . I am not a vagrant

[ss-jhenry · 10/10 · 20 February 2011]

I was looking online to see if i could find this gem of "a Play for today" and was shocked to find the BBC hasn't found time to release this on DVD !!! Why o why do they not see the potential in their archives ( our archives as we all pay the TV license :-) )

This play has stuck in my memory since i saw it when i was but a mere kid back in the early 70s. Abigails party became cult status and i felt sure that Edna would too.

I hope someone somewhere in the Beeb knows where to find this gem and how to go about releasing it onto a DVD or at least puts it to "AIR" once again. As has been said in previous review's,this Play was a storming success when aired and made the British population sit up and ask question's.

Edna has remained in my memory and has come to the fore on many occasion's in my life.When witnessing any "tramp/vagrant" or even the alcoholic staggering down the road mumbling or shouting out loud,it is always Edna that springs to mind.

There are many gem's locked in the BBC vault's and they should be released to help today's culture appreciate yesterday's.

I am not the Vagrant ( but we could all end up there in todays economy and todays complicated red tape filled over managed authorities ) So let's see Edna out and about again so we can laugh and cry at both Edna and ourselves for not improving society as fast as we have technology.

Edna, The Inebriate Woman

[a_baron · 10/10 · 22 April 2015]

Patricia Hayes (1909-98) was a very fine character actress. In the 1960s she played alongside Arthur Haynes in his comedy series as a tramp. Haynes died from a heart attack in 1966 aged only 52, but tramps are still with us. This 1971 play is no reprise to her comedy, Hayes plays Edna, a woman who although experiencing hard times has never seen good ones.

Although "Edna, The Inebriate Woman" is not a documentary, it might as well be. It takes a worm's eye view of society, focusing on those people who if they are lucky end up in prison for short spells during the winter months, who don't work for a living because no employer in his right mind would touch them, those who are not drunks, drug addicts, riddled with nits, unpleasant diseases, or simply old.

Ultimately there is no salvation for Edna, we don't really know who she is, or if anything she says about herself is true. Sad though it is, what does shine through here is the occasional kindness, which does not emanate from the bureaucrats, but from a doctor, and a charity worker who fits her up with a coat and new boots, little things like that.

It is easy to be kind to young, attractive people, be they women or men, but this is what love is really all about. It should come as no surprise that the man who wrote this, Jeremy Sandford, also wrote the iconic "Cathy Come Home" which was screened five years earlier. Nearly half a century on, - plus ça change!

A rather depressing view of elderly street life.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 30 December 2021]

This is an interesting character study of a down-and-out alcoholic older British woman played by Patricia Hayes, one of the great ladies of the British TV. This shows her struggle trying to find shelter, her somewhat evil temper constantly getting her into trouble. She goes to one shelter, finds out there are no beds, then ends up in another where nobody seems to know if there are beds or not, and people basically don't even talk to each other. At a shelter where they serve food, she has a fit, referring to the food and derogatory ways, and ultimately throwing it all over the place and even at the workets, ultimately dumping something on a woman seemingly laughing at her.

In spite of her character, you can't help but feel sorry for this woman because on the surface, she looks healthy and saying, but something has made her this way, and you hope that this will reveal what has let her to this place in her life.

Theater, movies and television have shown us many aspects of the hardships of life, it's easy to make presumptions about these fictional characters or real life people that you see on the streets in similar situations.

Hayes doesn't add anything, call to make her character just seeing eccentric. She is is very troubled, definitely someone with a major drinking problem, and it's obvious how her life will most likely end. So I can't recommend this movie as entertainment, but it is uninteresting well acted part of life we turn away our eyes from on the street, but the way Hayes plays this role, you can't turn away from that.

wonderful movie

[annmackem-1 · 23 January 2004]

This film should be repeated on Tv on all stations and all ovet the english speaking world.I saw this movie when I lived in England and I dont ever recall it being shown over here in Australia.It has always stuck in my mind and I know that others feel the same.I was in conversation in Sydney only last week with English people and this film starring Patricia Hayes came into the conversation.I would be very interested to know if it was ever released on video or DVD.