Play at Home

TV Series
1984
50m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

A one-off series of sixty minute shows where a band were given total control over the programme's content with no input from the production company or Channel 4.A one-off series of sixty minute shows where a band were given total control over the programme's content with no input from the production company or Channel 4.A one-off series of sixty minute shows where a band were given total control over the programme's content with no input from the production company or Channel 4.

Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

YOUR RATING

Stars

2User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Episodes9

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TopTop-rated 1984

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Trivia
Filmed in Swindon, Wiltshire July 1983 and was broadcast on 10 October 1984 on Channel 4 Television.

Connections
Featured in New British Canon: Exploring Joy Division and "She's Lost Control" (2019)

Soundtracks
Train Running Low on Soul Coal
Written by Andy Partridge
Performed by Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory

User reviews2

Featured review

10/10

Very Entertaining Program Of Mummer Era XTC

"Play At Home" was a program that featured acts performing live in their hometowns. Other notable acts to be featured on the program were Echo And The Bunnymen. So it's odd that XTC is the only band accounted for here. However it's safe to say that XTC was the most costly production (instead of setting up a camera and playing live they produced five music videos). For any XTC fan this is amazing. The videos are all good and it even includes an acoustic version of a then unreleased song (a superior version of "Train Running Low On Soul Coal" which would not see release for another fifteen months) performed by Dave and Andy. It features interviews of the band in Pegs's Pantry (a now defunct café in Swindon) and individually as the band discusses their hobbies (Daves' is home recording, Colins' is fresh-water fishing, Andys' is making board games). It shows the band as they had just finished recording Mummer and a surprisingly non-so-timid Andy considering he had just had a nervous breakdown. Great program!