The Kiss of Death (Play for Today)

(Redirected from Kiss of Death (1977 film))

9th episode of the 7th series of Play for Today

"The Kiss of Death"

Play for Today episode

Episode no.

Series 7
Episode 9

Directed by

Mike Leigh

Written by

Mike Leigh

Featured music

Carl Davis

Editing by

Oliver White

Original air date

11 January 1977 (1977-01-11)

Episode chronology

← Previous
"Love On A Gunboat"

Next →
"Our Flesh And Blood"

"The Kiss of Death" is the ninth episode of seventh season of the British BBC anthology TV series Play for Today. The episode was a television play that was originally broadcast on 11 January 1977. The Kiss of Death was written and directed by Mike Leigh, produced by David Rose, and starred David Threlfall.

Mike Leigh directed "this whimsical tale about Trevor, (David Threlfall), an unusually bashful mortician's assistant", whose moods and personality really make up the subject of the film. A natural landscape for Leigh's offbeat and bleakly humorous worldview. Leigh has often said the film is one of his favourites, not least because Trevor contains certain autobiographical elements.

Trevor and his friend Ronnie form a foursome with Linda and Sandra. A brake on Trevor's joy in life "is the factual premonition of everyday death", and the central incident of a cot death affects him profoundly.

Plot summary

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Cast

David Threlfall as Trevor
Clifford Kershaw as Mr Garside
John Wheatley as Ronnie
Angela Curran as Sandra
Kay Adshead as Linda

Critical responses

The play is highly regarded by the critic Michael Coveney, who wrote in a 1996 study of Leigh's work : "The kissing part of The Kiss of Death is an extraordinary scene. Linda and Trevor are on a sofa, she chewing away, he nervously amused but not exactly apprehensive...The playing of Kay Adshead and David Threlfall indicates every stage of this sexual jousting match with faultless accuracy and perception. We glimpse ... an entire catalogue of human emotions in the mating game: anxiety, cruelty, affection, wonder, contempt and playfulness. This is how love scenes are endured in life, not in the movies, but distilled and refined for this movie."

References

Michael Coveney, The World according to Mike Leigh, p.107
Coveney, p.111-112

External links

"The Kiss of Death" at IMDb
The Kiss of Death at AllMovie

v t e Mike Leigh
Awards and nominations Works
Feature films	Bleak Moments (1971) High Hopes (1988) Life Is Sweet (1990) Naked (1993) Secrets & Lies (1996) Career Girls (1997) Topsy-Turvy (1999) All or Nothing (2002) Vera Drake (2004) Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) Another Year (2010) Mr. Turner (2014) Peterloo (2018) Hard Truths (2024)
Television	Hard Labour (1973) The Permissive Society (1975) Nuts in May (1976) Knock for Knock (1976) Abigail's Party (1977) Kiss of Death (1977) Grown-Ups (1980) Home Sweet Home (1982) Meantime (1983) Four Days in July (1984) The Short and Curlies (1987) A Running Jump (2012)
Plays	The Box Play (1965) Ecstasy (1979) Too Much of a Good Thing (1979, broadcast 1992) Greek Tragedy (1989)

v t e Play for Today
Robin Redbreast (1970) Alma Mater (1971) The Foxtrot (1971) The Rank and File (1971) Traitor (1971) Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971) Evelyn (1971) Home (1972) The Operation (1973) Hard Labour (1973) Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (1973) Joe's Ark (1974) Penda's Fen (1974) The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (1974) Leeds — United! (1974) The Evacuees (1975) Gangsters (1975) Funny Farm (1975) Just Another Saturday (1975) Days of Hope (1975) Rumpole of the Bailey (1975) Nuts in May (1976) The Other Woman (1976) Willie Rough (1976) Double Dare (1976) Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976) Kiss of Death (1977) Spend, Spend, Spend (1977) The Price of Coal (1977) Abigail's Party (1977) Licking Hitler (1978) Red Shift (1978) The Spongers (1978) Our Day Out (1978) The After-Dinner Joke (1978) Blue Remembered Hills (1979) Comedians (1979) Just a Boys' Game (1979) A Gift from Nessus (1980) The Black Stuff (1980) The Imitation Game (1980) The Flipside of Dominick Hide (1980) Home, Sweet Home (1982) Another Flip For Dominick (1982) Z for Zachariah (1984) Brimstone and Treacle (1987, completed 1976) Scum (1991, completed 1977)
Associated	Play for Tomorrow (1982 series)

Play for Today

Robin Redbreast (1970)
Alma Mater (1971)
The Foxtrot (1971)
The Rank and File (1971)
Traitor (1971)
Edna, the Inebriate Woman (1971)
Evelyn (1971)
Home (1972)
The Operation (1973)
Hard Labour (1973)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (1973)
Joe's Ark (1974)
Penda's Fen (1974)
The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil (1974)
Leeds — United! (1974)
The Evacuees (1975)
Gangsters (1975)
Funny Farm (1975)
Just Another Saturday (1975)
Days of Hope (1975)
Rumpole of the Bailey (1975)
Nuts in May (1976)
The Other Woman (1976)
Willie Rough (1976)
Double Dare (1976)
Bar Mitzvah Boy (1976)
Kiss of Death (1977)
Spend, Spend, Spend (1977)
The Price of Coal (1977)
Abigail's Party (1977)
Licking Hitler (1978)
Red Shift (1978)
The Spongers (1978)
Our Day Out (1978)
The After-Dinner Joke (1978)
Blue Remembered Hills (1979)
Comedians (1979)
Just a Boys' Game (1979)
A Gift from Nessus (1980)
The Black Stuff (1980)
The Imitation Game (1980)
The Flipside of Dominick Hide (1980)
Home, Sweet Home (1982)
Another Flip For Dominick (1982)
Z for Zachariah (1984)
Brimstone and Treacle (1987, completed 1976)
Scum (1991, completed 1977)

Associated

Play for Tomorrow (1982 series)

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