The series was axed because the Plays Department of BBC Drama was closed down, so that the money that was spent on plays, could be spent on a new soap opera called EastEnders (1985).
One episode, which was made but shelved until 1991, was Scum (1991), as it was deemed too violent and extremely politically incorrect.
Between A Distant Thunder (1970) and Hearts and Flowers (1970), the BBC scheduled eight repeats under the "Play For Today" banner. The first was a repeat of Robin Redbreast (1970), which had originally aired just 78 days earlier, but a power cut had caused a blackout during many areas during its first broadcast.
The other seven were episodes of The Wednesday Play (1964), Plays of Today (1969) and Theatre 625 (1964), being rebroadcast as "Play for Today: Seven Selected Plays" from 11th March - 22nd April 1971. The plays in question were: No Trams to Lime Street (1970), Mad Jack (1970), Scenes from Family Life (1969), Wind Versus Polygamy (1968), Double Bill: The Compartment/Playmates (1969) (Playmates only), Sovereign's Company (1970) and Season of the Witch (1970).
The other seven were episodes of The Wednesday Play (1964), Plays of Today (1969) and Theatre 625 (1964), being rebroadcast as "Play for Today: Seven Selected Plays" from 11th March - 22nd April 1971. The plays in question were: No Trams to Lime Street (1970), Mad Jack (1970), Scenes from Family Life (1969), Wind Versus Polygamy (1968), Double Bill: The Compartment/Playmates (1969) (Playmates only), Sovereign's Company (1970) and Season of the Witch (1970).
"Play For Today" is also the name of a song by The Cure from the album Seventeen Seconds. It is from this series that the song is named.
Videotapes of thirty-seven of the episodes produced between 1970 and 1975 were wiped after transmission, and no copies of many of them are known to exist.