Edna, the Inebriate Woman

Edna, the Inebriate Woman is the second episode of the second season of the BBC anthology TV series Play for Today, originally broadcast on 21 October 1971. Edna, the Inebriate Woman was written by Jeremy Sandford, directed by Ted Kotcheff, produced by Irene Shubik, and starred Patricia Hayes. The hard-hitting realism of the film was in the British TV tradition of productions such as Cathy Come Home, and led to a degree of public and political debate on the issues it raised. Edna might now be described as a 'bag lady' and a chronic alcoholic.

The story deals with a 60-year-old woman, Edna O'Casey (Patricia Hayes), who wanders through life in an alcoholic haze without a home, a job or any money. She starts at a hostel where she is checked for fleas and her clothes are bagged and sterilised. A doctor and psychiatrist interview a series of elderly homeless men, assessing whether they can stay at the hostel. Edna goes on the road again, drinking from rivers and gleaning potatoes from fields. She wanders town and country seeking a bed for each night; in a queue, she meets another homeless woman and they travel together.

Social Services are of little help and refuse her money. For her "breakfast ticket" she gets three soups. Edna joins a large homeless group living under a bridge, where she has a long conversation with an Irish man who also feeds her. They mock the young drug user who has joined the group.

Later she walks in the country with a female tramp. A man asking directions to Torrington is obliged to give them a lift. The younger one offers him a good time for "half a quid".

A further female who denies being a "les" shows old photos of her husband and good times. She used to be beautiful. The hostel manager says "Micks only" (Irish only) but Edna hides under a bed until discovered and thrown out. Back at Social Security she gets upset at being labelled and shouts over and over "I am not the vagrant". She ends in court for disturbance of the peace and from there is placed in a psychiatric ward under the name of Edna Rodgers. There, a patient (June Brown) asks her for any spare pills. Edna does not like the fish they serve and exclaims "This is slop!" They medicate her to control her behaviour and give her electroconvulsive therapy. Examined thereafter they ask if she knows the date: she asks if it is the 32nd. She tries to gas herself to stay another week then changes her mind and goes back on the road.

She rakes through the bins for food scraps. She washes her clothes in public lavatories. She gets clothes and boots from a charity. She has a new obsession that all phone calls are for her. She get thrown out of her hostel for wetting the bed. Back at Social Security she tries to claim as Edna MacLean. She is sent somewhere where a proof of name and address is given. With head down she claims to be Robert Tewt. She ends back in court on breach of the peace charges again. They bring up her record for drunk and disorderly and larceny. She goes to prison but is quite content.

She is interviewed by "Jesus Saves" for a place in their hostel. The interviewer, Josie Quinn (Barbara Jefford), grants her a place. But 'Jesus Saves', is closed down after an inquiry, following the complaints of neighbours. Edna and the other women are on the road again. She ends at the "Jesus Saves" hostel. Although disturbing the other residents in the dormitory conditions she settles to this new way of life. The young woman, Trudi, in the neighbouring bed has issues of her own. Edna comes home drunk and is surprised not only to be let in, but to have a civilised discussion with Josie. Edna cleans up a bit.

Back in court the neighbours of the hostel have raised a complaint: the hostel does not have planning permission and causes a nuisance to neighbours. Josie has to defend her actions. On cue, when the court discusses vagrancy, Edna loudly cries out "I am not the vagrant". She is brought under new care under nuns. She remembers her mum and dad and how they did not love her. Her alcoholic father beat her mother. When her mother went to prison for child abandonment Edna and her siblings were placed in care.

Back at "Jesus Saves" Edna expects rejection. Josie gets the written decision that her hostel is closed and has one month to cease operations. Edna cries for her mummy in the toilet. She starts to self-harm. The hostel closes and Edna is back on the street. In the final scene on a city street at night she is with Teresa discussing the love of her life. Teresa presumes they are going to the same lodgings, but Edna wanders into the night saying she prefers to flitter from place to place.

Jeremy Sandford, who had previously written Cathy Come Home, researched the play by living rough himself for two weeks, on two occasions.^[1] A great deal of the dialogue and the incidents in the play come from the book, Down and Out in Britain published by Sandford in 1971;^[2] although the majority of the speakers in the book are male, Sandford puts much of their speech into the mouth of the main female character.

The drama features one of the few acting roles (as a tramp) of British actor Vivian MacKerrell, the real-life inspiration for the character Withnail in the British film Withnail and I (1987).

Filming took place in November and December 1970.^[3]

The play gained an audience of some 9 million on its first showing, an unqualified success.^[4]

At the 1972 British Academy Television Awards, the play won the Best Drama Production category and Patricia Hayes received the award for Best Actress.

• "Edna, the Inebriate Woman" at IMDb
• British Film Institute Screen Online
• TV Cream review