The Kiss of Death (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
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"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.^[1]

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.