Playing Away is a 1986 TV comedy film directed by Horace Ové, from a screenplay by Caryl Phillips.

Premise

In the story, an English cricket team, fictitiously named "Sneddington" (based in Lavenham, Suffolk), invites a team of West Indian heritage based in Brixton (South London) to play a charity game in support of their "Third World Week." According to Screenonline, "The gentle comedy of manners and unexpected reversal of white and black stereotypes in Playing Away contrasts sharply with the stylistic experimentation and the militant denunciations of racial prejudice in director Horace Ové's earlier feature, Pressure (1975)."

Reception

New York Times reviewer Vincent Canby called it "witty and wise without being seriously disturbing for a minute".

Production

The cricket match scenes were filmed at Botany Bay Cricket Club in Enfield, London. The film cost £924,000.

Cast