Apted made his first feature film in 1972, "The Triple Echo", starring Oliver Reed and Glenda Jackson, and he directed two films for David Puttnam. "The Triple Echo" was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival. He alternated this work with working on the TV series "Play for Today". He directed six plays including "Stronger than the Sun", written by Stephen Poliakoff and starring Francesca Annis as a young woman who places her life in danger to expose a crime, a theme Apted returned to several times.