I'm going to be away from the internet until Sunday night, the 4th of July, so obviously I won't be answering any e-mails until then.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
See you soon..........
I'm going to be away from the internet until Sunday night, the 4th of July, so obviously I won't be answering any e-mails until then.
Big Bad World + Stanley And The Women
What was that stuff we used back in the 90's called? Video tape? Well here are two more dramas that would probably be lost if not for those old VCR's.Big Bad World ran for 3 series and a total of 16 episodes. Here is Series 1. With Ardal O'Hanlon (Father Ted, Hero, Blessed), Emma Fielding (Cranford), Beth Goddard (Eustace Brothers, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Preston Front, Sunnyside Farm). Here's a review I found online:
Drama about the problems of a group of middle-class, middle-income thirtysomething friends, a married couple and their two single chums, who are struggling with lives and loves as they face the prospect of reaching the forties without achiving anything.
As I remember, the first series of this was well-cast and good humoured, more immediate than 'Cold Feet', and with less soap-opera situations. Emma Fielding and Steve Nicolson were particularly good, and even Ardal O'Hanlan showed a bit of range.The second series was horribly sentimental. Most of the cast were replaced by worse-looking, worse actors. All responsible should never work in television ever again. But they probably don't, because it's a fickle industry.The funniest episode had a German getting high on the herb and vapourising cows with a shotgun. I remember it well.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0202183/
Stanley And The Woman starred the late John Thaw (where do I begin?) with Michael Aldridge (Last of the Summer Wine, Charters & Caldicott, Spyship, Love in a Cold Climate, Love For Lydia), Michael Elphick (Boon, Three Up Two Down) and a bunch of others. Found this online:
Based on the novel by Kingsley Amis. John Thaw gives a mesmerising performance as Stanley Duke, who discovers that his son has schizophrenia, a spirited performance from Samuel West. He then realises that he has been used by Dr Trish Collings as an experiment for her new book. Collings is played nastily by Geraldine James, who was also in Morse and Kavanagh. Penny Downie does well also as Susan, and Shiela Gish is laugh out loud funny as Stanley's first wife. And I mustn't forget the men, Michael Elphick and Alun Armstrong were standouts, but Donald Churchill and Michael Aldridge (who died 3 years later) did respectively. All in all, a funny, moving and quite shocking insight in the life of a schizophrenic's family. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168379/
Neighbours - 2010
Neighbours, the Australian soap that is very popular in the UK, all the 2010 episodes to date.These are the UK broadcasts on FIVE and I have absolutely no idea how they correspond to the Australian broadcasts on Network Ten. I've read that this is broadcast in some 50 countries and is bigger in the UK than Australia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbours
Monday, June 28, 2010
Growing Rich
Another one from the old video tape vault. Not much information about this one. It's based on the book by Fay Weldon. There are some familiar names in it (Claire Hackett, Martin Kemp, Maggie Steed, Caroline Harker). Somebody contributed this review to IMDB:This was an intriguing serial, following Fay Weldon's Life and Loves of a She-Devil, and centred round the lives of four girls who work in a chicken packing factory and their relationship with the owner's mysterious chauffeur (played by the creepily watchable Martin Kemp) who seems to have strange powers. There are echoes of the Witches of Eastwick and the Book of Job, and the final episode comes to a satisfying climax. It has been far too long since I watched it, so my memory is hazy on the details, but I remember being quite gripped by it, and if it still exists (I haven't seen it in the schedules since the first showing) I would say it's overdue for a DVD release. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104369/
Sunday, June 27, 2010
EastEnders - 2010
This year's EastEnders episodes through mid-June. EastEnders has been one of the very top programs in the UK for many years now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastenders
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Life Without George
Life Without George was an 80's BBC sitcom with Carol Royle and the late Simon Cadell (Hi-de-Hi!, Singles, Blott On The Landscape, Enemy At The Door)."After her live-in boyfriend of five years had left her, aerobic teacher Jenny gets involved in an on-off relationship with a neurotic estate agent Larry."
The Dark Side of the Sun + What The Butler Saw
Time to break out that old video tape stuff again. The Dark Side of the Sun was a "supernatural thriller series dealing with a secret society on the Greek island of Rhodes" according to IMDB.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395855/
What The Butler Saw was a feature-length episode from a program called Theatre Night and starred the husband/wife duo of Timothy West & Prunella Scales with Bryan Pringle, Tessa Peake-Jones and so on. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166875/
Disraeli + Langrishe, Go Down
Disraeli was a late 70's ATV production about the 19th century British PM Benjamin Disraeli with Ian McShane in the lead role. This has also been broadcast in the US on PBS Materpiece Theatre at least three times. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078601/As a bonus I've included an excellent rare old episode from BBC2 Play of the Week. The feature-length Langrishe, Go Down is a Harold Pinter screenplay of the Aidan Higgins novel with a cast that included Judi Densch, Jeremy Irons, and Annette Crosbie. The user reviews on IMDB provide some good information on this: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077830/
Flickers
Flickers was a unique 1980 comedy-drama written by Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Ain't Misbehavin', Rosie, Magnificent Evans, Pictures, Keeping Up Appearances, Open All Hours, Potter, Pulaski) starring Bob Hoskins and Frances de la Tour (Rising Damp, A Kind Of Living).This was also presented in the US on Masterpiece Theatre back around 1982 I believe. You can find information about it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081864/
Doctor Who - 11th Doctor
Doctor Who - 11th Doctor Series 1 plus the companion program Doctor Who Confidential.Friday, June 25, 2010
Diana + Summer's Lease +
Time to dig through the VHS for some vintage 1980's drama-rama. First, Diana has nothing to do with royals, okay? Diana is the TV adaptation of the R.F. Delderfield novel. To Serve Them All My Days was another RF Delderfield novel that was made into a TV series that was popular on both sides of the Atlantic. I believe this has sat in some storage facility since it's only broadcast in 1984. Can't tell you much about this, but the IMDB site has about a dozen reviews/comments about it. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0136637/Summer's Lease is the TV adaptation of the John Mortimer (Rumpole of the Bailey) book. Produced by the BBC with funding provided by WGBH-Boston for Masterpiece Theatre, the Australian Broadcasting Corp, and Television New Zealand.
The Woman He Loved was yet another flogging of the Edward 8th / Wallis Warfield-Simpson story. Edward was king, he had the hots for Wallis but she couldn't be queen because she was divorced and American (ya gotta be German to be queen). Jane Seymour was Wallis in this one. Robert Hardy reprised his Churchill role for this. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096460/
The IT Crowd returns
There hasn't been much happening lately but I'm pleased to report The IT Crowd returned for a 4th series starting tonight on Channel 4. The six new episodes will conclude July 30. It's been reported there will be a 5th series of 6 episodes in 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IT_Crowd
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Farrington of the F.O.
Farrington of the F.O. was a 1980's Yorkshire TV sitcom starring Angela Thorne (To The Manor Born, Noah's Ark, Anyone For Denis?, Three Up Two Down) as Harriet Farrington, an appointed Counsel-General to a "Latin American banana republic". John Quayle (Nanny, Terry & June, The 19th Hole and guest appearances on dozens of programs) serves as her deputy and the fabulous Joan Sims is also a staff member. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrington_of_the_F.O.
more Helen West....sort of
Amanda Burton wasn't the first actor to play Helen West. Juliet Stevenson was in the 1999 BBC adaptation of the Frances Fyfield book Trial By Fire. Here's a brief summary I found on a website:Trial by Fire served as the unofficial pilot film for the Helen West mystery series, based on the novels by Frances Fyfield. Moving from London to the supposed tranquility of the suburbs, prosecutor Helen West (Juliet Stevenson) and her police-chief boyfriend, Geoffrey Bailey (Jim Carter), don't find very much peace and quiet. In fact, things are almost as bad as in the big city, what with spousal abuse, kleptomania, and murder running amok. Much against her will, Helen is drawn into the intrigues of her new murder -- and by extension, so is Geoffrey, who totally disagrees with Helen's deductions.
Another Frances Fyfield book, The Blind Date, was adapted for TV by LWT in 2000.
Here's another brief summary I found on a site:
Undercover detective Lucy Kennedy (Zara Turner) faces frustration while attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding the murder of her sister. Disheartened, she leaves the police force, only to become entangled in a terrifying dating agency scandal.
The Deputy starred Warren Clarke, David Tennant, Dervla Kirwan, and Jack Dee. Here's a summary I found:
Warren Clarke stars as Bob Galway, a fictional Deputy Prime Minister and Birmingham MP, in a funny, wry, fast-paced and sexy drama. The Deputy explores Bob Galway's life and work in the House of Commons and how it impacts on his personal life. Bob's a man of the people - opinionated, principled and pragmatic. Surrounded by inefficient, highly-sexed private secretaries, a beleaguered Bob strives to protect his reputation, his career and his conscience as he tries to outsmart his adversaries in the cut and thrust world of Westminster. Making life increasingly difficult for him are Stephen Sharples (Jack Dee), a self-seeking career politician, and Terri Leonard (Dervla Kirwan), the Prime Minister's astute and sharp-witted director of communications. Behind the scenes, his all-knowing, all-seeing principal private secretary keeps him out of trouble. Back at home, his constituency agent and his radical thinking school-teacher wife help to keep his feet on the ground. Bob is a man plagued with guilt. He has promised to help one member of his constituency gain compensation for the death of her boyfriend, but fears he will let her down. The Prime Minister is out of the country, leaving Prime Minister's Questions in his hands, which under normal circumstances would be a straightforward matter. However, his private secretaries seem incapable of arming him with the relevant paperwork.
Sorry for no spaces between titles. Google is forbidding me to use them.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Helen West
Helen West was 3 television adaptations of books by Frances Fyfield starring Amanda Burton as (any guesses?..........) yes! Helen West. Excellent guess. I believe Helen West is a criminal prosecutor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_West
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
new shipping policy
My local post office suddenly closed a couple weeks ago and I'm not sure if it's going to re-open or not. So for now I am no longer going to be able to make shipments on Saturday. I always try to get shipments out same day or next day, but now if you contact me with a request on a Friday it will not be shipped until Monday. The PO I now must travel to is not open on Saturday mornings. Just wanted to let people know as the transoceanic shipments are apt to take quite some time as it is. With that thought I just want to say thanks to all of you in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. It's always a pleasure.
Up The Garden Path
Up The Garden Path was an early 1990's Granada sitcom with Imelda Staunton (If You See God, Tell Him..., Is It Legal?, Cranford, Harry Potter), Mike Grady (Last of the Summer Wine, Not With A Bang, Citizen Smith), Tessa Peake-Jones (Only Fools And Horses, So Haunt Me).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Garden_Path
Monday, June 21, 2010
Love Hurts
Love Hurts was a light drama-comedy from the Marks & Gran school of sub-contracted writing and starring the late Adam Faith (late 50's/early 60's singer, Budgie) and Zoe Wannamaker (My Family, Edge of Darkness, Prime Suspect, Paradise Postponed, Gormenghast). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Hurts_%28UK_TV_series%29Sunday, June 20, 2010
Rocket Man....plus
Rocket Man was a 6-part light drama starring Robson Green. (It was nice to see Janine Wood again too. First time for me since she was the youngest of the 3 ladies in After Henry). Not much info about this available but there are several reviews on the IMDB site:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468431/
A couple of bonus files added:
Staying in Wales (where Rocket Man takes place) here's A Child's Christmases In Wales starring Ruth Jones (no way am I listing her creds! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Jones). There's a pretty good plot summary on the IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1590844/
Heist starred Kris Marshall (My Family, Funland, My Life In Film).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heist_%282008_comedy%29
That Beryl Marston! + Whoops Apocalypse
Let's go back almost 30 years for a 2-for-1 rare comedy disc.That Beryl Marston...! starred veteran actress Julia McKenzie (Maggie And Her, Blott On The Landscape, Fresh Fields, French Fields, Miss Marple, Cranford), the late Gareth Hunt and Jonathon Morris (who is probably best remembered as Adrian Boswell in Bread). I've had this for awhile but every time I tried to rip it the audio was running about 200 microseconds ahead of the video and it got worse from there. I think I fixed it pretty good by cutting it up into 5 minute segments and adjusting the sync on each one before joining them back together. I had an episode of Last of the Summer Wine I had to edit into about 15 2-minute segments for the same reason. So much fun.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212697/
Whoops Apocalypse was written by David Renwick and David Marshall who both have had so much success as writers there's really no need to go into it. A lot of familiar faces in this: Alexei Sayle, Geoffrey Palmer, John Cleese, Peter Jones, Richard Griffiths, Barry Morse, John Barron, Bruce Montague (Leonard in Butterflies), Richard Davies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoops_Apocalypse
Friday, June 18, 2010
Crash
Crash is, or was.....not sure of its status, a BBC Wales medical drama. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_%282009_TV_series%29
Chancer
Chancer was a crime-drama starring Clive Owen. Crime as in criminal, not cop."Drama about a young businessman, Stephen Crane, used to taking risks." as one website states.
Not much info in that wiki page above, but there are a few reviews on IMDB
Thursday, June 17, 2010
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