A few months ago I listed 3 different BBC versions of Jane Eyre. Just came across a 1997 version done for A&E and London Weekend Television and have added it to the third disc with the 2006 version.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 17
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 17
Einstein And Eddington
A BBC film starring Andy Serkis, David Tennant, Lucy Cohu, Jodhi May, Donald Sumpter, Jim Broadbent, Rebecca Hall, Richard McCabe.
"In the spring of 1914, with Europe on the brink of war, no one had heard of an obscure German physicist called Albert Einstein. A British astronomer, Arthur Eddington, realised that Einstein's theories could unlock whole new ways of thinking about time and space. Despite the danger of being labelled traitors, the two men began a unique correspondence. An eclipse in Africa provided an opportunity to prove Einstein's theories to the world. Eddington, an unlikely hero, set out on a journey that would change people's perceptions of the universe forever."
Emerald Falls is an Australian Network Ten film from 2008.
"When Joni Ferguson (Georgie Parker) decides life is too short to play safe, she buys an almost derelict bed and breakfast in the Blue Mountains. Six months later, the business isn't doing very well. Joni's life is sent into a further tailspin at the sudden death of her trusted friend and confidante, local doctor Henry Forbes (Andrew McFarlane). However, Joni's son, Zac, is convinced that Forbes was murdered. Not only do his observations, research, Colombo-style deduction and simple 15-year-old intransigence yield results... but he also he unravels more than he bargained for."
Small Island was a 2009 BBC film.
"A story of Jamaicans and Londoners involved in the Second World War. London 1948: Hortense joins Gilbert, her new husband, in England where he is lodging with Queenie Bligh. The women have both married in unpromising circumstances. As Hortense remembers her life in Jamaica and the love she had for Michael and his betrayal of her, Queenie also remembers her night of passion with the same Michael when her husband was away at war. Will they uncover the secret they share? Hortense begins her new life in England and soon learns it is not the golden land she hoped it would be. She and Gilbert suffer racism and ignorance, but in adversity they discover new qualities in each other and begin to fall in love. Queenie is shocked when her husband Bernard returns to her after years away."
Starring Naomie Harris, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ashley Walters, Hugh Quarshie.
The Dinner Party
A BBC film from 2007 with Alun Armstrong, Alison Steadman, Lee Evans, Jessie Wallace, Rupert Graves, George Cole.
"Aspiring to be middle class by living in a charming village can have its drawbacks. For instance, you have to attend horrible dinner parties like the one at the heart of Tony Grounds's bitter drama. The repellent, perma-tanned Roger (Rupert Graves, doing wonders with a cartoonish role as a wealthy yob who uses his financial influence to subjugate and bully his wife - played by Elizabeth Berrington - and his so-called friends) is celebrating his birthday with a lavish meal at his beautifully appointed house. His guests include Leo and Jackie (Lee Evans and Jessie Wallace), a pair of newcomers who've fled the capital for what they think will be a nice life in the country, and his badminton partners Juliet and Jim (Alison Steadman and Alun Armstrong). It's a dreadful evening, full of recrimination, flirtation, gruesome snobbery, disappointment, anger, despair and, finally, violence. Just about everyone is awful, which makes The Dinner Party a bit wearing. But Armstrong rides to the rescue with a pitch-perfect performance as a downtrodden salesman with a slutty wife and a wayward daughter, who finally sees through Roger."
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 16
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 16
Bella And The Boys
"13 years after Bella, Martin and Lee were there, the manager of their children's home is retiring and the home being shutdown. As they meet up together at a reunion/retirement celebration it sparks old memories of their time together at the home. Both Martin and Lee fancy Bella and their relationship are very involved. The reunion brings back memories of their youth as well as truths about what has happened since. Bella and the Boys is a one-off British television drama, produced by the independent production company Century Films for the BBC and originally screened on the BBC Two network on 15 February 2004. Eighty minutes in length, the drama was written and directed by Brian Hill, and starred Billie Piper, Tom Burke and Freddie Cunliffe. The story surrounds the lives of three residents of a children's care home, Bella (Piper), Lee (Burke) and Martin (Cunliffe). They meet up thirteen years after having left the home for the manager's retirement celebration, and the meeting sparks off various reminiscences about their time together, both good and bad, and what has happened to them in the intervening years."
Belonging
Middle-aged Jess Copplestone is left to look after the elderly relatives of her husband Jacob and to make a new life for herself, after he leaves her for a younger woman. An all-star cast of Brenda Blethyn, Kevin Whately, Rosemary Harris, Anna Massey and Peter Sallis.
The Bad Mother's Handbook
Great cast in this one. Also found in the Catherine Tate set, but since she is mainly identified with comedy I'm making it available here as well.
"The Bad Mother's Handbook tells the story of one year in the lives of three unforgettable women... Karen (Catherine Tate), her teenage daughter Charlie (Holly Grainger) and Karen's mother, Nan (Anne Reid).
Both hilarious and wise, it is a clear-eyed look at motherhood and childhood, from the moment the condom breaks, to the moment you hear your baby's first cry. The realisation that no two mothers are alike, and that ultimately love is the most important thing of all.Karen gave birth to Charlie when she was a teenager and can't help feeling that accidental motherhood has meant she's missed out on life. What with looking after her increasingly dotty mother and keeping an eagle eye on her daughter to ensure she doesn't do anything to jeopardise her chances of going to University, she's got her work cut out for her.
But there's something else. She can't put her finger on it, but something's niggling away at her.
Somewhere along the line something's gone wrong. And she's right.
Because when Charlie and Nan both accidentally turn Karen's world upside down, she's going to discover things that will change her life for ever."
Take A Girl Like You
BBC 3-parter from 2000 with a solid cast (Rupert Graves, Hugh Bonneville, Emma Chambers, Robert Daws.) Found this review online:
"Actually the novel by Kingsley Amis was filmed in 1970 with Haley Mills as the delectable Jenny Bunn, but this is a more satisfactory 150 minute mini –series retelling of the story of how sweet schoolteacher Ms Bunn comes to middle England from the North, armed with nothing but her principles, including no sex before marriage, and handicapped by her extreme good looks. She is instantly targeted by the good-looking all round roue Patrick, a teacher in a public (ie exclusive private) school. She also has to fend off her landlord, a fellow boarder of lesbian leanings and sundry members of the country gentry.
Jenny, of course is not against sex, she just wants to wait for Mr Right. Patrick on the other hand is so used to mere lust that he doesn't recognise love when it comes along, especially in such a divine package as Miss Jenny. The story is played out at a leisurely pace against a background of green countryside, drives in open sports cars, country houses, cricket, incredibly smoky pubs and lots of grog, all permeated with the cool sound of jazz (not a rocker in sight). As Jenny, Sienna Guillory is beautifully virginal and Rupert Greaves is charming (and very well preserved) as the dissolute Patrick. A host of minor characters make what would otherwise be a thin story into something more interesting. There's Julian (Hugh Bonneville), Patrick's landed gentry chum, with the jazz parties and the mistress in town, the awful Dick the landlord (Robert Daws) and his sneering wife (Emma Chambers), Patrick's high minded Scottish flatmate Graham (Ian Driver), whose efforts at seduction inevitably end in failure, Jenny's lesbian French room mate Anna who turns out not what she seems, the headmaster's daughter who at 18 is several laps ahead of Jenny in the sexual experiences stakes, a blackmailing parent (Jeff Rawle – the wonderful George in `Drop the Dead Donkey') desperate to get his dumb son a scholarship to Oxford, and an old Lord (Leslie Phillips) who insists on telling Patrick about his groping problem.
Anyway, it's a handsomely done production with everybody looking and sounding right. Once again we recommend you read the book. Amis was a fine writer with an flair for comedy and an eye for telling detail. The story is a slight one but the ambience very authentic – as Amis demonstrates the sexual mores of the swinging sixties were well on their way by 1959. Seeing it all up on screen I was struck by how far away it all seemed – I might as well have been watching `Pride and Prejudice' but then the scriptwriter Andrew Davies has done lots of Jane Austen. Ah, tempis fugit, as Patrick the classics master would have said. The end of the story, told by Patrick in a brief voice-over, is a sadly familiar tale. "
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 15
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 15
Blood Strangers
"Caroline Quentin teams up with Paul McGann and Sheridan Smith to play a mother whose world is ripped apart in a Granada TV thriller that looks at the effects of teenage prostitution on two families.
Originally this was a 2-parter, but here it is combined as a feature-length drama.
Although this was excellent, I don't think it ever got repeated. Possibily this was due to Sheridan Smith having second thoughts about the near-topless scene she was in, and so withdrawing consent, but there may have been another reason.
Caroline plays Lin Beresford, who lives happily with her two children in a picturesque town. Then her 14-year-old daughter Emma is found dying on a patch of common ground near their home. Nothing could be worst than the murder of a child, or so Lin believes until she is dealt a further terrible blow........"
Fellow Traveller
"Fellow Traveller was made in 1989 for the BBC and HBO. It's the story of how the early filmed adventure series on ITV in the 1950's were in part written by American exiles, who had fled their country rather than testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and sought clandestine work from the emerging commercial television sector in the UK. The film's lead character is Asa Kaufman who has left Hollywood for London rather than testify before the committee.
The narrative moves between London in 1954 and Hollywood at various points between 1943 and 1954, as the suicide of Asa's best friend since childhood, Hollywood star Clifford Byrne prompts him to look back at his relations with the Communist Party, the film industry's left wing, with Byrne and with Byrne's former girlfriend Sarah Aitchison (Imogen Stubbs), whom he meets again in London.
The clever script touches on the politics, paranoia and betrayal, and director Philip Saville clearly understands more than the surface complexities of this dark period."
Richard Wilson and Doreen Mantle had minor roles and this was made at the same time they were filming the first series of One Foot In The Grave. I wonder if they were using the same studios and just happened to be there already?
Imogen's Face
" Imogen has it all -- beauty, brains, a doting family, a handsome, successful husband. Life for Amanda, Imogen's not so beautiful older sister, isn't quite as good. Suddenly, Amanda must choose between loyalty and revenge when Imogen, who is expecting twins, seeks her help to hide an adulterous affair. Starring Lia Williams, Samantha Janus, John Bowe, Richard Lintern, Michael Byrne."
This was originally an ITV 3-parter but this is from an old commercial VHS release that has been combined into a 2½ hour feature-length.
The Countess Alice
This is a BBC / WGBH-Boston for Masterpiece Theatre production from 1992.
"In the 1930s, a dashing English débutante abruptly abandoned her country to marry a German aristocrat, and lived with him through the horrors of the war and defeat. After invading Russian troops executed the Count, she escaped back to England with her infant daughter. The story opens in the early 1990s with the now aged Countess Alice, who tutors students in German, and who has spent the last 45 years living off the kindness of her rich and royal relatives. The daughter has grown up to be a sour and disappointed librarian, living at home to care for her aging mother. A reporter is interested in talking to the Countess about her wild and celebrated youth, but with the Wall having just fallen, he is also interested in discussing her German past. The Countess refuses to discuss it, and has revealed little to anyone about her time in Hitler's Germany, despite her daughter's life-long pleas for information. Now that the reporter shows up asking the same questions, the tension between the two women, already strained, begins to rupture the thread of their bond when the daughter announces that, now that East Germany is reunified, she is going there to see the past for herself. Starring Wendy Hiller, Zoë Wanamaker, Duncan Bell, Patricia Quinn, Lucinda Fisher."
The first 15 seconds or so are missing and this is from old grainy video tape, but you can't pop down to your local DVD rental store and get this, so ya gotta live with it.
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 14
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 14
A Sense Of Freedom was shown on Scottish TV in 1979 and is
"based on the autobiography of the same name – tells the turbulent story of Scotland’s most notorious criminal, Jimmy Boyle (David Hayman). Once seen, never forgotten, this brutal film vividly depicts Boyle’s vicious life as a gangster on the streets of Glasgow, and subsequent nightmarish journey through the prison system. Hayman is magnificent in the central role – his initially calm, chilling exterior slowly dissolving into uncontrollable rage and despair, as his liberty and dignity are stripped away. Painfully true to the grim subject matter, McDougall’s stark script is a tormented primal scream, the echo of which Mackenzie – just prior to making The Long Good Friday – skilfully ensures will resonate indefinitely. Also featuring an evocative score by Rory Gallagher, and memorable cameo appearances from Fulton Mackay (Local Hero, Porridge) and Alex Norton (Braveheart), McDougall and Mackenzie’s final collaboration is a violent, harrowing masterpiece of Scottish cinema that easily ranks alongside the finest British thrillers of the 1970s and 80s."
Arthur's Hallowed Ground (Channel 4 in 1984)
"A directing debut for octogenarian Freddy Young (David Lean's triple Oscar-winning photographer). The hallowed ground in question is a cricket ground. And Arthur (Jimmy Jewel, aged 74 at the time of filming) is the groundsman. For 45 years, Arthur has toiled to create the perfect cricket pitch. He's fiercely protective of his pride and joy, to the extent that the hallowed turf's appearance is more important to him than its purpose.
His obduracy is alienating the club authorities. New assistant, Henry (Vas Blackwood), struggles to establish a relationship with his intimidating boss. But slowly he wears away at Arthur's leathery surface to reveal the old man's tender affections. A very good cast delivers a gentle comedy, as charming and English as an afternoon spent watching your village team."
Other familiar faces in this film include Jean Boht, David Swift, Michael Elphick, Sam Kelly.
Mrs. Reinhardt is a BBC Play of the Month from 1981 starring Helen Mirren as
"as the recently separated Mrs. Reinhardt, who meets a charming American during her trip to the south of France. Having fled from her adulterous husband with a necklace as the only thing of value, Mrs. Reinhardt is finding her new situation at a secluded hotel in Brittany most satisfying. Even better, during an outing she meets a young American named Steve (Brad Davis), whose brash personality lifts her spirits. They begin a passionate affair, but when his demeanour suddenly changes, Mrs. Reinhardt must face yet again the crumbling of her illusion of bliss."
She's Been Away was a 1989 BBC film starring
"Dame Peggy Ashcroft, who won two awards at the Venice International Film Festival for her performance, as did Geraldine James, in a moving story of the unexpected friendship forged between an elderly woman released from a mental hospital after 60 years, and her nephew's pregnant wife with whom she comes to live. Brought reluctantly together when the care home is shut down, the pair find a common purpose which has hilarious and risky consequences for those around them."
The Country Party, a 1977 BBC Play for Today, about a former stockbroker that now runs a country restaurant. His daughter decides to spring a surprise on him in an attempt to change his life for the better.
A number of familiar faces in this one including a young Linda Robson and Pauline Quirke years before Birds of a Feather. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0675300/
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 13
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 13:
Anne Of Green Gables, a 1985 Canadian film adaptation of the 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery based on her childhood experiences on Prince Edward Island. This runs about 3 hours 15 minutes so it's been split into 2 files.
Leeds United! was a film from the BBC Play For Today series about "the true story of a strike in 1970 by female textile-factory workers in Leeds who wanted to be paid the same as their male colleagues, but whose efforts were undermined by the trade union that they belonged to."
Staying On (from Granada TV) is another one of those 1980's nostalgic Indian films (Jewel In The Crown, Ghandi, The Far Pavilions, The Last Viceroy, A Passage To India). As with Anne of Green Gables, I believe this was shown in the US on PBS' Great Performances. "McCluskiegunj in North India is a hill station where many of the British who didn't want to return to the UK stayed on after Independence in 1947. Paul Scott (author of The Raj Quartet) based his mythical Pankot on this and several other places in the north. Staying On focuses on this little known aspect of the Raj - the remnants. Retired British officer Colonel Smalley (Trevor Howard) decided to stay on because he was too old to start afresh in the UK and he knew no other place but India. Besides, his pension went farther in India than in the UK. For his wife Lucy (Celia Johnson), to stay on in warm India and be waited on is much better than returning to a grim postwar Britain. Unfortunately for many real life Smalleys, the money didn't really extend to a life of luxury and they were merely tolerated rather than welcomed by Indians. As the Colonel realises, it soon became a matter of "hanging on" rather than staying on. The colonial backdrop notwithstanding, Staying On is, more than anything else, a moving portrait of old age. The process of ageing gracefully with a lifelong partner is beautifully captured in the film. Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson, who were paired in David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945), re-unite in this film to great effect. They bicker and quarrel, yet clearly love each other. In their own ways, they both embrace India, though they still have their Raj hangovers. The Colonel has many Indian friends, but despises Anglo-Indians, while Lucy yearns for some friends of her own race. However, what looms over the film is the overweening intrusion of a garishly modern India, in the shape of the vulgar Shiraz chain of hotels, which is contrasted with the quaint Smiths hotel in which the Smalleys live. The film, then, works both as a paean to old age and a bittersweet look at a bygone era."
The Chain is more of a comedy-drama and was the source from which the TV series Moving Story was developed.
"The Chain is linked by a series of moves. As one couple moves out of their current residence to live in posher quarters, another moves in, and so it goes all the way up to the lavish mansioned owned by self-made millionaire Leo McKern. The cycle starts all over again when McKern, wishing to be closer to his roots, returns to the working-class neighborhood whence he came. Each move is wryly commented upon by the team of professional movers headed by Warren Mitchell. The enormously gifted British cast includes Billie Whitelaw, Nigel Hawthorne, Maurice Denham, Denis Lawson, Phyllis Logan, Anna Massey and David Troughton."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Martin Clunes Horsepower blah blah blah
Here's a collection of some recent interesting programs for those of you with your thinking caps on.
Martin Clunes Horsepower. It looks like ITV is still trying to come up with the dosh to produce another Doc Martin series, so they're keeping Marty busy doing this and that. Remember A Man and His Dogs? Then he did Islands of Britain (and almost crapped his pants every episode). Now we have Horsepower. With Doc Martin still a couple years away maybe next year we'll get something more exotic like A Man and His Goats or CamelPower.
"From remotest Mongolia to the Windsor Greys of Buckingham Palace, horse lover Martin Clunes travels the world to unlock the secrets of a partnership which shaped the world. For many centuries humankind was dependent on equine power for warfare, ceremony, farming, transport and pleasure. Today, the horse is still an important part of our world in many ways. Martin unravels the true story of how humans and horses first got together, and what the horse still means to us in the modern era. In Italy he watches the colourful Palio horse race, which dates back to the 13th century. Then he rides into battle in a suit of armour at Warwick Castle before witnessing the pomp and ceremony as horses and carriages are prepared for the State Opening of Parliament. On a visit to the USA, he sees how rodeo horses are treated like kings in Las Vegas. Finally, he travels to the remotest parts of central Asia to meet some of the world's greatest horsepeople."
Secret Britain, from the BBC, with Julia Bradbury and some other lucky geezer.
Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury embark on an epic adventure to unlock the astonishing beauty of Secret Britain.
They start in the far South West of England, and the first leg of their journey takes them all the way to Dover across some of the most crowded parts of the UK. Yet even here there are hidden corners and forgotten stories. Matt explores Britain's only desert, while Julia goes off the beaten track to discover the shady green world of Dorset's holloways.
Next, they explore the hidden heart of the UK on the second leg of their journey across Secret Britain. It is a journey of revelation, that takes them from the eerie flatlands of East Anglia to the staggering sea cliffs of Pembrokeshire. Matt searches for a mysterious island in the enigmatic waterworld of the Norfolk Broads, while Julia discovers a secret side to Swindon.
Next they're on the road north on the third leg of their epic adventure to unlock Secret Britain. Even here, in the best loved areas of the Peaks and Lakes, there are still hidden corners of the countryside just waiting to be discovered. Julia takes a trip into the stunning underground limestone world beneath Yorkshire, while Matt relives childhood memories as he explores a secret ancient woodland on the Durham coast.
On the final leg of their epic journey across Secret Britain, Matt Baker and Julia Bradbury head for the borderlands and beyond to discover that there is much more to this wild landscape than meets the eye. Intrepid Victorians, Roman Emperors and imaginative locals have all left their mark; their secret stories all hidden in this astonishing landscape. Matt takes the train to Britain's most remote railway station while Julia explores Glencoe in search of a hidden valley that lives up to its name.
Stephen Tompkinson's Australian Balloon Adventure....from ITV. Last year Stephen padded his time in Africa while shooting Wild At Heart by taking a balloon more-or-less across the continent. This year he's off to see the wizard in Oz.
"Having previously journeyed across Africa in a hot-air balloon, the actor now explores the diverse landscape and wildlife of Australia and takes part in the country's largest balloon competition, the Canowindra Challenge. The trip kicks off in dramatic fashion when Stephen's maiden flight over South Australia's Flinders Ranges ends in a crash-landing. Undeterred, he and pilot Robin Bachelor press on to the Barossa Valley, where they learn wine-making techniques, before completing a flight over the River Murray.
The actor's bid to win Australia's largest balloon competition, the Canowindra Challenge, continues in Melbourne, where he fulfils a childhood dream by walking on to the pitch of the Melbourne Cricket Ground during an Aussie Rules game - and flying through the goalposts the next morning. An invitation to join in the city's Greek festival nearly ends in a diplomatic incident, and heavy rain then prevents Stephen flying over Canberra, forcing him into desperate action to get his training back on track.
The actor takes part in a mock balloon competition, then heads for Sydney, where he helps judge a drag contest and explores the city's cosmopolitan cuisine. He receives backing from Britain's High Commissioner Valerie Amos in her office overlooking the harbour - and hears a surprising confession from his co-pilot Robin - before heading 200 miles west to take on Australia's best balloon pilots in the skies above Canowindra."
From BBC Four we have The Yorkshire Dales on Film. A collection of vintage film clips. Those of you that enjoy Last of the Summer Wine, Heartbeat, All Creatures Great And Small, might enjoy this.
"Using moving images from across the decades, this documentary goes on a short trip to one of the most beautiful parts of the UK, the Yorkshire Dales. Encompassing newsreels, documentaries and home movies, these rarely-seen archive gems come together to reveal all aspects of life in the Dales, from sheep farming to cheese making, railway lines to dry stone walls and hill runners to potholing."
Drama Smörgåsbord - Disc 12
Drama Smörgåsbord Down Under - Disc 12:
All The Rivers Run....."Orphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast of Australia, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia Gordon finds both love and adventure aboard a paddle-steamer on the Murray River."
The Shiralee...."Macauley is a swagman on the road in Australia during the1940s looking for work. He's a laid back, laconic sort of bloke but when he gets landed with his daughter, after his drunken play-girl wife in Adelaide makes him face up to what she believes are his responsibilities. Neither he nor his daughter are ready for each other. But in the beginning he's all she's got, and at the end, she's all he's got."
Starring Bryan Brown who was hot property back in those days (The Thorn Birds, A Town Like Alice, Breaker Morant, Against The Wind, Gorillas In The Mist). I recall this being on Masterpiece Theatre in the US about 20 years ago.
Monday, September 6, 2010
My Family - Disc 7
My Family - Disc 7....I don't know what's going on with this program. The BBC finally got around to airing the 10th series after a delay of months and after the 6th episode seem to have pulled the plug on it. They skipped a week before airing the 7th episode and the 8th and 9th are not listed in any of the available TV listings I've seen. Supposedly a forthcoming Christmas special and 11th series are already in the can and that is supposed to be the end of it. The cast is down to a skeleton crew now and they seem to focus on a special guest star each episode. Roger doesn't show up at all until the last 3 eps, the grandchild, Kenzo, appears in a few episodes. Susan is missing from one ep and only has a couple scenes in another. Robert Lindsay gets to do a crooning "Bobby Darin at the Copa" scene (contractual obligation?) that almost jumps the shark, and...of course....there's the "Michael thing" (jump the shark?).
Dear John - improved
This excellent John Sullivan written sitcom from the 80's has been upgraded from video tape recordings to digital rips. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_John_%28UK_TV_series%29
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Fiddlers Three
Fiddlers Three, now there's a title that doesn't cross the Atlantic very well. It has nothing to do with violins. Fiddlers Three was a 1991 Yorkshire sitcom written by Eric Chappell, who also gave us Rising Damp, Only When I Laugh, Duty Free, about half of The Bounder episodes, and contributed episodes to Home To Roost, Haggard and Singles. The cast included Peter Davison (Love For Lydia, All Creatures Great And Small, Dr. Who, Holding The Fort, A Very Peculiar Practice, Campion, Ain't Misbehavin', At Home With The Braithwaites, Fear Stress & Anger, Distant Shores), Paula Wilcox (Dustbinmen, The Lovers, Man About The House, The Smoking Room, Miss Jones & Son, Blue Heaven), Peter Blake (Dear John, Watch This Space, Agony), Charles Kay (To Serve Them All My Days, Edge Of Darkness, Law & Disorder).
This was a reworking of an earlier Chappell sitcom called The Squirrels. There's some contributed info on the IMDB site. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101098/
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Comedy Smörgåsbord - Disc 8
Comedy Smörgåsbord Disc 8 starts off with:
The Bargee, a 1964 film with a very impressive cast: Harry H. Corbett, Ronnie Barker, Eric Sykes, Richard Briers, Miriam Karlin and you'll also see Una Stubbs, Brian Wilde and so on. Written by Galton & Simpson.
A Home Of Your Own is another film from 1964 with Ronnie Barker, Richard Briers, Peter Butterworth (of the Carry On films), Bill Fraser, Bernard Cribbins, and Norman Mitchell.
The Railrodder is a 1965 silent film from Canada starring comedy legend Buster Keaton.
White Goods was a 1994 Meridian TV film with Ian McShane and Lenny Henry.
"A demolition expert and teacher enter a TV game show. As the day of the competition nears, so the greed of the two player's families increases as they move closer to picking up the prizes on offer."
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells was a 2000 film from BBC and HBO starring Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Olympia Dukakis, Joan Sims, June Whitfield and so on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_the_Blonde_Bombshells
Pete And Dud: The Lost Sketches was a recent TV special from BBC.
"Jonathan Ross and contemporary comedy stars including Hugh Dennis, Angus Deayton and Alistair McGowan join forces to recreate material from Not Only... But Also, the landmark television comedy show created by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and which was largely wiped from the BBC archives."
Ever wanted to watch a South African sitcom? Here's the first episode of one called The Coconuts. I don't know anything about it but enjoyed it and wish I could find more.
And as we span the globe, here's an episode of a sitcom from Guyana called Welcome To My Life.
Emmerdale 2010 - Disc 8
The latest 25 episodes of village life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmerdale
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