Alison Steadman
Family life with no filter. The Jessops navigate life's everyday challenges - from changing jobs to kidnapping dogs. Chaotic comedy with Alison Steadman and Katherine Parkinson.
Sam is a hard-headed manager at a family-run business in the North West. However, when Sam arrives at work one day to find a dead body in the office reception she is forced to reckon with not only murky behaviour in the present, but murderous secrets from the past as well.
A film exploring the Queen's love of country life - whether in Scotland, Norfolk, or Windsor - through the eyes of those who came into contact with her and shared her passion.
As a collection of history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them.
Follow the lives and woes of the residents of a Manchester house divided into four different flats. Gemma Foster's neighbour, Emma, now goes by the name of Belle, looking to start a new life. Three other interconnected stories tell a tale of love, loss, birth, death, the ordinary, the extraordinary, and everything in between.
A celebration of Ruth Jones and James Corden's comedy, with stars including Alison Steadman, Larry Lamb and Melanie Walters revealing backstage gossip. Location manager Nicky James lets viewers in on filming secrets, including how they managed to pull off that cliff-hanger finale, despite hundreds of fans turning up to watch, while favourite scenes are recounted as fans of the show including Ruth Langsford and Tamzin Outhwaite talk about why they love the sitcom.
Edith's dreams of retirement to the sun with her long-term suitor Phil are shattered when her 50-year-old son Roger arrives home, seeking to recapture his boyhood happiness.
The story behind the murder of 16-year-old Becky Watts, who was killed by her stepbrother Nathan Matthews and his 21-year-old partner Shauna Hoare in Bristol in February 2015. This programme documents the huge police manhunt that unfolded in the wake of her disappearance, and the police investigation which eventually brought her murderous stepbrother to justice.
Ben never knew his father; he was killed in 9/11 when Ben was just a baby. Eleven years later, Ben goes to spend the summer with his grandparents, hanging out with Priti, the girl next door, and his wayward cousin, Jed. Priti is a livewire and a Muslim who gradually begins to suspect her older brother is a terrorist. The trio set out to investigate and uncover more than they expected in this family film.
Chris Shepherd directs a short animation in tribute to Joe Orton (Entertaining Mr Sloane, Loot) to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Joe Orton would write letters of complaint using the pseudonym of Edna Welthorpe. Using this persona, Orton would wind up companies, vicars and even ridicule his own plays. In this short we see what mayhem ensues when Edna writes to Smedley Jams and Littlewood home catalogue service.
A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.
Having never consulted the spirit world before, Tina isn’t quite sure what to expect.
Following the death of their friend, two girls in their late twenties embark on a road trip to spread his ashes. Seph and Alex take turns driving. Dan is in the glove compartment, in tupperware, decreasing in volume as the trip progresses.
Choirmaster Gareth Malone brings together an array of untrained voices from the world of television, sport and theatre to release the official 2014 BBC Children in Need single.
In a revealing documentary, Mike Leigh, director of Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and Abigail's Party among many others, talks to Alan Yentob about a unique body of work and a lifelong struggle to make films on his own terms. On day one of a Mike Leigh film, there is no script, no story and the actors do not know if they will even be in the final film. It is a process that has yielded some of cinema's most celebrated performances, and Leigh's new film Mr Turner is already winning critical acclaim. Actors including Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Sally Hawkins, Lesley Manville and James Corden give fascinating insights into the director and his distinctive method of working.
Mother of the bride Isobel speaks direct to camera about her selfish Lesbian daughter Kelly's upcoming civil partnership to the older, sensible Janice.
A drama exploring how winning the lottery transforms the lives of ordinary people.
Sue Perkins, Alison Steadman and Stephen Mangan use a new form of navigation, Natural Navigation, in order to learn more about the UK and the areas that mean something to them.
15-year-old Jack is on a French Exchange trip with his school. But his mum won't stop ringing to check-up on him. On his last night, his host falls ill and Jack is forced to spend the last day of the trip with his French teacher; the sexy, chic, mysterious Camille. But she is due to endure a family lunch to celebrate her cantankerous father's birthday. Jack's young yet sophisticated philosophy charms Camille and as the day goes on they bond. Without realising, they help each other to overcome their parallel family problems, teaching Jack a few lessons along the way.
David Jason stars as cockney ex-docker Don Mitchell in this emotional drama. Don is incredibly proud of his son David’s affluent lifestyle. The cars, the detached house and private schooling for the children were things Don could only dream about as a young man. His wife Dora, on the other hand, has doubts about her son’s financial affairs. When David’s life starts to unravel under a mountain of debt, family bonds are tested to the limit.
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are to reunite for a TV special to mark the 30th anniversary of their partnership.
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer and transformed the holiday habits of generations of families. In telling the intriguing story of caravanning in Britain from the 1950s through to the present day, the film reveals how caravans were once the plaything of a privileged minority, but after World War II became a firm favourite with almost a quarter of British holidaymakers.
Channel 4 has conducted a survey with the leading TV critics and industry figures, and asked the public in a YouGov national poll, to tell us what they think was the greatest television of the last ten years.
"Gavin & Stacey" creators and co-stars James Corden and Ruth Jones take viewers behind the scenes of the sitcom's Christmas episode.
The Barry folk come to Billericay for the holiday. Gavin surprises his mum and Smithy with news of his promotion in the company's new operation, located in Cardiff.
Young couple Jackie and Leo move from North London to a suburban home in the green belt paradise of Southern England. At the birthday party of a neighbor, they soon discover the strict social hierarchies of village life.
Gavin is an ordinary boy from Billericay, Essex. Stacey is an ordinary girl from Barry Island, South Wales. They’ve spoken on the phone every day at work for months but they’ve never actually met… until now.
Two-part TV drama based on the novel by John Cleland. Set in the 18th century, the story of a young country girl who through financial neccessity falls into prostitution.
A look at the production of Play for Today: Abigail's Party (1977).
A drama about a couple on the edge of divorce, their solicitors, their daughter and of course, their dog.
The turbulent personal and professional life of actor Peter Sellers (1925-1980), from his beginnings as a comic performer on BBC Radio to his huge success as one of the greatest film comedians of all time; an obsessive artist so dedicated to his work that neglected his loved ones and sacrificed part of his own personality to convincingly create that of his many memorable characters.
The Worst Week of My Life is a British comedy television series, first broadcast on BBC One between March and April 2004. A second series was aired between November and December 2005 and a three-part Christmas special, The Worst Christmas of My Life was shown during December 2006. It was written by Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni.
Fitness fanatic, Donald Leek, indulges in a monthly Chunky Monkey experience with, someone vaguely resembling movie-songstress, Julie Andrews, who he's expecting at 7:30pm. His obsession with Ms. Andrews (and her posterior) is somewhat disturbing to say the least. Before she arrives however, he has to dispose of the body parts of Mr Azam, manager of his favourite Indian restaurant, who has neglected to send him a Christmas card. He is interrupted by a peculiar assortment of unwelcome visitors, amongst them, Jesus Christ and a one-testicled self-made millionaire. Each one is as unhinged as their host, who retaliates to the intrusion in extreme fashion
The only child in a wretchedly poor family in the Danish village of Odense, Hans Christian Andersen lives in a fantasy world. His hand carved dolls and puppets, his father's bedtime stories, and his own natural flair for fantastic tales brings the child temporary escape. It takes him all the way to Copenhagen where, he's been told, dreams can really come true.
Written by Raymond Briggs, this beautifully animated film tells the story of ten-year-old John. After being woken up early one morning. John finds a big invisible something sitting on his bed.
It is 1997 and Adrian is now 30 and the Head Chef in a top Soho restaurant. He currently lives in the upstairs room of the restaurant; the rest of his family remain in Ashby-de-la-Zouch. He is estranged from his wife Jo Jo, a Nigerian woman who has returned to her home country following their separation, and they are in the middle of a divorce. The real love of Adrian's life is, as ever, Pandora, who is now standing for Labour MP of Ashby-de-la-Zouch and tipped for power as one of Blair's Babes in the New Labour government that follows.
Adrian Mole: the Cappuccino Years is a British television series which was first aired on BBC One in 2001. The series was based on the fifth book from the Adrian Mole series, The Cappuccino Years. The series was produced by Tiger Aspect/Little Dancer Production for the BBC.
All grown up and gunning for political power in a small North Wales community, Glen Marcus and his best mate harbour a dark secret which seems to be coming back to haunt them. But can the daughter of Tina Trent, a local woman just returned from Alaska, be the same girl the two lads buried fourteen years earlier? Only local policeman Max Bracchi can solve the case with the help of a wrongly accused tramp, Tin Man.
Lenny Henry in Pieces was a British stand-up and sketch show by comedians Lenny Henry and Gina Yashere. It aired on BBC One between 2000 and 2003. The show began with two Christmas specials in 2000 and 2001. The 2000 show won the Golden Rose of Montreux award. This was followed up by a six-part series in March 2002. A second and final series consisting of seven episodes began in March 2003. It was followed by The Lenny Henry Show, which also featured sketches. The primary feature of the show is the sketches, although Henry has a brief stand-up section in each episode.
Fat Friends was an ITV drama, following a group of overweight people, their laughter and pain and addresses the absurdities of dieting in our modern age. The drama looks at people and how they relate to one another and use body weight as an excuse for all sorts of failings in their relationships, or not living their lives to the full. Four of the cast, Ruth Jones, James Corden, Sheridan Smith and Alison Steadman, went on to appear in Gavin & Stacey.
In this spell-binding story brave Jack climbs the Beanstalk to the magical world of Beanland. He and his new friends Dilly (the small but fearless Bean girl) and Ambrose (the nervous donkey) are drawn into all sorts of exciting adventures as they attempt to rid the Beanland of the wicked Giant. This exciting and beautifully animated re-telling of the classic tale is filled with fun, humour and wonderful music to delight children of all ages time and time again.
After their production "Princess Ida" meets with less-than-stunning reviews, the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan is strained to breaking. Their friends and associates attempt to get the two to work together again, which opens the way to "The Mikado," one of the duo's greatest successes.
Let Them Eat Cake is a British sitcom starring Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders set in France, 1782, just seven years before the French Revolution. It is one of the few programmes in which French and Saunders have appeared which they did not create themselves.
Eric Feeble is a middle-class divorced father of two who resides in London, England. An average man, with a less than average life, Eric is endlessly at his wits end -- stressed out with his family, coworkers, and his life in general.
The Ugly Duckling teams up with friend Scruffy, and the lovable misfits embark on a journey that helps them realize that their differences are what make them special.
Postman Clive Peacock decides to rebel when his employers force him to take early retirement. Setting off on his bike, he determines to deliver his last batch of post by hand all over the country. The police are soon on his trail, while the media acclaim him as a hero. For Clive it is a journey of discovery, but he is unaware that back at home his wife is undergoing her own transformation.
A middle-aged London factory worker is shocked when the mixed-race daughter she gave up at birth decides to track her down. At first she denies she is her mother. All family members become emotional, as everyone's secrets are exposed.
This 10-episode television miniseries, set in England during World War II, tells the story of two families, the wealthy Hamiltons and the working-class Slaters, now united through marriage.
Set in England in the early 19th century, Pride and Prejudice tells the story of Mr and Mrs Bennet's five unmarried daughters after the rich and eligible Mr Bingley and his status-conscious friend, Mr Darcy, have moved into their neighbourhood. While Bingley takes an immediate liking to the eldest Bennet daughter, Jane, Darcy has difficulty adapting to local society and repeatedly clashes with the second-eldest Bennet daughter, Elizabeth.
About a personal experience of claustrophobia and how to deal with it. When you can't have another cup of coffee or another brandy because you just gotta get on the plane. And there you are. And suddenly there's a flight attendant saying - Good morning.
Crapston Villas was a British animated television series, in which the characters were made from plasticine and filmed with stop motion clay animation. It was a comedy satire on inner-city London life, directed at a mature audience. It featured a set of characters, living in a grim apartment building in the fictional postcode of SE69, who were plagued by various dilemmas. Foul language, sex and violence are present.
An unconventional promo for the 1994 single of the same name by British band Pulp. Various celebrities are interviewed about their memories of losing their virginity, and frontman Jarvis Cocker reminisces about his.
Henry Farr, a Wimbledon solicitor desperate to rid himself of his wife, settles on murder as a solution to his problem.
Mike Lawton, Maurice Horton, and Melvin Orton are three men who come to Venice. One of them is a hit man sent to take out a mobster. Another is a lech looking for a little action with a woman he never met, whom he was set up with. And one of them was sent by his employer to inspect a property his boss wants to buy. All three men stay at the same hotel. But when the bellboy gets their names mixed up and gives info meant for someone else. So one of them meets a Realtor who will whatever she has to, to close the sale. And another follows a woman looking for romance. And another goes to the home of the mobster who thinks he's sent there to kill him.
The Plant family has run a garden centre in Rotherhithe since Dickens’ time, surviving both war and redevelopment. But now, family rivalry threatens to poison their unlikely paradise when matriarch Mag refuses to hand over control to her triplet children. Frumpy Hilda has only one passion in life: Milwall FC. Country and Western singer Monty dreams of turning the run-down nursery into a floral oasis in the heart of Docklands, whilst his one-eyed jobless builder and part-time wrestler Winston doesn’t know a begonia from a buttercup! A local conman, Wesley Willis, lurks in the shadows and knows the true-worth of prime-location London real-estate.
In 1981, Gerd Heidemann (Jonathan Pryce), a war correspondent and reporter with the German magazine Stern, makes what he believes is the literary and historical scoop of the century: the personal diaries of Adolf Hitler. Over the next two years, Heidemann and the senior management figures at Stern secretly pay 10 million German marks to a mysterious 'Dr Fischer' (Alexei Sayle) for the sixty volumes of 'Hitler's diaries'. However, to the dismay of all, it is discovered after the publication of first extract that the diaries are crude forgeries, faked by Stuttgart criminal Konrad Kujau.
Comedy drama about rivalry in the lucrative world of greyhound racing. Self-made millionaire Larry Patterson is powerful and charismatic, with the best dogs in the greyhound racing world. Jim Morley is one of life’s losers, always ‘just one business away’ from making his fortune; his only link to the world of greyhound racing is a three-legged dog called Highland Fling. On the financial scale, they’re as far removed as it’s possible to be. But they have one thing in common: they both love the same woman…
Every cub reporter wants a front page 'splash' and the journalists from The Brit, a top-selling daily tabloid, are no exception. They're on the trail of a sensational story and their jobs depend on it.
Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, leads aerobics at a primary school, jokes like a vaudevillian, agrees to waitress at a friend's new restaurant and dotes on Andy, a cook who forever puts off home remodeling projects, and with a drunken friend, buys a broken down lunch wagon. Natalie, with short neat hair and a snappy, droll manner, is a plumber; she has a holiday planned in America, but little else. Last is Nicola, odd man out: a snarl, big glasses, cigarette, mussed hair, jittery fingers, bulimic, jobless, and unhappy. How they interact and play out family conflict and love is the film's subject.
A young boy wants to work with a famous creature/fx man but gets more than he bargained when one of the creatures, The Ultra-Gorgon, takes him under his wing. Literally.
Henry Wilt is a more or less failed teacher who fantasizes about murdering his dominant, non-attentive wife Eva. At a party who gets stuck in an inflatable doll and makes a complete fool of himself. Eventually, he dumps the doll in a hole at a building site. However, he has been witnessed getting rid of the doll and when his wife disappears on the night after the party, the police and Inspector Flint have strong suspicions on Mr Wilt.
Wondering what has happened to herself, now feeling stagnant and in a rut, Shirley Valentine finds herself regularly talking to the wall while preparing her husband's chips and egg. When her best friend wins a trip-for-two to Greece Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light.
(from AllMovie, written by Hal Erickson) "British character actor Alfred Molina contributes another top-rank characterization in Virtuoso. Molina essays the role of real-life concert pianist John Ogden. The film touches briefly upon Ogden's performing genius, then takes a dark turn by concentrating on his descent into mental illness. Alison Steadman co-stars in this made-for-British-TV production."
When a corrupt American businessman tries to strong arm his way into businesses in Newcastle, England, he is thwarted by a club attendant and his waitress girlfriend.
An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.
A short comedy by Mike Leigh about the romance between a young woman and a man who communicates only through jokes and humor...
Tormented and bedridden by a debilitating disease, a mystery writer relives his detective stories through his imagination and hallucinations.
While researching the work of author D.H. Lawrence (Kenneth Branagh), Kate (Alison Steadman) begins a romance with a fellow academic, and learns about Lawrence's love affair with the married aristocrat Frieda Von Richthofen (Helen Mirren) in this made-for-television drama. As Lawrence and Von Richthofen fall deeper into their forbidden relationship, Kate grows more familiar with Lawrence's work, such as the sensuous Lady Chatterly's Lover.
The hardships faced by a woman trying to survive a bloody civil war while caring for the abandoned child of the deposed former ruler.
In the summer of 1947, Britain prepares to commemorate the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. To get around food-rationing laws, Dr. Charles Swaby, accountant Henry Allardyce and solicitor Frank Lockwood are fattening a black-market pig for the big day. Egged on by his wife, meek Gilbert Chilvers steals the swine, but the couple must conceal it from inspector Morris Wormold.
Royal Shakespeare Company's televised adaptation of Moliere's play with Antony Sher in the title role of Tartuffe.
An enchanting comedy set in post-World War Two Britain. It studies a teenage boy's relationships and period of sexual awakening. A cricket-obsessed adolescent, Alan Duckworth lusts after his classmate Ann. When the pair score the lead roles in the school's drama production, Alan finds himself in the awkward situation of having to pull off a proper snog scene with his real-life crush.
Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.
Danny Duggan runs a failing building contractors, and resorts to sub-gangster thuggery to keep the business afloat. However, with the bottom falling out of the building game, Duggan finds that playing at gangster is only fun when you're on the winning side.
TV play by Mike Stott. Comedy about a couple expecting their first baby.
Beverly Moss invites her new neighbours, Angela and Tony, over for drinks. She has also asked her divorced neighbour Susan, whose fifteen-year-old daughter Abigail is holding a party back in their house. Beverly's husband Laurence comes home late from work, just before the guests arrive. The gathering starts off in a stiff, insensitive, British-middle-class way as the virtual strangers tentatively gather, until Beverly and Laurence start sniping at each other. As Beverly serves more drinks and the alcohol takes effect, Beverly flirts more and more overtly with Tony, as Laurence sits impotently by.
When teacher Tony Scannell decides he wants to be ordained as a Catholic Priest his decision has wide ranging effects on his family and loved ones.
Alan Bleasdale’s television debut, this beautifully observed drama stars Alison Steadman as a woman having a passionate tryst with the boy next door while her husband is at work.
The play tells the story of Christine Potts, who undergoes an unexpected mastectomy, and struggles to cope with the aftermath and the deficiencies of her post-operative care.
Mike comes home on leave from Ulster. After six years in the Army he has to decide whether to sign up again or not. His parents want him to leave the army and come home, but the family flare-ups and bickerings are not conducive to helping him choose.
A man takes to a remote hideout with his sick wife, where they live in isolation as he battles to protect her life, and his own sanity, from a supernatural threat plaguing humanity. When a drifter happens upon their cabin and they take him in, old wounds are exposed and a harrowing twist reveals the true nature of the catastrophe that has befallen the couple.
