Bill Fraser
A drama based on the novel by Charles Dickens which tells the story of Arthur Clennam who is thrown into a debtor's prison. There he meets a young seamstress whose father has been imprisoned for twenty-five years. A film in originally released in two parts.
The everyday traumas and emotional upheavals of the legendary teenage diarist as he struggles to come to terms with life in Margaret Thatcher's 1980s England.
A Christmas black comedy based on the tradition in Hammond's Bank that a member of the board should take a turkey and 6 pence to a deserving poor family.
A British television series based on the book of the same name written by Sue Townsend.
On Tigella, two opposing factions are irrevocably divided over one fundamental issue: the Dodecahedron, a mysterious artefact which provides the entire planet's energy. With the Savants and the Deons locked in a crippling stalemate, and their civilisation on the brink of collapse, the Tigellan leader Zastor seeks the Doctor's help. But the Doctor and Romana have been trapped aboard the TARDIS in a timeloop by Meglos, the last of the Zolpha Thurans, who will stop at nothing to steal back the awesome power of the Dodecahedron.
During a game of golf between a police inspector and a vicar the inspector cheats by having a constable move his ball into favourable positions and the vicar's into hazardous ones. when the vicar discovers this he prays for divine intervention which turns the tables.
A strong-willed teacher, determined to educate the poor and illiterate youth of an impoverished Welsh village, discovers one student whom she believes to have the seeds of genius in him.
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.
As a surprise, two horse owners decide to ride their animals themselves in a steeplechase. But Bill Davidson's horse "Admiral" behaves weirdly, and falls hard after an obstacle. Bill dies from his injuries. His friend Alan York suspects the animal was doped by unscrupulous bookies and starts to investigate. He doesn't know how serious his opponents are, and that he's in danger to suffer the exact same fate as his friend.
On the eve of an in-depth television interview, Edward Waite, former Labour cabinet minister, calls his family together for a birthday celebration that results in dramatic revelations.
Eddy Booth and his wife Joan live next door to Bill and Barbie Reynolds Joan and Barbie are best friends, having much in common....that is apart from their husbands! Whilst Eddy is a staunch Socialist, Bill is a cautious Conservative but this is not the only point of contention. The Booths are white, the Reynolds black and Eddy's attitudes on matters of race cannot be considered liberal. Sparks and tempers are about to fly when the two women enter a competition whose theme is Love Thy Neighbour in this light hearted but poignant examination of ignorance and bigotry.
A funny thing happened to Lurkalot, serf to Sir Coward de Custard, on the way to Custard Castle. Lurkalot sells lusty love potions and rusty chastity belts in the market place, but on this day Sir Graggart de Bombast arrives to sack the castle, and to get the lovely Lobelia Custard in the sack! Lurkalot must help Custard cream the knight in pining armour...
Two funeral parlours fight one another for business, one of whom is more shady than the other.
In Frankie Howerd's third Up... film it's World War I and he plays Lurk, an absolute cowerd, er coward. He's evading the call-up for all he's worth. But one evening he's hypnotised by a drunken hypnotist (Stanley Holloway) into being brave, but he fails to be released from it. So with his yellow streak gone Lurk is down that army office before you can say "titter ye not." Off to war he goes, mingling with sexy spies like Zsa Zsa Gabor and before long, the spellbound recruit is heading hot-foot back to Blighty with the Germans' plan of attack tattooed on his bum, and the Germans are bringing up the rear...! Full of sauce, knowing real-life references and witty remarks to camera, this is a cheeky incorrigible final instalment.
A funny thing happens to Lurcio (Frankie Howerd) on the way to the rent-a-vestal-virgin market stall. A mysterious scroll falls into his hands, listing the names of all the conspirators plotting to murder Emperor Nero. And when the upstart slave is elected to infiltrate the ringleader's den, the comical ups-and-downs lead to total uproar.
That's Your Funeral was a BBC sitcom from 1971. The show was about a North of England funeral director called Basil Bulstrode. It used numerous urban legends about the funeral industry in its storylines. The show only lasted for one series before being axed. A very similar theme was used far more successfully in the ITV sitcom In Loving Memory.
Fred Midway may be a bit short on brains but he's got plenty of ambition. However, before he can gain promotion as a salesman he must make his family more socially acceptable.
Pickwick is a British television musical made by the BBC in 1969 and based on the 1963 stage musical Pickwick, which in turn was based on the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers written by Charles Dickens. It stars Harry Secombe as Samuel Pickwick and Roy Castle as Sam Weller. This television production was based on the stage musical Pickwick which had been a commercial success. It was adapted for the screen by James Gilbert and Jimmy Grafton. The musical had premiered in the West End in 1963, again with Harry Secombe in the lead role. Running at 90 minutes and made in colour, the TV musical again had lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and a score by Cyril Ornadel. The book was by Wolf Mankowitz and it was directed by Terry Hughes. The programme was first transmitted on 11 June 1969 and again on 26 December 1969. One of the better known songs from the score is "If I Ruled the World". The cast of this production differed somewhat from that of the stage musical.
Some survivors of a drowning ship are rescued by Captain Nemo and his submarine crew. They are taken to an underwater city, where they may be trapped for the rest of their lives.
In Victorian London, the British Government attempts a solution to the problem of prostitution by establishing the world's most fabulous brothel.
The British send an American and a war hero to kidnap and hide an oil-country prince.
A fast-moving comedy with Billy Fury, who plays himself in the film. The story reveals his great love of animals, and it features his own racehorse, Anselmo. Also featured are several of Billy's own dogs.
While posters urge austerity and vigilance in wartime Britain, 'Joey Boy' Thompson has never had it better. In a cellar beneath his East London fish shop, a gambling club thrives – and austerity provides a nice black-market sideline. But the dolce vita crumbles when police arrive in a lightning raid, and offer Joey and his fellow reprobates a stark choice: sign up for active service, or face another stint inside. Thus the lads find themselves heading off to Italy, determined to make the best of it...
A Home of Your Own is a 1964 British comedy film which is a brick-by-brick account of the building a young couple’s dream house. From the day when the site is first selected, to the day – several years and children later – when the couple finally move in, the story is a noisy but wordless comedy of errors as the incompetent labourers struggle to complete the house. It may well have been inspired by the success of Bernard Cribbins' classic song of the same vein from two years earlier, "Right Said Fred". In this satirical look at British builders, many cups of tea are made, windows are broken and the same section of road is dug up over and over again by the water board, the electricity board and the gas board. Ronnie Barker’s put-upon cement mixer, Peter Butterworth’s short-sighted carpenter and Bernard Cribbins’ hapless stonemason all contribute to the ensuing chaos.
During the build-up to D-Day in 1944, the British found their island hosting many thousands of American soldiers who were "oversexed, overpaid, and over here". That's Charlie Madison exactly; he knows all the angles to make life as smooth and risk-free as possible for himself. But things become complicated when he falls for an English woman, and his commanding officer's nervous breakdown leads to Charlie being sent on a senseless and dangerous mission.
Doctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-cold Unit. Hare then takes up a position as junior in a well-healed G.P.'s surgery while Burke continues to sow his doctorial wild oats.
Bootsie and Snudge is a British television situation comedy series written, in the early days, by Barry Took and Marty Feldman; later writers were John Antrobus, Jack Rosenthal, ventriloquist Ray Alan and Harry Driver. The show featured Clive Dunn, more famous as Corporal Jones in Dad's Army, as well as Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser. Series 1-3, 5 centred around a gentlemen's club called the Imperial Club, whilst the fourth series broadcast as "Foreign Affairs" centred around a British Embassy in Bosnik. 112 half-hour episodes were made, being broadcast from 1960 to 1964 and in 1974. The traditional gentlemen's club in Britain has long been used for comedic purposes in films, usually because of the eccentric characters with whom it can be populated, and the arcane rules. The rule of absolute silence in the reading room, notwithstanding several old men snoring under copies of The Times, is a common feature of such comedy. Memorable moments include Kenneth Connor, in the film Carry On Regardless, being forced to mime "Your flies are open" to one of the members. In the Imperial Club Bootsie and Snudge resumed their roles of snivelling skiver and bullying sergeant, with contributions from the ancient and always-bumbling dogsbody, Johnson, all under the tyrannical eye of the "Hon. Sec.", the club secretary played by Robert Dorning. The Hon. Sec.'s way of dealing with arguments was to drown out the opposition with repetitions of "Tup! Tup!", rising in volume until the other party stopped trying. Thus Bootsie's name for the character was "Ol' Tuptup".
A man wants to help a youth club that is in danger of closure. He decides to resort to blackmailing the relatives of the recently deceased, threatening to publish incriminating stories about them. Then he tries to blackmail the family of a prominent villain.
In England during WWII, an American news correspondent’s affair with a married British correspondent ends tragically when he is killed in action. Fearing a nervous breakdown as a result of his death, she travels to Cornwall to mourn with his family without any intention of revealing her relationship with him.
George Watson's domestic bliss is shattered when his wife discovers he has broken his promise never to gamble again.
Deborah and Charles, young executives at the thriving Pontifex Advertising Agency, are very much in love. Deborah is recognised by her employers as the most brilliant TV executive in the country, while Charles is regarded as 'thoroughly reliable'. But there is one hard-and-fast rule at the agency: the board of directors will not allow any married women on their staff; as soon as a girl marries, she must resign!
The Army Game is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1957 to 1961. Made in black-and-white, it is about National Service conscription to the post-war British Army. It was created by Sid Colin. Many stars, like Charles Hawtrey, William Hartnell, Bernard Bresslaw, Alfie Bass and Dick Emery became household names, and appeared in the Carry On films, which began with Carry On Sergeant, virtually a spin-off. It was made for the ITV network by Granada Television.
A new career opens for Charley Moon when, during his army service, he is detailed to appear in a unit concert. In doing so, he becomes friendly with Harold Armytage, a peacetime actor of the old school. Hearing that Charley has no job to go to when demobilized, Armytage suggests they team up as stage comics. Things are not easy; jobs are few and far between, and when they can be found they are in the tattiest of theatres, but Charley gains the experience he needs. They then decide to try their luck in London.
A mysterious young man settles in a rural English town and immediately starts making a good impression. Before long he has insinuated himself into local life, is married and is serving on the board of the local hospital. Everything seems to be going well for him until a newly appointed consultant psychiatrist shows up and starts asking some probing questions.
An American insurance investigator is sent to Rhodesia to investigate the mysterious death of a diamond broker who drowned whilst diving off the coast. The broker was insured for $1 million so the insurers are suspicious.
Movie company wants to shoot a science-fiction film using an Army barracks as location, and its soldiers as actors. Of course, the Commander doesn't like it a bit, and persuades the crew to use a nearby haunted house instead.
Has-been director Harry Dawes gets a new lease on his career when independently wealthy Kirk Edwards hires him to write and direct a film. They go to Madrid to find Maria Vargas, a dancer who will star in the film. Millionaire Alberto Bravano takes Maria from Kirk. Count Vincenzo Torlato-Favrini takes Maria from Alberto.
Mediterranean ferryboat captain Henry St James has things well organized - a loving and very English wife Maud in Gibraltar, and the loving if rather more hot-blooded Mistress, Nita in Tangiers. A perfect life. As long as neither woman decides to follow him to the other port.
Meet Me Tonight was the American title for the British-filmed Tonight at 8:30, adapted from the Noel Coward stage production of the same name.
A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.
A series of murders in the West End of London baffle the officers of Scotland Yard and draw the interest of a crime reporter to the case.
The Common Touch is a 1941 British drama film directed by John Baxter and starring Geoffrey Hibbert, Harry Welchman, Greta Gynt and Joyce Howard. On the death of his father, an eighteen-year old lad leaves school to take over the family firm in the City of London. Realising the other directors want to keep him in the dark he starts asking questions, and is soon undercover as a down-and-out in a hostel which will disappear if a company building project goes ahead.
