Colin Douglas
GBH was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The protagonists were Michael Murray, the Militant tendency-supporting Labour leader of a city council in the North of England and Jim Nelson, the headmaster of a school for disturbed children. The series was controversial partly because Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council — in an interview in the G.B.H. DVD Bleasdale recounts an accidental meeting with Hatton before the series, who indicates that he has caught wind of Bleasdale's intentions but does not mind as long as the actor playing him is "handsome". In normal parlance, the initials "GBH" refer to the criminal charge of grievous bodily harm - however, the actual intent of the letters is that it is supposed to stand for Great British Holiday.
Three married couples discover that, through a legal technicality, they are, in fact, not actually married in the eyes of the law. This was the fifth television film version of this play by J.B. Priestley made by the BBC.
A village cricket team plays its last match before most of its players go off to fight in World War I, confident that "it will all be over by Christmas".
When Denis Midgley's father is rushed to hospital, Midgley drops everything to be by his side. They've never really got on, so Midgley wants to be sure he's there if his father ever regains consciousness. As he hates his job as a schoolteacher, and his home-life with his wife, her senile mother and their insolent teenage son, he has no qualms about lingering around the hospital. But as days turn into weeks, his father obstinately refuses to 'slip away', and Denis' motivation for staying by his father's bedside has more and more to do with Valery, a young nurse.
Lord Sorenzo marries the beautiful young Annabella, but unbeknownst to him, she is pregnant as a result of an incestuous relationship with her brother Giovanni. Sorenzo discovers the truth, and his ambitious, scheming servant Vasques, resorts to murder (and worse) to ensure that the whole affair ends in a heart rending tragedy! The original 17th century play was set in Italy, this version the action takes place in Victorian England.
The Black Pudding Festival in Normandy, France, brings competitors from all over Europe. The British contingent is there for all the fun of the fair-and determined to win!
Stephen (Paul Henley) works in a bank. A virgin, he shows no interest in sex, and is cruelly scorned by an aggressive female neighbour when he rebuffs her advances. He lives with his mother, an overbearing woman who mocks him for being wet. But Stephen has a secret – he likes to wear women’s clothing. When his horrified mother finds out, she takes him to meet a fellow cross-dresser to ‘solve’ the problem. But the meeting ends unexpectedly, when the other man realises that Stephen is not transvestite, but transsexual.
Telford's Change is a 1979 BBC television series by Brian Clark which stars Peter Barkworth who plays bank manager, Mark Telford, who takes a backward step in his career in order to retreat from the rat race. He relinquishes his job in international banking and becomes a local branch manager in Dover. Telford's wife Laura (Hannah Gordon) and son Peter (Michael Maloney) remain in London where Laura is romantically pursued by her theatrical colleague Tim (Keith Barron). Despite the banking backdrop, events transpire to be less dull than one mght expect.
The cursed island of Fang Rock off the south coast of England is a place of rumour and tales of beasts from the sea. Three lighthouse men at the turn of the century face their fears when something comes from the sea to bring death to all it touches.
Frank Windsor plays the titular head of a school with an increasingly tenuous grip on his position. Intriguingly, given that that it was made 40 years ago, Headnaster shows how little has changed in teaching, given its focus on the conflict between old and modern teaching methods, as well as the eternal jockeying for position amongst teaching staff.
The Ashton family struggles to deal with the harsh realities of the Second World War as their sons are sent away to fight. Those who remain at home in Liverpool live in constant fear of a knock on the door with a telegram from the War Office or the Luftwaffe bombs overhead as they sleep at night.
On Earth in 2018, the Doctor and his companions are enmeshed in a deadly web of intrigue thanks to his uncanny resemblance to the scientist/politician Salamander. He is hailed as the "shopkeeper of the world" for his efforts to relieve global famine, but why do his rivals keep disappearing? How can he predict so many natural disasters? The Doctor must expose Salamander's schemes before he takes over the world.
Percy Pointer's passion in life is the theatre, and all his spare time is devoted to the play he is writing.When it's finished it arrives on the desk of a London impresario, at a time when he wants to stage a flop.
What secret lay behind the dreaded Marsh Phantoms, the ghostly riders whose silent approach in the darkness of the bleak, unwelcoming Romney Marshes causes men to die of fright? Are they a genuine manifestation or a cover for illegal smuggling activities. Perhaps Dr. Blyss, the benign vicar of the quiet village of Dymchurch, knows the truth about the ruthless pirate and smuggler who lies buried in the village graveyard and can unravel the phenomenon of the curse of Captain Clegg.
An American investigator for the U.N., a German scientist and a British reporter join forces to investigate a series of disappearances and mutilation-deaths confined to a Swiss Alp and involving a thick, mobile cloud, a telepathic girl, an animate dead man, and tentacled, cyclopean beings from another planet.
A mixed party of West Indian settlers arrives in London, where they encounter prejudice from the white population and integrate themselves into the existing West Indian community.
