Lesley Manville
If you could live your life time and again, would you ever get it right? Ursula dies and is reborn, living through turbulent times - but what is it she needs to stay alive for?
A pair of scheming ex-lovers attempt to exploit others by usingthe power of seduction. TV adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' classic 18th Century novel 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses'.
Susan Ryeland, is an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript that will change her life.
A group of women hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.
A retired sheriff and his wife fight to rescue their grandson from a dangerous off-grid family upon the death of their son.
A romantic comedy anthology series which follows a different protagonist each season on the journey from first love to last love, with each half-hour episode chronicling one of their relationships. The first season centers on Darby, who runs a "historically significant butts" tour for a company headed by McNairy's Bradley.
The story of World War II told through the intertwining fates of ordinary people from all sides of this global conflict as they grapple with the effect of the war on their everyday lives.
Maleficent and her goddaughter Aurora begin to question the complex family ties that bind them as they are pulled in different directions by impending nuptials, unexpected allies, and dark new forces at play.
An extraordinary look at the lives of a middle-aged couple in the midst of the wife's breast cancer diagnosis.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the birth of the NHS, acclaimed poet Owen Sheers takes us on a journey that weaves the extraordinary story of the birthing of Nye Bevan's vision of free healthcare for all people with personal stories of the NHS in British society today.
This follow-up film returns to Sheffield's City Sauna. The certified massage parlour run by a mum and daughter team, which specialises in mature and larger ladies, is looking to expand.
Renowned British dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock comes across Alma, a young, strong-willed woman, who soon becomes a fixture in his life as his muse and lover.
Emily Walters is an American widow living a peaceful, uneventful existence in the idyllic Hampstead Village of London, when she meets local recluse, Donald Horner. For 17 years, Donald has lived—wildly yet peacefully—in a ramshackle hut near the edge of the forest. When Emily learns his home is the target of developers who will stop at nothing to remove him, saving Donald and his property becomes her personal mission. Despite his gruff exterior and polite refusals for help, Emily is drawn to him—as he is to her—and what begins as a charitable cause evolves into a relationship that will grow even as the bulldozers close in.
A comedy about a mother at a milestone in her life. We follow her and her family through a year of new beginnings as she rebuilds her life following the death of her husband. Mum is joined by her supportive life-long friend Michael. Through a year of new beginnings she rebuilds her life surrounded by her family: son Jason and his girlfriend Kelly; her brother Derek and his new partner, Pauline; and her in-laws.
Respected police officer John River, a gifted cop with a troubled mind, struggles to come to terms with the recent loss of a colleague, and chases a suspect across London - with tragic consequences. Now at odds with the authorities, River ends up in a precarious position as he seeks to bring closure to the mother of murdered teenager, who blames him for failing to keep his promise.
An elderly man pieces together his childhood memories after finding his diary from 1900, which he wrote when he was 13 years old.
An orphan who practices hypnosis faces off against a bank robber who wants her book on the art form.
Lesley Manville gives a career best performance in Richard Eyre's award-winning revival of Ibsen's poignant tragedy. Helene Alving (Lesley Manville) leads an outwardly contented life. It is the eve of the 10th anniversary of her husband's death, and she is about to open an orphanage as a memorial to him. To mark this occasion, her bohemian painter son Oswald (Jack Lowden) has returned from Paris. Helene plans to take the opportunity to reveal the truth to Oswald about his father. But the ghosts of the past erupt during an eventful evening, bringing the facade of civilised family life crashing down. Richard Eyre's production of Henrik Ibsen's coruscating masterpiece exploring the malign consequences of buried secrets and lies was universally acclaimed by the critics. It was also nominated for five Olivier Awards. This HD recording was captured at Trafalgar Studios during the play's strictly limited West End season.
A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her heart into stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading King's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and to Maleficent's true happiness as well.
Set at the outbreak of WWII – mischievous playboy Ian Fleming is untroubled by the specter of impending war – chasing women, collecting rare books and living off his family fortune. Forever in the shadow of his brother Peter, and an eternal disappointment to his formidable mother Eve, Fleming dreams of becoming the ‘ultimate’ man – a hero, a lover, a brute and the one who always gets the girl. He is finally given some direction in his life when he’s recruited by the Director of Naval Intelligence to help in the effort against the Nazis. Suddenly, Fleming finds his chance to shine and prove his worth.
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.
Eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner lives his last 25 years with gusto and secretly becomes involved with a seaside landlady, while his faithful housekeeper bears an unrequited love for him.
Deep in the heart of the English countryside lies the enchanting village of Gladbury. Legend has it every 25 years an angel visits the village candlemaker and touches a single candle. Whoever lights this candle receives a miracle on Christmas Eve. But in 1890, at the dawn of the electric age, this centuries old legend may come to an end.
In Verona, bad blood between the Montague and Capulet families leads to much bitterness. Despite the hostility, Romeo Montague manages an invitation to a masked ball at the estate of the Capulets and meets Juliet, their daughter. The two are instantly smitten but dismayed to learn that their families are enemies. Romeo and Juliet figure out a way to pursue their romance, but Romeo is banished for his part in the slaying of Juliet's cousin, Tybalt.
Single and middle-aged, beautiful Irene (Margarita Buy) is wholly devoted to her job as an inspector of luxury hotels. Constantly on the road, she indulges in expensive pleasures at impeccable resorts, but always incognito and alone, soon escaping to the next exotic destination with her checklist and laptop in tow. When her best friend and ex, Andrea (Stefano Accorsi), who has always been a source of emotional support, suddenly becomes unavailable, Irene is thrown into a deep existential crisis. "Luxury is a form of deceit," she is told by a fellow traveller in the fog of a steam room, and thus begins Irene's quest to bring more meaning into her life.
This special one-off drama travels back in time to 1963 to see how Doctor Who was first brought to the screen. Actor William Hartnell felt trapped by a succession of hard-man roles. Wannabe producer Verity Lambert was frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling. Both of them were to find unlikely hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday tea-time drama. Allied with a team of unusual but brilliant people, they went on to create the longest running science fiction series ever made.
Teenage musicians travel to England's Spike Island in the hope of attending an outdoor performance by their favorite band, the Stone Roses.
One-time hard man Frank Barron is barely recognisable now he’s been afflicted with Alzheimer's, but when his estranged son Jamie visits him in hospital he realises the extra stress Frank is put under and decides to break him out in the hope of returning him to his family. As the two travel across the country, beginning to bond along the way, it soon transpires that both Frank and Jamie are at odds with their past.
Mike Leigh’s much praised 2010 tragicomical drama. During a year, a very content couple approaching retirement are visited by friends and family less happy with their lives.
This year's great performers striking some of the classic attitudes of cinema.
The Queen was a 2009 British drama-documentary showing Queen Elizabeth II at different points during her life. Broadcast on Channel 4 over five consecutive nights from 29 November 2009, the Queen was portrayed by a different actress in each episode. The Queen was portrayed by Emilia Fox, Samantha Bond, Susan Jameson, Barbara Flynn and Diana Quick. Katie McGrath played Princess Margaret in the first episode and Lesley Manville played Margaret Thatcher in the third episode. The series was co-funded by the American Broadcasting Company, the network which aired the series in the US. This reunited Emilia Fox and Katie McGrath who had played sisters in BBC One's Merlin.
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
Perfect Parents is a 2006 film written and directed by Joe Ahearne for ITV. It stars Christopher Eccleston and Susannah Harker as Stuart and Alison, who try to get their daughter Lucy into a Catholic school after she witnesses a knife fight at her old school. To improve their chances, they fake being practising Catholics.
In a small English coastal town, three teenage boys are drawn into a world of temptation and violence. Bored, troubled and excluded, the boys are unable to accept or even recognise moral boundaries. Their actions move inexorably towards a truly shocking act, that will horrify their sleepy community and expose its deepest, hidden fears.
Abortionist Vera Drake finds her beliefs and practices clash with the mores of 1950s Britain – a conflict that leads to tragedy for her family.
Margaret Hale is a southerner from a country vicarage newly settled in the industrial northern town of Milton. In the shock of her move, she misjudges charismatic cotton mill-owner John Thornton, whose strength of purpose and passion are a match for her own pride and willfulness. When the workers of Milton call a strike, Margaret takes their side, and the two are brought into deeper conflict. As events spiral out of control, Margaret - to her surprise - begins to fall in love with Thornton...
An alcoholic falls in love with a Salvation Army captain who is trying to help him.
Penny works at a supermarket and Phil is a gentle taxi-driver. Penny’s love for Phil has run dry and they lead joyless lives with their two children, Rachel, a cleaner, and Rory, who is unemployed and aggressive.
Drama set in 1911 about a love triangle concerning a father, his son and their maid, Jane.
The Cazalets is a 2001 five-episode television drama series about the life of a large privileged family in the years 1937 to 1947. Most of the action takes place in London, and at the family's large estate in Sussex. The drama was based on the novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard, and adapted by the screenwriter Douglas Livingstone. The series was originally produced by Cinema Verity for BBC One and is available on DVD.
Other People's Children is a four-episode 2000 British television drama, adapted by Leigh Jackson from Joanna Trollope's 1998 novel of the same name. The series tells the story of how three women and two men deal with new marriages and the consequences of the new spouses or partners having to deal with their partner's children of different ages from previous marriages.
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.
Forty-five-year-old Adrian has been living with his mother Lucy and running their Wiltshire dairy farm all his adult life. When Lucy unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, a rogue's gallery of family members show up at the farm to argue over the execution of Ruth's will. The one object that everyone seems to want, and several people try to steal, is Ruth's valuable Modigliani painting. In the midst of all this confusion over Ruth's death, a mysterious visitor named Ilaria inserts herself onto the scene and has a surprising effect on those gathered.
Painted Lady was a 1997 murder mystery mini series starring Helen Mirren, involving art theft. It costarred Franco Nero and Iain Glen, and was directed by Julian Jarrold. The role was created specifically for Mirren, as a means for her to try something a bit different from her Inspector Tennison character on the popular Prime Suspect series. The series was a collaborative effort of Granada Television and PBS. It was broadcast in the US PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in December 1997.
The interaction between a diverse range of characters—including a bulimic restaurant critic and a highly strung tax inspector—in modern-day London.
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.
Labour councillor Judith Silver invites N.K. Edwards and Vijay Shah to stand for election to the local council. Who will win the seat? And will Tory councillor Edward Feathers have the last laugh?
When Clive and Sonia discover that their respective partners are having an affair, they join forces in an attempt to save their marriages.
This is the story of rival "Firms" of football (soccer) supporters, and how one man has a wish to team them up for the European Championships of 1988. However, when this is discussed, the opposing leaders are not happy, as they believe this is a challenge to their authority. This Film shows how football violence has progressed from pure violence to a form of organised crime, to the extent that all the leaders know each others' phone numbers.
Slice-of-life look at a sweet working-class couple in London, Shirley and Cyril, his mother, who's aging quickly and becoming forgetful, mum's ghastly upper-middle-class neighbors, and Cyril's pretentious sister and philandering husband. Shirley wants a baby, but Cyril, who reads Marx and wants the world to be perfect, is reluctant. Cyril's mum locks herself out and must ask her snooty neighbors for help. Then Cyril's sister Valerie stages a surprise party for mum's 70th birthday, a disaster from start to finish. Shirley holds things together, and she and Cyril may put aside her Dutch cap after all.
Sammy and Rosie are an unconventional middle-class London married couple. They live in the midst of inner-city chaos, surround themselves with intellectual street people, and sleep with everybody - except each other! Things become interesting when Sammy's father, Rafi, who is a former Indian government minister, comes to London for a visit. Sammy, Rosie, and Rafi try to find meaning through their lives and loves.
On the isle of Rhodes, Katherine, an expatriate English photographer, lives with her daughter. A young local wants to encourage tourism, so he commissions a sculpture of the Unknown Tourist for the town square; the sculptor he brings to Rhodes is Kate's ex-husband. Also there to see Kate is Sharp, an aging antiquarian and her dear friend. He has something important to tell her. As Kate, her ex, and Sharp sort out things that go back years, two English tourists bumble about, one thinking he's fallen in love with Kate, his wife thinking she's found her own lover. A rare vase, a spy, old friendships, the statue's unveiling, and off-hand English sorting-out play into the resolution.
Based on the true story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain, Mike Newell's Dance With a Stranger (1985) concentrates on Ellis's (Richardson) short-lived relationship with motor-racing driver David Blakely (Rupert Everett).
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 wily publisher of arts magazines tries to cope with ever-growing financial problems - and also his formidable German mother.
A middle-aged man is feeling the strain of looking after his elderly grandfather, who is demanding and needs a lot of medical treatment. Then a neighbour suggests a painless way to be rid of him - This black comedy is set in the future, where euthanasia is lawful and increasingly common but it should still, ideally, be voluntary.
Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.
Dick and Mandy, a young working class couple, move into a council house in Canterbury, and find Mr. Butcher, one of their former teachers, living next door. Mandy's unmarried sister, Gloria, is constantly dropping in, and will not take any hints that the couple would prefer to be left alone, until her presence finally goads them to action.
King Cinder is a six-part British children's television serial made by the BBC in 1977. It was first shown between 2 November and 7 December 1977 on BBC1. A gritty series, King Cinder by John Foster, pitches two teenagers, played by Peter Duncan a speedway bike rider and Lesley Manville his girlfriend against a criminal gang running an extortion racket run by nasty Todd Edwards and Hells Angel Daniel Abineri in a South Coast fictional seaside town called Barton. Possibly one of the best final chase scenes on children's British television in the 1970s where Edwards driving a red Austin Maxi chases a running Kerry through a quarry only to see Edwards crash over a cliff. The executive producer was Anna Home.
Dijon, in the time of Napoleon. Emilie Sagee begins her career as a schoolteacher - a career haunted by a mysterious handicap that led to her losing 18 jobs in 16 years. This reconstruction is based on the evidence of her pupils and covers the year she spent at a school in Latvia-a year which nearly brought the school to ruin and forced her at last to face the cause of her misfortunes.
Three young Dubliners go to London in search of fun, fortune and, in the case of 17-year-old Mary Kelly, an abortion. Homeless and jobless, their adventures quickly turn sour.
In 1934 London, Jimmy Erskine, the most feared drama critic in town, finds himself in the crosshairs of his newspaper’s new owner. Nina Land, the actress determined to win his favor, becomes entangled in a dangerous web of blackmail, deceit and murder.
A new adaptation of Paul Gallico's much-loved novel about a cleaning lady in 1950s London who falls in love with an haute couture dress by Christian Dior and decides to gamble everything for the sake of this folly.
Adapted from the acclaimed short story by Man Brooker Prize Nominee Sarah Hall. The Agency is a modern and stylish take on middle class female empowerment, amidst the social sub-culture, described collectively as "ladies who lunch". Disillusioned with a decade of domesticity, housewife Hannah Baines (Ania Sowinski), is befriended by an enigmatic older woman Anthea (Lesley Manville,) who introduces a select and seductive inner circle of women. In confidence, Anthea recommends a private and reliable company who "can set up something marvellous" for her. Hannah contemplates the implications of attending her initial consultation, at The Agency.
A young single mother has to convince the authorities that she is a fit parent.
A group of six friends, who have known each other since childhood, find their friendship tested when one of their number is found dead, leading to the question - were they murdered or did they commit suicide?
A woman tells her daughter about every man she’s ever been with – in the hope her daughter won’t make the same mistakes.
