Maria Charles

Bad Girls The Musical is an original British musical based on characters from the award winning and hugely popular television drama Bad Girls. Set in the fictional HMP Larkhall, it's the story of new idealistic Wing Governor Helen Stewart and her battles with the entrenched old guard of Officer Jim Fenner and his sidekick Sylvia Hollamby. It also follows the love story that develops between Helen and charismatic inmate Nikki Wade. Other featured characters include Shell Dockley and her runner Denny Blood, old-timer Noreen Biggs, The Two Julies and the ultimate Top Dog, King-of-Gangland's missus, Yvonne Atkins. A tragic death on the wing - in which Jim Fenner is implicated - leads to an angry protest from the women and forces Helen and Nikki to their opposite sides of the bars. But when it's clear that Helen stands to lose her job over Fenner's misdeeds, the race is on for the women to nail him once and for all.

7.3/10

Catherine St.John-Burke is an independent, uptight, status obsessed, sophisticated, British woman, living alone in London's Chelsea, and doing herself no favors by having an affair with a married man. Her world is turned upside down when she comes home one day to discover an uneducated, Kiwi woman (with very hairy legs) drinking beer in her living room. Shirley Zachary claims to be Catherine's long lost half-sister and that their father, who Catherine thought died when she was a child, is still alive and trying to make claims on both of their properties following the death of their mothers! Furious and frustrated with Shirley's refusal to 'disappear', Shirley reluctantly agrees to undertake a DNA test.

6.3/10

As a former London constable, Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Angel smells something rotten in the idyllic village.

7.8/10
9.1%

September, 1916. As Corporal Henri Defense, young Indiana Jones has become a motorcycle courier stationed near the trenches at Verdun. His friend Remy is still in the trenches, and both grow more disillusioned about the war each day. Chosen to sneak into enemy territory on account of his gift for languages, Indy overhears German officers speaking of the imminent arrival of their most powerful artillery guns, nicknamed Big Bertha. A month later Indy and Remy are granted leave to Paris, where Indiana meets the exotic dancer Mata Hari at a dinner party. He falls for her immediately, but soon finds out she is dating other men as well, including the French Minister of War.

7.4/10

Charles Dickens' classical story about the young orphan boy in 1837 England is again re-filmed in grand fashion. Richard Dreyfuss portrays Fagin, the unscrupulous leader of the young pick-pockets Oliver (Alex Trench) initially falls in with after escaping from a sweat shop and going to London to find his relatives. Written by John Sacksteder

6.3/10

Agony Again is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 in 1995. Starring Maureen Lipman, it is the sequel to Agony, an ITV sitcom that aired from 1979 to 1981. Agony Again was written by Carl Gorham, Michael Hatt and Amanda Swift.

6.9/10

When a beautiful mob hitwoman learns she only has six months to live, she decides to rob her employers, and go out in style, but the syndicate's head man won't rest until he gets his two million dollars back.

4.8/10

Plain Jane Hartman hates her life. She's goofy, boring and only has sex if she reads Iris Murdoch novels out loud to her loopy boyfriend. Her oldest friend Antonia McGill knows about everything. She orders the right food; she can complain and get results. She's beautiful and has a brilliant career. Is it any wonder that they hate each other's guts?

7/10
10%

A costume drama / satire about financial skull-duggery, and confidence tricksters in both the upper and lower classes in Victorian London. A working class man impersonates a lord who is supposedly very rich and a financial wizard. As such he is invited to all the best peoples' parties.

5.6/10

A young girl kicks all of her rubbish under her bed creating a monster which she and her brother must fight.

5.3/10

Elphida is 30. She has been married for 13 years and has 3 children. She plans to restart her education when her youngest child goes to nursery. Then the nursery is closed. On top of this, her parents are contemplating divorce and want her to act as a go between.

In this acclaimed eleven-hours British television miniseries, Charles Ryder, an agnostic man, becomes involved with members of the Flytes, a Catholic family of aristocrats, over the course of several years between the two world wars.

8.5/10
8%

Never the Twain is a British sitcom that ran for eleven series from 7 September 1981 to 9 October 1991. It was created by Johnnie Mortimer, and was the only sitcom he ever created without his usual writing partner, Brian Cooke. Mortimer wrote the entirety of the first two series and four episodes out of six of the eighth, with the rest being mainly written by Vince Powell and John Kane. It starred Windsor Davies and Donald Sinden as rival antique dealers, and also starred Robin Kermode, Julia Watson, Honor Blackman, Teddy Turner, Derek Deadman, Maria Charles and Zara Nutley. It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network. Since it finished, it has been repeated a few times on satellite television: first on UK Gold and later on ITV3. The title is taken from the Rudyard Kipling poem; The Ballad of East and West.

6.7/10

A British mercenary arrives in pre-Revolution Cuba to help train the corrupt General Batista's army against Castro's guerrillas while he also romances a former lover now married to an unscrupulous plantation owner.

5.7/10
4.5%

Agony is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1979 to 1981. It starred Maureen Lipman as a successful agony aunt but whose own personal life and marriage is a disaster. It was written by Len Richmond, Anna Raeburn, Stan Hey and Andrew Nickolds. It was made for the ITV network by LWT. Although a comedy, Agony sometimes dealt with issues that were seen as taboo at the time such as drug use, racism, abortion, interracial relationships, and swinging, and was the first British sitcom to portray a gay couple as non-camp, witty, intelligent and happy people. It also openly mocked the government, the ruling classes, and religion, and occasionally contained dark and dramatic storylines.

7.3/10

Thomas & Sarah is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. A spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins reprising their Upstairs, Downstairs roles.

6.5/10

Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is dead. At least that is what the world—and Charles Dreyfus—believe when a dead body is discovered in Clouseau's car after being shot off the road. Naturally, Clouseau knows differently and, taking advantage of not being alive, sets out to discover why an attempt was made on his life.

6.7/10
7.8%

On the eve of his Bar Mitzvah, young Elliot finds that all the grown men in his life are somewhat wanting.

8/10

Jimmy is a talented young boxer. Every punch he throws is eagerly watched by his trainer, and resented by his girlfriend. His parents, however, aren't particularly interested – until a large car and what appears to be a handsome contract arrive at the door.

6.1/10

In this crime drama, three gem thieves must get out of London after they kill a man. Friction between the men increases as they hide out on a farm and then get back on the road. Trouble ensues when one of the three begins suspecting the others of treachery.

4.9/10

Dream Stuffing is a British television sitcom which aired on Channel 4 in early 1984. The series followed the exploits of two working class young women, Mo and Jude, who share a flat in a council tower block in London's East End, along with their three-legged cat, Tripod. Mo has a menial job in a glass eye factory, whilst Jude is on the dole. Part way through the series, Mo loses her job and the two girls become a thorn in the side for employment review officer Mrs Tudge. Other characters include their gay neighbour Richard, Mo's interfering mother May, who runs the local launderette, Brenda, who works with Mo at the glass eye factory, Bill and Mr Sharples. The series' theme tune, "London Girls", was written and performed by Kirsty MacColl. The series was repeated once by Channel 4 in Summer 1985. It has so far not been released on video or DVD.

8.1/10