Michael Hordern

Episodes are: 'Please Look After This Bear'; 'A Bear in Hot Water'; 'Paddington Goes Underground'; 'A Shopping Expedition'; 'Paddington and the Old Master'; 'A Spot of Decorating'; 'A Family Group'; 'Paddington Makes a Bid'; 'Do-It-Yourself'; 'A Disappearing Trick'; 'Something Nasty in the Kitchen'; and 'Trouble at the Launderette'.

The Home Secretary has his eye on the Prime Minister's job. But an experiment in the way the prisons are run leads to embarrassment - and escaped murderers! The fore runner of Crossing The Floor

Paddington enters the Great Alphabet Treasure Hunt and has to find something for every letter of the alphabet. But he soon gets attacked by a W for wasp and gets himself in a mess as usual.

Several elderly friends and acquaintances in 1950s London are disturbed to receive mysterious telephone calls predicting their impending deaths...

The story about a man-sized frog named Prince Frederic who is turned into a frog by his wicked aunt Messina and hired by British Intelligence to solve the mysterious disappearances of some of Britain's greatest monuments. Several hundred years later, Freddie is now living in modern day Paris -- a six-foot-tall amphibian with the moniker Secret Agent F.R.O.7. Messina, too, is still around causing mischief, joining forces with an arch-villain named El Supremo in a scheme to shrink Big Ben. Freddie, alerted to Messina's nefarious plans, gathers his fellow agents Daffers and Scottie together, planning to hide out in Big Ben and surprise the evil doers when they are set to strike at the much-loved British landmark.

An alcoholic pub landlord has visions of a 17th-century doctor of the occult, beginning a monumental clash between good and evil. Adapted from the novel by Kingsley Amis.

When a spoiled English girl living in 19th century India loses both parents in a cholera epidemic, she is sent back to England to live in a country mansion. The lord is a strange old man-- frail and deformed, immensely kind but so melancholy. She wishes to discover what has caused him so much sorrow and to bring joy back to the household. It all must have something to do with the screams and wails which echo through the house at night and no one wants to talk about.

In Stoppard's "LeCarrecature, Rupert Purvis jumps off a bridge onto a dog, and causes problems for Blair, his superior at MI5. And Blair must convince Hogbin, the agent who's been tailing Purvis, of which side Purvis is really on--once he finds out what it is.

A traditional rural English Christmas, reluctantly spent with the predominantly geriatric family (who all have their quirks and eccentricities) ends in tragedy after a practical joke goes horribly wrong.

Somewhere in England, in the Autumn of 1955, a widowed father and his son live an idyllic life together. Only their gas station happens to sit on a piece of land that a local developer wants to buy. And when he won't take no for an answer, and sets government inspectors and social works onto Danny and his father, Danny and his father decide to get even with Hazell and his pheasant- shooting friends in a manner in keeping with their own family tradition.

Scoop is a 1987 TV film directed by Gavin Millar, adapted by William Boyd from the 1938 satirical novel Scoop by Evelyn Waugh. It was produced by Sue Birtwistle with executive producers Nick Elliott and Patrick Garland. Original music was made by Stanley Myers. The story is about a reporter sent to Ishmaelia (a fictional African state) by accident.

The story of "The Tolpuddle Martyrs". A group of 19th century English farm labourers who formed one of the first trade unions and started a campaign to receive fair wages.

The Little Match Girl is a short story by Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen. The story is about a dying child's dreams and hope, and was first published in 1845. This adaptation was made for Harlech TV and broadcast on 28th December 1986. It starred Twiggy and Roger Daltrey and features the song Mistletoe and Wine" which became a #1 hit for Cliff Richard in 1988, and the biggest selling record of that year

Mr. Brown's birthday is drawing near and Paddington is worried because he can't afford to buy him a present. His efforts to raise some money lead him into a series of misadventures, first as a waiter at a society dinner, then as the dancing partner of the hostess, Mrs. Smith-Cholmley, in a televised dance competition at the local charity ball.

The local truant officer informs Mrs. Brown (Paddington's keeper) that since he is of age, Paddington must go to school.

This British series, based on books by John Mortimer, follows the rise of Leslie Titmuss from humble beginnings in the 1950s to Tory cabinet minister in the 1980s. The rise of the slippery Titmuss is contrasted with the more modest progress of his neighbours, the intellectual Simcoxes and the aristocratic Fanners. Made by Eustom Films, a subsidiary of Thames Television for the ITV Network.

The evil brother of Richard the Lionheart is holding the king for ransom, and only Robin Hood and his band of merry men can save him...for a small fee, of course.

The Wind in the Willows is a TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and shown on the ITV network. An hour-long feature, A Tale Of Two Toads, was broadcast in 1988, and a fifth season of 13 episodes was shown in 1989 under the title Oh! Mr Toad in some countries, whilst retaining the title The Wind in the Willows in others.

A behind-the-scenes documentary of the making of 1983's Yellowbeard

One spring, Mole decides that he can ignore the spring cleaning for a little longer, and begins a series of adventures with his new friend Rat. They go for a picnic on the riverbank, on a caravan expedition with Toad, until Toad switches allegiance to his new car and his reckless driving makes Mole and Rat search out Badger for help in curbing Toad's profligate habits. But Toad gets away from them and gets a 20-year sentence from the magistrate for theft, reckless driving, and Gross Impertinence. While Toad works his wiles on the jailer's daughter and escapes jail dressed as a washer woman, Badger tries to guard Toad Hall from the machinations of the Weasels and is badly beaten. And it requires a plan of attack and all four comrades to regain Toad Hall.

The classic Dickens tale of an orphan boy who escapes the horrors of the orphanage only to be taken in by a band of thieves and pickpockets.

King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.

Cymbeline, the King of Britain, is angry that his daughter Imogen has chosen a poor (but worthy) man for her husband. So he banishes Posthumus, who goes to fight for Rome. Imogen (dressed as a boy) goes in search of her husband, who meanwhile has boasted to his pal Iachimo that Imogen would never betray him. And Iachimo's determined to prove him wrong.

In 1905, after 10 years of missionary work in Africa, the Rev. Charles Fortesque is recalled to England, where his bishop gives him his new assignment - to minister to London's prostitutes

Adaptation of Malcolm Bradbury's satirical novel about 1970s greybrick campus life.

An English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in complex political games in feudal Japan.

The girls of St. Trinian's decide they are being asked to do too much work so they go on strike.

Michael Horden narrates as the voice of as Rolls Royce Phantom taking in the sights of Cheshire.

Based on the turbulent life of the temperamental French painter, Paul Gauguin, and his compulsive search for creative freedom which caused him to abandon his wife and five children in Paris for a life of contentment in Tahiti.

Prospero, the true Duke of Milan is now living on an enchanted island with his daughter Miranda, the savage Caliban and Ariel, a spirit of the air. Raising a sorm to bring his brother - the usurper of his dukedom - along with his royal entourage. to the island. Prospero contrives his revenge.

Paddington, having just seen Gene Kelly on the cinema screen, takes to the streets in a rain storm with his umbrella. Join him as he starts singin' and dancin' in the rain.

The Talking Parcel is based on a 1974 book by Gerald Durrell in which a young girl is transported to the fantasy land of Mythologia to save it from cockatrices. She is aided by a talking parrot and encounter many other magical creatures, including a mooncalf.

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife.

Film musical version of Charles Dickens' "The Old Curiosity Shop".

Edward the Seventh is a 1975 television drama series, made by ATV in 13 episodes. Based on the biography of Edward VII by Philip Magnus, it starred Timothy West as the elder Edward VII and Simon Gipps-Kent and Charles Sturridge as Edward in his youth, Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria, Deborah Grant and Helen Ryan as Queen Alexandra, Robert Hardy as the Prince Consort, Alison Leggatt as the Duchess of Kent, and Felicity Kendal as Princess Vicky. It was directed by John Gorrie, who wrote episodes 7-10 with David Butler writing the remainder of the series. The series also featured John Gielgud as Benjamin Disraeli, Michael Hordern as William Ewart Gladstone, Harry Andrews as young Edward's tutor Colonel Bruce, Jane Lapotaire as Empress Marie of Russia, Christopher Neame as Kaiser Wilhelm II and, in one of his earliest roles, Charles Dance as Edward's eldest son Eddy, who died at the age of 28. Gielgud previously played Disraeli in the 1941 film The Prime Minister. The actresses playing Edward's mistresses include Moira Redmond as Alice Keppel and Carolyn Seymour as Daisy Greville. Francesca Annis was featured in two episodes as Lillie Langtry which led to Butler writing a full series about Mrs Langtry's life for Annis to star in, Lillie.

Cowardly rogue Harry Flashman's (Malcolm McDowell) schemes to gain entry to the royal circles of 19th-century Europe go nowhere until he meets a pair of devious nobles with their own agenda. At their urging, Flashman agrees to re-create himself as a bogus Prussian nobleman to woo a beautiful duchess. But the half-baked plan quickly comes unraveled, and he's soon on the run from several new enemies who are all calling for the rapscallion's head.

A young, English, ne'er-do-well who goes to stay with his sister and her wealthy fiancé/benefactor in 1930's Germany, just before the rise of the Nazi party.

Manhattan socialite begins to fear for her troubled younger brother when he starts behaving bizarrely and he seems to have been friends with a backstreet murderer.

Greed, corruption, ignorance, and disease. Midsummer, 1349: the Black Death reaches northern Germany. Minstrels go to Hamelin for the Mayor's daughter's wedding to the Baron's son. He wants her dowry to pay his army while his father taxes the people to build a cathedral he thinks will save his soul. A local apothecary who's a Jew seeks a treatment for the plague; the priests charge him with witchcraft. One of the minstrels, who has soothed the Mayor's daughter with his music, promises to rid the town of rats for the fee. The Mayor agrees, then renigs. In the morning, the plague, the Jew's trial, and the Piper's revenge come at once.

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.

The parents of a young boy who has, until now, shown no interest in the opposite sex, are shocked when he comes home with a girl/boy from the West Indies.

Entirely silent, with a musical score, sound effects and incoherent mutterings, the story revolves around a weekend gathering at the decaying country home of the eccentric and lewd General Futtock (Ronnie Barker) and the series of saucy mishaps between the staff (Michael Hordern plays the lecherous butler) and his guests.

Four people go to great lengths to obtain the fortune left in a will by a very wealthy practical joker.

A university professor, confident that everything which occurs in life has a rational explanation, finds his beliefs severely challenged when, during a vacation to a remote coastal village in Norfolk, he blows through an ancient whistle discovered on a beach, awakening horrors beyond human understanding.

An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.

Brothers Michael and David Tremayne decide to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London, not for criminal purposes, but to make themselves famous.

Advertising golden boy Andrew Quint is fed up with his fabulously successful life. In very dramatic fashion, he quits his job to return to writing for a small literary magazine. He wants to leave his former life behind, going as far as saying good-bye to his wife and mistresses. He finds, however, that it's not so easy to escape the past.

A documentary feature offering a general introduction to the work of the painter J.M.W. Turner.

This is the story of the shy Mongol boy Temujin who,during the 13th century, becomes the fearless Mongol leader Genghis Khan that unites all Mongol tribes and conquers India,China,Persia,Korea and parts of Rusia,Europe and Middle-East.

This Disney drama, originally broadcast as a three-part TV episode, tells the story of a vicar's double life. Outwardly, he is the model of upstanding citizenship and loyalty to an oppressive British government. But he is also a notorious smuggler who uses his ill-gotten gains to benefit his impoverished village.

These dueling one-act comedies highlight the work of playwright John Mortimer. In "The Dock Brief," an ill-prepared attorney is put to the test when his client confesses to killing his wife. In "What Shall We Tell Caroline?" a father with good intentions tries to protect his wife and daughter from the bad things in life.

Epic film of the legendary Spanish hero, Rodrigo Diaz ("El Cid" to his followers), who, without compromising his strict sense of honour, still succeeds in taking the initiative and driving the Moors from Spain.

William is an unsuccessful guinea pig for a medical group interested in researching the common cold. He is soon fired and offered a job by the nearby National Atomic Research Center where they figure anyone who could fail at being a guinea pig is just what they need. They con William into thinking he will continue his guinea pig career by testing out some equipment for them before they send a group of astronauts to the moon.

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.

Hallmark Hall of Fame's second version of Shakespeare's classic play, with the same two stars and the same director as its first version, but a different supporting cast.

Having been coerced unto helping a criminal pull off a jewellery theft, a locksmith is double crossed by the crook and heads off to Spain with an eye to getting even.

When HMS Scotia pays a visit to the French Riviera, the officers throw a lavish party to celebrate the engagement of Captain Robert Randall to Jill Eaton, a charming American girl; among the guests are Mary Carlton, Jill's American friend, and Antoinette, a vivacious redhead. However, when the last shore-boat is deemed unseaworthy, the girls are obliged to spend the night on ship. A series of hilarious complications ensue, as the officers attempt to keep the girls away from the beady eyes of Admiral Hewitt – who chooses this very night to board the Scotia.

Alfred Dreyfus, a German-Jewish captain serving in the French Army, is falsely accused of treason and made a scapegoat for military espionage in an act of institutional anti-Semitism. Sent to prison, he becomes a cause célèbre for the novelist Émile Zola, who dubs it the "Dreyfus Affair." Eventually, Dreyfus is pardoned when the military cover-up is made public, and he returns to France. But his name is forever tarnished by the accusations of treason.

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the German's about his intentions before the North Africa campaign.

No Time for Tears is a moving, sympathetic portrayal of the challenges faced by all those who enter this most demanding yet rewarding of professions – from routine operations to more serious conditions, from anxious, sometimes hostile parents to workplace romance. The lives of the staff and patients of Mayfield Children's Hospital are inextricably woven together with the laughter, tears and devotion that lie behind the work of restoring children to health and happiness.

A doctor's sophisticated wife joins him at his remote Asian practice to try and patch up their marriage. Increasingly violent friction between local rubber plantation workers and the authorities force both parties to make decisions.

The true story of a British effort to trick the Germans into weakening Sicily's defenses before the 1943 attack. A dead soldier is dressed as a British officer and outfitted with faked papers showing that the Allies were intending to invade occupied Greece. His body is put into the sea where it will ultimately drift ashore and the papers be passed along to German Intelligence.

British diplomat Harrington Brande takes up his new lowly post in Spain accompanied by his son Nicholas. That his wife had left him seems to have affected his career. Nicholas sees it all as something of an adventure and soon becomes friends with the new gardener, Jose. As Nicholas begins to spend more time with Jose, his father takes offense and is concerned at the boy's loss of affection for him. It leads him to bar Nicholas from even speaking to the gardener. And soon tensions mount.

Life is strange and worrying for a cadet who arrives in the Pacific in the colonial service. And the testy resident commissioner, who had been expecting an experienced man, soon shows his disapproval.

After a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiancée, Able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard. But babies are surprisingly demanding and gradually the whole crew is drawn into helping keep it fed and washed - and undiscovered. Even so, the officers above deck start to puzzle over the increasingly strange happenings on board.

Charles Hathaway wakes up in West Wales with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. With the help of a Cardiff specialist he traces his life back to his gorgeous wife and their large London house, so all seems well with the world. But more detective work starts to uncover an alarming chain of further stunning wives and a way of going on that the new Charles finds pretty unacceptable.

Storm Over the Nile is a 1955 film adaptation of the novel The Four Feathers, directed by Terence Young. The film not only extensively used footage of the action scenes from the 1939 film version stretched into CinemaScope, but exactly the same screenplay, almost line-for-line also then directed by Zoltan Korda as well as several pieces of music by the original composer Miklos Rozsa. It featured Anthony Steel, Laurence Harvey, James Robertson Justice, Mary Ure, Ian Carmichael, Michael Horden and Christopher Lee.[2] The film was shot on location in the Sudan.

Edward, Prince of Wales, son and heir to his father King Edward III of England, leads an English army to the French province of Aquitaine to protect the inhabitant from the ravages of the French. After defeating the French in battle, the defeated French plot to kill the prince. Failing in this, they kidnap his lady, the lovely Lady Joan Holland. Of course Prince Edward has to ride to the rescue, adopting numerous guises to save his paramour, which ultimately end in him leading his men into one final climactic battle against the French. (Also known as "The Warriors" and "The Black Prince").

Mr. Gray is the new Resident in Charge of the Welcome Islands in the Indian Ocean. The Islands are full of life, but the only other Europeans are the "sanctimonious, psalm-singing" brother-sister missionary team of Martha and Owen Jordans, and the Honourable Ted - a hard-drinking, womanizing social outcast whose English family pays him to stay away. Martha and Ted become an unlikely team when cholera threatens the islands and they must do their best to stop its spread.

Kenyon is a narcotics agent who, with the aid of a titled bird-watcher attempts to trap a brother and sister drug smuggling team.

A British girl (Glynis Johns) disappears for three days after a frank talk with the wife (Gene Tierney) of a Latin teacher (Leo Genn) she loves.

Based on Graham Greene’s novel, a married colonial police chief struggles with his conscience when he has an affair with a younger woman.

The story of a husband's implication in his wife's death, his stupid disposal of her body and the police enquiry which almost embroils him in a murder charge.

London policewomen (Anne Crawford, Rosamund John) handle rescues and larceny as they go about their work in Chelsea.

1890, London, and a serial killer known as The Terror is murdering policemen. When gentleman thief Nicholas Revel unwittingly becomes the chief suspect, he must use his guile and wits to prove he’s not the killer; whilst also not getting caught for a jewel robbery he has just committed.

When Tom Brown (John Howard Davies) arrives at Rugby boarding school, he’s mercilessly tormented by the school’s evil bully, Flashman (John Forrest). With the help of his friend East (John Charlesworth), plucky Brown devises a plan to get back at Flashman; in the meantime, he’s asked to look out for a timid new student (Glyn Dearman), whose life is accidentally put in peril during a school race.

Tom Brown (John Howard Davies) starts at Rugby boarding school. He is tormented by Flashman (John Forrest), the school bully.

Based upon the play A Sleeping Clergyman by James Bridie, it tells the story of three generations of the Scottish Cameron family, with its various conflicts and romances.

A US newsman and a British entomologist spy on germ-warfare research in a mythical country.

Several years after graduation, best friends Barbara (Celia Johnson) and Leonora (Margaret Leighton) reconnect as if not a day has gone by. But Leonora could do without Barbara's husband, Christian (Noel Coward), whom she finds arrogant and off-putting ... at first. One evening alone together, romance is set ablaze, leaving Christian with a lot of explaining to do to Barbara.

W. Somerset Maugham introduces three more of his stories about human foibles.

When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, it reveals a treasure trove and documents proving that the region is in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. The British government attempts to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area.

A train disaster is told in four short stories to give character studies of the people involved, how it will affect them and how they deal with it.

A British army officer becomes fascinated by the portrait of a young woman. He travels to Germany to find her only to discover that she is suffering from amnesia.

Good Time Girl stars Jean Kent as incipient juvenile delinquent Gwen Rawlings. Sent to a home for "problem" girls, Gwen receives a crash course in petty crime. Back on the outside, she falls in with the usual bad crowd, and suffers spectacularly as a result.

A man (James Donald) and his wife (Valerie Hobson) take to their house some men they rescue from a road crash and then find they have picked up some dangerous criminals.

After the war is over, two army pals take opposite paths in civvy street. One becomes a petty criminal, the other becomes a policeman.

Fearing her husband could become a killer, a woman seeks a psychiatrist's help.

Wartime tale of a group of British scientists efforts to develop the first radar system. They did it just in time for it to be used in the Battle of Britain against the might of the Nazi Luftwaffe. Without it the little island could well have been overrun.

A gang of spies held up in a haunted castle gives this team of celebrated British wireless comedians plenty of scope for laughs.

An elderly lady manages to sneak some pills away from her nurse and dies of an overdose. The nurse is tried for murder and acquitted. Some time later the nurse, under a new name and identity, cares for a patient who also dies of an overdose. When her real identity comes out, suspicions fly.

A run-away school-girl falls among chorus girls planning to marry into the nobility.