Patricia Hodge
Antoine Verlaque, Investigating Judge in Aix-en-Provence, and romantic partner Marine Bonnet as they investigate the murders, mysteries and dark underbelly of their idyllic home.
Miranda Hart and the cast of her sitcom come together to celebrate the show's tenth anniversary with a music-filled, star-studded spectacular from the London Palladium.
Two sisters come together to spend Christmas with their families in their recently deceased parents’ falling down country house, with hilariously chaotic consequences, as ancient sibling rivalries flare up again to sabotage the hoped for season of good will.
It's the late 1960s, homosexuality has only just been legalised and Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal party, has a secret he's desperate to hide.
Two-hour Christmas special and the series finale. Mary endeavors to build bridges with her sister while Edith's secret continues to pose a threat. As Henry settles into the role of husband and stepfather, finding his place at Downton proves more difficult.
The funny, heart-warming and moving new film, from director Lewis Gilbert. When Violet Heaney's three daughters return home for her funeral, each sister finds her own way of coping with her loss. For Teresa, the eldest, it's herbal tea, obsessive cleaning and hectoring her long-suffering husband, Frank. Catherine, the youngest, resorts to retail therapy, industrial quantities of marijuana and manic phone calls to her elusive boyfriend in Barcelona. Middle daughter Mary seeks consolation in professional detachment and the arms of her lover, Mike. Like Mary, Mike's a doctor. Unlike Mary, he's married... The sisters soon discover that their early memories have grown fuzzy over time and the past becomes fuzzier still as they attempt to cope with their mother's parting.
The Falklands Play is a dramatic account of the political events leading up to, and including, the 1982 Falklands War. The play was written by Ian Curteis, an experienced writer who had started his television career in drama, but had increasingly come to specialise in dramatic reconstructions of history. It was originally commissioned by the BBC in 1983, for production and broadcast in 1986, but was subsequently shelved by Controller of BBC One Michael Grade due to its alleged pro-Margaret Thatcher stance and jingoistic tone. This prompted a press furore over media bias and censorship.The play was not staged until 2002, when it was broadcast in separate adaptations on BBC Television and Radio.
Dr. Lauren is staying in Prague for a conference and falls in love with Czech writer Jiri Kolmar.
Successful playwright Felix Webb has a new play, 'The Hit Man', in rehearsal. Directed by his old friend Humphrey, it is already being hailed as a masterpiece; but Felix can't enjoy his success. He has fallen passionately in love with Hilary, a beautiful, fiesty young actress, and is preparing to desert his perfect family, his wife Elena and three lively children. His intolerable situation is further complicated when Humphrey casts Hilary as one of the leads in 'The Hit Man'. Enter Robin Grange, a charismatic young Hollywood actor making his London theatre debut. Robin is attractive, charming and dangerous, and soon inveigles his way into everyone's life. He ingratiates himself with the cast and, quickly grasping Felix's dilemma, sets about weaving his web of mischief. He suggests that if he were to seduce Elena, she would be distracted from Felix's affair, regain her self respect, and perhaps even willingly part from the unfaithful husband to whom she clings...
Greg Wise (Sense and Sensibility) and Keeley Hawes (Karaoke) star in this sumptuous adaptation of Wilkie Collins' classic mystery, the first detective novel ever written. The Moonstone, a sacred Hindu diamond was stolen from the head of the Moon God, in its shrine by John Herncastle in 1799. The stone is said to be cursed if it is removed from the shrine. In 1848, a man named Franklin Blake announces to Rachel that the Moonstone has been bequeathed to her by Herncastle. Blake gives her the jewel on her birthday and offers to mount the jewel for her, in order that she might wear it. Inevitably, the jewel is found missing the next morning and Rachel believes Blake stole it. Determined to prove his innocence, Blake leaves in order to pursue the real truth behind the theft.
Joanna once was married to Carl May, a very rich and powerful nuclear energy magnate. They love each other, but had to divorce after Joanna was caught on an incidental love affair. Since then Carl has made Joanna's life impossible. 10 years later she's fed up with the situation and decides to visit him, only to find that once he made three copies of her
The Secret Life of Ian Fleming follows the exciting life of a dashing young Ian Fleming, the mastermind behind the highly successful James Bond books and movies.
Angela Lansbury, Tony Award-winning star of stage and screen, gives a touching performance as a woman who gets a second chance at life and love in this remarkable adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's best-selling novel. After a mild heart attack at 63, Penelope Keeling is not ready to be an invalid yet...despite her children's attempts to take control of her life. She's given them everything she could over the years, but now they want Penelope to sell her most prized possession. Torn between the selfish demands of her children and her desire to hold onto cherished mementos of the past, Penelope must learn what is really important to her. She returns to the seashore, the only place she was ever truly free, in an unforgettable odyssey that will take her back to her home, her heart and another chance for happiness.
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Experiences in a kibbutz, it sets up a stage in describing the historical roots of the conflict between Arabs and Jewish settlers in the British ruled Palestine.
In World War II England, a woman is approached by a man claiming to work as an intelligence agent who has found out her lover is a spy. He promises to not arrest him if she'll have a relationship with him.
Victoria Wood was a series of six one-off situation comedies written by and starring Victoria Wood in 1989, who took a break from sketches, two years after her very successful and award winning series Victoria Wood As Seen on TV. Wood appeared as "Victoria", a fictionalised version of herself, in all six episodes - in The Library it was said that she "worked in TV" and in Over To Pam characters appeared to recognise her celebrity and in the final episode, Staying In, she was taken to a party to perform as a comedienne and was expected to go through her stand-up 'routine'. Her character often broke the 'fourth wall' of TV and spoke directly to the camera, but not in every episode. Bored with the sketch format and with a yearning to recapture previous success as a playwright, Wood came up with six individual sitcoms as a compromise. She admitted to finding the writing difficult. Though Wood was written as the central character, other lead parts were written with specific actresses in mind, like Julie Walters and Una Stubbs. "I want people to like me and the people who play my friends, and not everybody else" she said. Screenonline says of the shows "Modest in ambition and scale but rich in wit and acuity, the six playlets showcase Wood's eye for human foibles and her distinctively eccentric characters.".
Thirteen-year-old Nick and his slightly dense older brother Herbert run the Diamond Private Detective Agency above Camden Town Tube Station in north-central London. When a master criminal called The Falcon dies, they come into possession of his box of chocolate Maltesers, which contains the secret key to a fabulous cache of diamonds. Can they unravel the mystery and avoid the clutches of seedy lowlifes Brenda Von Falkenberg, Gott and Himmell, The Fat Man and the dogmatic Chief Inspector Snape, all of whom want to find the swag first.
A young orphan girl, Portia, goes to live with her well-to-do aunt and uncle. As she is groomed to become a lady, she is confused by the young man who seems to be courting her. Surrounded by pretentious people who have no clue how to deal with teenagers, she soon loses her naïveté and thinks of running away.
Ruth has everything. A large, warty body, a standard house in the suburbs, two whiney children, a dog, a cat and a guinea pig. She also has Bobo, her unfaithful accountant husband who resents her very existence. Bobo wants, and is wanted by, Mary Fisher. Mary Fisher lives in a lighthouse by the sea and writes about love. When Bobo leaves Ruth for the novelist, she decides that Mary Fisher doesn't know the first thing about love. Ruth intends to teach her.
Hotel du Lac, a screenplay version of the Booker prize-winning novel by Anita Brookner, starring Anna Massey, was released in 1986 as an episode of the BBC's "Screen Two" series.
Pinter's semi-autobiographical play examining the surprise attraction, shy first steps, gradual flowering, and treasonous deception of a woman's extramarital affair with her husband's best friend; the entire story is told from the husband's point of view, with the scenes in precise reverse chronological order. Written by Dan Hartung
In 1939, Charlotte Salomon leaves Berlin to seek refuge at her grandparents' villa in the south of France. A little later, war breaks out, and Charlotte must, besides forgetting all she left behind, deal with her grandmother's depression, and her mother's suicide. To fight despair, Charlotte starts to paint, producing over one thousand images. "Is my life real, or is it theater?" This is the title she gives her body of work, which highlights her former life in Berlin. She finds herself though her art, but in 1943 is deported to Germany and Auschwitz.
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man being mistreated by his "owner" as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of great intelligence and sensitivity. Based on the true story of Joseph Merrick (called John Merrick in the film), a severely deformed man in 19th century London.
The Other 'Arf is a British television ITV sitcom series broadcast from 1980 to 1984. It stars John Standing as upper class Conservative politician Charles Latimer, MP, who begins a relationship with working class cockney Lorraine Watts. The series was produced by ATV, and was screened by ITV.
Holding the Fort is an ITV situation comedy starring Peter Davison, Patricia Hodge and Matthew Kelly. It was an early product of the writing team of Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. Three series were recorded, a total of twenty episodes, first aired between 1980 and 1982, concurrent with Davison also starring in Doctor Who. It was made for the ITV network by LWT The situation was a role-reversal comedy, in which the premise was that Russell Milburn becomes a "house-husband" to raise his baby daughter while his wife, Penny a captain in the Women's Royal Army Corps, goes out to work. Russell's friend Fitzroy, or "Fitz", adds to the comic tension by encouraging Russell's enthusiasm for football, pacifism and beer.
Patricia Hodge stars as the investigative journalist, TV presenter, writer and amateur sleuth Jemima Shore . This enormously popular series based on the novels by Antonia Fraser - also features appearances by Tom Baker, Don Henderson, Bill Nighy, Brian Cox and Lysette Anthony. Poised, determined, and possessed of a sharp intellect and a keen eye, Jemima presents Megalith Television s Jemima Shore Investigates . But in her spare time, she uses her connections to pursue her own investigations and her relentlessly inquiring mind uncovers crime and intrigue of every variety, particularly within the world of the wealthy and the privileged...
Young Rosie Dixon starts her nurse training at St Adelaide's Hospital, but the student doctors and randy male patients just can't keep their hands off her.
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.
Story of the life of Quentin Crisp, an Englishman who was brave enough to live his life according to his own style even in the hostile days of WW2.
Set against the glamorous backdrop of Britain's roaring '20s, The Laureate tells the story of young British War Poet Robert Graves, who is married with four children when he meets and becomes romantically involved with Laura Riding, a writer from America. Defying the conventions of polite society, Riding moves in with Graves and his wife living as a menage a tois. Then with the arrival of strappingly handsome Irish poet Geoffrey Phibbs, the arrangement becomes a menage a quatre. But soon tensions and rivalries become so fraught that Graves is a suspect for attempted murder.
Aspiring dancer Phyllis Dixey makes her name as a stripper.
