Patricia Routledge

Patricia Routledge, as patron of the Beatrix Potter Society, presents a documentary on the author's life and work.

8.3/10

Based on the true story of Shelia Bowler, accused of murdering her elderly aunt.

7/10

A series of monologues.

8.8/10

Daisy and Onslow find the secret diary of Hyacinth and start reading in it. The rest of this TV-special are clips from prevous episodes.

8/10

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a genteel British crime/comedy drama television programme that aired from 1996 to 1998 on BBC One. Patricia Routledge starred as the titular character, Derek Benfield as her patient husband Robert, Dominic Monaghan as their lodger Geoffrey Shawcross and John Graham Davies as DCI Adams. Later episodes include Suzanne Maddock as Janet Frazer, a feisty young auto mechanic who sells a car to Geoffrey; their relationship develops by the end of the series. In the United States, episodes have been featured on PBS's anthology programme Mystery!

7.5/10

Missing Persons is a short-lived American crime drama television series, set in Chicago. It followed a fictitious missing persons unit; each episode usually following the investigation into three or more cases. It ran on ABC from August 30, 1993 to February 17, 1994. It was produced by Gary Sherman Productions in association with Stephen J. Cannell Productions, and often used local Chicago-based actors, as well as occasional big-name guest stars such as Nina Foch, Eddie Bracken and Lois Smith. Semi-regulars included Ian Gomez, Irma P. Hall, Laura Cerón and Valerie Harper. Unlike most series from Cannell's company, he did not create or co-create this series.

7.1/10
8.8%

Keeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket, the sitcom follows her obsessive and determined attempts to impress in middle class society and portray herself as more affluent than she truly is. The show stars Patricia Routledge, who received two BAFTA nominations for her performance as Hyacinth. Broadcast between 1990 and 1995 on BBC One, the sitcom spawned five series and 44 episodes—4 of which are Christmas specials. Keeping Up Appearances was a great success in the UK and also captivated a large audience in the US, Canada, and Australia, but production ceased in 1995 when Routledge wanted to move on to other projects. Since its original release, all five series—including Christmas specials—are available on DVD. In 2004, the sitcom was ranked 12th in the countdown of Britain's Best Sitcom. It is regularly repeated worldwide.

7.8/10

During a visit to childhood friend Edith, retired housewife Hetty Wainthropp discovers that Edith's husband, Frank, has a son by a previous marriage. Hetty decides to turn amateur detective to trace him. When this gives her a taste for detection, Hetty decides to set up a private detective agency.

The story of a retired man who decides to fulfil his life-long ambition of walking from one end of Britain to the other.

8.2/10

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.

8.5/10

Victoria Wood As Seen On TV is a British comedy sketch series starring comedian Victoria Wood, with Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, Susie Blake and Patricia Routledge. The show was televised on BBC Two between 1985 and 1987 and included sketches that became famous in the United Kingdom; these included one-offs like Two Soups and regular features like Acorn Antiques, as well as musical performances by Wood including her most well-known number, The Ballad of Barry and Freda. The show was created when Wood was enticed away from rival television station ITV in 1984. She wrote the whole programme, and also the synopsis of it for listings magazine the Radio Times. The series has led to spin-off script books, video tapes and DVDs. The show won BAFTA Awards for all its episodes and, in 1996, it was awarded all-time Favourite Comedy Series by the BBC itself. Wood preferred to work with a regular repertory of actors she could trust. Since the show ended, she has occasionally revived aspects of it with these colleagues. A notable spin-off is Acorn Antiques, the West End musical.

7.9/10

Affairs of the Heart is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1983 to 1985. Starring Derek Fowlds, it was written by Paul Daneman. It was made for the ITV network by Granada Television.

7.8/10

This Pirates of Penzance is primarily a historical document, part of the Broadway Theater Archive television series. It presents, with some inevitable, tiny technical shortcomings, a live 1980 performance in Central Park, not the 1983 movie of the same name that also starred Linda Ronstadt and Kevin Kline. Those who remember that film, which had the benefit of retakes and editing, a lavish production budget, and the spaciousness of a Hollywood studio, may find this video less polished. On its own terms, it is nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable.

8/10

Second World War drama - A young woman decides against working in a munitions factory, and lands a post with the signals corps attempting to crack the Enigma code.

A series of pink forms has Doris and Doreen fearing for their cushy jobs.

7.4/10

Arthur Dodsworth has recently retired. He lives alone except for his budgie and memories of his late wife Winnie. One afternoon his nap is interrupted by the doorbell; his former secretary, Peggy Prothero, has come to visit. A brash, charmless woman who seems to take no pleasure in anything but putting people down, Miss Prothero wants to fill her old boss in on all the changes that have taken place at work since he left. Dodsworth isn't very curious, and as the visit wears on it puts a little strain on his politeness and patience. Miss Prothero doesn't enjoy it much either, but lingers on as there's a bombshell she wants to drop. The docketing system Dodsworth introduced thirty years earlier, which revolutionised the firm, has been scrapped by her adored new boss Mr Skinner. The crowning achievement of Dodsworth's career has just become obsolete, and she wants to tell him all about it.

7.1/10

...And Mother Makes Five is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1974 to 1976. Starring Wendy Craig, it is the sequel of ...And Mother Makes Three and aired for four series. ...And Mother Makes Five was written by Richard Waring, Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer. Wendy Craig also wrote some episodes under the pseudonym Jonathan Marr. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television.

7.2/10

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.

6.5/10

'Egghead' Wentworth adapts his father's robot paratrooper to perform his chores, but forgets to programme it to keep him out of trouble.

5.1/10

A 29-year old aspiring composer—still single and without any romantic prospects—vows to both marry and write a hit musical before he turns 30. Director Joseph McGrath's 1968 British comedy stars Dudley Moore, Suzy Kendall, Eddie Foy Jr. and Patricia Routledge.

5.3/10

A housewife, bored with her bra-manufacturer husband, who spends most of his time obsessed with classical music, strikes up an affair with one of his employees whom she hides in the attic--something both she and the lover find quite a suitable arrangement.

5.8/10

George Lester is a man who is chasing rainbows, looking for the pot of gold at the end. When his wife, Pamela grows tired of being dragged all over the world, she leaves him. While she is away, George converts her family home into a discotheque, when she returns, she threatens to send George to jail for fraud, cause she didn't give her approval. George needing some fast bucks, decides to turn to an old cohort of his, William Homer but Willy's a little short. George then decides to steal the plans to a new drill, Pamela's suitor, Dudley Heath is working on. But when George gets the mumps, he can't make it to the meeting place and refuses to give Willy the plans unless he gives him the cash first. And the buyers won't give unless they see the merchandise first.

4.8/10

Idealistic engineer-trainee and his experiences in teaching a group of rambunctious white high school students from the slums of London's East End.

7.7/10
8.9%

The story of Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum.

6.9/10

Miss Polly decides to spend a few months with her wealthy spinster aunt as a traveling companion. While in India her aunt's demise leaves her alone to pursue her freedom and explore an arm's length romance with a local boy.

6.5/10

Patricia Routledge gives a career-best performance as Queen Victoria in this 1964 series of plays based on the celebrated collection of dramas by playwright Laurence Housman. Self-willed, obstinate, imperious and passionate... a now-familiar description of one of history's longest-serving female monarchs – but Housman's satirical tribute marked a decisive break with the tradition of the uncritical historical portrait. A Broadway hit deemed too disrespectful for public performance in Britain until the late 1930s, Victoria Regina is a frank portrayal of an extraordinarily complex woman, tracing her development from royal teenager to inconsolable widow at the helm of a vast empire, with all her contradictions, prejudices and unconstitutional behavior.