Paul Barber

An antique book dealer finds himself haunted by the ghost of a young boy, he decides to investigate the strange occurrences within his life.

4.3/10

Opera singer Jessica's flight to her concert in Vienna gets delayed and she is stuck in a remote area of England. The only place to stay is a bed-and-breakfast in an enchanting village run by a handsome widower named Andrew.

6.1/10

Two down on their luck Liverpool cabbies, Tommy and Gerry, strike an unusual deal with a local gangster to take their sons on a trip of a lifetime, to watch their beloved football team play in the European Cup Final in Istanbul. Hoping to use the trip as a chance to bond with their sons, big trouble awaits them in the form of a sexy hotel chambermaid, two ruthless crooks on a mission and a bag of counterfeit cash. It is 3-0 down at half time and things could not be more desperate both on and off the pitch. Stevie G and the boys in red are trying to launch the most amazing football comeback in history, and Tommy is in deep water, being held hostage. With the clock ticking and time running out, a miracle is needed fast. In the end a bit of faith, and Gerry’s lucky underpants may be the only thing that can get them and the cup back home in one piece.

5.3/10

A young man struggles with his overbearing and bullying parent against the drama and backdrop of Boxing.

6.5/10

Moist von Lipwig is a con-man with a particular talent-- he is utterly unremarkable. When his execution is stayed in Terry Pratchett's remarkable Discworld, he must work off his debt to society as the land's head Postman. Things are not always as they seem, and soon Lipwig is delivering mail for his very life!

7.8/10

The Invisibles is a British 2008 comedy drama series created and written by William Ivory for the BBC. It was produced by Company Pictures, shot in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

7.4/10

Inspired by The Manchester Passion, Liverpool Nativity employs the city's great musical heritage as the soundtrack to a contemporary music drama set in a fictitious state, a tale as relevant today as it was 2,000 years ago. The live event tells the intimate personal story of a pregnant young girl set against a backdrop of political tension and unrest and stars a host of well- known Liverpool actors and personalities.

Ex Boxer Tom is on the ropes, when a chance encounter at the gym leads to the offer of work as a doorman at a run down nightclub. The volatile head doorman Paul, is a battle hardened veteran from the old school. Recognising Tom for the fighter that he once was, Paul takes him under his wing, and guides him through the ins and outs of life as a club land "peacekeeper."

5.5/10

An unwanted statue of the Virgin Mary affects an entire community after an apparent miracle in a chip shop.

5.7/10

When Marlene vanishes and Boycie is secretive about her disappearance, people assume he has killed her, but she only went to have a boob job. The Trotters need money to stave off being evicted but are saved when it transpires that Uncle Albert invested his savings wisely and leaves them almost a quarter of a million pounds. Del tells Rodney that his real father was not Reg Trotter but a flash local crook called Freddie 'the Frog' Robdal. Cassandra goes into labour, this time successfully and her baby girl is named Joan after Del and Rodney's mother and with whose spirit the brothers go to commune.

8/10

Going to France to scatter the late Uncle Albert's ashes near the village where he spent part of the war, Del decides to kill two birds with one stone and organize a booze cruise. At the village they learn that Albert was a real ladies' man, which could be why most of the menfolk resemble him. Back in Peckham they discover a young man who seems to have stowed away in their van and can only answer "Gary" to everything asked of him. In fact he is called Rashid and he was loading the van when he got trapped behind the booze. He was carried to England against his wishes and Del and company get charged with kidnapping him.

8.1/10

Elmo McElroy is a streetwise American master chemist who heads to England to sell his special new formula - a powerful, blue concoction guaranteed to take you to 'the 51st state.' McElroy's new product delivers a feeling 51 times more powerful than any thrill, any pleasure, any high in history. But his plans for a quick, profitable score go comically awry when he gets stuck in Liverpool with an unlikely escort and his ex-girlfriend and becomes entangled in a bizarre web of double-dealing and double-crosses.

6.3/10
2.6%

Due to bad investment and the Central American stock market crash the Trotters lose all their money. Whilst Rodney and Cassandra spice up their love life by dressing up, Del decides to restore the family wealth by going on the quiz show 'Gold Rush', hosted by Jonathan Ross. He does very well but has to phone Rodney for the answer to the jackpot question, and Rodney gives the wrong answer. Back home Del gets a call from the show to say that Rodney's answer was actually correct so that Del has won the prize money after all. Unfortunately Del thinks it's pub regular Mickey playing a trick on him and tells Ross to give the "winnings" to charity...

7.4/10

A sleazy chef is forced to face the truth about the man he has become and realizes that he has the chance to begin again.

6.1/10

1997 BBC adaptation of the classic Henry Fielding novel.

Sheffield, England. Gaz, a jobless steelworker in need of quick cash persuades his mates to bare it all in a one-night-only strip show.

7.2/10
9.6%

Raquel is nervous when she prepares to introduce her parents to Del Boy, following a long rift with them. As usual, Del is determined to make sure they have a meeting to remember. Meanwhile, Rodney appears to be struggling to come to terms following Cassandra's miscarriage. In the midst of all this, Del and Rodney may have finally struck gold when they unexpectedly find themselves in possession of a valuable watch that has been lost for centuries...

9.6/10

After reading a book entitled 'Modern Men', Del elects to have a vasectomy but backs out when he finds that the doctor concerned is still angry about the faulty paint he sold him. With Cassandra pregnant Rodney is seeking a better-paid job and answers a newspaper advertisement, only to discover that it is as Del's assistant. Cassandra is rushed to hospital but she miscarries and, whilst comforting Rodney, Del bursts into tears.

8.7/10

Del has applied for a council grant but been turned down. After giving Rodney a bracelet for his birthday inscribed 'Rooney', Del drives Rodney to a fancy dress party where they are dressed as Batman and Robin. However the Reliant Robin breaks down and, as the brothers are running through the fog in costume, they scare off a gang of muggers about to rob a female councilor. At the party they are the only guests in costume because the birthday boy has actually died and the party is now a wake. But there is good news next day when Del catches one of the muggers as he is about to rob an old lady and knocks him unconscious. He gets a medal AND his council grant as a reward for helping the female councilor. Good news for Rodney too as Cassandra announces that she is pregnant.

9.4/10

Father Greg Pilkington is torn between his call as a conservative Catholic priest and his secret life as a homosexual with a gay lover, frowned upon by the Church. Upon hearing the confession of a young girl of her incestuous father, Greg enters an intensely emotional spiritual struggle deciding between choosing morals over religion and one life over another.

7/10
7%

After a visit to the dentist Del unwisely makes a date with the comely receptionist Beverley, but, on Rodney's advice, cancels it. After Del has got drunk and been responsible for causing a riot, he finds Beverley at his flat and fears that she has come for revenge, though she has only come to buy Damien's old high chair. In exchange she gives Del an answer-phone,and, come Christmas Day, he will live to regret this.

8.4/10

Strapped for cash as ever, Del is clearing Grandad's allotment, which has become a health hazard and where he finds some bottles of yellow liquid, which he dumps. He also finds a tap, hidden by rocks, but claims that there is an actual spring, yielding 'Peckham Spring Water'. Using a bottle of mineral water for the lab test he gets the water accepted and sold to a supermarket chain. Unfortunately he is unaware that it has been contaminated by the same yellow liquid he chucked in the reservoir and, as he turns out the light, the water starts to glow green.

8.6/10

Stevie "Smudger" Smith and his wife Marie are both addicted to drugs; he's also a dealer. The day he 'deals with' another dealer, she gives birth to a baby. The baby appears to be addicted too and Marie decides to give up the habit. Because Stevie doesn't want to give up using and dealing drugs, they take Marie and the baby away from him. The new, tough, social worker Liam Kane tries to get Stevie in his group sessions, by using his violent approach and by telling him it's the only way he'll ever see Marie and the baby back. So there seems to be hope to get Stevie clean, if only he wants to himself. That things aren't that easy is shown by the drugs addicted hooker Gail, who's satisfied with the life she leads.

Needle paints a harrowing picture of a Liverpool overrun by drugs, charting a young man's nightmarish descent into intravenous heroin use and AIDS and a police and political leadership incapable of the imagination or courage necessary to respond to the drug problem.

The Nag's Head regulars head to the seaside town of Margate for an eventful day trip.

9.7/10

Boycie and Abdul pitch a diamond scam to Del Boy, who immediately turns them down. That is until they offer him a £15,000 cut of the estimated £150,000 sale of the stone on the UK market. Del finds himself designated as the courier between Holland and Britain. No sooner has Del enlisted a reluctant Rodders, he hears his old foil Chief Inspector Slater is eyeing Boycie and Abdul as drug dealers. Del decides to hide undetected in the back of Denzil's van. Denzil then getting in and driving them to Hull (pursued by Rodney) was not part of the plan. Thinking quickly, they hire a boat, and let Uncle Albert guide them to Amsterdam. Overcoming counterfeit cash, Albert's amnesia, it's only the arrival of Slater that scuppers them. Despite this, it's Del who has the last laugh.

9.1/10

The Front Line was a 1984/1985 BBC sitcom about two half-brothers of West Indian descent who shared a house, one brother a policeman and one a dreadlocked Rastafarian. The series starred Paul Barber as the elder, policeman brother Malcolm, and Alan Igbon as the younger brother Sheldon. It was written by Alex Shearer, filmed in Bristol and Cardiff, and transmitted between 6 December 1984 and 17 January 1985. A pilot for the series, On The Frontline, was broadcast in the 1970s. The theme tune to the series was written and performed by Black Roots, and the opening credits of the show featured the band performing the song.

These three semi-autobiographical short films by Terence Davies follow the journey of Robert Tucker, first seen as a hangdog child in "Children", then as a hollow-eyed middle-aged man in "Madonna and Child", and finally as a decrepit old man in "Death and Transfiguration". Dreamlike and profoundly moving.

7.5/10

Alan Bleasdale's five-part series relates the further experiences of unemployed Liverpudlian tarmac layers Dixie, Chrissie, Loggo and Yosser, and their revered older friend, retired longshoreman and union leader, George Malone. As they struggle to make ends meet in a depressed economy, and to hold together their financially battered families, they are harrassed by the petty bureaucrats of the DHSS. But the lumbering investigational juggernaut is, both comically and tragically, guided by drivers with only a provisional license.

8.6/10

The story of a no-holds-barred, go-getting property dealer played by celebrated comedian Mel Smith, who has the view that everyone has a price though the price may not always be money.

7.9/10

In the late 1970s, Cockney crime boss Harold Shand, a gangster trying to become a legitimate property mogul, has big plans to get the American Mafia to bankroll his transformation of a derelict area of London into the possible venue for a future Olympic Games. However, a series of bombings targets his empire on the very weekend the Americans are in town. Shand is convinced there is a traitor in his organization, and sets out to eliminate the rat in typically ruthless fashion.

7.6/10
9.6%

The second part of Terence Davies' trilogy revolving around Liverpudlian Robert Tucker, focusing on the character's efforts in middle-age to come to terms with his homosexuality.

7.2/10

Times are hard for habitual guest of Her Majesty Norman Stanley Fletcher. The new prison officer, Beale, makes MacKay look soft and what's more, an escape plan is hatching from the cell of prison godfather Grouty and Fletcher wants no part of it. The breakout is set for the day of a morale-raising football match between a 'celebrity' football team and the inmates of Slade. Everything is going to plan until Godber is injured on the goal post. In the ensuing confusion, Fletcher finds himself on the wrong side of the prison walls and must now try and break back into prison.

7.2/10

A pioneering show starring Maurice Colbourne as Birmingham gangster John Kline. The show was noted for its gritty true-life quality, and often graphic violence.

7.9/10

Birmingham is a melting pot of races and every community has a stake in the city's underworld. When former SAS officer John Kline is released from prison after serving a sentence for murder, he becomes the unwilling catalyst in a gang war. Movie screened as part of Play of Today.

8/10

I Didn't Know You Cared is a British comedy series set in a working class household in South Yorkshire in the 1970s, written by Peter Tinniswood loosely based upon his books A Touch Of Daniel, I Didn't Know You Cared and Except You're A Bird. It was broadcast by the BBC in four series from 1975 to 1979. The main characters are Carter Brandon; his Uncle Mort; his mother, Annie; his father, Les; his girlfriend, Pat Partington; and Uncle Staveley. Auntie Lil appears in the first two series. Other recurring characters, mostly from Carter's workplace, are Linda Preston; Mrs Partington; Sid Skelhorn

8.1/10

“Set in Liverpool in the early 70s, the film tells the story of Samuel 'lucky' Ubooto, a half African, half Irish man in his 20s whose decidedly unlucky career as a criminal has resulted in a series of stretches in prison for theft. The story follows Lucky on the day of his release from his latest sentence. As he wanders around Liverpool, not really belonging anywhere, it becomes clear that he is still waiting for his father, a man who has long since abandoned Lucky and his family, to return and take him back 'home' to Africa.” - Richard Parkin

6.3/10