Richard Briers
The cosy sitcom had storylines tackling mid-life crises, drunken wife-swapping and more.
Documentary celebrating the British sitcom and taking a look at the social and political context from which our favourite sitcoms grew. We enjoy a trip through the comedy archive in the company of the people who made some of the very best British sitcoms. From The Likely Lads to I'm Alan Partridge, we find out the inspiration behind some of the most-loved characters and how they reflect the times they were living in.
Animation telling of the adventures of Mouse, Mole, Rat and Owl. Before giving a Twelfth Night party, Mouse makes a snowmole for Mole. In a dream, Snowmole takes him to a land where his every wish is granted. But dreams can become nightmares and wishes can sometimes backfire!
A gang of bank robbers team up with the residents of an old people's home to try to survive a zombie outbreak.
John Smith has been happily involved in a bigamous marriage for five years. He lives with Stephanie in Finsbury and Michelle in Stockwell. Fortunately, for John, he's a taxi driver which involves varying shift work! Simple? Well, when John unwittingly becomes a have-a-go hero and the Finsbury and Stockwell police forces discover something suspicious in their paperwork, John's happy bubble is about to be burst. The action of the movie takes place during the next hectic 24 hours as John, with the assistance of his gullible neighbor Gary, rush between North and South London attempting to thwart the police and prevent the two loving wives coming face to face!
Grace has agreed to marry Sir Harcourt in return for his financial support of her family. At a house party in her father's place, Harcourt's son Charles also falls in love with Grace. When his father appears on the scene, he has to convince him that there is a case of mistaken identity and he is somebody else. Then Lady Gay Spanker, a married woman also visiting at the house, is persuaded by Charles to seduce his father and thus divert his attention from Grace. Much confusion and scheming ensues.
What was it really like behind the scenes of The Good Life? With contributions from Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Monty Don, Brian Sewell and John O'Farrell.
Big Chris leads a chorus of characters from various animated children's television shows in a medley of seven songs: 1. "Can You Feel It" 2. "Don't Stop" 3. "Jai Ho!" 4. "Tubthumping" 5. "Never Forget" 6. "Hey Jude" 7. "One Day Like This"
Bob the Builder: Scrambler to the Rescue is a video starring Richard Briers, Lachele Carl, and Rupert Degas. Scrambler and Zoomer put their differences aside to help save the big winter party when a sudden snow storm hits Sunflower Valley.
Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.
Based on the best-selling book by award-winning writer Simon Garfield, four stories from Britain's 'lost decade' (1945 - 1955) are presented from the diaries of four very distinct people. In his book, Garfield selected some of the most expressive diarists, and focused on the post-war years giving a vivid portrait of how Britain coped in the post-war years and how little, or how much, attitudes have changed over the past 60 years.
Movie with some of the greatest brittish comedians such as Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese.
Lucy Gannon (Soldier, Soldier, Bramwell, Trip Trap) has written Dad, the poignant story of Larry James (Richard Briers), a cheery and independent 86-year-old who has been caring single-handedly for his beloved wife Jeannie James (Jean Heywood) who has Alzheimer's disease. When Larry falls and breaks an ankle his life with Jeannie abruptly changes forever. Jeannie is moved into residential care and Larry goes to stay with his son Oliver (Kevin Whately), his daughter-in-law Sandy (Sinead Cusack) and their teenage daughter Millie (Hannah Daniel). But love and consideration wear thin as father and son have to learn to live together all over again.
In stifling Edwardian London, Wendy Darling mesmerizes her brothers every night with bedtime tales of swordplay, swashbuckling and the fearsome Captain Hook. But the children become the heroes of an even greater story, when Peter Pan flies into their nursery one night and leads them over moonlit rooftops through a galaxy of stars and to the lush jungles of Neverland.
After her husband leaves her, a woman travels to London for the funeral of the pop star, Victor Fox, she's adored all her life. There, she meets the lover of the dead pop star, and convinces him to come back to Chicago with her to figure out who killed the singer. Written by Anonymous
The King of Navarre and his three companions swear a very public oath to study together and to renounce women for three years. Their honour is immediately put to the test by the arrival of the Princess of France and her three lovely companions. It's love at first sight for all concerned followed by the men's hopeless efforts to disguise their feelings.
Archie MacDonald, a young restaurateur is called back to his childhood home of Glenbogle where he is told he is the new Laird of Glenbogle.
Watership Down is an animated television series, loosely adapted from the novel of the same name by Richard Adams. It was a co-production of Alltime Entertainment of the United Kingdom and Decode Entertainment of Canada, and produced by Martin Rosen, the director of the 1978 feature film adaptation. Watership Down aired for 39 episodes and three series from 1999 to 2001, on both YTV in Canada and CITV in the UK, though the latter did not broadcast the third series. It starred several well-known British actors, including Stephen Fry, Rik Mayall, Phil Jupitus, Jane Horrocks, Dawn French, John Hurt, and Richard Briers, among others. Stephen Gately sang a new arrangement of Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes", which had been included in the 1978 feature film, while Mike Batt and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra contributed a completely new score. In 2003, composer Eric Robertson as well as David Greene and Mike Batt were nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series for their work on the show. Some episodes from the adaptation were released on VHS and later, DVD. In October 2005, a Region 2 DVD box set of all three series was released in the UK.
Bob the Builder is a British children's animated television show created by Keith Chapman. In the original series Bob appears as a building contractor specializing in masonry in a stop motion animated programme with his colleague Wendy, various neighbours and friends, and their gang of anthropomorphised work-vehicles and equipment. The show is broadcast in many countries, but originates from the United Kingdom where Bob is voiced by English actor Neil Morrissey. The show was later created using CGI animation starting with the spin-off series Ready, Steady, Build!. In each episode, Bob and his group help with renovations, construction, and repairs and with other projects as needed. The show emphasizes conflict resolution, co-operation, socialization and various learning skills. Bob's catchphrase is "Can we fix it?", to which the other characters respond with "Yes we can!" This phrase is also the title of the show's theme song, which was a million-selling number one hit in the UK.
A four-part drama, set against the background of the English slave trade and adapted by Philippa Gregory from her novel.
The Queen's youngest son is off to university, mainly because "I'm hopeless at anything else". Barry, his new bodyguard, has no time for the royal family and left school at fifteen. He certainly didn't volunteer for this job, and is damned if he's going to enjoy it. Yet he can't help liking the hopelessly unworldly young prince, at least, until they both set their eyes on the new American student!
Tribute series dedicated to Geoff Hamilton, the popular television gardener who died in 1996.
Zany adventure that follows The Spice Girls and their entourage (mostly fictional characters) - manager Clifford, his assistant Deborah, and filmmaker Piers (who is trying to shoot a documentary on "the real Spice Girls").
Toad's life is just one big adventure! His latest and greatest hobby is racing around the countryside in his new motor car getting into all sorts of trouble. Meanwhile, his wonderful home, Toad Hall, has been taken over by the wicked weasels and ferrets. It's now up to Toad and his riverbank friends to embark on the biggest adventure of all - the Great Battle of Toad Hall!
Down to Earth is a British television situation comedy, aired in 1995 on BBC One. It was devised by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey and starred Richard Briers, who also featured in Esmonde and Larbey's earlier series The Good Life and Ever Decreasing Circles. One series consisting of seven episodes was produced.
Mole decides it's time for an adventure! It isn't long before he discovers all the fun and thrills of the riverbank in the company of his new found friend, Rat.
Out of work actor Joe volunteers to help try and save his sister's local church for the community by putting on a Christmas production of Hamlet, somewhat against the advice of his agent Margaretta. As the cast he assembles are still available even at Christmas and are prepared to do it on a 'profit sharing' basis (that is, they may not get paid anything) he cannot expect - and does not get - the cream of the cream. But although they all bring their own problems and foibles along, something bigger starts to emerge in the perhaps aptly named village of Hope.
At Blandings Castle, the Earl of Emsworth only cares about his prize pig 'The Empress' and is wilfully ignorant of the fact that his brother is planning to publish a book which might ruin the family name forever. Moreover, the Earl's nephew might cause the family some major damage by getting married to a terribly unsuitable chorus girl. An adaptation of P.G. Wodehouse's novel of the same name.
Back in the 'bad old days' when the physically and mentally disabled were locked away in institutions a legend grew of someone who could stand up to the authorities and help them. This charming story is how a group of disabled people went to chase that legend. To assist them John is forced to come to terms with his daughter and her friends.
Rat and Mole must get to Mole's home through a snowy Christmas Eve while eluding weasel pickpockets.
Based on Mary Shelley's novel, "Frankenstein" tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster, which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It's not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions.
Richard Briers plays Godfrey Spry, who, having been hit on the head in a freak accident, ends up with an attention span of just 30 seconds. As a result he begins to obsess over TV commercials and begins to take advertising claims literally, causing erratic twists in his behaviour and complicating the lives of all those around him.
In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.
It is New Year's weekend and the friends of Peter gather at his newly inherited country house. Ten years ago, they all acted together in a Cambridge University student comedy troupe, but it's less clear how much they have in common now.
Guy Jones (Irons) moves to a small British town and joins the local amateur dramatics society as a way to meet people. However he soon finds the drama offstage far outweighs those onstage.
The tale begins when a brother and sister are separated in a shipwreck, but survive to be washed up on the shore of Illyria. The sister, Viola, disguises herself as a man and takes service with Duke Orsino, who has fallen in love with Lady Olivia. Entrusted with pleading on her master's behalf, Viola is utterly disconcerted to find that Olivia has fallen in love with her. Thus begins the confusion of this delightful comedy.
The Doctor and Mel decide to visit Paradise Towers, a residential complex that promises a peaceful life to its residents. However, the establishment is far from what its name suggests. A conflict persists among the Kangs, humanesque, multicolour beings who gather in opposing gangs based on which colour of the rainbow they bear. Furthermore, killer cleaning robots prowl the halls, and a secret in the complex's basement poses the greatest threat of all
The Doctor and Mel visit Paradise Towers, a residential complex that promises a peaceful life to its residents. However, the establishment is far from what its name suggests: A conflict persists among the Kangs, humanesque multicolour beings who gather in opposing gangs based on which colour of the rainbow they bear; killer cleaning robots prowl the halls, and a secret in the complex's basement poses the greatest threat of all.
British sitcom in which Reverend Philip Lambe, after becoming bored in his wealthy Oxfordshire parish, asks for a transfer to a more difficult assignment. Sent to Edendale, a fictional urban town in the Midlands, he is accompanied by his wife Emma, sixteen-year-old daughter Miranda and twelve-year-old son Peter.
Martin Bryce lives in a quiet suburban close with his wife Anne. He does his best to "organise" the leisure time of all of the other inhabitants of the close, running umpteen societies and doing "good works". He's is quite happy with his lot until Paul Ryman moves in next door.
In the future England is ruled by a fascist government, and one day the leaders begin the construction of a heavily guarded, mysterious airport. BBC adaptation of Rex Warner's 1941 novel of the same name. A stereotypical village in a somewhat alternative England is taken over wholesale by 'The Air Force.' Living in the village is young Roy, who has just learned he is not who he thought he was. Attempting to forge a new sense of identity, he joins the dashing Air Force, seduced by its dynamism and direct and brutal ways.
A silent slapstick comedy depicting the travails of young couple moving into a new home, who hire an accident-prone firm of house removers, headed by Sykes. It features an all-star cast including Tommy Cooper, Bernard Cribbins, Jimmy Edwards, Irene Handl, Bob Todd and Andrew Sachs.
When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.
The trilogy presents a comically fraught weekend from three different perspectives, as family and in laws gather at the decaying country home of their bedridden mother; the drink flows, and hidden enmities, intimate secrets and uncomfortable truths emerge through the veneer of jollity and civility.
TV play by Mike Stott. Comedy about a couple expecting their first baby.
Two passengers meet in reception at Gatwick airport. Although unknown to each other, they find they are on the same flight and staying in the same hotel. Two characters as different as chalk and cheese have a series of misadventures on holiday in Spain.
Noah and Nelly in... SkylArk is a children's cartoon series produced by Bob Godfrey's Movie Emporium.
On Christmas Eve, a poor old woman plays her accordion in the street. Apart from two children, the passers-by ignore her and by the end of the day she has to sell her accordion to buy some food. Worse is to come. (1976)
An animated film about the British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who spearheaded numerous engineering marvels of the early 19th century - including the Thames Tunnel, the Great Western Railway, and the Great Eastern steamship (for 40 years the world's largest steamship). Various styles of animation are used to depict events in his colorful life.
The Good Life is a British sitcom produced by the BBC that ran from 1975 to 1978. It was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde. In 2004, it came 9th in Britain's Best Sitcom. In the United States, it aired on various PBS stations under the title Good Neighbors.
Roobarb is a British animated children's television programme, originally shown on BBC1 just before the evening news. Each cartoon, written by Grange Calveley and animated by Bob Godfrey, was about five minutes long. Thirty episodes were made, and the show was first shown on 21 October 1974. The theme is that of the friendly rivalry between Roobarb the green dog and Custard the pink cat from next door. The narration of the series was provided by the actor Richard Briers. On 18 February 2013, Briers died, followed four days later by animator Godfrey.
Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively... confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue...
Fred Midway may be a bit short on brains but he's got plenty of ambition. However, before he can gain promotion as a salesman he must make his family more socially acceptable.
While touring abroad in Europe, beautiful American skydiver Fathom Harvill gets wrapped up in international intrigue when Scottish spy Douglas Campbell recruits her to help him on a secret mission. Before long, Fathom realizes that no one around her, including the mysterious Peter Merriweather, can easily be trusted, leading to various adventures that involve bull fighting, beaches and, of course, romance.
A Home of Your Own is a 1964 British comedy film which is a brick-by-brick account of the building a young couple’s dream house. From the day when the site is first selected, to the day – several years and children later – when the couple finally move in, the story is a noisy but wordless comedy of errors as the incompetent labourers struggle to complete the house. It may well have been inspired by the success of Bernard Cribbins' classic song of the same vein from two years earlier, "Right Said Fred". In this satirical look at British builders, many cups of tea are made, windows are broken and the same section of road is dug up over and over again by the water board, the electricity board and the gas board. Ronnie Barker’s put-upon cement mixer, Peter Butterworth’s short-sighted carpenter and Bernard Cribbins’ hapless stonemason all contribute to the ensuing chaos.
A young married couple struggles to find time to consummate their marriage while living with the groom's family.
"Doctor in Distress" is the fifth of the seven films in the "Doctor" series, and focuses on Sir Lancelot Spratt, Simon Sparrow's old teacher and sometimes nemesis. When the eternal bachelor Sir Lancelot injures his back and falls in love with his physiotherapist Iris Marchant, he becomes very distressed and turns to Simon for help. Simon, who now is a senior doctor at fictional Hampden Cross Hospital and hopelessly in love with aspiring actress Delia, sends him to a nature cure clinic in a vain attempt to help him lose weight, but Sir Lancelot can't get Iris off his mind and has her followed, first by a private investigator and eventually by himself. When he finally proposes, she rejects him and marries an old army major, which distresses Sir Lancelot even more.
Norman Wisdom does to P.G. Wodehouse in Girl on the Boat what Jerry Lewis did to Gore Vidal in Visit to a Small Planet. The zany Wisdom, put in charge of his aunt's cottage during an English summer in the roaring twenties, decides to invite several of his friends to his posh new digs. Among the invitees is the title character, played by the delightful comedienne Millicent Martin. All sorts of slapstick chaos ensues, but Wisdom manages to save the day before things get hopelessly out of hand. Like Jerry Lewis, Norman Wisdom is an acquired taste, but he's worth sampling at least once. ...The Girl on the Boat
Brothers in Law is a British television series inspired by the 1955 comedy novel Brothers in Law by Henry Cecil Leon. It first aired on the BBC in thirteen half-hour episodes between 17 April and 10 July 1962 and followed the trials of an idealistic young lawyer entering the legal profession. The series was adapted by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, two of the most prolific sitcom writers of the era, as well as Richard Waring. The sitcom gave Richard Briers his first regular starring role in a television series; he also worked with writer Richard Waring and producer Graeme Muir on Marriage Lines in the same period. The series was also the TV debut of Yootha Joyce and the final episode inspired a spin-off series, Mr Justice Duncannon featuring Andrew Cruickshank. A BBC Radio 4 adaptation featuring almost the same cast was broadcast for 39 episodes between 1970 and 1972.
Health officials from the World Health Organization link a smallpox outbreak in Europe to oil drilling in the Middle East.
Marriage Lines is a British television sitcom first broadcast from 1961 to 1966 which was made in black-and-white. The series gave Richard Briers and Prunella Scales, its lead stars, a significant boost in their careers. At first titled The Marriage Lines, the programme was written by Richard Waring, and was later adapted for radio.
Miss Marple believes she's seen a murder in a passing-by train, yet when the police find no evidence she decides to investigate it on her own.
An incompetent boarding school headmaster, Professor Jim Edwards, devises a bizarre plot to raise the profile of his boarding school, and thus save his job, by passing off his bookie's son as a Middle Eastern prince. The headmaster's madcap scheme is further complicated when an official from the Foreign Office arrives and announces that a real prince is to be placed under Edwards supervision, not due to the schools lofty reputation, but that a gang of kidnappers are unlikely to look for the regal child there.
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.
