Stephen Tompkinson

This brilliantly witty new play starring Stephen Tompkinson as Samuel Beckett and Andrew Lancel as Harold Pinter, gives a wonderful insight into what the friendship between these two great men may have looked like. As well as being a beautiful tribute to their writing, the theatre of the absurd, and of course their love for the game of cricket.

Documentary series following the daily battle over parking spaces in Britain, looking at the problems facing motorists, local councils and private parking companies.

Biopic of the British ice dancers and British, European, Olympic and World champions, Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.

6.4/10

A group of 1980s wrestlers are forced to don the lycra once last time when their beloved local pub is threatened with closure.

4.9/10
0.8%

Documentary series looking at the stories behind Britain's traditional markets and auctions that are at the heart of the country's rural and coastal economies

The Defoes, a family of female divorce lawyers, are forced to face their past following the return of their estranged father after a 30 year absence.

7.6/10
7.3%

For over a decade, an ex-market stall trader from Liverpool called Eddie Braben wrote the scripts that made the nation take Morecambe and Wise to their hearts. But for Braben, it wasn't all sunshine. Beginning in 1969 with the birth of the 'golden triangle' of Eric, Ernie and Eddie, this film chronicles the grind that pushed the perfectionist Braben to the brink of exhaustion, culminating in the triumphant Christmas Day show of 1977.

7.9/10

A journalist digs deep into the world of aviation and discovers some uncomfortable truths. And a conspiracy trail dating back to 1954. But why is no one saying anything?

5.1/10

Hector has been living on the motorways for years. His once comfortable family life has been replaced by a never-ending tour of service stations that offer him shelter, anonymity, washing facilities and food. The story follows his journey south from Scotland on his annual pilgrimage to a temporary Christmas shelter in London where he finds comfort, friendship and warmth. Over the course of his Homeric journey, Hector decides to reconnect with his long estranged past. As his previous life catches up with him, the story of how he came to be leading a marginal life begins to emerge.

6.9/10
9.3%

Amongst the desperation and fear growing in a crime ridden estate in northern England, one man becomes embroiled into saving what community life exists.

5/10
1.4%

Truckers is a British drama television series that first broadcast on BBC One on 10 October 2013. The series is about Britain through the lives of truck drivers working in Nottingham.

6.8/10

A thrilling drama based on the novels by Peter Robinson. Stephen Tompkinson and Andrea Lowe star as the tenacious and stubborn Chief Inspector Alan Banks and the feisty and headstrong Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot.

7.6/10

Set in Valco, a fictional budget supermarket in the north west of England, Trollied finds the funny in one of our most familiar surroundings and focuses on the types of characters we all recognise: bored checkout staff, ineffectual managers and a range of customers, from the irate to the downright bizarre.

7.3/10

Stephen Tompkinson's adventure begins in dramatic fashion when his maiden flight over South Australia's Flinders Ranges ends in a crash landing at 40 mph. But he presses on to the Barossa Valley, where a serene flight over the vineyards is followed by a far from calm cricket match against local winemakers - the outcome of which sends Stephen packing for Victoria and a spell on the mighty Murray River. Stephen's bid to win Australia’s biggest balloon competition continues. A childhood dream is fulfilled when he walks out onto the pitch of the Melbourne Cricket Ground during an Aussie Rules game - and trumped the following morning when his balloon flies through the ground's goalposts. His balloon truck gets a makeover and the city's Greek festival nearly ends in a diplomatic incident. Then heavy rain prevents him flying over Canberra - and to get back on track he risks a flight to 10,000 feet. Actor Stephen Tompkinson's attempt to win Australia's prestigious Canowindra Balloon Challenge concludes in this final episode. Stephen heads to Sydney, where he samples some of the city's culinary delights with MasterChef's Matt Preston, helps judge a drag competition, and receives some encouragement from the British High Commissioner to Australia. When the day of the race finally arrives, he meets his competitors at Canowindra. The teams have to hit three targets laid out over the countryside, but things start disastrously for Stephen when he misreads the wind and drifts off-course. Can he recover and win the challenge?

6.6/10

Stephen Tompkinson and hot air balloon pilot Robin Batchelor embark on the journey of a lifetime across the African continent. They experience the amazing abundance and diversity of wildlife and explore the relationship between Africa's game and its people.

While dealing with her increasing alcoholism, Jane Tennison leads her team in solving one last case before her imminent retirement from the force as a detective superintendent - the disappearance of Tony and Ruth Sturdy's 14-year-old daughter, Sallie.

School teacher Chris Bevan is a dutiful husband to his dull wife, Josie, and ingrate daughters. His best friend knows Chris' heart always belonged to Marian, his vibrant, flippant fiancée, who mysteriously disappeared years ago. Suddenly he sees her in a shop and can't help following her. He gives up as she has a new identity, as wife of plumber Bernie Sullivan. Bernie's real passion is Houdini-era 'real' magic, while in fact she's his terrified captive, forced to replace his late assistant. Furthermore one of Bevan's daughters has a phone-relationship he forbids, deeming it dangerous on principle, ignoring this is real and ties in to Marian's plight. Written by KGF Vissers

6.4/10

A young harridan MP marries a title in order to advance towards her goal of becoming party leader.

8.3/10

Dramatisation of the Stephen Downing case which involved the conviction and imprisonment in 1974 of a 17-year-old council worker, Stephen Downing, for the murder of a 32 year old legal secretary, Wendy Sewell, in the town of Bakewell in the Peak District in central England. Following a campaign by a local newspaper, his conviction was overturned in 2002, after Downing had served 27 years in prison. The case is thought to be the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and attracted worldwide media attention.

6.1/10

A rollicking adaptation of Kingsley Amis's first novel, Lucky Jim stars Stephen Tompkinson as Jim Dixon, a luckless lecturer at a provincial British university, trying to make a splash with his pompous boss, Professor Neddy Welch (Robert Hardy). Jim is also trying to make it with the woman of his dreams, Christine Callaghan (Keeley Hawes, Othello and Wives and Daughters), while simultaneously being pursued by the woman of his nightmares, fellow lecturer Margaret Peel (Helen McCrory, Anna Karenina). One (of many) complications is that Christine is the girlfriend of Professor Welch's egotistical artist son, Bertrand. Another is that Margaret keeps attempting suicide to get Jim's attention. But despite his misadventures, Jim keeps his eyes on the prize: a leg up on the ladder to a professorship in medieval history.

7.3/10

Ted is an alien, an outcast on his own planet where he is a rare single-sex being condemned to a life in search of a mate. Alice dreams of a fiction book romance, but the reality of boyfriend Barry is a lot less appealing. Her life seems set to change when Ted, who is not only looking for love but also a place to hide his spaceship, appears on her doorstep.

6.2/10

Set in 1990 on an Air Force base in the mid-Atlantic. Billy is desperate to listen to his team Middlesborough, play Newcastle United. But Billy's quest for diversion masks an unspoken trauma in his past which he is forced to confront.

Bedtime was a British comedy-drama written and directed by Andy Hamilton and broadcast by the BBC. It ran for three series for a total of fifteen episodes between August 2001 and December 2003. The first two series had six episodes each and the third series had three episodes. Series 1 and 2 were released on DVD.

7.9/10

The film tells the story of the Blanche family who run a dark and dismal health resort on a remote island which is only accessible by ferry. The spa program consists of feeding the guests seaweed and eel-based meals, then administering liberal colonic irrigation. The spa is run by the family matriarch Dame Blanche until her death. Things continue on with her children running the resort until Kath, the resort's former sous chef and love interest of one of the sons, comes back to the island unannounced. Stranded between monthly ferries, she is a catalyst for a series of events that turns life as it is known at Hotel Splendide on its ear.

6.4/10

With angels crying in the toilets all because of a jealous Angel Gabriel, it could only be the eagerly awaited performance of the Primary school nativity play - this time with a twist! The UK's finest comedy actors take the leading roles as the eight year old performers. Through the inevitable mishaps, misunderstandings, young egos, fears of failure and fallings out, the children's characters evolve into mirror images of thier parents, the nativity play's audience. You'll be drawn into the amusing and enchanting worlds and minds of young children and reminisce about your own childhood performances!

7.7/10

Grafters is a British comedy-drama series that that was shown on ITV from 27 October 1998 to 20 December 1999 for 16 episodes over two series. Grafters was based around the Purvis brothers Joe and Trevor, who along with their younger cousin Simon run a successful building business. The show regularly received ratings of over 9 million viewers and at the time was among ITV's most popular drama series. Rumours of a revival surfaced in 2006, but no further episodes have been made.

7.7/10

Ballykissangel is a BBC television drama set in Ireland, produced in-house by BBC Northern Ireland. The original story revolved around a young English Roman Catholic priest as he became part of a rural community. It ran for six series, which were first broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2001.

7.4/10

Father Ted wins the Golden Cleric for saving a fellow group of priests from an embarrassing situation.

9/10

A small Yorkshire mining town is threatened with being shut down and the only hope is for the men to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win.

7.1/10
7.9%

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

8.9/10

Hester Collyer is rescued by a neighbor after attempting suicide in the flat she shares with her young lover, ex-RAF pilot Freddie Page. The neighbors alert her husband, who arrives at the flat only to find her fully recovered...

6.9/10

Drop the Dead Donkey is a situation comedy that first aired on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of “GlobeLink News”, a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, it made use of contemporary news events to give the programme a greater sense of realism. It was created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. The series had an ensemble cast, making stars of Haydn Gwynne, Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Pearson. The series began with the acquisition of GlobeLink by media mogul Sir Roysten Merchant, an allusion to either Robert Maxwell or Rupert Murdoch. Indeed, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin note on their DVDs that it was fortunate for their libel lawyers that the two men shared the same initials. The series is mostly based on the on-going battle between the staff of GlobeLink, led by editor George Dent, as they try to maintain the company as a serious news organisation, and Sir Roysten’s right-hand man Gus Hedges, trying to make the show more sensationalist and suppress stories that might harm Sir Roysten’s business empire. The show was awarded the Best Comedy Award at the 1994 BAFTA Awards. At the British Comedy Awards the show won Best New TV Comedy in 1990, Best Channel 4 Comedy in 1991, and Best Channel 4 Sitcom in 1994.

7.9/10

Set in working class Newcastle, the Stott family fight their private battles against the backdrop of the conflict of World War II. Helen Stott, over thirty and with a limp, is resigned to being left on the shelf until she meets and falls in love with Norman, a serviceman from London. In contrast, her younger sister Joyce has quite a way with men, and finds herself a little too popular with the troops, especially when her husband pops up on leave from his regiment.

7.7/10

Taking a look back at the golden era of snooker in the 1970s and 80s.

Old Blackpool comedian Alfie Duffell allegedly wrote a song called 'Put a Bit of Treacle on my Pudding Mary-Ann', which might have made him famous, had he not sold it years ago, for five pounds. Now it is up to his grandson Stephen to take the song into the eighties.

6.2/10