Susie Blake
From the billowing gauze of The Meatloaf Suite to the twinkling lights on The Kem & Amber terrace, every detail of Silky Hotel has been designed with obsessive care by romance gurus Jim and Barbara. This is the only hotel where you'll find the original tent peg from Brokeback Mountain and the air is infused with the delicate aroma of oysters. Prepare to smell the love. But Silky Hotel is in trouble. Guests don't turn up like they used to, and unbeknownst to Jim, the debt collectors are closing in. In a last-ditch effort to save Silky's, Barbara takes a punt on an advert from the local paper: 'TV SHOW WANTS THE WORLD'S MOST ROMANTIC HOTEL.' When flashy producer Coral arrives, Jim and Barbara must wrangle their motley crew of staff to ensure they make it onto TV. If they fail, it'll be check-out time at Silky Hotel - for good.
A Blackpool coach driver and a tour guide get caught up in a deadly comedic conspiracy when a train's passengers begin mysteriously dying one by one.
A group of famous faces travel to India to see if retiring in India would be better than retiring in England.
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.
This Christmas the pupils of St Bernadette's and their much-loved, madcap teacher Mr. Poppy are back for their biggest adventure yet involving fantastic flashmobs, excitable elves, Christmas carols and of course Archie the donkey! When their new teacher Mr. Shepherd loses his memory and forgets all about Christmas, as well as his fiancée Sophie and the whereabouts of the beloved Archie, it's up to the pupils of St Bernadette's to save the day. Led by the ever enthusiastic Mr Poppy, they embark on a Christmas journey like never before - but time is against them if they are to help Mr Shepherd get to New York in time for his magical yuletide wedding!
Great Night Out is a British comedy-drama based in Stockport, North-West England that aired on ITV in early 2013. On 27 February 2013, it was announced that there will be a second series. It was later cancelled in April, as confirmed by Boardman via Twitter. Although the series scored decent ratings averaging over 3 million a week.
Starring Victoria Wood, Julie Walters, Celia Imrie, Duncan Preston, with the snobby continuity announcer played by Susie Blake, Acorn Antiques was a mini soap opera set in a shop on the outskirts of Manchesterford. Viewers were gripped with the everyday dramas that beset Miss Babs (Celia Imrie), Berta (Victoria Wood) and the glamorous Mrs Overall (Julie Walters). Now each thrilling episode is available together for the first time on DVD, including "Babs and the Cup of Coffee", "Mrs Overall and her Apron" and the memorable classic "Berta coming through the Doorway". Re-live the drama as Mrs Overall serves up another batch of macaroons and Babs discusses the future of the shop. What will be this week's riveting cliff hanger? Will the set survive? Written by Victoria Wood, Acorn Antiques was Produced and Directed by Geoff Posner and first transmitted as part of Victoria Wood as Seen on TV… in January 1985.
The comedienne stars in this festive sketch show, alongside a host of celebrity guests.
Comedy drama about warring neighbours Malcolm and Martin who spend April Fool's Day trying to catch each other out with ever more fiendish tricks, watched wearily by their long-suffering wives.
A Prince Among Men is a somewhat unsuccessful British sitcom that ran on BBC1 from 1997 to 1998 lasting 12 episodes. It starred Chris Barrie as Gary Prince, a former international football star turned entrepreneur. The theme music was by Jamie Marshall.
The animated adventures of Sooty, Sweep, Soo and Little Cousin Scampi.
A curtain raiser for the 1995-6 football season and a state of the Premiership comedy drama about the corrupt world of football. Sir Bob is a football club chairman and megalomaniac. As the season draws to a climax his club are staring into the abyss of relegation. Can new manager Ted save City from the drop?
Victoria Wood's All Day Breakfast is a 50-minute television comedy special, written by and starring comedian Victoria Wood. It was broadcast on BBC One on Christmas Day 1992.
What happens when you take archived BBC footage and put it in the hands of several comedians? They dub over the original sound in a humorous way and create The Staggering Stories of Ferdinand de Bargos. Surreal comedy series using clips from various films and people with voice-overs added to make a story.
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.".
Singles is a British sitcom set in a singles bar produced by Yorkshire Television. It aired for 3 series and 22 episodes on the ITV network between 1988 and 1991. Main character Malcolm, played by Roger Rees, was written out in the final series after Rees relocated to the United States, with Simon Cadell joining the cast in his place as Dennis Duval.
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.
A look back at the life and work of one of Britain's greatest comediennes, featuring interviews with those who worked alongside Victoria.
