Nice Town 1992
When big-hearted Joe Thompson discovers the pain infertility is causing his brother Paul, he suggests to Paul's wife that he act as secret sperm donor.
When big-hearted Joe Thompson discovers the pain infertility is causing his brother Paul, he suggests to Paul's wife that he act as secret sperm donor.
Blackeyes is a four-part BBC television miniseries written and directed by Dennis Potter, based on his novel of the same name. The complex, surreal drama follows novelist Maurice James Kingsley, who bases a successful book on his niece Jessica's modeling career, angering her as he turns her experiences into a story of a victimised woman named Blackeyes. Jessica in turn rewrites the novel to liberate the character.
The Story of Light Entertainment is a British documentary series shown on the BBC in 2006. The series comprises eight episodes and is narrated by Stephen Fry.
When the body of a foreign student is discovered in the streets of the down-at-heel city of Besźel, it’s just another day’s work for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But he uncovers evidence that the murdered girl came from Ul Qoma, a city that shares a dangerous and volatile relationship with Besźel, and this case will challenge everything Borlú holds dear.
Two teams of three alternate between giving and guessing the meanings of obscure English words.
Coogan's Run was a 1995 UK TV series featuring Steve Coogan as a series of odd characters living in the fictional town of Ottle. It was written by various people including Coogan, Patrick Marber, David Tyler, Graham Linehan, Arthur Mathews, Geoffrey Perkins and Henry Normal. The series consists of six self-contained stories, although Coogan's characters from the other episodes in the series make occasional cameo appearances.
Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry.
Jo Brand is joined by three different celebrity Bake Off fans to shine a spotlight on the good, the bad and the soggy bottomed from the most recent episode.
Celebrities take a journey of a lifetime. They all have different faiths and beliefs - will stepping in ancient footsteps on a spiritual journey broaden minds?
Dr Robyn Penrose is a lecturer in English at Rummidge University. Vic Wilcox is the Managing Director of Pringle's, an engineering firm in Rummidge. They meet when Robyn is told by her Head of Department to "shadow" Vic as part of Industry Year. They are initially hostile to each other but gradually come to understand each other's point of view. Based on the novel by David Lodge.
The Cleopatras is a 1983 BBC Television historical drama serial created and written by Philip Mackie. Set in Ancient Egypt during the latter part of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, the eight-part series follows the lives of a series of queens belonging to the Ptolemaic Dynasty of ancient Egypt, culminating in its final active ruler Cleopatra VII. Intended to be the I, Claudius of the 1980s, The Cleopatras met with a decidedly negative critical reaction, and was regarded and portrayed as a gaudy farce. It also produced a number of complaints due to scenes of nudity.
Comedy thriller about three friends who embark on a journey that takes them to the extremes of their friendship, crossing every boundary imaginable to save a life.
Love, conflict, family - nobody's done it better. Acting legends reflect on the greatest writer who ever lived – and the dangerous, exciting world that ignited his creativity.
Brian Pern is an ageing rock star and former front-man of ground breaking progressive rock group Thotch. Like many artists of his age, rather than make new music, he spends more time trying to save the planet (including his campaign to teach gorillas how to Skype). Now, the BBC have asked him to front a major new documentary where he presents his guide to The Life Of Rock from prehistoric man to the present day.
Two teams of celebrities search for antique bargains and put them up for auction, with the help of two antiques experts.
Paul Whitehouse stars in Nurse, a poignant character comedy drama for BBC Two. Whitehouse plays eight different characters whose lives are connected by Liz, an overstretched Community Mental Health Nurse played by Esther Coles.
Darts tournament in which 16 of the world's top darts players compete for the BBC2 Bullseye trophy.
Aaagh! It's the Mr Hell Show is an animated comedy show created by David Max Freedman & Alan Gilbey after the greeting card line about a painfully honest demon created by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. The series only ran for one season of thirteen episodes in 2001/2002, produced by a British-Canadian collaboration. The basic format was a series of sketches linked by the eponymous Mr. Hell, a Satan-esque host voiced by comedian Bob Monkhouse - the last series before his death. Notable characters in the series include Josh, voiced by Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, who attempts to start a discussion about reincarnation before getting inevitably killed, and Serge the fashion industry seal of death, who wants to take revenge on the fashion industry for killing his parents. Mr. Hell also regularly has his own sketches, some featuring his illegitimate son Damien, the son of Mr. Hell and Angela an angel.
The story begins when a wave of violence hits London following the discovery of the bizarrely mutilated body of a man in the Thames. First appearances suggest a witchcraft killing. But the dark reality is more complicated – and even more frightening. Assigned to the case is young, hopeful DS Dan Twentyman and his senior partner DI Moses Jones, seconded from Scotland Yard due to cultural links with the local community.
Samuel, a Russian-born Jewish inventor who specialises in the development of hearing aids, is tasked with a secret mission by MI5 to use his technological expertise to contribute to western Cold War efforts. Following the tensions of the space race and the first hydrogen bomb test, Samuel's efforts factor in to the emergence of the modern world.