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Gwen Taylor
Gwen Taylor (born 19 February 1939) is an English actress who has appeared in many British television programmes. She is known for her roles as Amy Pearce in the sitcom '' Duty Free'' (1984–1986); Barbara Liversidge in the sitcom '' Barbara'' (1999–2003); Peggy Armstrong in the drama series '' Heartbeat'' (2005–2009), Anne Foster in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2011–2012), and Vi Highway in BBC One soap opera ''EastEnders'' (2021–2023). She was nominated for the 1990 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role as Rita Simcock in the comedy series ''A Bit of a Do'' (1989). Her film appearances include ''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979) and '' The Lady in the Van'' (2015). Biography Taylor was born in Crich, Derbyshire. Her initial career was in banking, but when she was an assistant area manager for the National Provincial Bank in Derby she became increasingly interested in amateur dramatics. Her first professional acting role was as ...
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Crich
Crich is a village and civil parish in the English county of Derbyshire. Besides the village of Crich, the civil parish includes the nearby villages of Fritchley, Whatstandwell and Wheatcroft, Derbyshire, Wheatcroft. The population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 census. The village is home to the National Tramway Museum and, at the summit of Crich Hill above, a memorial tower for those of the Sherwood Foresters regiment who died in battle, particularly in World War I. History In 1009 King Æthelred the Unready signed a charter at the Great Council which recognised the position and boundaries of Weston-on-Trent and several other manors including Crich. The charter shows that Weston controlled the nearby crossings of the Trent. The land was listed as eight Hide (unit), hides at Weston upon Trent, and a hide at Crich, Morley, Derbyshire, Morley, Smalley, Derbyshire, Smalley, Ingleby, Derbyshire, Ingleby and Kidsley. This land ...
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Monty Python's Life Of Brian
''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British biblical black comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It was directed by Jones. The film tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Chapman), a young Judaean man who is born on the same day as—and next door to—Jesus, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah. Following the withdrawal of funding by EMI Films just days before production was scheduled to begin, musician and former Beatle George Harrison and his business partner Denis O'Brien arranged financing for ''Life of Brian'' through the formation of their HandMade Films company. The film's themes of religious satire were controversial at the time of its release, drawing accusations of blasphemy and protests from some religious groups. In the United Kingdom, the film was given an AA (14) rating by the British Board of ...
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BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual award ceremonies, BAFTA has an international programme of learning events and initiatives offering access to talent through workshops, masterclasses, scholarships, lectures, and mentoring schemes in the United Kingdom and the United States. BAFTA's annual film awards ceremony, the British Academy Film Awards, has been held since 1949, while its annual television awards ceremony, the British Academy Television Awards, has been held since 1955. Their third ceremony, the British Academy Games Awards, was first presented in 2004. Origins BAFTA started out as the British Film Academy, founded in 1947 by a group of directors: David Lean, Alexander Korda, Roger Manvell, Laurence Olivier, Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, Michael Balcon, Carol Ree ...
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Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life
''Monty Python's The Meaning of Life'', also known simply as ''The Meaning of Life'', is a 1983 British musical sketch comedy film written and performed by the Monty Python troupe, directed by Terry Jones. ''The Meaning of Life'' was the last feature film to star all six Python members before the death of Graham Chapman in 1989. Unlike ''Holy Grail'' and '' Life of Brian'', the film's two predecessors, which each told a single, more-or-less coherent story, ''The Meaning of Life'' returned to the sketch format of the troupe's original television series and their first film from twelve years earlier, '' And Now for Something Completely Different'', loosely structured as a series of comic sketches about the various stages of life. It was accompanied by the short film '' The Crimson Permanent Assurance''. Released on 23 June 1983 in the United Kingdom, ''The Meaning of Life'' was not as acclaimed as its predecessors, but was still well received critically and was a minor box offic ...
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All You Need Is Cash
''All You Need Is Cash'' (also known as ''The Rutles'') is a 1978 television film that traces (in mockumentary style) the career of a fictitious English rock group called the Rutles. As ''TV Guide'' described it, the group's resemblance to the Beatles is "purely – and satirically – intentional". The film was co-produced by the production companies of Eric Idle and Lorne Michaels, and it was directed by Idle and Gary Weis. It was first broadcast on 22 March 1978 on NBC, earning the lowest ratings of any show on American prime time network television that week, though those who did watch it gave almost unanimously good reviews. It did much better in the ratings when it premiered in the UK on BBC2 on 27 March 1978. Premise ''All You Need Is Cash'' is a series of skits and gags that illustrate the fictional Rutles story, closely following the chronology of the Beatles' career. Cast * Eric Idle as: ** Dirk McQuickly, a parody of Paul McCartney ** The Narrator, a parody of ...
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Ripping Yarns
''Ripping Yarns'' is a British television adventure comedy anthology series. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame and transmitted on BBC 2. Following an initial pilot episode in January 1976, it ran for two series — five episodes in September and October 1977 and three episodes in October 1979. Each episode had a different setting and characters, looking at a different aspect of British culture and parodying pre-World War II literature aimed at schoolboys. In the title, "ripping" is a chiefly British slang colloquialism for "exciting" or "thrilling", with "yarn" used in the sense of a story. Pilot episode In 1975, the BBC commissioned a pilot episode from Palin and Jones, which was envisaged to be a light entertainment comedy piece. The result was ''Tomkinson's Schooldays'' (a title loosely inspired by '' Tom Brown's Schooldays'' and suggested by BBC director Terry Hughes). Palin and Jones both wrote and starred in multiple roles. Once the ...
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The Life Of Brian
''Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (also known as ''Life of Brian'') is a 1979 British biblical black comedy film starring and written by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin). It was directed by Jones. The film tells the story of Brian Cohen (played by Chapman), a young Judaean man who is born on the same day as—and next door to—Jesus, and is subsequently mistaken for the Messiah. Following the withdrawal of funding by EMI Films just days before production was scheduled to begin, musician and former Beatle George Harrison and his business partner Denis O'Brien arranged financing for ''Life of Brian'' through the formation of their HandMade Films company. The film's themes of religious satire were controversial at the time of its release, drawing accusations of blasphemy and protests from some religious groups. In the United Kingdom, the film was given an AA (14) rating by the British Board of F ...
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Monty Python
Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy series '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which aired on the BBC from 1969 to 1974. Their work then developed into a larger collection that included live shows, films, albums, books, and musicals; their influence on comedy has been compared to the Beatles' influence on music. (The live version of the Web page does not contain the quoted line, but the archived version does.) Their sketch show has been called "an important moment in the evolution of television comedy". ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' was loosely structured as a sketch show, but its innovative stream-of-consciousness approach and Gilliam's animation skills pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy unit, the Pythons had creative ...
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Rutland Weekend Television
''Rutland Weekend Television'' (''RWT'') is a television sketch show written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series were broadcast on BBC2, the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes in 1976. A Christmas special was broadcast on Boxing Day 1975. It was Idle's first television project after ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which had ended the previous year, and was the catalyst for The Rutles. ''Rutland Weekend Television'' ostensibly centred on "Britain's smallest television network", situated in England's smallest (and mainly rural) county, Rutland. Rutland had been abolished as a county in April 1974 so, supposedly, there were tax advantages to broadcasting from somewhere that did not legally exist. This framework allowed for a range of sketches and material to be presented, all as part of the fictional network's hosted programming. Nevertheless, even this very loose concept was frequently ignored, and material was prese ...
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Eric Idle
Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and joined Cambridge University Footlights. He has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for two Tony Awards. Idle reached stardom in the 1970s when he co-created and acted in the Python sketch comedy series '' Flying Circus'' (1969–1974) and the films '' Holy Grail'' (1975), '' Life of Brian'', (1979) and '' The Meaning of Life'' (1983) with Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Known for his elaborate wordplay and musical numbers, Idle composed and performed many of the songs featured in Python projects, including " Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". After ''Flying Circus'' ended, Idle created another sketch show '' Rutland Weekend Television'' (1975–1976), ...
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The Sweeney
''The Sweeney'' is a British police drama television series focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter. It was produced by the Thames Television subsidiary Euston Films for broadcast on the ITV network in the United Kingdom from 2 January 1975 to 28 December 1978. The programme's title comes from the Cockney rhyming slang term " Sweeney Todd", used to refer to the Flying Squad by London's criminal fraternity in the mid 20th century. The popularity of the series in the UK led to two feature films '' Sweeney!'' (1977) and '' Sweeney 2'' (1978) both starring Thaw and Waterman, and a later film, '' The Sweeney'' (2012), starring Ray Winstone as Regan and Ben Drew as Carter. Background ''The Sweeney'' was developed from a one-off TV drama ...
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Derby Theatre
Derby Theatre is a theatre situated in Derby, England, located within the Derbion shopping centre. Formerly known as the Derby Playhouse, it was owned and run by Derby Playhouse Ltd from its opening in 1975 until 2008, when the company ceased operating after a period in administration. The theatre was reopened in 2009 as the Derby Theatre under the ownership of the University of Derby, who use it as a professional and learning theatre. In addition to the 531 seat main auditorium (originally 535 seats), the building contains a 110-seat studio theatre. History Roderick Ham, who had already designed the Thorndike Theatre, Leatherhead, was commissioned to design the theatre, and the Derby City Council offered the site as part of the new shopping development, the Eagle Centre. It was officially opened as the Derby Playhouse on 20 September 1975 by the 11th Duke of Devonshire.BBC News. (20 September 2005)"Replacement for Playhouse urged" Retrieved 10 January 2013. From its open ...
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