|
Harry Driver
Harry Driver (13 May 1931 – 25 November 1973) was a British television scriptwriter and executive producer. He is best remembered for his partnership with Vince Powell on comedy television programmes including '' Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width'', '' Nearest and Dearest'', '' Bless This House'' and ''Love Thy Neighbour''. Biography Driver formed an amateur comedy act with Vince Powell known as Hammond and Powell, which performed in the Northern club circuit by night, whilst working as a trainee manager with Marks and Spencer department stores by day. Driver developed polio in December 1955. According to the BFI Screenonline, he spent "the next 18 months in hospital (12 of them in an iron lung), and, unable to move his arms and legs, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair." Ironically it was this which spurred him into his successful writing career. Driver began to write stories and scripts, initially when in the iron lung (via dictation) and then on a typewriter, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackley
Blackley is a suburban area of Manchester, in the county of Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it is approximately north of Manchester city centre, on the River Irk. History The hamlet of Blackley was mentioned in the Domesday Book. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon Blæclēah, which means "dark wood" or "dark clearing". In the 13th and 14th centuries, Blackley was referred to as ''Blakeley'' or ''Blakelegh''. By the Middle Ages, Blackley had become a park belonging to the lords of Manchester. Its value in 1282 was recorded as £6 13s 4d, a sum approximately equivalent in buying power to £333,500 today. The lords of Manchester leased the land from time to time. In 1473, John Byron (died 1450), John Byron held the leases on Blackley village, Blackley field and Pillingworth fields at an annual rent of £33 6s 8d. The Byron family continued to hold the land until the beginning of the 17th century, when Blackley was sold in parcels to a number of landow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eamonn Andrews
Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ Authority), which oversaw the introduction of a state television service in Ireland. He is perhaps best remembered as the UK host of '' This Is Your Life'' from its inception in 1955 until his death in 1987. Early life Andrews was born in Synge Street, Dublin, son of carpenter William Andrews and Margaret, née Farrell. He was educated at Synge Street CBS. He began his career as a clerk in an insurance office. He was a keen amateur boxer and won the Irish junior middleweight title in 1944. Broadcasting career By 1944, he was the Hon. Secretary of St. Andrew's Boxing Club. In 1946, he became a full-time freelance sports commentator, working for Radio Éireann, Ireland's state broadcaster. In 1950, he began presenting programmes for the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Best Of Enemies (TV Series)
''Best of Enemies'' is a British comedy television series which first aired on ITV between 6 August 1968 and 16 July 1969.Fielding p.121 Rival Conservative and Labour MP's are forced to share an office in the Houses of Parliament. The two characters are inversions of their stereotypes with the Tory a more modest man who rides a bicycle while his Labour counterpart drives an expensive jaguar. Coote had already portrayed an MP in the 1967 series '' The Whitehall Worrier'', with which it shared a gentler humour. All episodes are believed to be lost. Cast * Robert Coote as Willie Gordon MP * Tim Barrett as Geoffrey Broom MP * Deryck Guyler as Wilkins * Jay Denyer as Policeman * Ann Lancaster as Mrs. Ewing * Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to: Politicians *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician *Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, member of parliament (MP) for Leicestershire *Geoffrey Pal ... as Jo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broadcast from 09:25 Monday morning to 17:15 Friday afternoon (19:00 Friday night until 1982) at which time it would hand over to London Weekend Television (LWT). Formed as a joint company, it merged the television interests of British Electric Traction (trading as Associated-Rediffusion) owning 49%, and Associated British Picture Corporation—soon taken over by EMI—owning 51%. Like all ITV franchisees at that time, it was a broadcaster, a producer and a commissioner of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and, as one of the "Big Five" ITV companies, for networking nationally across the ITV regions. After its loss of franchise in 1992, it continued as an independent production company until 2006. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ABC Weekend TV
ABC Television Limited, popularly known as ABC Weekend TV, was a British broadcaster which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of the " Big Four" companies that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes during this period. Originally created as Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd, ABC was one of a number of commercial television companies established during the 1950s by cinema chain companies, in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television, which was taking away their cinema audiences. In this case, the parent company was the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC)—owner of ABC Cinemas—which initially did not wish to become involved with the new broadcasting system, but was persuaded to do so by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and the manager of its Pathé News subsidiary Howard Tho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armchair Theatre
''Armchair Theatre'' is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by ABC Weekend TV. Its successor Thames Television took over from mid-1968. The Canadian-born producer Sydney Newman was in charge of ''Armchair Theatre'' between September 1958 and December 1962, during what is generally considered to have been its best era, and produced 152 episodes. History Intent ''Armchair Theatre'' filled a Sunday-evening slot on ITV, Britain's only commercial network at the time, in which contemporary dramas were the most common form, though this was not immediately apparent. The series was launched by Howard Thomas, head of ABC at the time, who argued that "Television drama is not so far removed from television journalism, and the plays which will grip the audience are those that face up to the new issues of the day as well as to the problems as old as civilisation." The original producer o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adam Adamant Lives!
''Adam Adamant Lives!'' is a British adventure television series that ran from 1966 to 1967 on BBC 1, starring Gerald Harper in the title role. The series was created and produced by several alumni from ''Doctor Who''. The titular character was an adventurer born in 1867, who had been revived from hibernation in 1966, thus offering a satirical look at life in the 1960s through the eyes of a Victorian. In 2020, Big Finish Productions reimagined the series as a Radio drama. Main character The main character originally went through a number of possible names: "Cornelius Chance", "Rupert De'Ath", "Dick Daring", "Dexter Noble", "Aurelian Winton", "Magnus Hawke" and even "Darius Crud" before Sydney Newman settled on Adam Adamant, named after the generic mineral term adamantine which, since medieval times, has commonly referred to diamond. In the opening episode, "A Vintage Year for Scoundrels", Adam Llewellyn De Vere Adamant is a swashbuckling Edwardian gentleman adventurer who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pardon The Expression
''Pardon the Expression'' was a British sitcom made by Granada Television, that was first broadcast from Wednesday 2 June 1965 to Monday 27 June 1966. The sitcom was one of four spin-offs from the soap opera ''Coronation Street''. ''Pardon the Expression'' itself had a spin-off: '' Turn Out the Lights'', broadcast in 1967. There was not another spin-off until the 1980s with ''The Brothers McGregor'', which reused two characters (played by different actors) who appeared in a single episode. Leonard Swindley, played by Arthur Lowe was the central character. Formerly the manager of the fashion retail store Gamma Garments in ''Coronation Street'', in this series he is the deputy manager of the department store Dobson and Hawks. His boss in the series was Ernest Parbold, played by Paul Dawkins, who was replaced by Wally Hunt, played by Robert Dorning, in series 2. Other regulars were Betty Driver as canteen lady Mrs Edgeley and Joy Stewart as Miss Sinclair, the boss's secretary. An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxi! (British TV Series)
''Taxi!'' was a BBC television comedy-drama series transmitted in 1963 and 1964. Created by Ted Willis, who had developed ''Dixon of Dock Green'', Willis was well aware of taxicab drivers' inclination to provide stories, and intended 12 individual plays for what became the first series. Starring Sid James as cab firm owner and driver Sid Stone, it is similar to his role in the near contemporary film ''Carry On Cabby'' (1963), but the programme was more a drama with humour than comedy, Jack Rosenthal scripted a few episodes and Bill Owen appeared as the cab firm's co-owner Fred Cudell with Ray Brooks as driver Terry Mills. The three men shared part of a converted house, with Sid Stone tending to interfere in the lives of his colleagues and his customers. James' character was, according to John Fisher, "streetwise, but conscientious". While ratings for the first series were poor, it was transmitted in the summer, a second series was broadcast in 1964. Female neighbours were no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Playhouse
''Comedy Playhouse'' is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 128 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including '' Steptoe and Son'', '' Meet the Wife'', '' Till Death Us Do Part'', ''All Gas and Gaiters'', '' Up Pompeii!'', '' Not in Front of the Children'', '' Me Mammy'', '' That's Your Funeral'', '' The Liver Birds'', ''Are You Being Served?'' and particularly ''Last of the Summer Wine'', which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010. In all, 27 sitcoms started from a pilot in the ''Comedy Playhouse'' strand. In March 2014, it was announced that ''Comedy Playhouse'' would make a return that year with three new episodes. Two further series each comprising three episodes were broadcast in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Background The series began in 1961 at the prompting of Tom Sloan, Head of BBC Light Entertainment at the time. Galton and Simpson w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Odd Man
''The Odd Man'' was a police series produced by Granada Television, running over four series between 1960 and 1963. The character of pompous police Chief Inspector Charles Rose ( William Mervyn) at the start of series 3 cemented the show's popularity, and ''The Odd Man'' turned out to be the first in a trilogy lasting most of the 1960s, during which Rose's character slowly developed and became increasingly genial as they progressed. ''The Odd Man'' This series originally dealt with the investigations of theatrical-agent-cum-detective Steve Gardiner (played by Geoffrey Toone in the first season, replaced by Edwin Richfield thereafter). Gardiner was the "odd man" of the series' title, and his encounters with the police in the form of Chief Inspector Gordon ( Moultrie Kelsall) for series 1 and 2. Kelsall was replaced by Chief Inspector Charles Rose ( William Mervyn) from series three onwards. Rose was assisted by Detective Sergeant Macbride (Alan Tilvern) who lasted just the one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bootsie And Snudge
''Bootsie and Snudge'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV for three series from 1960 to 1963, with a fourth in 1974. The show is a spin-off of ''The Army Game'', a sitcom about soldiers undertaking national service, and follows two of the main characters (played by Alfie Bass and Bill Fraser) after they returned to civilian life. The first series is titled ''Bootsie and Snudge in Civvy Life''. Between the 1963 and 1974 series, a spin-off called ''Foreign Affairs'' was broadcast. Background Bass and Fraser acted together in minor roles in the 1956 comedy film '' Jumping for Joy'' starring Frankie Howerd and possibly developed a friendship from that point. Private Montague 'Bootsie' Bisley and Sergeant-Major Claude Snudge are two of the main characters in the successful sitcom ''The Army Game'' that aired from 1957 to 1961. Snudge enjoys his position of superiority over Bootsie, whilst Bootsie feels comfortable in his position as it allows him to mock and hate Snudge (and at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
