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A Very Peculiar Practice
''A Very Peculiar Practice'' is a surreal black-comedy drama set in the health centre of a British university, produced by the BBC, which ran for two series in 1986 and 1988. The two series were followed by a 90-minute made-for-television film, ''A Very Polish Practice'' (1992), following some of the characters to a new setting in Poland. It was written by Andrew Davies and was inspired by his experiences as a lecturer at the University of Warwick, and it has been interpreted as a commentary on contemporary trends in education. It was one of only two original television series that he wrote. In 2010, ''The Guardian'' ranked the serial at number 5 in their list of "The Top 50 TV Dramas of All Time". Storyline The series is a black comedy with surreal elements about an idealistic young doctor, Stephen Daker ( Peter Davison), joining a university medical centre staffed by an ill-assorted group of doctors. These include the bisexual, ultra-feminist Rose Marie (Barbara Flynn), sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrew Davies (writer)
Andrew Wynford Davies (; born 20 September 1936) is a Welsh writer of screenplays and novels, best known for ''House of Cards (UK TV series), House of Cards'' and ''A Very Peculiar Practice'', and his adaptations of ''Vanity Fair (1998 TV serial), Vanity Fair'', ''Pride and Prejudice (1995 TV series), Pride and Prejudice'', ''Middlemarch (TV serial), Middlemarch'', ''Bleak House (2005 TV serial), Bleak House'' and ''War & Peace (2016 TV series), War & Peace''. He was made a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellow in 2002. Education and early career Davies was born in Rhiwbina, Cardiff, Wales. He attended Whitchurch High School, Whitchurch Grammar School in Cardiff and then University College, London, where he received a BA in English in 1957. He took a teaching position at St. Clement Danes School, St. Clement Danes Grammar School in London, where he was on the teaching staff from 1958–61. He held a similar post at Woodberry Down Comprehensive School in London Borough o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kathy Burke
Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964) is an English actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director. She achieved fame with her appearances on sketch shows such as ''French and Saunders'' (1988–1999) and her recurring role as Magda on the BBC sitcom '' Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992–2012), as well as her frequent collaborations with fellow comedian Harry Enfield. For her portrayal of Valerie in the 1997 film '' Nil by Mouth'', she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Burke made her film debut in the 1982 drama '' Scrubbers'', and played Queen Mary Tudor in the award-winning biographical film '' Elizabeth'' (1998). Her other film appearances include '' Sid and Nancy'' (1986), ''Dancing at Lughnasa'' (1998), '' This Year's Love'' (1999), ''Kevin & Perry Go Large'' (2000), '' The Martins'' (2001), ''Anita and Me'' (2002), and '' Once Upon a Time in the Midlands'' (2002). From 1999 to 2001, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Melia
Joe Melia ( Giovanni Philip William Melia; 23 January 1935, Camden Town, Camden, London - 20 October 2012, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire) was a UK, British actor. Educated at the City of Leicester College, City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School and Downing College, Cambridge, where he read English, he first came to notice in Peter Nichols (playwright), Peter Nichols’s ''A Day in the Death of Joe Egg'' (Glasgow Citizens, 1967). Filmography Film * ''Too Many Crooks'' (1959) - Whisper * ''Follow a Star'' (1959) - Stage Manager * ''The Intelligence Men'' (1965) - Conductor * ''Four in the Morning (film), Four in the Morning'' (1965) - Friend * ''Modesty Blaise'' (1966) - Crevier * ''Oh! What a Lovely War'' (1969) - The Photographer * ''A Talent for Loving (film), A Talent for Loving'' (1969) - Tortillaw * ''Antony and Cleopatra'' (1972) - Messenger No. 1 * ''Sweeney! (1977 film), Sweeney!'' (1977) - Ronnie Brent * ''Leonardo's Last Supper'' (1977) * ''The Odd Job'' (1978) - Hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pebble Mill Studios
Pebble Mill Studios was the BBC's television studio complex located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, which served as the headquarters for BBC Birmingham from 1971 until 2004. The nine-acre site was opened by Princess Anne on 10 June 1971, and in addition to the studios contained two canteens, a post office, gardens, a seven-storey office block, and an outside broadcasting (OB) base. As well as being the home of '' Midlands Today'' and BBC Radio WM, programmes produced at Pebble Mill included ''Pebble Mill at One'', ''The Archers'', ''Top Gear'', '' Doctors'', '' Telly Addicts'' and ''Gardeners' World''. Pebble Mill Studios closed in 2004 and was demolished in September 2005; BBC Birmingham is now located in The Mailbox shopping complex in Birmingham city centre. Early history In the 1950s BBC Midlands was based in offices on Carpenter Road, Edgbaston. The news studio was in a separate building in Broad Street which remained in operation until 1971. In th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason University College1900 – gained university status by royal charter , city = Birmingham , province = West Midlands , country = England, UK , coor = , campus = Urban, suburban , academic_staff = 5,495 (2020) , administrative_staff = , head_label = Visitor , head = The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP , chancellor = Lord Bilimoria , vice_chancellor = Adam Tickell , type = Public , endowment = £134.5 million (2021) , budget = £774.1 million (2020–21) , students = () , undergrad = () , postgrad = () , affiliations = Universitas 21Universities UK EUA ACUSutton 13Russell Group , free_label = , free = , colours = The University , website = , logo = The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keele University
Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele was granted university status by Royal Charter in 1962. Keele occupies a rural campus close to the village of Keele and consists of extensive woods, lakes and Keele Hall set in Staffordshire Potteries. It has a science park and a conference centre, making it the largest campus university in the UK. The university's School of Medicine operates the clinical part of its courses from a separate campus at the Royal Stoke University Hospital. The School of Nursing and Midwifery is based at the nearby Clinical Education Centre. History Establishment Cambridge and Oxford Extension Lectures had been arranged in the Potteries since the 1890s, but outside any organised educational framework or establishment. In 1904, funds were raised by local in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The History Man
Bradbury's best known novel, ''The History Man'', a campus novel published in 1975, is a satire of academic life in the "glass and steel" universities, the ones established in the 1960s which followed the "redbricks". In 1981 the book was made into a successful BBC television serial. Plot introduction Howard Kirk is a lecturer in sociology at the local university. He is a "theoretician of sociability". The Kirks are trendy leftist people but living together for many years and the advance of middle age have left unfavourable traces in their relationship. It is Barbara Kirk who notices this change, whereas Howard is as enthusiastic and self-assured as always. Officially, the Kirks oppose traditional gender roles just as fiercely as the exploitation of humans by other humans. Practices have crept into their lives, which do not live up to such high standards, Howard writes books, while Barbara—stranded with much of the housework and two little children—would like to but never ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malcolm Bradbury
Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with his brother and mother. The family later moved to Nottingham and in 1943 Bradbury attended West Bridgford Grammar School, where he remained until 1950. He read English at University College, Leicester, gaining a first-class degree in 1953. He continued his studies at Queen Mary College, University of London, where he gained his MA in 1955. Between 1955 and 1958 Bradbury moved between teaching posts with the University of Manchester and Indiana University in the United States. He returned to England in 1958 for a major heart operation; such was his heart condition that he was not expected to live beyond middle age. In 1959, while in hospital, he completed his first novel, '' Eating People is Wrong''. Bradbury married Elizabeth Salt and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
University Of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution for 2020–21 was £292.1 million, of which £35.2 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £290.4 million, and had an undergraduate offer rate of 85.1% in 2021. UEA alumni and faculty include three Nobel laureates, a discoverer of Hepatitis C and of the Hepatitis D genome, a lead developer of the Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, one President of the Royal Society, and at least 48 Fellows of the Royal Society. Alumni also include heads of state, government and intergovernmental organisations, as well as three Booker Prize winning authors. History 1960s People in Norwich began to talk about the possibility of setting up a university in the nineteenth century, and attempts to establish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Play for his performance in the production of ''Oklahoma!'' in 1980. He made his film debut as Satipo in '' Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and his Broadway debut as Yvan in a production of ''Art'' from 1998 to 1999. His other Broadway roles include Tevye in the musical '' Fiddler on the Roof'' from 2004 to 2005 and Mark Rothko in the play ''Red'' from 2009 to 2010. On screen, his best known roles include Kenneth Halliwell in ''Prick Up Your Ears'' (1987), Sayyed Bozorg Mahmoody in '' Not Without My Daughter'', (1991), Mellersh Wilkins in '' Enchanted April'' (1992), Rahad Jackson in '' Boogie Nights'' (1997), Comte de Reynaud in '' Chocolat'' (2000), Diego Rivera in ''Frida'' (2002), Johann Tetzel in ''Luther'' (2003), Bishop Aringarosa in ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange which allocates products to everyone in the society.: "One widespread distinction was that socialism socialised production only while communism socialised production and consumption." Communist society also involves the absence of private property, social classes, money, and the state. Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance, but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a more libertarian approach of communization, revolutionary spontaneity, and workers' self-management, and a more vanguardist or communist party-driven approach through the development of a constitutional socialist state ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joanna Kanska
Joanna Kanska (born 1 April 1957) is a Polish-British actress who has worked in films, television, theatre and radio. She migrated to the United Kingdom in 1984. Career Born in Nowy Sącz, she attended the National Film School in Łódź from 1976 to 1980. Kanska's best known roles on television were as a Polish academic, Grete Gretowska, in the second series of the BBC's '' A Very Peculiar Practice'' (1988) (and a sequel, ''A Very Polish Practice'' in 1992), ‘’The New Statesman, as Sirkka Nieminen in ''Capital City'' (1990) and as KGB Major Nina Grishna in the BBC's mini-series ''Sleepers'' (1991). She also played the part of Greta Beaumont, a Sudeten German woman, in the first episode of Foyle's War ''Foyle's War'' is a British detective drama television series set during and shortly after the Second World War, created by '' Midsomer Murders'' screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series .... Personal life Short ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
