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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 of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Studiocanal
StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world. The company is a unit of the Canal+ Group, owned by Vivendi. Background The company was founded in 1988 by Pierre Lescure as a spin-off of the Canal+ pay-TV network. The original function was to focus on French and European productions, but later made strategic deals with American production companies, such as Carolco Pictures. StudioCanal's most notable productions from its early years include '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'', '' JFK'', ''Basic Instinct'', ''Cliffhanger'', '' Under Siege'', ''Free Willy'', and the original ''Stargate'' movie. In those days, it was known as either Le Studio Canal+ or simply Canal+. Other films the company financed include '' U-571'', ''Bully'', and '' Bridget ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Didsbury
Didsbury is a suburban area of Manchester, England, on the north bank of the River Mersey, south of Manchester city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 26,788. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, there are records of Didsbury existing as a small hamlet as early as the 13th century. Its early history was dominated by being part of the Manor of Withington, a feudal estate that covered a large part of what is now the south of Manchester. Didsbury was described during the 18th century as a township separate from outside influence. In 1745 Charles Edward Stuart crossed the Mersey at Didsbury in the Jacobite march south from Manchester to Derby, and again in the subsequent retreat. Didsbury was largely rural until the mid-19th century, when it underwent development and urbanisation during the Industrial Revolution. It became part of Manchester in 1904. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds was formed in Didsbury in 1889. History ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alun Owen
Alun Davies Owen (24 November 1925 – 6 December 1994) was a Welsh playwright, screenwriter and actor, predominantly in television. However, he is best remembered by a wider audience for writing the screenplay of The Beatles' debut feature film '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964), which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. Career Owen was born in Menai Bridge and his family moved to Liverpool when he was 8. His father, Sidney Owen, was a Welshman from Dolgellau, North Wales, and his mother, Ruth, was from Holyhead, but of Irish descent. Alun Owen attended St Michael in the Hamlet Anglican Primary School and Oulton High School. For two years during the Second World War, he worked in a coal mine as a "Bevin Boy", before moving into repertory theatre as an assistant stage manager. From there he moved into acting, first with the Birmingham Repertory Company and then various other companies, appearing in small roles in films and to a greater deg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clive Exton
Clive Exton (11 April 1930 – 16 August 2007) was a British television and film screenwriter who wrote scripts for the series ''Poirot,'' ''Jeeves and Wooster,'' and ''Rosemary & Thyme.''Exton Bio @ Barker, Dennis Clive Exton Obituary – The Guardian Unlimited – Tuesday 21 August 2007 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Luke
Peter Ambrose Cyprian Luke MC (12 August 1919 – 23 January 1995) was a British writer, editor, and producer. Early years Luke was born in St Albans, he was the first son of Sir Harry Luke and his wife Joyce Evelyn Fremlin. He had wanted to be a painter, and went to art school for two years before World War II broke out. He was awarded the Military Cross for his service during the war. Some time after, he worked under producer Sydney Newman on the British television drama anthology ''Armchair Theatre'', as a story editor. In 1967, he adapted Frederick Rolfe's novel ''Hadrian the Seventh'' for the stage. In 1984, he published a solitary novel ''The Other Side of the Hill'' set during the Peninsular War. This was adapted into a BBC radio drama in 1993 with Michael Pennington and John Moffat, and directed by Glyn Dearman. He was married to Carola Peyton-Jones (deceased), then Lettice Crawshaw (one daughter, one son deceased; marriage dissolved), and finally June Tobin (two sons, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Willis, Baron Willis
Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis (13 January 1914 – 22 December 1992) was an English playwright, novelist and screenwriter who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party. In 1941 he became the General Secretary of the Young Communist League, the youth branch of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Early life and War service Born in Tottenham, Middlesex, Willis described when he was leaving school at the age of fourteen: "I had a two-second 'career interview' with my Headmaster. He asked me what I wished to do for the future and I told him that I intended to become a writer. His response was a cackle followed by the remark: 'You will never make a writer in a hundred years. You haven't got the imagination for it or the intelligence. Go away and learn a good trade.'" Willis was elected Chairman of the Labour League of Youth as the candidate of the left in 1937. In 1939, along with much of the League of Youth leadership, he joined the Young Communist League. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Look Back In Anger
''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet impassive upper-middle-class wife Alison. The supporting characters include Cliff Lewis, an amiable Welsh lodger who attempts to keep the peace; and Helena Charles, Alison's snobbish friend. Osborne drew inspiration from his personal life and failing marriage with Pamela Lane while writing ''Look Back in Anger'', which was his first successful outing as a playwright. The play spawned the term "angry young men" to describe Osborne and those of his generation who employed the harshness of realism in the theatre in contrast to the more escapist theatre that characterised the previous generation. This harsh realism has led to ''Look Back in Anger'' being considered one of the first examples of kitchen sink drama in theatre. The play was recei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Osborne
John James Osborne (12 December 1929 – 24 December 1994) was an English playwright, screenwriter and actor, known for his prose that criticized established social and political norms. The success of his 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger'' transformed English theatre. Osborne was notorious for his violent language, not only on behalf of the political causes he supported but also against his own family, including his wives and children. Osborne was one of the first writers to address Britain's purpose in the post-imperial age. Early life Osborne was born on 12 December 1929 in London, the son of Thomas Godfrey Osborne, a commercial artist and advertising copywriter of South Welsh ancestry, and Nellie Beatrice Grove, a Cockney barmaid. In 1935 the family moved to the north Surrey suburb of Stoneleigh, near Ewell, in search of a better life, though Osborne would regard it as a cultural desert – a school friend declared subsequently that "he thought ewere a lot of dull, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Angry Young Men
The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working- and middle-class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading figures included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis; other popular figures included John Braine, Alan Sillitoe, and John Wain. The phrase was originally coined by the Royal Court Theatre's press officer in order to promote Osborne's 1956 play ''Look Back in Anger''. It is thought to be derived from the autobiography of Leslie Paul, founder of the Woodcraft Folk, whose ''Angry Young Man'' was published in 1951. Following the success of the Osborne play, the label "angry young men" was later applied by British media to describe young writers who were characterised by a disillusionment with traditional British society. The term, always imprecise, began to have less meaning over the years as the writers to whom it was originally applied became more divergent, and many of them dismissed the label as useless. John Osborne The playw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky1 and others. The complex also provided studio space for channel continuity. The site was run by the Pinewood Studios Group. Originally built as film studios, the studios were the main production centres for the ITV franchisees ABC Weekend TV and Thames Television. Pinewood Group's lease on Teddington Studios expired in 2014. The studios were demolished in February 2016 to be turned into housing, with programmes made there having moved to other facilities. The studio buildings will be replaced by three modern apartment blocks and other smaller houses, with the view towards the river from Broom Road opened up. History Film studios The studio began in the early 20th century as film studios when stockbroker Henry Chinnery, owner of Weir House, Teddington, allowed filmmakers t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Videotape
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassette recorders (VCRs) and camcorders. Videotapes have also been used for storing scientific or medical data, such as the data produced by an electrocardiogram. Because video signals have a very high bandwidth, and stationary heads would require extremely high tape speeds, in most cases, a helical-scan video head rotates against the moving tape to record the data in two dimensions. Tape is a linear method of storing information and thus imposes delays to access a portion of the tape that is not already against the heads. The early 2000s saw the introduction and rise to prominence of high-quality random-access video recording media such as hard disks and flash memory. Since then, videotape has been increasingly relegated to archival and si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gareth Jones (actor)
Gareth Jones (6 June 1925 – 30 November 1958) was a British actor, chiefly remembered for the circumstances of his death, during the transmission of a live television play, ''Underground'', part of the ''Armchair Theatre'' series. Biography Jones was born in Lampeter, Wales. Career Jones appeared in Dundee Repertory Theatre plays including "Petticoat Influence" (1952), ''The Beaver Coat'' (1952), "The Hollow Crown" (1952), "The Queen's Husband" (1952), "Young Madame Conti" (1952), and '' The Lark'' (1955). He also appeared in three other ''Armchair Theatre'' plays in 1958 - "Noon on Doomsday" (6 July 1958), "Trial By Candlelight" (22 June 1958), and "Miss Olive" (6 April 1958). Other TV appearances included the ITV Television Playhouse production of "Thunder on Sycamore Street" (11 October 1957), the BBC Television adaptation of ''Under Milk Wood'' (9 May 1957), the BBC series "Onion Boys" (1957), and "A Tale of Two Cities" (1957). Death During a live television ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
