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Big Boy Now!
''Big Boy Now!'' is a British television sitcom. It starred Leslie Crowther and Fabia Drake, and was produced by Associated Television, ATV. All 14 episodes of the programme were missing and believed lost, but in April 2017 three episodes—comprising the first episode of the first series and the final two episodes of the second—were discovered on 2" videotape at the BFI National Archive. References External links * *{{British Comedy Guide, tv, big_boy_now 1970s British sitcoms 1976 British television series debuts 1977 British television series endings British English-language television shows ITV sitcoms Lost television shows ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rather t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronnie Taylor (scriptwriter)
Ronnie Taylor (28 June 1921 – 9 September 1979) was an English television and radio comedy scriptwriter, producer and director. Early life Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Taylor left school at 14 to join his family's firm of insurance brokers. He taught himself to play the piano and guitar and became involved with amateur dramatics/musicals. He formed a vocal group and wrote sketches and songs and became a founder member of "The Kordites". In 1941, he joined RAF Signals and served in North Africa and Italy where he also wrote and produced service entertainment. BBC After the war he auditioned at BBC Manchester for Bowker Andrews and was initially mistaken as the tuner for the studio Bechstein piano. He was offered a 13-week job writing continuity for Gracie Fields. Fields introduced Taylor to her protégé variety performer Norman Evans and Taylor was contracted to write the radio series ''Over the Garden Wall'', for which Evans is best remembered. He wrote radio series for 'Ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Crowther
Leslie Douglas Sargent Crowther, CBE (6 February 1933 – 29 September 1996) was an English comedian, actor, TV presenter, and game show host. Biography Crowther was born on Monday, 6 February, 1933 in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, son of Leslie Frederick Crowther (died 1955), of Twickenham, Middlesex, and Ethel Maraquita (died 1951), née Goulder. At the end of 1944, he moved to London with his parents, but was evacuated for a few months to the Isle of Bute until just after the Second World War ended. Crowther's stage experience began in the mid-1940s. As a youngster he showed promise as a pianist, and in 1944 won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. He attended the respected Cone-Ripman Drama School in London, where he met his future wife, and whilst there competed (in 1947) at the Star Junior Ballroom Championships partnering Pamela Cochran, and then at 16, he appeared as a member of the Ovaltineys Concert Party of the Air on Radio Luxembourg. He also a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fabia Drake
Fabia Drake OBE (born Ethel McGlinchy; 20 January 1904 – 28 February 1990) was a British actress whose professional career spanned almost 73 years during the 20th century. Drake was born in Herne Bay, Kent. Her first professional role in a film was in Fred Paul's ''Masks and Faces'' (1917), and her last role was as Madame de Rosemonde in Miloš Forman's ''Valmont'' (1989). Drake was a lifelong friend of Noël Coward and Laurence Olivier. Early life Born Ethel McGlinchy, the actress's Irish father, a caterer, was an actor manqué. She passed an entrance test to the Academy of Dramatic Art (later to become RADA) in December 1913. (It was the high-ups at the ADA who decided McGlinchy was too difficult to pronounce and too hard to remember for a stage name so she changed it, ultimately by deed-poll, to Drake which was the second of her father's Christian names and to Fabia which was the second of her baptismal names, chosen because she was born on St Fabian's Day) (Pope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Derek Farr
Derrick Capel Farr (7 February 191221 March 1986) was an English actor who appeared regularly in British films and television from 1938 until his death in 1986. His more famous roles include Group Captain John Whitworth in '' The Dam Busters''. Career After working as a schoolteacher, he took to the stage in 1937, and in 1938 got his first film role. He served in the Second World War, and after the war resumed his acting career, mainly in character parts. He did, however, continue to appear as male leads and second male leads (with above-the-title billing) in a number of films in the late 1940s and 1950s, including ''Noose'' (1948), ''Murder Without Crime'' (1950) and ''Young Wives' Tale'' (1951). In the early 1980s he played 16 roles in ''The War of the Roses'' cycle in the ''BBC Television Shakespeare'' series. Personal life His second marriage was in 1947 to actress Muriel Pavlow whom he met in 1941 while filming ''Quiet Wedding'', and again on the set of ''The Shop at S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ronald Lewis (actor)
Ronald Glasfryn Lewis (11 December 1928 – 11 January 1982), was an actor, best known for his appearances in British films of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life and career Lewis was born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, the son of an accountant. He moved with his family to London when he was seven. During the war he was evacuated back to south Wales, where he attended Bridgend Grammar School. There he played Bassanio in the school production of ''The Merchant of Venice''. He decided to become an actor after seeing George Bernard Shaw's '' Saint Joan'' at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff. He studied at RADA, graduating in 1953. Early roles Lewis's first professional role was in Oscar Wilde's ''An Ideal Husband'' (1950) in repertory at Worthing. He was in ''The Square Ring'' at Hammersmith. Lewis had an uncredited bit part in ''Valley of Song'', set in Wales. He was credited for the film version of ''The Square Ring'' (1953), for Ealing; '' The Beachcomber'' (1954), as a native is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Horsfall
Bernard Arthur Gordon Horsfall (20 November 1930 – 28 January 2013) was an English actor of stage and screen. Early life Horsfall was born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, and educated at Rugby School. He trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Career Horsfall appeared in many television and film roles, including the title role in '' Campion'' (1959-1960), ''Pathfinders to Mars'' (1960), the second sequel to ''Target Luna'', ''Guns at Batasi'' (1964), '' On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' (1969), ''Beasts'', as Sir Christopher Hatton in the 1971 BBC miniseries ''Elizabeth R'', '' Enemy at the Door'' (ITV, 1978–1980), ''Gandhi'' (1982), an episode of '' The Jewel in the Crown'' (ITV, 1984), the character Frankland in ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' (ITV, 1988), and the character Balliol in '' Braveheart'' (1995). His other roles included portraying British barrister Melford Stevenson in a 1980 Granada Television dramatisation of the 1955 ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated Television
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and to the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. It was one of the " Big Four" until 1968, and the "Big Five" after 1968, that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes. In 1982, ATV was restructured and rebranded as Central Independent Television, under which name it continued to provide the service for the Midlands. ATV was awarded its first franchise by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide the Independent Television service at weekends for the London region. This service started on Saturday, 24 September 1955, the second ITA franchise to go on air, and was extended until Sunday, 28 July 1968. ATV was also awarded the franchise to provide the weekdays Independent Television service for the Midlands region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITV (TV Network)
ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4. ITV was for four decades a network of separate companies which provided regional television services and also shared programmes between each other to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies: ITV plc, which runs the ITV1 channel, and STV Group, which runs the STV channel. The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1970s British Sitcoms
Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * February 19 – Battle of Lugdunum: Emperor Septimius Severus defeats the self-proclaimed emperor Clodius Albinus at Lugdunum (modern Lyon). Albinus commits suicide; legionaries sack the town. * Septimius Severus returns to Rome and has about 30 of Albinus's supporters in the Senate executed. After his victory he declares himself the adopted son of the late Marcus Aurelius. * Septimius Severus forms new naval units, manning all the triremes in Italy with heavily armed troops for war in the East. His soldiers embark on an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1976 British Television Series Debuts
Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Philadelphia Flyers–Red Army game results in a 4–1 victory for the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers over HC CSKA Moscow of the Soviet Union. * January 16 – The trial against jailed members of the Red Army Faction (the West German extreme-left militant Baader–Meinhof Group) begins in Stuttgart. * January 18 ** Full diplomatic relations are established between Bangladesh and Pakistan 5 years after the Bangladesh Liberation War. ** The Scottish Labour Party (1976), Scottish Labour Party is formed as a breakaway from the UK-wide party. ** Super Bowl X in American football: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Dallas Cowboys, 21–17, in Miami. * January 21 – First commercial Concorde flight, from London to Bahrain. * January 27 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1977 British Television Series Endings
Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). * January 17 ** 49 marines from the and are killed as a result of a collision in Barcelona harbour, Spain. * January 18 ** Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease. ** Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead. ** SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina. * January 19 – An Ejército del Aire CASA C-207C Azor (registration T.7-15) plane crashes into the side of a mountain near Chiva, on approach to Valencia Airport in Spain, killing all 11 people on board. * January 20 – Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
