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Derek Martinus
Derek Martinus (born Derek Buitenhuis; 4 April 1931 – 27 March 2014)Michael Billington and Toby HadokObituary: Derek Martinus ''The Guardian'', 1 April 2014 was a British television and theatre director. Originally an actor, he directed episodes of ''Z-Cars'' and '' Doctor Who'', for which he was best known. He also had a long career directing stage productions. Early life and acting career Born in Ilford, Essex, the son of Jack and Irene Buitenhuis, Martinus used his Rotterdam-born grandfather's middle name for his professional name. Martinus was educated at Brentwood School, Essex. After national service in the Royal Air Force, he studied directing and acting at the University of Oklahoma and Yale School of Drama. After running out of money, he returned to the UK in the mid-1950s and worked as an actor for the Library Theatre, Manchester and other repertory theatres. He played at the Royal Court and on tour, with among others, Sir Donald Wolfit. He subsequently joined the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Z-Cars
''Z-Cars'' or ''Z Cars'' (pronounced "zed cars") is a British television police procedural series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, near Liverpool. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978. The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals. With its less-usual Northern England setting, it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police, which some found unwelcome. ''Z-Cars'' ran for 801 episodes, of which fewer than half have survived. Regular stars included: Stratford Johns (Detective Inspector Barlow), Frank Windsor (Det. Sgt. Watt), James Ellis (actor), James Ellis (Bert Lynch) and Brian Blessed ("Fancy" Smith). Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series ''Softly, Softly (TV series), Softly, Softly''. Origin of the title The title comes from the radio call signs allocated by Lancashire Constabulary. Lancashire police divisions were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tenth Planet
''The Tenth Planet'' is the partly missing second serial of the fourth season in the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 8 to 29 October 1966. It was William Hartnell's last regular appearance as the First Doctor, and the first story to feature the process later termed regeneration, whereby the lead character, The Doctor, undergoes a transformation into a new physical form. Patrick Troughton makes his first, uncredited appearance as the Second Doctor. The serial is also notable as the first story to feature the Cybermen, a race of malevolent cyborgs that became a recurring adversary in later ''Doctor Who'' stories. The "tenth planet" in the title makes reference to a fictional lost planet in Earth's Solar System; at the time of production, the Solar System was generally held to consist of nine planets, prior to the redesignation of Pluto as a minor planet. ''The Tenth Planet'' is an incomplete ''Do ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (play)
''The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists'' is a play by Stephen Lowe, adapted from the classic working-class novel, by Robert Tressell. It was first produced by Joint Stock in Plymouth on 14 September 1978, directed by William Gaskill. The production then toured the country, with performances in London at Riverside Studios in October. As with other Joint Stock shows, the project began with a workshop in which Lowe, Gaskill and the actors explored ideas and material for the play. Lowe then worked alone for two months writing the script; finally, the company came together again for a conventional six-week rehearsal process. The actors who took part in the workshop, and who also made up the original cast, were Bruce Alexander, Christian Burgess, Peter-Hugo Daly, Ian Ireland, Fred Pearson, Harriet Walter and Mark Wing-Davey. Harriet Walter, who played the role of Bert (a boy apprentice), writes of the original production: "I had spent most of the evening under a table scraping o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Dekker (writer)
Thomas Dekker (c. 1572 – 25 August 1632) was an English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer, a versatile and prolific writer, whose career spanned several decades and brought him into contact with many of the period's most famous dramatists. Early life Little is known of Dekker's early life or origins. From references in his pamphlets, Dekker is believed to have been born in London around 1572, but nothing is known for certain about his youth. His last name suggests Dutch ancestry, and his work, some of which is translated from Latin, suggests that he attended grammar school. Career Dekker embarked on a career as a theatre writer in the middle 1590s. His handwriting is found in the manuscript of ''Sir Thomas More'', though the date of his involvement is undetermined. More certain is his work as a playwright for the Admiral's Men of Philip Henslowe, in whose account book he is first mentioned in early 1598. While there are plays connected with his name performed as early as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Shoemaker's Holiday
''The Shoemaker's Holiday or the Gentle Craft'' is an Elizabethan play written by Thomas Dekker. The play was first performed in 1599 by the Admiral's Men, and it falls into the subgenre of city comedy. The story features three subplots: an inter-class romance between a citizen of London and an aristocrat, the ascension of shoemaker Simon Eyre to Lord Mayor of London, and a romance between a gentleman and a shoemaker's wife, whose husband appears to have died in the wars with France. The play is a "citizen" drama, or a depiction of the life of members of London's livery companies, and it follows in Dekker's style of depicting everyday life in London. The events of the play occur during the reign of King Henry VI, though also hinting at the reign of Henry V. Henry V succeeded his father, Henry IV, as leader of England following Henry IV's death in 1413 at the age of 26. He is best known for securing the French crown and for his depiction in Shakespeare's plays '' Henry IV, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays ''Every Man in His Humour'' (1598), '' Volpone, or The Fox'' (c. 1606), '' The Alchemist'' (1610) and '' Bartholomew Fair'' (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I." Jonson was a classically educated, well-read and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era (1603–1625) and of the Caroline era (1625–1642)."Ben Jonson", ''Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge'', volume 10, p. 388. His ancestor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Volpone
''Volpone'' (, Italian for "sly fox") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is ranked among the finest Jacobean era comedies. Characters * Volpone (the Sly Fox) – a greedy and rich childless Venetian ''magnifico'' * Mosca (the Fly) – his servant * Voltore (the Vulture) – a lawyer * Corbaccio (the Raven) – an avaricious old miser * Bonario – Corbaccio's son * Corvino (the Carrion Crow) – a merchant * Celia – Corvino's wife * Sir Politic Would-Be – ridiculous Englishman * Lady Would-Be (the parrot) – English lady and wife of Sir Politic-Would-Be * Peregrine ("Pilgrim") – another, more sophisticated, English traveller * Nano – a dwarf, companion of Volpone * Androgyno – a hermaphrodite, companion of Volpone * Castrone – a eunuch, companion of Volpone * The Avocatori – the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan Guillou
Jan Oskar Sverre Lucien Henri Guillou (, ; born 17 January 1944) is a French-Swedish author and journalist. Guillou's fame in Sweden was established during his time as an investigative journalist, most notably in 1973 when he and co-reporter Peter Bratt exposed a secret and illegal intelligence organization in Sweden, '' Informationsbyrån'' (IB). He is still active within journalism as a column writer for the Swedish evening tabloid ''Aftonbladet''. Among his books are a series of spy fiction novels about a spy named Carl Hamilton, and a trilogy(+) of historical fiction novels about a Knight Templar, Arn Magnusson. He is the owner of one of the largest publishing companies in Sweden, Piratförlaget (''Pirate Publishing''), together with his wife, publisher Ann-Marie Skarp, and Liza Marklund. Life and career Guillou was born in Södertälje, Stockholm County, Sweden. His Breton-Swedish father Charles Guillou (1922–2020) came to Sweden, as the son of a member of the French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Paper Lads
''The Paper Lads'' is a children's television series produced by Tyne Tees Television and broadcast nationally from 1977 to 1979. It was set in the northern industrial city of Newcastle upon Tyne, although much of the series was filmed in Gateshead, and recounted the adventures of a group of newspaper delivery boys and a girl. There were two series made, each of seven episodes. William Corlett's four scripts for the series won him the Writer's Guild Award for Best Children's Writer.William Corlett, ''The Door in The Tree'', Pocket Books, page 298. The signature tune of the series, "Back Home Once Again", was performed by progressive rock band Renaissance, and it appears (re-recorded) as a full-length song on their 1978 album ''A Song for All Seasons''. The full series was released on DVD by Network in July 2013. Two novels by William Humble based on the series were released by children's paperback publisher Target Books Target Books was a British publishing imprint, esta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
What Maisie Knew
''What Maisie Knew'' is a novel by Henry James, first published as a serial in ''The Chap-Book'' and (revised and abridged) in the ''New Review'' in 1897 and then as a book later that year. It tells the story of the sensitive daughter of divorced, irresponsible and narcissistic parents. The book follows the title character from earliest childhood to precocious maturity. Plot summary When Beale and Ida Farange are divorced, the court decrees that their only child, the very young Maisie, will shuttle back and forth between them, spending six months of the year with each. The parents are immoral and frivolous, and they use Maisie to intensify their hatred of each other. Beale Farange marries Miss Overmore, Maisie's pretty governess, while Ida marries the likeable but weak Sir Claude. Maisie gets a new governess: the frumpy, somewhat ridiculous, but devoted Mrs. Wix. Both Ida and Beale soon cheat on their spouses; in turn, Sir Claude and the new Mrs. Farange begin an affair wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blake's 7
''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first series, produced by David Maloney (series 1–3) and Vere Lorrimer (series 4), and the script editor throughout its run was Chris Boucher, who wrote nine of its episodes. The main character for the first two series was Roj Blake, played by Gareth Thomas. ''Blake's 7'', which was broadcast in 25 other countries, had a low budget but featured many tropes of space opera, such as spaceships, robots, galactic empires and aliens. Critical responses have been varied; some reviewers praised the programme for its dystopian themes, strong characterisation, ambiguous morality and pessimistic tone, as well as displaying an "enormous sense of fun", but others have criticised its production values, dialogue, and accused it of lacking originality. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dalek
The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 ''Doctor Who'' serial ''The Daleks'', in shells designed by Raymond Cusick. Drawing inspiration from the Nazis, Nation portrayed the Daleks as violent, merciless and pitiless cyborg aliens who demand total conformity to their will, and are bent on the conquest of the universe and the extermination of what they see as inferior races. Collectively, they are the greatest enemies of ''Doctor Who''s protagonist, the Time Lord known as " the Doctor". During the second year of the original ''Doctor Who'' programme (1963–1989), the Daleks developed their own form of time travel. In the beginning of the second ''Doctor Who'' TV series that debuted in 2005, it was established that the Daleks had engaged in a Time War against the Time Lords that affected much ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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