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Hitting Town (1975)
''Hitting Town'' is a stage play written by Stephen Poliakoff and first performed in April 1975 at the Bush Theatre directed by Tim Fywell. Written early in his career, the play won Poliakoff the ''Evening Standard'' Theatre Award for Most Promising Playwright.Nelson, Robin (2014)''Stephen Poliakoff on Stage and Screen'' pp. 13; 73–76. Methuen. The critic Michael Billington said it was "reminder of Poliakoff's precocious talent". In the original production Judy Monahan and James Aubrey played the lead roles and were supported by Lynne Miller. It was a shocking play in its time partly because it dealt with an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister. ''Hitting Town'' was developed into a television play with Thames Television for ITV Plays For Britain. The television adaptation was half shot on location on single-camera video and the other half in the studio using multiple cameras. Directed by theatre director Peter Gill, it stars Mick Ford and Deborah Norton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Poliakoff
Stephen Poliakoff (born 1 December 1952) is a British playwright, director and screenwriter. In 2006 Gerard Gilbert of ''The Independent'' described him as the UK's "pre-eminent TV dramatist" who had "inherited Dennis Potter's crown". Early life Poliakoff was born in Holland Park, West London, to Ina (née Montagu) and Alexander Poliakoff. His father was a Russian-Jewish immigrant and his mother was a British Jew. His maternal grandfather had bought 16th-century mansion Great Fosters, and his maternal great-grandfather was Samuel Montagu, 1st Baron Swaythling. The second of four children, he was sent at a young age to Marlborough House School, which he hated. He then attended Westminster School, where he attracted sufficient attention for ''Granny'', a play he wrote and directed, to be reviewed in ''The Times'' newspaper. After Westminster, he went to King's College, Cambridge to read history but left after two years, later recalling Cambridge as "a stuffy place" and the h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Gill (playwright)
Peter Gill (born 7 September 1939) is a Welsh theatre director, playwright, and actor. He was born in Cardiff to George John and Margaret Mary (née Browne) Gill, and educated at St Illtyd's College, Cardiff. Career An actor from 1957–65, he directed his first production without décor, at the Royal Court Theatre in August 1965, ''A Collier's Friday Night'' by D. H. Lawrence. Having begun his career as an actor, he is now best known for his work as a director and playwright. Royal Court In 1964, he became Assistant Director at the Royal Court and Associate Director in 1970, best known there as the director of three hitherto under-rated plays by D. H. Lawrence, presented as a group in 1968. In 1969, the Royal Court also presented two of his own first plays, ''The Sleepers' Den'' and ''Over Gardens Out'', "which revealed that Gill could evoke with the economy of means and lyrical skill the circumstances of his Cardiff boyhood." Riverside Studios Gill was appointed artistic dir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016, leaving only the online edition. The newspaper was controlled by Tony O'Reilly's Irish Independent News & Media from 1997 until it was sold to the Russian oligarch and former KGB Officer Alexander Lebedev in 2010. In 2017, Sultan Muhammad Abuljadayel bought a 30% stake in it. The daily edition was named National Newspaper of the Year at the 2004 British Press Awards. The website and mobile app had a combined monthly reach of 19,826,000 in 2021. History 1986 to 1990 Launched in 1986, the first issue of ''The Independent'' was published on 7 October in broadsheet format.Dennis Griffiths (ed.) ''The Encyclopedia of the British Press, 1422–1992'', London & Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992, p. 330 It was produc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Whitehouse
Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permissive society. She was the founder and first president of the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association, through which she led a longstanding campaign against the BBC. A hard-line social conservative, she was termed a reactionary by her socially liberal opponents. Her motivation derived from her Christian beliefs, her aversion to the rapid social and political changes in British society of the 1960s, and her work as a teacher of sex education. Whitehouse became an art teacher, at the same time becoming involved in evangelical Christian groups such as the Student Christian Movement (which became increasingly more liberal leading up to, and after, a 1928 split with the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) and Moral Re-Armament. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birmingham Pub Bombings
The Birmingham pub bombings were carried out on 21 November 1974, when bombs exploded in two public houses in Birmingham, England, killing 21 people and injuring 182 others. The Provisional Irish Republican Army never officially admitted responsibility for the Birmingham pub bombings, although a former senior officer of the organisation confessed to their involvement in 2014. In 2017, one of the alleged perpetrators, Michael Hayes, also claimed that the intention of the bombings had not been to harm civilians, and that their deaths had been caused by an unintentional delay in delivering an advance telephone warning to security services. Six Irishmen were arrested within hours of the blasts, and in 1975 sentenced to life imprisonment for the bombings. The men—who became known as the Birmingham Six—maintained their innocence and insisted police had coerced them into signing false confessions through severe physical and psychological abuse. After 16 years in prison, and a len ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wimpy (restaurant)
Wimpy is a fast-food chain that was founded in the United States. It found its success internationally, mainly in the United Kingdom and South Africa. It has changed between being a table-service establishment and counter-service establishment throughout its history. The chain was founded in Bloomington, Indiana, by Edward Gold in 1934 as Wimpy Grills, with the chain in the United States hitting its peak with 26 locations in 1947. In 1954, Gold signed a license with J. Lyons and Co. for them to operate Wimpy Bar across the United Kingdom, with further international agreements a few years later through its subsidiary company, Wimpy International. By 1977, there were only seven Wimpy locations in the United States, which all folded following Gold's passing in that year. Despite the brand's demise domestically, the chain would peak at 1,500 international locations the following year. The company was sold to United Biscuits in 1977, and then to Grand Metropolitan in 1989. Grand M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deborah Norton
Deborah Norton is an English actress. Personal life Deborah Norton was born in Croydon, Surrey, in 1943. She attended a Quaker boarding school and later studied at the Drama Centre London. She worked in Britain until she toured America with ''The Beggar's Opera''. She later returned to the UK. Career Stage work Norton has taken part in productions of ''Six Degrees of Separation'', ''Thérèse Raquin'', ''The School for Scandal'', and others in locations as diverse as the Royal Court, Bristol Old Vic, the Nottingham Playhouse, the National Theatre and others. Television She has acted roles in many television productions, including Marta Dorf in the television miniseries ''Holocaust'', and multiple roles in ''A Bit of Fry and Laurie'', although she is perhaps best known for her role as the PM's adviser Dorothy Wainwright in ''Yes, Prime Minister''. Selected filmography *''Holocaust'' (1978) *''The Wildcats of St Trinian's'' (1980) *'' Play for Today'' (4 plays, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mick Ford
Mick Ford (born 1 August 1952) is a British actor, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his portrayal of intellectual convict Archer in the cinema version of ''Scum (film), Scum''. Early life and education Ford was born on 1 August 1952 in Croydon, Croydon, Surrey. His father, Noel Ford, fought on the front lines as a 7th Armoured Division (United Kingdom), Desert Rat during World War II. He attended John Ruskin College, John Ruskin Grammar School as a teenager and later joined the National Youth Theatre, where he appeared in numerous plays, including the premieres of ''Zigger Zagger'' and ''The Secret Rapture (play), The Secret Rapture''. Career After appearing in the 1978 film ''The Sailor's Return (film), The Sailor's Return'', Ford's best known role came in the 1979 film ''Scum (film), Scum''. Set in a borstal, Ford plays the inmate Archer, an intelligent vegetarian trouble-maker who just wants to serve his time ''"In (his) own little way"''. Ford also had a role ... [...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] |
Bush Theatre
The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a space which nurtures and develops new artists and their work. A seedbed for the best new playwrights, many of whom have gone on to become established names in the industry, the Bush Theatre has produced hundreds of premieres, many of them Bush Theatre commissions, and hosted guest productions by theatre companies and artists from across the world. Artistic Directors * Jenny Topper (1977–88), jointly with Nicky Pallot (1979–90) * Dominic Dromgoole (1990–96) * Mike Bradwell (1996–2007) * Josie Rourke (2007–12) * Madani Younis (2011–2018) * Lynette Linton (2019–present) History On Thursday 6 April 1972, the Bush Theatre was established above The Bush public house on the corner of Goldhawk Road and Shepherd's Bush Green, in what ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a Broadcast license, franchise holder for a region of the British ITV (TV network), ITV television network serving Greater London, London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broadcast from 9:25 Monday morning to 5:15 Friday afternoon (7:00 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, 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 History of ITV#The Big Four and Big Five, "Big Five" ITV companies, for networking nationally across the ITV regions. After its loss of franchise i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynne Miller
Lynne Miller (born 27 April 1951) is a British actress. Her first TV role was in 1974, but she is best known for the role of Cathy Marshall in ''The Bill'', a TV series she appeared in from 1989 to 1996. Since that time she has appeared mostly on stage. She is married to photographer Nobby Clark (photographer), Nobby Clark. In 2021, Miller recorded an Audio Commentary for an episode of ''The Bill'' called "Forget-Me-Not", alongside writer Russell Lewis, released oThe Bill Podcast Patreon Channel sharing her memories of the series. Filmography Theatre * ''Ivy & Joan'' (2014) * ''Not Waving'' * ''Pillion'' * ''Funny Peculiar'' * ''Tartuff'' * ''Miracle'' * ''The Usual Table'' (2002) * ''The Good Hope'' * ''Steaming'' (1997) * ''The Artful Widow'' * ''Scribes'' * ''City Sugar'' (1975) * ''Hitting Town'' References External links * 1951 births Living people British television actresses Place of birth missing (living people) {{UK-tv-actor-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
