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High Hopes (1988 Film)
''High Hopes'' is a 1988 comedy-drama film directed by Mike Leigh, focusing on an extended working-class family living in King's Cross, London, and elsewhere. The film primarily examines Cyril ( Philip Davis) and Shirley (Ruth Sheen), a motor-cycle courier and his girlfriend, along with their friends, neighbours, and Cyril's mother and sister. Despite staying true to Leigh's down-at-the-heel, realist style, the film is ultimately a social comedy concerning culture clashes between different classes and belief systems. According to the critic Michael Coveney', "As in '' Meantime'', ''High Hopes'' contrasts the economic and spiritual conditions of siblings. And in developing some of the themes in ''Babies Grow Old'' and ''Grown-Ups'', it presents a brilliantly organised dramatic résumé of attitudes towards parturition and old age."Michael Coveney, ''The World according to Mike Leigh'' p.189 Background Previous work Before ''High Hopes'', director Mike Leigh had made ''Bleak Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Davis (actor)
Philip Davis (born 30 July 1953) is an English actor, writer, director and narrator. He is perhaps best known for his lead roles in the television dramas ''Whitechapel'' (2009–2013) and ''Silk'' (2012–2014). Early life Davis was born in Highgate, London, and brought up in Thurrock, Essex. His father worked for Procter & Gamble in a soap factory and his mother was a hospital dining room supervisor. From the age of eight, he was interested in acting. He attended Ockendon Courts County Secondary School in South Ockendon, Essex, where he was distracted in class but enjoyed school plays. He was also a member of both the National Youth Theatre and Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop.'An Actors Life For Me' at ''Essexlife'' Retrieved ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meantime (film)
''Meantime'' is a 1983 British comedy-drama television film directed by Mike Leigh, produced by Central Television for Channel 4. It was shown in 1983 at the London Film Festival and on Channel 4 and at the 1984 Berlin International Film Festival. According to the critic Michael Coveney, "the sapping, debilitating and demeaning state of unemployment, the futile sense of waste, has not been more poignantly, or poetically, expressed in any other film of the period." Plot The film unfolds in brief episodes, detailing the travails of the working-class Pollock family, who live in a shabby flat in a tower block in London's East End. They are struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the nagging, put-upon mother Mavis (Pam Ferris) is working; the bitter, feckless father Frank (Jeff Robert) and the couple's two sons Colin (Tim Roth), an extremely shy young man, and Mark (Phil Daniels), his outspoken, headstrong older brothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jason Watkins (actor)
Jason Watkins (born 28 October 1962) is an English stage, film and television actor. He played the lead role in the two-part drama ''The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies'', for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor. He has also played William Herrick in '' Being Human'', Gavin Strong in ''Trollied'', Simon Harwood in ''W1A,'' Gordon Shakespeare in the film series '' Nativity'', British Prime Minister Harold Wilson in Season 3 of ''The Crown'' and Detective Sergeant Dodds in ''McDonald & Dodds''. Early life Watkins was born in Windsor Road, Albrighton, Shropshire, where he lived until the age of seven, when his parents moved to Wolverhampton. His father Alan was a metallurgist and his mother a teacher at Albrighton's primary school. He credits his introduction to entertainment to taking lessons in clowning at Bridgnorth from mime artist Ben Benison, also a presenter on TV programme ''Vision On''. Career Stage Following his training at the Royal Academy of Drama ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Bamber
David James Bamber (born 19 September 1954) is an English actor. He has worked in television and theatre. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Early years Bamber was born in Walkden, Lancashire. By September 1973, he was at the Manchester Youth Theatre, playing Pandarus in Troilus and Cressida. Bamber studied drama at Bristol University, continuing his training at RADA where he won the Gold Medal in 1979. Career Bamber has worked on many British television series, mini-series and TV films. He appeared in the BBC adaptations of Hanif Kureishi's '' The Buddha of Suburbia'' and Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice'', in which he portrayed the Bennets' clergyman cousin, Mr. Collins. He also played the part of a junior treasury minister and stamp collecting enthusiast, Julian Whitaker, in an episode of ''The New Statesman'', in which Alan frames Whitaker and forces his resignation. In 1997 he starred as Eric Slatt in two series of Steven Moffat's ''Chalk'', co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Jackson (actor)
Philip Jackson (born 18 June 1948) is an English actor known for his many television and film roles, most notably as Chief Inspector Japp in both the television series ''Agatha Christie's Poirot'' and in BBC Radio dramatisations of Poirot stories; as Melvin "Dylan" Bottomley in ''Porridge''; and as Abbot Hugo, one of the recurring adversaries in the cult 1980s series ''Robin of Sherwood''. Life and career Jackson was born in Retford, Nottinghamshire. He started acting while studying Drama and German at the University of Bristol, and has worked in the theatre in Leeds, Liverpool and London. His stage work includes Pozzo in Samuel Beckett's '' Waiting for Godot'' at the Queen's Theatre in the West End in 1991 and Willy Loman in Arthur Miller's ''Death of a Salesman'' at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds in 2010. He was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in '' Little Voice'' (1998). His many television appearances have included ''Coronation Street'', ''Robi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edna Doré
Edna Lillian Doré (née Gorring; 31 May 1921 – 11 April 2014) was a British actress. She was known for her bit-part roles in sitcoms and for playing the character of Mo Butcher in '' EastEnders'' from 1988 to 1990. Career Doré began her career as a chorus girl in ENSA, then joined the wartime company of Phyllis Dixey at the Whitehall Theatre as a dancer. She later spent 17 years in repertory theatre before becoming a member of the National Theatre for 10 years, especially remembered for her roles in productions directed by Bill Bryden, such as ''The Mysteries''. She turned to television acting in 1960 and had parts in many successful series, including ''Dixon of Dock Green'', ''Doctor in the House'', ''The Liver Birds'', ''Terry and June'', '' Tenko'', ''Z-Cars'', and ''Open All Hours''. In 1988, she starred in Mike Leigh's film '' High Hopes'', for which she received the award for Best Supporting Player at the 1989 European Film Awards. Here, she played Mrs. Bender, who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Auberon Waugh
Auberon Alexander Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was an English journalist and novelist, and eldest son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was widely known by his nickname "Bron". After a traditional classical education at Downside School, he was commissioned in the army during National Service, where he was badly injured in a shooting accident. He went on to study for a year at Oxford University. At twenty, he launched his journalism career at the Telegraph Group, and also wrote for many other publications including '' Private Eye'', in which he presented a profile that was half Tory grandee and half cheeky rebel. As a young man, Waugh wrote five well-received novels, but gave up fiction for fear of unfavourable comparisons with his father. He and his wife Lady Teresa had four children and lived at Combe Florey House in Somerset. Origins He was born at Pixton Park, near Dulverton in Somerset, his mother's ancestral home. He was the eldest son of the novelist E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing since 1952. History and content ''Sight and Sound'' was first published in Spring 1932 as "A quarterly review of modern aids to learning published under the auspices of the British Institute of Adult Education". In 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent British Film Institute (BFI), which still publishes the magazine today. ''Sight and Sound'' was published quarterly for most of its history until the early 1990s, apart from a brief run as a monthly publication in the early 1950s, but in 1991 it merged with another BFI publication, the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'', and started to appear monthly. In 1949, Gavin Lambert, co-founder of film journal ''Sequence'', was hired as the editor, and also brought with him ''Sequence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. Thatcher studied chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, and worked briefly as a research chemist, before becoming a barrister. She was List of MPs elected in the 1959 United Kingdom general election, elected Member of Parliament for Finchley (UK Parliament constituency), Finchley in 1959 United Kingdom general election, 1959. Edward Heath appointed her Secretary of State for Education and Science in his H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nouveau Riche
''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" (in contrast with " old money"; french: vieux riche ). Sociologically, ''nouveau riche'' refers to the person who previously had belonged to a lower social class and economic stratum (rank) within that class; and that the new money, which constitutes their wealth, allowed upward social mobility and provided the means for conspicuous consumption, the buying of goods and services that signal membership in an upper class. As a pejorative term, ''nouveau riche'' affects distinctions of type, the given stratum within a social class; hence, among the rich people of a social class, ''nouveau riche'' describes the vulgarity and ostentation of the newly rich person who lacks the worldly experience and the system of values of " old money", of inherite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gentrification
Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification often increases the Value (economics), economic value of a neighborhood, but the resulting Demography, demographic displacement may itself become a major social issue. Gentrification often sees a shift in a neighborhood's racial or ethnic composition and average Disposable household and per capita income, household income as housing and businesses become more expensive and resources that had not been previously accessible are extended and improved. The gentrification process is typically the result of increasing attraction to an area by people with higher incomes spilling over from neighboring cities, towns, or neighborhoods. Further steps are increased Socially responsible investing, investments in a community and the related infrastruct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kings Cross, London
Kings Cross is a district on either side of Euston Road, in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It is bordered by Barnsbury to the north, Clerkenwell and Islington to the east, Holborn to the south and Euston to the west. It is served by two major rail termini, St Pancras and King's Cross. King's Cross station is the terminus of one of the major rail routes between London and the North. The area, which was historically the south-eastern part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, has experienced significant regeneration since the mid-1990s; the introduction of the Eurostar rail service at St Pancras International and the rebuilding of King's Cross station, helped stimulate the redevelopment of the long derelict railway lands to the north of the termini. History Origin The area, historically the south-eastern part of the ancient parish and subsequent Metropolitan Borough of St Pancras, was previously known as Battle Bridge or Battlebridge after an ancien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
