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Joan Sanderson
Joan Sanderson (24 November 1912 – 24 May 1992) was a British television and stage actress born in Bristol. During a long career, her tall and commanding disposition led to her playing mostly dowagers, spinsters and matrons, as well as intense Shakespearean roles. Her television work included the sitcoms ''Please Sir!'' (1968–72), ''Fawlty Towers'' (1979) and '' Me and My Girl'' (1984–88). Theatre Born and educated in Bristol, Sanderson trained at RADA. She had teaching diplomas in elocution. She appeared in repertory theatres, on the West End stage and at the Stratford Memorial Theatre, where she made her début in 1939 playing Amelia in ''The Comedy of Errors'', a phase in her career that culminated in 1953 when she played both Goneril to Michael Redgrave's King Lear, and Queen Margaret in ''Richard III''. During the Second World War she gained experience in repertory and toured North Africa and Italy entertaining the troops. In 1948, she married fellow actor Gregory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in South West England. The wider Bristol Built-up Area is the eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Iron Age hillforts and Roman villas were built near the confluence of the rivers Frome and Avon. Around the beginning of the 11th century, the settlement was known as (Old English: 'the place at the bridge'). Bristol received a royal charter in 1155 and was historically divided between Gloucestershire and Somerset until 1373 when it became a county corporate. From the 13th to the 18th century, Bristol was among the top three English cities, after London, in tax receipts. A major port, Bristol was a starting place for early voyages of exploration to the New World. On a ship out of Bristol in 1497, John Cabot, a Venetia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. He also earned an Academy Award nomination for his film ''The Madness of King George'' (1994). In 2005 he received the Society of London Theatre Special Award. Bennett was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University, where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue '' Beyond the Fringe'' at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame and later a Special Tony Award. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full time, his first stage play, '' Forty Years On'', being produced in 1968. He also became known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Please Sir! (film)
''Please Sir!'' is a 1971 British comedy film directed by Mark Stuart and starring John Alderton, Deryck Guyler and Carol Hawkins. It is a spin-off from the ITV television series of the same name which ran from 1968 to 1972. The film was shot at Pinewood Studios and on location in London in Primrose Hill and Willesden. The country park scenes were shot at Black Park, close to Pinewood in Buckinghamshire. Produced by L.W.I. Productions, it was released by the Rank Organisation on 10 September 1971. Plot Mr. Hedges, the somewhat naive and idealistic teacher of the rebellious Class 5C of Fenn Street School lobbies to have his class allowed on the annual school camping trip despite opposition from the head teacher Mr. Cromwell, the fastidious and officious school caretaker Mr. Potter, snobbish teacher Miss Ewell and the world-weary Mr. Price. Eventually (with Mr. Hedges having won the hearts and minds of Mr. Cromwell and Miss Ewell with a speech about giving Class 5C a helping h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Who Killed The Cat?
''Who Killed the Cat?'' is a 1966 British crime film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Mary Merrall, Ellen Pollock and Amy Dalby. It was based on the 1956 play ''Tabitha'' by Arnold Ridley and Mary Cathcart Borer. Plot Three elderly spinsters become amateur detectives when someone poisons their beloved cat. The three determine the cat was poisoned by their mean landlady and they decide to take revenge. They plan to murder the landlady, but fate takes a hand in matters. Cast * Mary Merrall - Janet Bowering * Ellen Pollock - Ruth Prendergast * Amy Dalby - Lavinia Goldsworthy * Mervyn Johns - Henry Fawcett * Vanda Godsell - Eleanor Trellington * Conrad Phillips - Inspector Bruton * Natasha Pyne - Mary Trellington * Ronald Adam - Gregory * Philip Brack - Police Sergeant Rawlings * Inigo Jackson - Doctor Brentwood * Joan Sanderson - Mrs Sandford * Gregory Phillips - Peter Parsons Critical reception The '' Radio Times'' called it a "strange, dated mystery"; and ''TV Guide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
She Knows Y'Know
''She Knows Y'Know'' is a 1962 black and white British comedy film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring comedienne Hylda Baker. The film takes its title from Hylda Baker's best known catch-phrase. The British Film Institute, BFI describes the film, which was made on a low-budget, as a "low life comedy, unfolded against an industrial town backdrop". Plot In the Northern England, North of England in the 1950s, the lives of two very different families become entwined. The Worswicks are a working class family led by domineering mother Hylda (Hylda Baker) with husband Joe (Cyril Smith) and academically bright son Leslie (Peter Myers). Neighbours the Smallhopes are aspiring middle class, led by mother Euphemia (Joan Sanderson), husband Clarence (Neil Wilson), with attractive daughter Marilyn (Linda Castle), whose sudden pregnancy is the catalyst for unfolding dramas involving both families. Cast * Hylda Baker as Hylda Worswick * Cyril Smith (actor), Cyril Smith as Joe Worswick * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hylda Baker
Hylda Baker (4 February 1905 – 1 May 1986) was an English comedian, actress and music hall performer. Born and brought up in Farnworth, Lancashire, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Nellie Pledge in the Granada ITV sitcom ''Nearest and Dearest'' (1968–1973) and for her role in the 1960 film ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning''. Early life and career Baker was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the first of seven children. Her father, Harold Baker, was a painter and signwriter, who also worked part-time in the music halls as a comedian. At ten, Baker made her debut at the Opera House, Tunbridge Wells, and continued to tour as a single variety act — singing, dancing and performing impersonations. By 14, she had started writing, producing and performing her own shows. Her stage act included a gossip from the North of England, with a silent, sullen companion named "Big Cynthia", almost always played by a man in drag (such as Victor Graham, and lastly by Matthew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prunella Scales
Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a BAFTA award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in '' A Question of Attribution'' (''Screen One'', BBC 1991) by Alan Bennett, and for the documentary series '' Great Canal Journeys'' (2014–2021), travelling on canal barges and narrowboats with her husband, fellow actor Timothy West. Early life Scales was born in Sutton Abinger, Surrey, the daughter of Catherine (''née'' Scales), an actress, and John Richardson Illingworth, a cotton salesman. She attended Moira House Girls' School, Eastbourne. She had a younger brother, Timothy "Timmo" Illingworth (1934–2017). In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, Scales's parents moved with their children to Bucks Mill near Bideford in Devon. Scales herself and her brother were evacua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
After Henry (TV Series)
''After Henry'' is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1988 to 1992.Jeff Evans, ''The Penguin TV Companion'' (2001), p. 9. It was based on the radio series of the same name that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 between 1985 and 1989. Like the radio series, the TV series was written by Simon Brett, and starred Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television. The opening and closing music is "Three-Quarter Blues", by George Gershwin. The BBC was reluctant to produce ''After Henry'' for television, so in 1988 after the third radio series Thames Television did so. The show was surprisingly popular, attracting over 14 million viewers. A second television series was shown during the same months as the fourth radio series with, in many cases, both radio and television episodes being broadcast on the same nights. The fourth television series was broadcast from July 1992, after the death of Joan Sanderson, who had died on 24 May. Cast * Prunella ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
After Henry (radio Series)
''After Henry'' is a British sitcom written by Simon Brett. It started on BBC Radio 4 and later moved to television. Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson starred in both radio and television versions. A novel, also by Simon Brett, followed the series. hardback, paperback Cast *Prunella Scales – Sarah France *Joan Sanderson – Eleanor Prescott *Gerry Cowper – Clare France *Benjamin Whitrow – Russell Bryant Plot Sarah France is the 42-year-old widow of a GP, Henry. She lives in an often volatile family situation with her mother, Eleanor Prescott, and her daughter, eighteen-year-old Clare France. After Henry's death, the three generations of women have to cope with one another as best they can, under their shared roof. Sarah often finds herself in the middle of things, usually figuratively but always literally, as her mother lives upstairs and her daughter has the downstairs flat. Eleanor, ruthlessly cunning and emotionally manipulative, takes every opportunity to get ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communication Problems
''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the '' Radio Times''.Mattha Busby, 9 April 2019"Fawlty Towers named greatest ever British TV sitcom" ''The Guardian'', Retrieved 24 May 2019 The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild, Wild Women
''Wild, Wild Women'' is a British television sitcom that aired on BBC from 1968 to 1969. Shot in black-and-white, it starred Barbara Windsor and was written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney. Cast Pilot *Barbara Windsor – Millie *Derek Francis – Mr Harcourt *Penelope Keith – Daisy *Sonia Fox – Ruby *Jennie Paul – Blossom * Ronnie Stevens – Clarence *David Stoll – Lord Hurlingham *Zena Howard – Lady Hurlingham Series *Barbara Windsor – Millie *Paul Whitsun-Jones – Mr Harcourt *Pat Coombs – Daisy *Ken Platt – Albert *Toni Palmer – Ruby *Jessie Robins – Blossom *Daphne Heard – Ginny *Yvonne Paul – Flo *Anna Karen – Maude *Joan Sanderson – Mrs Harcourt Outline This period sitcom, set in 1902, was a variation of ''The Rag Trade'', which was also written by Chesney and Wolfe. Barbara Windsor, who also starred in ''The Rag Trade'', played Millie, a cockney woman who led the women in a milliner's shop. The storylines focused around the conflict bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Gas And Gaiters
''All Gas and Gaiters'' is a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of John Wraith when writing the pilot. ''All Gas and Gaiters'' was also broadcast on BBC Radio from 1971 to 1972. Cast *William MervynThe Rt Revd Dr Cuthbert Hever, DD, Bishop of St Ogg's *Robertson HareThe Ven Henry Blunt, the archdeacon *Derek NimmoThe Revd Mervyn Noote, the Bishop's chaplain * John BarronThe Very Revd Lionel Pugh-Critchley, Dean of St Ogg's (pilot, series 1, 4 and 5) *Ernest ClarkThe Very Revd Lionel Pugh-Critchley, Dean of St Ogg's (1968 special, series 2 and 3) *Ruth KettlewellMrs Grace Pugh-Critchley, the Dean's wife (1967–1969) *Joan SandersonMrs Grace Pugh-Critchley, the Dean's wife (1970–1971) Plot ''All Gas and Gaiters'', predominantly farcical in nature, was set in the close of the fictional St Ogg's Cathedral and concerned intrigues and rival ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
