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Michael Fenton Stevens
Michael Fenton Stevens (born 12 February 1958) is an English actor and comedian. He is best known for being a founder member of The Hee Bee Gee Bees and the voice behind the ''Spitting Image'' 1986 number 1 hit "The Chicken Song". He also starred in '' KYTV'', its Radio 4 predecessor, '' Radio Active'' and '' Benidorm'' as Sir Henry since Series 4 which was first broadcast in 2011, and as an anchor on '' 3rd & Bird'' on CBeebies. Career Fenton Stevens featured in regular roles as Hank in the 1996 series ''The Legacy of Reginald Perrin'', and as Ralph in Andy Hamilton's 2003 television sitcom '' Trevor's World of Sport'', as well as in the Radio 4 version of the latter which was broadcast in 2004. Stevens had previously appeared in a guest role in ''Drop the Dead Donkey'', another television comedy series written by Hamilton, and appears regularly in various roles in Hamilton's Radio 4 sitcom ''Old Harry's Game''. He has also featured in Ian Hislop's sitcom ''My Dad's the Prime Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'right' bracket or, alternatively, an "opening bracket" or "closing bracket", respectively, depending on the Writing system#Directionality, directionality of the context. Specific forms of the mark include parentheses (also called "rounded brackets"), square brackets, curly brackets (also called 'braces'), and angle brackets (also called 'chevrons'), as well as various less common pairs of symbols. As well as signifying the overall class of punctuation, the word "bracket" is commonly used to refer to a specific form of bracket, which varies from region to region. In most English-speaking countries, an unqualified word "bracket" refers to the parenthesis (round bracket); in the United States, the square bracket. Glossary of mathematical sym ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drop The Dead Donkey
''Drop the Dead Donkey'' is a British television sitcom that was first shown on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom between 1990 and 1998. It is set in the offices of "GlobeLink News", a fictional TV news company. Recorded close to transmission, it made use of contemporary news events to give the programme a greater sense of realism. It was created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. The series had an ensemble cast, making stars of Haydn Gwynne, Stephen Tompkinson and Neil Pearson. The show was awarded the Best Comedy (Programme or Series) Award at the 1994 BAFTA Awards. At the British Comedy Awards the show won Best New TV Comedy in 1990, Best Channel 4 Comedy in 1991, and Best Channel 4 Sitcom in 1994. In 2000, the show was ranked 94 on the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes, a list compiled by the British Film Institute. Development According to Swedish comedian Kryddan Petersson, he and the group behind ''Helt Apropå'' had come up with an idea for a show like th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Family
''My Family'' is a British sitcom created and initially co-written by Fred Barron, which was produced by DLT Entertainment and Rude Boy Productions, and broadcast by BBC One for eleven series between 2000 and 2011, with Christmas specials broadcast from 2002 onwards. ''My Family'' was voted 24th in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" in 2004 and was the most watched sitcom in the United Kingdom in 2008. As of 2011, it is one of only twelve British sitcoms to pass the 100-episode mark. In April 2020, BBC One began airing the series from the first episode in an 8 pm slot on Friday nights; along with this all 11 series were made available on BBC iPlayer. The show chronicles the lives of the Harpers, a fictional middle-class British family. Set in Chiswick in west London, it stars Robert Lindsay as Ben Harper, Zoë Wanamaker as his wife Susan, and Kris Marshall, Daniela Denby-Ashe and Gabriel Thomson as their children Nick, Janey and Michael. Background In 1999, Fred Barron w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toucan
Toucans (, ) are members of the Neotropical near passerine bird family Ramphastidae. The Ramphastidae are most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and over forty different species. Toucans are arboreal and typically lay 2–4 white eggs in their nests. They make their nests in tree hollows and holes excavated by other animals such as woodpeckers—the toucan bill has very limited use as an excavation tool. When the eggs hatch, the young emerge completely naked, without any down. Toucans are resident breeders and do not migrate. Toucans are usually found in pairs or small flocks. They sometimes fence with their bills and wrestle, which scientists hypothesize they do to establish dominance hierarchies. In Africa and Asia, hornbills occupy the toucans' ecological niche, an example of convergent evolution. Taxonomy and systematics The name of this bird group is derived from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
''Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency'' is a humorous detective novel by English writer Douglas Adams, published in 1987. It is described by the author on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic". The book was followed by a sequel, ''The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul''. The recurring major characters are the eponymous Dirk Gently, his secretary Janice Pearce and Sergeant Gilks. Adams began work on another novel, ''The Salmon of Doubt'', with the intention of publishing it as the third book in the series, but died before completing it. A BBC Radio 4 adaptation of six episodes was broadcast from October 2007. A second series based on the sequel was broadcast from October 2008. A 2010 television adaptation for BBC Four borrowed some of the characters and some minor plot elements of the novel to create a new story, and a 2016 television adaptation for BBC America served as a continuation of the books. Writing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, it was later adapted to other formats, including novels, stage shows, comic books, a 1981 TV series, a 1984 text-based computer game, and 2005 feature film. ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' has become an international multi-media phenomenon; the novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005. The first novel, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (1979), has been ranked fourth on the BBC’s The Big Read poll. The sixth novel, ''And Another Thing'', was written by Eoin Colfer with additional unpublished material by Douglas Adams. In 2017, BBC Radio 4 announced a 40th-anniversary celebration with Dirk Maggs, one of the original producers, in charge. The first of six new episodes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Tertiary To Quintessential Phases
The Tertiary Phase, Quandary Phase, Quintessential Phase and Hexagonal Phase are respectively the third, fourth, fifth and sixth series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' radio series. Produced in 2003, 2004 and 2018 by Above the Title Productions for BBC Radio 4, they are radio adaptations of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth books in Douglas Adams' ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' series: ''Life, the Universe and Everything''; ''So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish''; ''Mostly Harmless'' and '' And Another Thing...''. These radio series consisted of a total of twenty episodes, following on from the twelve episodes from the original two series ( the Primary and Secondary Phases) which originally aired in 1978 and 1980. The producers chose not to continue the ordinal sequence established by the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary phases. If they had done so, the fourth, fifth and sixth series would have been termed quaternary, quinary and senary. Humorously, they c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nighty Night
''Nighty Night'' is a BBC black comedy television sitcom starring Julia Davis. It was first broadcast on 6 January 2004 on BBC Three. Notorious for its dark humour, the show follows narcissistic sociopath Jill Tyrell (Julia Davis) alongside her moronic personal assistant Linda (Ruth Jones). Jill learns that her husband Terry (Kevin Eldon) has cancer. She uses this to manipulate new neighbour Cathy Cole (Rebecca Front), who suffers from MS, and her husband Don ( Angus Deayton), a doctor and the man with whom Jill becomes increasingly obsessed. Production The theme tune used in the beginning of both series and during the closing credits for the first is an excerpt from the Spaghetti Western '' My Name Is Nobody'', composed by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone. Cast and characters Main cast * Julia Davis as Jill Tyrell * Rebecca Front as Cathy Cole * Angus Deayton as Don Cole * Kevin Eldon as Terry Tyrell (season 1) * Ruth Jones as Linda * Mark Gatiss as Glenn Bul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Julia Davis
Julia Charlotte L. Davis (born 25 August 1966) is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy ''Nighty Night'' (2004–2005) and the comedies ''Hunderby'' (2012–2015) and ''Camping'' (2016), which she also directed. Davis has been noted by critics for creating boundary-pushing black comedy that centres female anti-hero characters. A nine-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won Best Comedy Writing for ''Hunderby'' in 2013 and the 2018 British Academy Television Award for Best Scripted Comedy for ''Sally4Ever''. She has also received two RTS Awards and three British Comedy Awards. In addition to acting in her own works, she has appeared in a variety of other British television comedies, most notably portraying Dawn Sutcliffe in ''Gavin & Stacey'' (2007–2009, 2019). Her film roles include ''Love Actually'' (2003), '' Cemetery Junction'' (2010), ''Four Lions'' (2010) and the critically acclaimed ''Phantom Thread ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynne Truss
Lynne Truss (born 31 May 1955) is an English author, journalist, novelist, and radio broadcaster and dramatist. She is arguably best known for her championing of correctness and aesthetics in the English language, which is the subject of her popular and widely discussed 2003 book, '' Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation''. The book was inspired by a BBC Radio 4 show about punctuation, ''Cutting a Dash'', which she presented. Besides her promotion of linguistic prescription and commentary on English grammar, Truss has written many radio plays, both comedic and dramatic. She has also written grammar guides for children and novels. Early life Truss was born on 31 May 1955 in Kingston upon Thames. She was educated at the Tiffin Girls' School; and University College London, where she was awarded a first-class degree in English Language and Literature. Career Truss began her media career as a literary editor. She then spent six years as a television cri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inspector Steine
''Inspector Steine'' is a radio comedy drama series written by Lynne Truss and produced by Sweet Talk for BBC Radio 4. The producer is Karen Rose and music is by Anthony May. Set in a police station in Brighton in the 1950s, it tells the story of Inspector Steine (Michael Fenton Stevens) and his colleagues Sergeant Brunswick (John Ramm) and Constable Twitten ( Matt Green), plus the station charlady Mrs Groynes (Jan Ravens in Series 1 and Samantha Spiro from Series 2 onwards). Guest stars have included Janet Ellis, Mark Heap, Allan Corduner and Carla Mendonca. The programme was inspired by the opening rolling caption about crime in Brighton at the beginning of the film '' Brighton Rock'', which claimed that Brighton was now (in the 1950s) free of crime. Lynne Truss has written that: "This highly unrealistic reassurance prefacing ''Brighton Rock'' was the inspiration for the comedy series Inspector Steine...I wanted to write about a celebrity police inspector in the 1950s who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national security, policing and immigration policies of the United Kingdom. As a Great Office of State, the home secretary is one of the most senior and influential ministers in the government. The incumbent is a statutory member of the British Cabinet and National Security Council. The position, which may be known as interior minister in other nations, was created in 1782, though its responsibilities have changed many times. Past office holders have included the prime ministers Lord North, Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Palmerston, Winston Churchill, James Callaghan and Theresa May. In 2007, Jacqui Smith became the first female home secretary. The incumbent home secretary is Suella Braverman. The office holder works alongside the ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
