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Terry And June
''Terry and June'' is a BBC television sitcom, which was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The show was largely a reworking of '' Happy Ever After'', and starred Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-aged, middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford, who live in Purley. Most of the 65 episodes were written by John Kane, with seven other writers also contributing some episodes. The theme tune, Bell Hop by John Shakespeare, was also used for the radio series Never Too Late which starred Dame Thora Hird and Joe Gladwin and ran for two series (1981 and 1982). Production Terry Scott and June Whitfield began their television partnership in '' Scott On'' in 1968. On 7 May 1974, a ''Comedy Playhouse'' pilot called "Happy Ever After" aired on BBC1 with Scott and Whitfield playing Terry and June Fletcher, a middle-class couple whose grown-up children have just left home. This was commissioned into a series of the same name, and five series and two Christmas specials w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track. Critics disagree over the utility of the term "sitcom" in classifying shows that have come into existence since the turn of the century. Many contemporary American sitcoms use the single-camera setup and do not feature a laugh track, thus often resembling the dramedy shows of the 1980s and 1990s rather t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thora Hird
Dame Thora Hird (28 May 1911 – 15 March 2003) was an English actress and comedian, presenter and writer. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 film and television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution. A three-time winner of the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress, she won for '' Talking Heads: A Cream Cracker Under the Settee'' (1988), '' Talking Heads: Waiting for the Telegram'' (1998) and '' Lost for Words'' (1999). Her film credits included ''The Love Match'' (1955), '' The Entertainer'' (1960), '' A Kind of Loving'' (1962) and ''The Nightcomers'' (1971). Early life and career Hird was born on 28 May 1911 in the Lancashire seaside town of Morecambe to James Henry Hird and Jane Mary (née Mayor). Her family background was largely theatrical: her mother had been an actress, while her father managed a number of entertainment venues in Morecambe, including the Royalty Theatre, where Hird made her first appearance, and th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Listener (magazine)
''The Listener'' was a weekly magazine established by the BBC in January 1929 which ceased publication in 1991. The entire digitised archive was made available for purchase online to libraries, educational and research institutions in 2011. It was first published on 16 January 1929, under the editorship of Richard S. Lambert, and was developed as a medium of record for the reproduction of broadcast talks. It also previewed major literary and musical broadcasts, reviewed new books, and printed a selected list of the more intellectual broadcasts for the coming week. Its published aim was to be "a medium for intelligent reception of broadcast programmes by way of amplification and explanation of those features which cannot now be dealt with in the editorial columns of the ''Radio Times''". The title reflected the fact that at the time the BBC broadcast via radio only. (The BBC version of ''The Listener'' was preceded by another magazine with the same title which was the ''Journ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Britain's Best Sitcom
''Britain's Best Sitcom'' was a BBC media campaign in which television viewers were asked to decide the best British situation comedy. Viewers could vote via telephone, SMS, or BBC Online. This first round of voting was conducted in 2003, after which the BBC published a list of the top 100 selections. From this list, they produced a 12-episode television series broadcast by BBC Two from January through to March 2004. The series was a retrospective that examined the history and qualities of the contending programmes. In the first episode, Jonathan Ross summarised the progress of the poll and presented video clips from the 50 sitcoms that received the most votes. Each of the next ten weekly episodes, one hour in length, focused on one sitcom. In each episode, a different celebrity presenter advocated a particular sitcom, delivering 20 reasons why it deserved viewers' votes. The sitcom's writers and actors, as well as celebrity viewers, also shared their own perspectives and memori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Comedy
Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe content that was an "alternative" to the mainstream of live comedy, which often involved racist and sexist material. In other contexts, it is the nature of the form that is "alternative", avoiding reliance on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt has defined it as "comedy where the audience has no pre-set expectations about the crowd, and vice versa. In comedy clubs, there tends to be a certain vibe—alternative comedy explores different types of material." In an interview with ''The A.V. Club'' after his performance in the 2011 comedy-drama film ''Young Adult'', Oswalt stated: I had come up out of that whole alternative scene, which was all about, "Don’t try it, man. Just go up and wing it. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diana King (actress)
Diana most commonly refers to: * Diana (name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Diana (mythology), ancient Roman goddess of the hunt and wild animals; later associated with the Moon * Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–1997), formerly Lady Diana Spencer, was an activist, philanthropist, and member of the British royal family Places and jurisdictions Africa * Diana (see), a town and commune in Souk Ahras Province in north-eastern Algeria * Diana's Peak, the highest point on the island of Saint Helena * Diana Region, a region in Madagascar * Diana Veteranorum, an ancient city, former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see in Algeria Americas * Diana, New York, a town in Lewis County, New York, United States * Diana, Saskatchewan, a ghost town in Canada Asia * Diana, Iraq, a town in Iraqi Kurdistan Europe * Diana (Rozvadov), an almost abandoned settlement in the Czech Republic * Diana, Silesian Voivodeship, a village in south Poland * Diana Fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joan Benham
Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (other), multiple tropical cyclones are named Joan Music * ''Joan'' (album), a 1967 album by Joan Baez *"Joan", a song by The Art Bears from their 1978 album ''Hopes and Fears'' *"Joan", a song by Lene Lovich from her 1980 album ''Flex'' *"Joan", a song by Erasure from their 1991 album ''Chorus'' *"Joan", a song by The Innocence Mission from their 1991 album ''Umbrella'' *"Joan", a song by God Is My Co-Pilot from their 1992 album ''I Am Not This Body'' Other uses *Jōan (era), a Japanese era name * ''Joan'' (play), 2015 one-woman play written by Lucy J. Skillbeck *Joan Township, Ontario, a geographic township See also *''Jo-an'' tea house, National Treasure in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan * *Jane (other) *Jean (other) *Jeanne (di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mynah Bird
The myna (; also spelled mynah) is a bird of the starling family (Sturnidae). This is a group of passerine birds which are native to southern Asia, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Several species have been introduced to areas like North America, Australia, South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand, especially the common myna, which is often regarded as an invasive species. It is often known as "Selarang" and "Teck Meng" in Malay and Chinese respectively in Singapore, having a high population there. Mynas are not a natural group; instead, the term ''myna'' is used for any starling in the Indian subcontinent, regardless of their relationships. This range was colonized twice during the evolution of starlings, first by rather ancestral starlings related to the coleto and ''Aplonis'' lineages, and millions of years later by birds related to the common starling and wattled starling's ancestors. These two groups of mynas can be distinguished in the more terrestrial adaption ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Chapman (screenwriter)
John Roy Chapman (27 May 1927 – 3 September 2001) was a British actor, playwright and screenwriter, known for his collaborations with Ray Cooney. Biography Early life Born in Acton, John Chapman was the nephew of the actor Edward Chapman; his own father was an engineer. His brother, Paul Chapman, became an actor. John Chapman trained at RADA, and made his acting debut in Enid Bagnold's ''National Velvet'' in 1946.Obituary: John Chapman telegraph.co.uk, 7 September 2001 Early career Initially a stage manager and understudy at the for the first two years of ''Reluctant Heroes'', the first |
Happy Ever After (UK TV Series)
''Happy Ever After'' is a British sitcom starring Terry Scott and June Whitfield. It aired from 7 May 1974 to 25 April 1979. The series was co-written by scriptwriters John T. Chapman, Eric Merriman, Christopher Bond, John Kane and Jon Watkins. After ''Happy Ever After'' ended, Scott and Whitfield starred in ''Terry and June'' from October 1979 to August 1987, a sitcom that was similar to ''Happy Ever After'' (minus Aunt Lucy), with Terry and June's surname changed from Fletcher to Medford, and the setting moved to Purley. Cast *Terry Scott as Terry Fletcher *June Whitfield as June Fletcher *Beryl Cooke as Aunt Lucy *Lena Clemo as Susan Fletcher ''(pilot)'' *Pippa Page as Susan Fletcher ''(from series 2)'' *Caroline Whitaker as Debbie Fletcher Plot Terry and June Fletcher are a middle-aged, middle-class couple who find themselves alone when their grown-up children, daughters Susan and Debbie, leave home. However, they are not alone for long as Aunt Lucy comes to live with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Television Pilot
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distributor. A pilot is created to be a testing ground to gauge whether a series will be successful. It is, therefore, a test episode for the intended television series, an early step in the series development, much like pilot studies serve as precursors to the start of larger activity. A successful pilot may be used as the series premiere, the first aired episode of a new show, but sometimes a series' pilot may be aired as a later episode or never aired at all. Some series are commissioned straight-to-series without a pilot. On some occasions, pilots that were not ordered to series may also be broadcast as a standalone television film or special. A "backdoor pilot" is an episode of an existing series that heavily features supporting characters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Comedy Playhouse
''Comedy Playhouse'' is a long-running British anthology series of one-off unrelated sitcoms that aired for 120 episodes from 1961 to 1975. Many episodes later graduated to their own series, including ''Steptoe and Son'', '' Meet the Wife'', ''Till Death Us Do Part'', ''All Gas and Gaiters'', ''Up Pompeii!'', '' Not in Front of the Children'', ''Me Mammy'', ''That's Your Funeral'', ''The Liver Birds'', ''Are You Being Served?'' and particularly ''Last of the Summer Wine'', which is the world's longest running sitcom, having run from January 1973 to August 2010. In March 2014, it was announced that ''Comedy Playhouse'' would make a return that year with three new episodes. Background The series began in 1961 at the prompting of Tom Sloan, Head of BBC Light Entertainment at the time. Galton and Simpson were no longer writing for Tony Hancock and Sloan asked them to write ten one-offs with the hope that one might become established as a series. Thus, the first two series of ''C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |