The Curse Of Steptoe
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The Curse Of Steptoe
''The Curse of Steptoe'' is a television play which was first broadcast on 19 March 2008 on BBC Four as part of a season of dramas about television personalities. It stars Jason Isaacs as Harry H. Corbett and Phil Davis (actor), Phil Davis as Wilfrid Brambell. The drama centres on the actors' on- and off-screen relationship during the making of the BBC sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', and is based on interviews with colleagues, friends and family of the actors, and the ''Steptoe'' writers, Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (scriptwriter), Alan Simpson. The screenplay was written by Brian Fillis, also responsible for the similarly themed 2006 drama ''Fanny Cradock#Media portrayals, Fear of Fanny'', which is about television personality Fanny Cradock off-screen. The 66-minute film is directed by Michael Samuels (director), Michael Samuels and produced by Ben Bickerton. The drama was widely acclaimed and won the Royal Television Society Award 2008 for "Single Drama". However, the drama generat ...
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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 ...
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Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen regional and national centres in the UK, as well as a branch in the Republic of Ireland. History The group was formed as the Television Society on 7 September 1927, a time when television was still in its experimental stage. Regular high-definition (then defined as at least 200 lines) broadcasts did not even begin for another nine years until the BBC began its transmissions from Alexandra Palace in 1936. In addition to serving as a forum for scientists and engineers, the society published regular newsletters charting the development of the new medium. These documents now form important historical records of the early history of television broadcasting. The society was granted its Royal title in 1966. The Prince of Wales became patron of ...
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Sheila Steafel
Sheila Frances Steafel (26 May 1935 – 23 August 2019) was a British actress, who was born in Johannesburg, but lived all her adult life in the United Kingdom. Life and career Steafel, who was born in Johannesburg, trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. She appeared in many television series, including ''The Frost Report'', ''Z-Cars'', ''Sykes'', ''Dave Allen at Large'', ''The Kenny Everett Television Show'', ''Minder'', ''The Ghosts of Motley Hall'', ''Oh Brother!'' and ''The Laughter of a Fool''. She was a regular in the BBC One music hall programme '' The Good Old Days'', portraying her comic creation "Miss Popsy Wopsy", who invariably "played up" to chairman Leonard Sachs. She was also a regular on the "Tommy Cooper Hour". In February 2018 she appeared in the daytime comedy drama '' Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators'' Episode 2 as care home resident Dora Bentley. Her film appearances included ''Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.'' (1966), ''Just l ...
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Typecasting (acting)
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups. There have been instances in which an actor has been so strongly identified with a role as to make it difficult for them to find work playing other characters. Character actors Actors are sometimes so strongly identified with a role as to make it difficult for them to find work playing other characters. It is especially common among leading actors in popular television series and films. ''Star Trek'' An example is the cast of the original ''Star Trek'' series. During ''Star Trek''s original run from 1966 to 1969, William Shatner was the highest-paid cast member at $5,000 per episode ($ today), with Leonard Nimoy and the other actors being paid much less. The press predicted that Nimoy would be a star after the series ended, ...
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Comedy Playhouse (series 1)
The first series of ''Comedy Playhouse'', that continued to be a long-running BBC series, broadcast from 15 December 1961 to 16 February 1962. All the episodes were written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. Background The first series, which was in black and white, consisted of ten episodes, each of which had a different cast and storyline. Only the fourth episode, ''The Offer'', made it to its own series becoming ''Steptoe and Son''; all other episodes of this series of ''Comedy Playhouse'' are lost. The episodes were broadcast on Friday at 8:45pm, except for ''The Status Symbol'', which was broadcast at 8:40pm. Episodes References *Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.
, "Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy", BBC Worldwide Ltd, 2003

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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 ...
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Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor Sid James. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James, when it became known in early 1960, disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best-remembered work (including " The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham"). After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career declined. Early life and career Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham (then in Warwickshire), but, from the age of three, he was brought up in Bournemouth (then in Hampshire), where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, worked as ...
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Galton And Simpson
Ray Galton OBE (17 July 1930 – 5 October 2018) and Alan Simpson OBE (27 November 1929 – 8 February 2017) were English comedy scriptwriters whose partnership lasted over 50 years. They met in 1948 whilst recuperating from tuberculosis at the Milford Sanatorium, near Godalming in Surrey. They are best known for their work with comedian Tony Hancock on radio and television between 1954 and 1961 and their long-running television situation comedy, ''Steptoe and Son'', eight series of which were aired between 1962 and 1974. Career The partnership's break in comedy writing came with the Derek Roy vehicle ''Happy Go Lucky'', although this was not a success. The Hancock connection began with their involvement with later radio variety series, and from November 1954 continued with ''Hancock's Half Hour'' on radio; a series featuring their scripts for Hancock ran on television between 1956 and 1961. In October that year Hancock ended his professional relationship with the writers ...
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BBC Television Centre
Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for TV production, operated by BBC Studioworks. The first BBC staff moved into the Scenery Block in 1953, and the centre was officially opened on 29 June 1960. It is one of the most readily recognisable facilities of its type, having appeared as the backdrop for many BBC programmes. Parts of the building are Listed building, Grade II listed, including the central ring and Studio 1. Most of the BBC's national television and radio news output came from Television Centre, and in later years most recorded television was output from the nearby Broadcast Centre at 201 Wood Lane, care of Red Bee Media. Live television events from studios and routing of national and international sporting events took place within Television Centre before being passed ...
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John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, (; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End theatre, West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of William Shakespeare, Shakespeare in 1929–31. During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway theatre, Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Sondheim Theatre, Queen's Theatre, London. He was regarded by many as the finest Prince Hamlet, Hamlet of his era, ...
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Old Vic
Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Maine, United States People *Old (surname) Music *OLD (band), a grindcore/industrial metal group * ''Old'' (Danny Brown album), a 2013 album by Danny Brown * ''Old'' (Starflyer 59 album), a 2003 album by Starflyer 59 * "Old" (song), a 1995 song by Machine Head *''Old LP'', a 2019 album by That Dog Other uses * ''Old'' (film), a 2021 American thriller film *'' Oxford Latin Dictionary'' * Online dating *Over-Locknut Distance (or Dimension), a measurement of a bicycle wheel and frame *Old age See also *List of people known as the Old * * *Olde, a list of people with the surname *Olds (other) Olds may refer to: People * The olds, a jocular and irreverent online nickname for older adults * Bert Olds (1891–1953), Australian ru ...
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Henry V (play)
''Henry V'' is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written near 1599. It tells the story of King Henry V of England, focusing on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War. In the First Quarto text, it was titled ''The Cronicle History of Henry the fift'', and ''The Life of Henry the Fifth'' in the First Folio text. The play is the final part of a tetralogy, preceded by '' Richard II'', ''Henry IV, Part 1'', and '' Henry IV, Part 2''. The original audiences would thus have already been familiar with the title character, who was depicted in the ''Henry IV'' plays as a wild, undisciplined young man. In ''Henry V'', the young prince has matured. He embarks on an expedition to France and, his army badly outnumbered, defeats the French at Agincourt. Characters * Chorus The English * King Henry V * Duke of Gloucester – Henry's brother * Duke of Bedford – Henry's brother * Duke of Clarence – He ...
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