''Consuming Passions'' is a 1988
black comedy
Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...
film which stars
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...
,
Jonathan Pryce
Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021 he wa ...
, and
Sammi Davis
Samantha "Sammi" Davis (born 21 June 1964) is an English actress.
She gained considerable praise for her performances in ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), as a teenage prostitute, and Ken Russell's '' The Rainbow'' (1989). She also had significant roles ...
and was directed by
Giles Foster
Giles Foster has been an English television director since 1975, specialising in television dramas. He has also directed in Australia and in Germany (2012-2014). He wrote some television dramas in the 1970s.
He is from Bath, Somerset and was edu ...
.
Synopsis
The film is based on ''
Secrets
Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy is often controvers ...
'' by
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
and
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team.
After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...
a BBC
television play
A television play is a television programming genre which is a drama performance broadcast from a multi-camera television studio, usually live in the early days of television but later recorded to tape. This is in contrast to a television movi ...
broadcast in 1973. It tells the story of a chocolate factory preparing to launch a new luxury range, Passionelles. However, during the production run a worker falls into a vat of chocolate and dies, meaning human flesh is present in the first batch released. The horrified owners try and fail to recall the chocolates, but when they go on sale, they prove a surprise hit. Keen to continue the success, the developers try to replicate the taste with animal meat, but this fails miserably - leading them to realise human flesh is the key ingredient, and going to extreme lengths to obtain dead bodies to use in the chocolate.
The ''Time Out Film Guide'' describes the 'recipe' for this film and concludes that of the result: "the consistency should be lumpy and the taste insipid."
[John Pym (ed.) ''Time Out Film Guide 2009'', London: Aurum Press, 2008, p. 210]
Cast
*
Tyler Butterworth
Tyler Butterworth (born 6 February 1959, Redhill, Surrey) is an English actor.
Early life
Tyler Butterworth was born 6 February 1959 in Redhill, Surrey. His father was Peter Butterworth, who starred in many of the '' Carry On'' films. His mo ...
as Ian Littleton
*
Jonathan Pryce
Sir Jonathan Pryce (born John Price; 1 June 1947) is a Welsh actor who is known for his performances on stage and in film and television. He has received numerous awards, including two Tony Awards and two Laurence Olivier Awards. In 2021 he wa ...
as Mr Farris
*
Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...
as Graham Chumley
*
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...
as Mrs Garza
*
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 ...
as Ethel
*
Sammi Davis
Samantha "Sammi" Davis (born 21 June 1964) is an English actress.
She gained considerable praise for her performances in ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), as a teenage prostitute, and Ken Russell's '' The Rainbow'' (1989). She also had significant roles ...
as Felicity
*
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 Briti ...
as Mrs Gordon
*
John Wells as Dr Forrester
*
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE (born 20 October 1934) is an English actor and presenter. He has appeared frequently on both stage and television, including stints in both ''Coronation Street'' (as Eric Babbage) and ''EastEnders'' (as Stan Carter) ...
as Dr Rees
*
Bryan Pringle
Bryan Pringle (19 January 1935 – 15 May 2002) was an English character actor who appeared for several decades in television, film and theatre productions.
Life and career
Born in Glascote, Tamworth, Staffordshire, he was brought up in the L ...
as Gateman
*
Mary Healey
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
as Mrs Eggleston
*
Andrew Sachs
Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Sp ...
as Jason
*
Deddie Davies
Deddie Davies (born Gillian Nancy Davies, 2 March 1938 – 21 December 2016) was a Welsh people, Welsh character actress.
Biography
Davies was born in Bridgend, Wales. She trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, RADA and is most familiar to ...
as Mrs Coot
*
William Rushton as Big Teddy
*
Wincey Willis
1948 births
Living people
British infotainers
Weather presenters
Wincey Willis (born Florence Winsome Leighton; 8 August 1948) is a British television and radio broadcaster who was most active in the 1980s. She is perhaps best known for bein ...
as TV Presenter
*
Linda Lusardi
Linda Frances Elide Lusardi (born 18 September 1958) is an English actress, television presenter and former glamour model.
Career Modelling
Lusardi was born in Wood Green, London to Lilian (née Glassman, b. 1933) and Nello Lusardi (1930–2017 ...
as French Beauty
*
Patrick Newell
Patrick David Newell (27 March 1932 – 22 July 1988) was a British actor, known for his large size.
Early life and education
The second son of Eric Llewellyn Newell, of High Lodge, Hadleigh, Suffolk, an Oxford-educated physician who served ...
as Lester
*
Preston Lockwood
Reginald Herbert Lockwood (30 October 1912 – 24 April 1996), known professionally as Preston Lockwood, was an English radio and television actor.
The only son of bus driver Herbert Lewis Lockwood and his wife Ethel May (née Preston), Lockwood ...
as Josiah
References
External links
*
*
1988 films
British black comedy films
British independent films
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
1980s black comedy films
Films about cannibalism
1988 comedy films
Films directed by Giles Foster
1980s English-language films
1980s British films
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