''Shadey'' is a 1985 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Philip Saville and starring

Antony Sher Sir Antony Sher (14 June 1949 – 2 December 2021) was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 a ...

, Billie Whitelaw and Patrick Macnee. The screenplay concerns a man with

clairvoyant Clairvoyance (; ) is the magical ability to gain information about an object, person, location, or physical event through extrasensory perception. Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ("one who sees cl ...

qualities who is recruited by British intelligence for a secret mission.

Cast

– Oliver Shadey * Billie Whitelaw – Doctor Cloud * Patrick Macnee – Sir Cyril Landau *

Larry Lamb Lawrence Douglas Lamb (born 1 October 1947) is an English actor and radio presenter. He played Archie Mitchell in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'', Mick Shipman in the BBC comedy series '' Gavin & Stacey'' and Ted Case in the final series ...

– Dick Darnley *

Katherine Helmond Katherine Marie Helmond (July 5, 1929 – February 23, 2019) was an American actress. Over her five decades of television acting, she was known for her starring role as Jessica Tate on the sitcom ''Soap'' (1977–1981) and her co-starring role as ...

– Lady Constance Landau * Leslie Ash – Carol Landau *

Bernard Hepton Francis Bernard Heptonstall (19 October 1925 – 27 July 2018) better known by the stage name Bernard Hepton, was an English theatre director and actor. Best known for his stage work and television roles in teleplays and series, he also appeare ...

– Captain Amies *

Jesse Birdsall Jesse Birdsall (born 13 February 1963) is an English actor, known for his roles as Marcus Tandy in the BBC1 soap opera '' Eldorado'', Nick Beckett in the adventure series '' Bugs'' (1995–1999), football manager Roger Webb in ''Footballers' Wiv ...

– Carl *

Jonathan Scott-Taylor Jonathan Scott-Taylor (born 6 March 1962) is an English actor. Early life He was born in São Paulo, Brazil to English parents; his father was a consultant for the fishery industry in Brazil at the time. He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's ...

– Arthur * Jenny Runacre – Shop assistant * Olivier Pierre – Manson * Jon Cartwright – Shulman * Stephen Persaud – Winston

Release

The film premiered at the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...

on 18 November 1985. It was distributed by Mainline Pictures in the United Kingdom. The film was released by Skouras Pictures in the United States on 5 June 1987 and grossed over $65,817. Shadey has been very rarely shown on TV - it was shown on Channel 4 in April 1988 as part of its Film On 4 stand and the last known broadcast was on ABC in Australia on Christmas Day 1996. Apart from VHS rental soon after its release, it had long been unavailable on Video, DVD or streaming platforms- until it became available to stream via the Britbox service in September 2021.

References

Bibliography

* Ginibre, Jean-Louis. ''Ladies Or Gentlemen: A Pictorial History of Male Cross-Dressing in the Movies''. Filipacchi, 2005.

External links

* * 1985 films 1985 comedy films Films directed by Philip Saville British comedy films 1980s English-language films 1980s British films {{1980s-UK-comedy-film-stub