Comedic British History

Deric Longden and his wife, Aileen, come to terms with the fact that his mother, Annie, is getting too old to live on her own. Annie suffers her first stroke and a nursing home is the obvious solution, but which one and where?

Julie and The Cadillacs, a struggling young pop group, are enticed to London and signed up by London PR men...

Dinnerladies is a BBC sitcom written by and starring Victoria Wood that chronicles the antics of a group of workers in a canteen in the north of England. Bren tries to maintain a semblance of order in amongst the chaos, while dealing with the canteen supervisor, slightly sex-obsessed cancer sufferer Tony. Dolly and Jean are the bickering menopausal older women, always at odds but best friends beneath it all. Then there's thick-as-two-short-planks Anita, and the terminally uninterested Twinkle, more concerned with having a good time than anything else. Making up the motley crew are military man handyman Stan, all rules and regulations, and ditzy Philippa, who never seems to get anything right.

A series of monologues.

Unexpected events occur when Pat, a glamorous British-born star of American soaps, returns home to plug her auto-biography on television and meets, for the first time since they were teenagers, Margaret her plain and frumpy younger sister. The meeting is painful for both women highlighting the vast differences in their lives and resurrecting painful memories of their unhappy childhood with an uncaring, errant mother. The tabloid press smell a juicy story and a race ensues to trace the whereabouts of the long lost parent.

Diana and Deric have an ideal marriage: they thrive in each other's company, they're funny, and they enjoy their two grown children and Deric's dotty mother; the trouble is, Diana can no longer walk and her malady defies medical diagnosis. To care for Diana, Deric is letting his business slide, but at a civic luncheon, he is seated next to Aileen Armitage, a novelist who is blind. They have a nice time, and on the sly, Diana contacts Aileen to made an odd request. Diana's declining health and her resolve bring this triangle of unlikely friends to a surprising place.

An adaptation of Anne Fine's 1989 children's novel about a one-parent family.

Several elderly friends and acquaintances in 1950s London are disturbed to receive mysterious telephone calls predicting their impending deaths...

Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.

Adapted from the Beatrix Potter story tells the story of the pignap of Little Pig Robinson by Captain Barnabus Butcher who fools Robinson into believing he is being taken on a trip to visit the land of the Bong tree; the truth of the matter is more sinister.

Perfect Scoundrels first broadcast in 1990 on British television. A comedy-drama following two con-men doing their best to separate various people from their money

An ill tailor is trying to finish a coat for a wealthy man. He is hindered by his cat and helped by some grateful mice.

Six monologues tell the stories of six different repressed souls: a man dominated by his mother, a vicar's wife, an inveterate letter writer, a hopeful actress, a recently widowed woman, and an elderly shut-in.

A series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by the acclaimed British playwright Alan Bennett.

A series of dramatic monologues written for BBC television by the acclaimed British playwright Alan Bennett.

Adapted from a play written by two Monty Python vets, this toothy satire launches with a tragic accident at Chumley's chocolate factory when hapless manager Ian Littleton (Tyler Butterworth) accidentally knocks several employees into a huge chocolate vat. The tragic mishap at the chocolate factory results in candy lovers getting an unexpected 'extra' in their sweets.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the special edition of your favourtie comedy show to fill the gap between the staggeringly huge Christmas dinner and the Queen's speech, and the ITV network have rolled hours of Christmas's into one with their latest DVD set of ITV comedy. With almost ten hours of classic, festive merriment featuring some of the channel's most memorable Christmas specials the whole family can relive the joys of Christmas past.

A series of plays written by Alan Bennett.

When Denis Midgley's father is rushed to hospital, Midgley drops everything to be by his side. They've never really got on, so Midgley wants to be sure he's there if his father ever regains consciousness. As he hates his job as a schoolteacher, and his home-life with his wife, her senile mother and their insolent teenage son, he has no qualms about lingering around the hospital. But as days turn into weeks, his father obstinately refuses to 'slip away', and Denis' motivation for staying by his father's bedside has more and more to do with Valery, a young nurse.

Hallelujah! was a British sitcom made by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and was broadcast from April 1983 to December 1984. The series was set in a Salvation Army citadel in the fictional Yorkshire town of Brigthorpe during series 1. Captain Emily Ridley has been posted there, having been an active member of the Salvation Army for 42 years. Despite the town and residents being seemingly pleasant, Emily is determined to flush out sin from behind the net curtains. Assisting Emily are her niece Alice Meredith. The programme was a repeat collaboration between Hird and the creator Dick Sharples, having worked together on the comedy series In Loving Memory between 1979 and 1986. The show even featured guest appearances from guest stars like Hird's Last of the Summer Wine co-star actor Michael Aldridge and television presenter & Countdown Legend Richard Whiteley Himself.

Lee, a Chinese man, works as a waiter in a hotel in England, despite speaking very little English. Told that a girl called Iris might be interested in him, on his afternoon off work he buys a box of chocolates and sets off to find her.

Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1979 Australian game show Blankety Blanks. The British version ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC One, hosted first by Terry Wogan and later by Les Dawson. Regular members of the celebrity panel on this version included Kenny Everett, Lorraine Chase, Gareth Hunt, Gary Davies, and Cheryl Baker. A revival fronted by Lily Savage was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 January 2001 to 10 August 2002. This version was produced by Grundy, then Thames.

A repressed night-school teacher, secretly homosexual, struggles to cope with his demanding, eccentric mother.

All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series, based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot. Ninety episodes were aired over two three-year runs. The first run was based directly on Herriot's books; the second was filmed with original scripts.

Olive Major is determined that her year of office as Mayor will be a happy and successful one. But her appointment of Ex-Warrant Officer Higham as Attendant and Mace-bearer causes the storm-clouds to gather over Medburgh Town Hall.

Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.

Unencumbered by wives, jobs or any other responsibilities, three senior citizens who've never really grown up explore their world in the Yorkshire Dales. They spend their days speculating about their fellow townsfolk and thinking up adventures not usually favored by the elderly. Last of the Summer Wine premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse in 1973. The show ran for 295 episodes until 2010. It is the longest running comedy Britain has produced and the longest running sitcom in the world.

A stolid British family from Bishops Stortford are adventurous and book a holiday in a villa in Morocco, where things befall them.

Prequel to the Henry James classic "Turn of the Screw" about the events leading up to the deaths of Peter Quint and Ms. Jessel, and the slow corruption of the children in their care.

The first in a series of new plays. Arthur and Gwen, a cosy middle-aged couple, remember with nostalgia the pre-Motorway Britain of their youth. When Tom, an old friend, returns from voyaging the world their life takes a strange new turn.

Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

Four people go to great lengths to obtain the fortune left in a will by a very wealthy practical joker.

In Loving Memory is a British period sitcom set in an undertakers business that starred Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. A pilot was transmitted in 1969 by Thames Television who rejected the idea before it was finally accepted by Yorkshire Television in 1979 where it further ran for five series between until 1986.

The series starred Thora Hird as crusading local councillor Sarah Danby and was set around the fictional borough of Furness in Lancashire. Capitalising on the popularity of its lead actress, The First Lady was a down-to-earth series exploring the inner workings of local government.

In Shakespeare's classic play, the Montagues and Capulets, two families of Renaissance Italy, have hated each other for years, but the son of one family and the daughter of the other fall desperately in love and secretly marry.

The uneasy relationship between elderly couple Thora Hird and Ron Moody and a cheerful stranger who moves in with them (Ronald Lacey). Written by Richard Harris (not the actor, but the future creator of Man in a Suitcase

Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.

Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina. Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.

Percy Winthram is a naive young man who still lives at home with his mum. In London for the Cup Final with his friends, he finds himself in a Soho strip club, where he meets blonde hostess Cyrenne. Accepting a bet from friend Ginger, he accompanies Cyrenne back to her flat, and a boast-worthy night of lust seems to be on the cards. However, drained of beer and bravado, Percy's innocence and vulnerability become all too evident.

Meet the Wife is a 1960s BBC situation comedy written by Ronald Chesney and Ronald Wolfe, which featured Freddie Frinton as Freddie Blacklock with Thora Hird as his tyrannical wife, Thora. It ran to five series. The series was based on a 1963 BBC television Comedy Playhouse production, "The Bed". The theme tune was by Russ Conway and incidental music by Norman Percival and later Dennis Wilson. The producers were John Paddy Carstairs and later Robin Nash. The Beatles song "Good Morning, Good Morning" on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band includes the lyric "It's time for tea and Meet the Wife".

A pretty young woman will do anything to escape her deadly dull existence in the backlots of Wales. But when she reaches the bright lights of London is the price too high?

A schoolteacher plagued by alcoholism and his refusal to serve in World War II, Graham Weir inspires contempt in almost everyone around him, including his bitter wife, Anna. When the lovely young Shirley Taylor, one of Weir's students, falls for her unfortunate instructor, he is tempted and flattered but turns down her advances. Taylor's subsequent actions make Weir's life even more complicated.

As Vic Brown vacillates between infatuation and disinterest for his co-worker Ingrid Rothwell, she finds out that she is pregnant and Vic has to reconcile how he thought his life would go with what life actually has in store for him.

Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.

Archie Rice, an old-time British vaudeville performer sinking into final defeat, schemes to stay in show business.

The sequel to 'Up The Creek' sees David Tomlinson return as bumbling navy boffin Lieutenant Humphrey Fairweather. This time he is skipper of the ship Aristotle and, together with his second-in-command, Fairweather wreaks havoc when he is ordered to deliver the Aristotle to its new owners in a mythical Middle-Eastern country.

George Watson's domestic bliss is shattered when his wife discovers he has broken his promise never to gamble again.

A Liverpool gang member wins a singing contest is then called up for National Service where he clashes with another soldier.

The story revolves around the Dinky Doos, a provincial musical troupe living from hand to mouth.

A rich young society girl falls in love with a car mechanic. Her family is appalled and stops her seeing him. The girl attempts to commit suicide and then decides to elope.

Battle-axe Emma Hornett dominates her hen-pecked husband Henry, his meek sister Edie and daughter Shirley. Shirley is to marry young sailor Albert,raised in an orphanage,and he and best man Carnoustie stay with the Hornetts on the eve of the wedding.

When George discovers that he has won the pools, there is huge excitement in the household. But it turns out that it's his son who has won, in partnership with the son of a woman against whom George has some ill feelings.

In love with a man who wants to marry her after he returns from a trip to sea, chorus girl Angela Booth tries to quit her seamy job and become a model citizen. When her employer refuses to dissolve her contract, though, they quarrel and she accidentally hits him. He presses charges, claiming she hit him deliberately, and she is convicted and sent to prison. As her fiance is at sea and out of contact, she is terrified he will think she has jilted him when she does not keep a New Year's date. A kindly old convict, Gran', notorious as a prison-breaker, agrees to engineer an escape for Angela...

Seeking the whereabouts of international gangster Nick Randall, the US State Department contacts Scotland Yard, as his girlfriend, Angela Booth, is currently in a British prison. Angela has refused to give Nick up to the law, so the combined authorities arrange for Angela to escape, aided by stoolie Gran' Ramsey who is at the same prison. The police will then follow Angela to Nick. Gran' stages the getaway, and the two women, accompanied by a third convict, Marguerite, whose prison-born baby is about to be turned over to welfare authorities. It is up to Gran' to keep the police informed of Angela's movements without being detected by the escapees, until Angela contacts Nick. This film is a reworking of principal footage from the UK film WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (1955), q.v., which, with added new footage (including scenes with original star Beverly Michaels), significantly revises the plot and central characters from a story about a wrongly imprisoned waif to one about a gangster's moll.

U.S. Embassy employee Lee Cochrane and his wife, Sue, receive a shock when they discover that their 18-month-old son, Simon, has disappeared in London. He was last seen with their nanny, and the couple seemingly have no leads that might help police Detective Craig in his investigation. The media sensationalizes the incident, causing an unnecessary distraction as the couple prepares to confront the culprit face-to-face.

Bickering married performers agree to star in a "Mr. and Mrs." TV show.

The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

On the first night of his London assignment, newsagency reporter John Desmonmd becomes heavily involved with enigmatic Anna Ray. The affair ends when she is shot struggling for a gun she has pulled on him. This is only the start of his troubles, as Anna worked for a criminal organisation who know Desmond has now got her valuable contacts list.

The first manned spacecraft, fired from an English launchpad, is first lost from radar, then roars back to Earth and crashes in a farmer's field, and is found to contain only one of the three men who took off in it; and he is unable to talk but appears to be undergoing a torturous physical and mental metamorphosis.

After being arrested for assaulting a football referee, desperate train driver Bill (Arthur Askey) raids the railwaymen's holiday fund to cover his £55 fine. He knows he's going to be discovered though, leaving him no choice but to get the money back by hook or by crook! His last chance is to run a book on the United v City football derby. If that wasn't tense enough, Bill's son is also making his debut for United. It looks like it's going to be a day to remember - do you dare look? ...The Love Match.

Norman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property developer (boo hiss) who is also the chairman of the orphanage board wants to close the orphanage and build a factory on the site. The children are sent to Brighton for the day and Norman is very excited because he's "Never seen the Sea". When they get back they discover the plan to close the orphanage and have to decide what to do

In postwar London a young graduate and his girlfriend decide to marry. Her well-to-do parents are not convinced, but they agree once he has got a £5.10.0 job and a 30/- a week single-room flat. The newly-weds find money fearfully tight, the flat cramped, the neighbours a trial, and her parents always hovering. Can faith conquer all? Is there some way of getting rid of tea-leaves except down the sink?

When Sir George Redway, a famous actor, makes the public boast that he loves babies, a baby is promptly abandoned on his doorstep, and he is forced to take it in. Katie O'Connor, an actress who has auditioned unsuccessfully for a part in a production featuring Redway, pretends to be the child's mother in order to be near the actor. Complications develop involving Lillian Angel, Redway's fiancée, her admirer Captain Fluffy Faversham, and Katie's father, who suspects the worst of Sir George and his daughter. Eventually, the real mother of the baby returns to collect her child, all is resolved, and romance blossoms between Katie and Sir George.

Based on The Hand and the Flower, a novel by Jerrard Tickell, A Day to Remember stars Stanley Holloway as Charley Porter, captain of London darts team. When the team travels to the French town of Boulogne for the annual darts tournament, a good time is had by all--and more besides. Jim Carver one of the team's members, is reunited with a little French girl he'd befriended during the war, who has now developed into a beautiful young woman. And Fred Collins makes a poignant journey to the hotel where he'd honeymooned with his late wife. The film works best as a low-key comedy-drama; it is least successful when it ventures into O. Henry territory and strains for "surprise" story twists. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Two years of deterioration sees John and Barbara Lomax's marriage reduced to bitter sniping and "keeping up appearances" for the sake of the children. When John's old friend Bill professes his love for Barbara, the marriage finally breaks up – causing their three children to react in different ways and their son secretly determined to do Bill harm.

A British girl disappears for three days after a frank talk with the wife of a Latin teacher she loves.

A bitter burglar, a prostitute and an elderly shoplifter spend their first day out of jail.

London policewomen handle rescues and larceny as they go about their work in Chelsea.

An innocent man is released from prison after 12 years and tracks down the witnesses who lied about him in court.

The wealthy chairman of First Division Football Club, Burnville United, makes an unethical approach to a star player of another club, and the ensuing scandal costs him his job.

An ex-GI wakes up with blood on his clothes in a strange hotel room. He can't remember the night before but he later finds out that a man he got into a fight with earlier in the night was murdered.

Because of its high productivity and "almost" 100 per cent employment, the town of Hayhoe, England is expecting a visit from the Prime Minister. The "almost" is because of Dan Dance (Eddie Byrne), an old rogue who would rather drink and philosophize than work. The Village Council are determined to have a perfect record so they connive to have the old man put into the alms-house which has been unoccupied for many years, where he must abide by rules laid down 400 years ago. A new Vicar arrives and discovers that, because of the circumstances created by the Council, Dan Dance is entitled to 6,000 pounds a year at the expense of the village.

A 5-year-old child is diagnosed with leukaemia and has only days to live. Her only hope is a blood transfusion, but her blood type is extremely rare, so the race is on to find the donors.

Kicked out of Oxford, a junk dealer's son joins a gang of thieves fenced by his father.

Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once very different. As young and handsome William Green he changed his name to include his first wife's so that it sounded more impressive for the photographic portrait work he was so good at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.

A classic Ealing comedy in which a young boy steals a magnet and becomes a hero.

Impoverished British bank clerk John Ross is hopelessly in love with drop-dead gorgeous Irene James. Ross will do anything to win Irene's affections - including embezzlement. She ends up marrying him, but she can't give up her true love, slimy counterfeiter Jimmy Smart...

Sergeant Jack Hardacre returns from the war to his contemptible fiancée Janey Jenkins intending to reconcile with her against all odds. But he falls in love with a charming new lodger Milly Southern instead.

A blind Englishwoman weds a French nobleman and moves into his family's chateau, but she quickly realizes someone there wants her out of the way.

Jackie lives in poverty with his widowed mother. In a bid to escape poverty he gets involved in a robbery that sees him sentenced to three years in Borstal where he meets a tough crowd, tougher than anything on the outside.

A newlywed suspects her husband of being a Communist spy.

Penniless man-about-town Michael Gore-Brown is delighted to hear he has been left a high-class Mayfair fashion salon. His intention is to sell it as quickly as possible, but on meeting Ellen, chief designer and manager, he quickly changes his mind and turns his attention to courting her.

Howes plays Pamela Dickson, an impulsive young bride-to-be, while Guy Rolfe portrays her long-lost father Paul. Ostensibly a cad and bounder, Paul turns out to be just the opposite when he arrives for Pamela's wedding.

The lives of the members of a West Yorkshire cycling club are complicated by romantic entanglements and a series of bike thefts.

A factory worke quits his job to become a motorcycle racer.

A British army officer becomes fascinated by the portrait of a young woman. He travels to Germany to find her, only to discover that she is suffering from amnesia.

A British housewife does her own battles against the enemy during World War II.

Justice, the poets have it, is a blind goddess. Eric Portman stars as the lawyer defending a lord, Hugh Williams, accused by his secretary Michael Dennison of having diverted public funds for his own use.

A man falls in love with a beautiful young woman and begins to suspect that he may have also loved her in a previous life.

Jonathan Dakers' early ambition was to become a great surgeon and to marry Edie Martyn. But, on the death of his father, he is obliged to start work as a partner in a poor general practice in the Black Country. Edie falls in love with Jonathan's brother, Harold, who is killed in the Great War, and Jonathan marries her as planned. It is only afterwards that he realises he now loves another.

On New Years Eve, 1899, baronet's son Edward Courtney becomes engaged to Kate, his mother's maid, much to the scandal of London society. The film then follows their family through four generations, with separations, joys, tragedies, and service in the Boer War, WWI, and WWII.

During the Second World War, three downed English airmen hide out with women's internment camp in France.

In Victorian era London, the inhabitants of a family home with rented rooms upstairs fear the new lodger is Jack the Ripper.

The quiet village of Bramley End is taken over by German troops posing as Royal Engineers. Their task is to disrupt England's radar network in preparation for a full scale German invasion. Once the villagers discover the true identity of the troops, they do whatever they can to thwart the Nazis plans.

Based on the true story of Melbourne Johns, an aircraft factory foreman sent to France to prevent the Nazis getting hold of some vital equipment.

Wartime propaganda piece giving the warning "Be like Dad, Keep Mum". A gossipy housewife is overheard talking about what her son is doing by a Nazi spy.

A professor teaching at a correspondence school discovers that a Nazi agent is trying to prevent a trade treaty being signed between England and South America.

Ministry of Information-sponsored comedy short showing wartime audiences how to deal with the threat of incendiary bombs.