Patrick O'Connell

A look at the making of the Doctor Who story 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth' (1964)

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Peak Practice is a British drama series about a GP surgery in Cardale — a small fictional town in the Derbyshire Peak District — and the doctors who worked there. It ran on ITV from 10 May 1993 to 30 January 2002 and was one of their most successful series at the time. It originally starred Kevin Whately as Dr Jack Kerruish, Amanda Burton as Dr Beth Glover and Simon Shepherd as Dr Will Preston, though the roster of doctors would change many times over the course of the series. Cardale was based on the Staffordshire village of Longnor for the final series, but was previously based in the Derbyshire village of Crich, although certain scenes were filmed at other nearby Derbyshire towns and villages, most notably Matlock, Belper and Ashover.

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A crippled dwarf is forced to become jester to a tyrannical king, but when the king abuses a beautiful dwarf with whom the jester is in love the jester plots a terrible revenge.

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Two lovers are reunited after decades apart following a mutual misunderstanding.

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As her marriage to decorated war hero Oliver draws near, well-heeled Diana moves into an apartment within an otherwise unoccupied, sprawling London house where she starts to experience strange and terrifying nightmares. But are these troubling night terrors merely the symptom of an unsettled mind, or the sign of something far more sinister at work? Hounded by a pair of sleazy journalists, Diana soon crosses paths with American tourist Jenny, who appears to have a strange connection to the foreboding house and its dark past.

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A young British photography student travelling in France meets up with a free thinking, working-class French man, a dramatic change of pace from her staid British boyfriend. (TCM)

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1913, shortly before the outbreak of WWI. A group of aristocrats gathers at the estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby for a weekend shoot. As the terminal decrepitude of a dying class is reflected in the social interactions and hypocrisy of its members, only world weary Sir Randolph seems to realise that the sun is setting.

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When his young daughter disappears, her father refuses to accept that she is dead and sets out on a journey to find her.

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Three black militants kidnap the waiters in an Italian restaurant in London. Soon the victims befriend their kidnappers.

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It's 1943 and the American Air Force has come to Market Weatherby, a small East Anglian town. The war-weary British and the brash American GIs sometimes clash, but friendships are also forged.

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American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

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The Squad is a 1980 ITV children's TV series about the fictional exploits of a group of Police Cadets. The character of Cadet Alan Martin was played by actor Mark Botham who later went on to play PC Danny Sparkes in the TV series Juliet Bravo.

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When a leak of information in the African section of British Intelligence is discovered, a security man is brought in to investigate.

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Can a convicted murderer genuinely repent and reform? If you were the prison authorities, would you find it easy to decide if he should be released?

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Enemy At The Door is a British television drama series made by London Weekend Television for ITV. The series was shown between 1978 and 1980 and dealt with the German occupation of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, during the Second World War. The programme generated a certain amount of criticism in Guernsey, particularly for being obviously filmed on Jersey despite being ostensibly set on Guernsey. The series also marked the TV debut of Anthony Head as a member of the island resistance. The theme music was by Wilfred Josephs.

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The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

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Jeremy Brown, a language teacher, tries to make a living by teaching English to immigrants. With pupils from India, France, China, and many other countries, his lessons do not always go as planned.

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An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

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The Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It was Anderson's second TV series using live actors as opposed to electronic marionettes, and also his second to be firmly set in contemporary times. It was also the only Gerry Anderson produced television series that was not of the fantasy or science fiction genres. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company. Despite not featuring marionettes or any real science fiction elements, The Protectors became one of Anderson's most popular productions, easily winning a renewal for a second season. A third season was in the planning stages when the show's major sponsor pulled out, forcing its cancellation. The Protectors first aired in 1972 and 1973, and ran to 52 episodes over two series, each 25 minutes long - making it one of the last series of this type to be produced in a half-hour format. It starred Robert Vaughn as Harry Rule, Nyree Dawn Porter as the Contessa Caroline di Contini, and Tony Anholt as Paul Buchet. Episodes often featured prominent guest actors.

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New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

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The Brothers is a British television series, produced and shown by the BBC between 1972 and 1976.

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Based on the Alan Sillitoe short story. The film tells the story of the ill-fated love between Tony, a petty thief from a working-class family, and Doris, the daughter of an upwardly mobile scrap dealer.

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Blinker, so named because he blinks whenever he has a bright idea for a new invention, is the son of an eccentric Professor who is developing a top secret Pulsar Crystal X. Blinker's inventions help him to be a successful goalkeeper and to keep an eye on The Masons gang - and some real crooks.

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An anthology series produced by Thames Television, comprised of short mystery, suspense or crime adaptations featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

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An English aristocrat and an American millionaire come together to tackle crime.

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This historical mini-series documents the reign of Elizabeth I with each episode focusing on one dramatic period in the lengthy reign of the Virgin Queen, including her ascension to the throne, her various marital intrigues, her problems with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, and the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada.

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A German U-Boat commander plans a daring escape from a PoW camp in Scotland.

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Dominic Behan's play concerning the IRA’s bombing campaign in London in 1939

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Crime drama series detailing the cases of Detective Inspector Gamble and Detective Sergeant Vicky Hicks working for the Fraud Squad in the Midlands. Gamble is very much his own man, all too often doing things his own way, much to the frustration of his boss Superintendent Proud. Gamble’s sidekick Vicky is often little more than a glorified secretary for too much of the time but as the series goes on she does more of a chance to shine.

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A group of coal miners from Nottingham go on their annual trip to Blackpool.

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Callan is the title of a British television series set in the murky world of espionage. Originally produced by ABC Weekend Television and later Thames Television, it was aired on the ITV network over four seasons spread out between 1967 and 1972. The series starred Edward Woodward as David Callan, a reluctant professional killer for a shadowy branch of the British Government's intelligence services known as 'the Section'.

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When a boy discovers that both his parents are in prison, he sets out to find them.

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A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays 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.

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The TARDIS arrives in a desolate future London, where the Doctor discovers his old enemies the Daleks have taken control of Earth.

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Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

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The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

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