John Howard Davies

Documentary celebrating 50 years of The Good Life.

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What was it really like behind the scenes of The Good Life? With contributions from Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Monty Don, Brian Sewell and John O'Farrell.

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A look behind the scenes of satirical sketch show Not the Nine O'Clock News.

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30 years after Fawlty Towers (1975) ended, Stephen Fry narrates a documentary about the making of this classic sitcom.

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A look at the careers of John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam in the years after Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969).

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Documentary about the life and career of actress Diana Dors, Britain's own "Blonde Bombshell".

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The Adventures of William Tell is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment.

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About Religion was a UK religious affairs programme on Associated Television (ATV) 1958–1965. It was usually hosted by interviewer Julian Grenfell, with David King and John Brooking. An anthology of interviews was published in 1963.

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Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once young and handsome William Green. He changed his name to include his first wife's for the photographic portrait work he excelled 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.

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In 1830s England, Tom Brown attends a rugby boys' school, where his moral and personal growth is formed through friendship, bullying–particularly from the cruel Flashman–and the influence of headmaster Dr Thomas Arnold.

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A strange and tragic tale of a young boy who is able to predict race winners at the horse track by riding his own rocking horse to aid his parents out of their endless round of debts.

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When 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist dares to ask his cruel taskmaster, Mr. Bumble, for a second serving of gruel, he's hired out as an apprentice. Escaping that dismal fate, young Oliver falls in with the street urchin known as the Artful Dodger and his criminal mentor, Fagin. When kindly Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver in, Fagin's evil henchman Bill Sikes plots to kidnap the boy.

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Rowan Atkinson stars in another comic creation; Mr Bean a mute oddball who trips in and out of chaos and mayhem including; 'The Curse of Mr Bean' and 'Mr Bean Goes to Town' plus the episode 'The Bus Stop'.

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After the deaths of her parents, Jace moves in with her godfather Harry, who runs a waxwork museum in a seaside town. He hopes the weather will change for the worse to attract custom.

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Jean Price is the newly elected, somewhat rebellious Labour MP for an inner-city constituency, and her life in the House of Commons. She's married to Geoff Price, a public defender and carer of many household chores so that Jean can pursue her new career. Jean balances her personal life with parliamentary duties, including 'women's issues', which Jean alternately fights for and is frustrated by, as other MPs think she cares about nothing else due to her gender. She often is surprised by others' duplicity and hypocrisy, holding them to a significantly higher standard.

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Mr Bean turns simple everyday tasks into chaotic situations and will leave you in stitches as he creates havoc wherever he goes.

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Andy Capp is a British sitcom based on the cartoon Andy Capp. It starred James Bolam and ran for one series in 1988. It was written by Keith Waterhouse. Unusually, for a sitcom, there was no studio audience during the filming of Andy Capp. It was made for the ITV network by Thames Television. Andy Capp is a slothful man from Hartlepool, whose life consists of drinking, sleeping, watching TV, betting, going to the pub and occasionally playing football. His wife, Flo, is constantly annoyed by her lazy husband and frequently uses a rolling pin as a weapon.

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After Henry is a British sitcom written by Simon Brett, and starring Prunella Scales and Joan Sanderson. Originating as a radio programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1985 to 1989, it was adapted for television by Thames Television. Sarah is the 42-year-old widow of GP Henry France. She lives in an often volatile family situation with her elderly mother Eleanor Prescott, and her daughter, 18-year-old Clare, with both of whom she shares a house. Following Henry's death, the family have to find a way to cope with each other as best they can. The BBC was initially hesitant to produce a series but after three successful runs on BBC Radio 4, it was commissioned for the small screen. The series was surprisingly popular, attracting over 14 million viewers. Four seasons were made, with the last transmitted after the death of Sanderson, who died on 24 May 1992.

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Executive Stress is a British sitcom that aired on ITV from 1986 to 1988. Produced by Thames Television, it first aired on 20 October 1986. After three series, the last episode aired on 27 December 1988. Written by George Layton, Executive Stress stars Penelope Keith as Caroline Fairchild, a middle-aged woman who decides to go back to work. Her husband, Donald, is played by Geoffrey Palmer in the first series. However, Palmer was unable to return for the second series, so Peter Bowles played Donald in the last two series. Keith and Bowles had previously appeared in together in To the Manor Born.

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British sitcom in which Reverend Philip Lambe, after becoming bored in his wealthy Oxfordshire parish, asks for a transfer to a more difficult assignment. Sent to Edendale, a fictional urban town in the Midlands, he is accompanied by his wife Emma, sixteen-year-old daughter Miranda and twelve-year-old son Peter.

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46-year-old Reginald Iolanthe Perrin is suffering a midlife crisis and tries to escape his dreary life.

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A bored British barrister's affair with a rich American, discovered by his wife, ends in murder.

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Disillusioned after a long career at Sunshine Desserts, Reginald Iolanthe Perrin endures a midlife crisis and fakes his own death. Returning in disguise after various attempts at finding a 'new life', Perrin gets his old job back and finds nothing has changed. He is eventually found out, and later finds success with a chain of junk shops. However, it becomes so successful that he feels he has created a monster and decides to destroy it.

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Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.

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Tom and Barbara Good escape the rat race and pursue a self-sufficient lifestyle in Surbiton, much to the concern, frustration and sometimes envy of their neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. Entitled ‘Good Neighbors’ when shown in the USA.

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Whoops Baghdad is a BBC television comedy programme first broadcast from 25 January to 1 March 1973. The series stars Frankie Howerd, and was similar to his earlier programme Up Pompeii!, with the setting moved from Ancient Rome to mediaeval Baghdad. However, it was significantly less successful than its predecessor, only running for six episodes and is little remembered, although all episodes survive. The original proposed title, Up Baghdad, was rejected because it was felt that it might have been seen as supportive of the then-current Iraqi regime.

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A British sketch comedy series with the shows being composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines.

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The World of Beachcomber was a surreal television comedy show produced by the BBC, inspired by the Beachcomber column in the Daily Express newspaper. The show, like the column, consisted of a series of unrelated pieces of humour. Links between the items were provided by Spike Milligan, dressed in a smoking jacket and cap, as in the cartoon logo above the newspaper column. The other actors were a Who's Who of British comedy of the time, encompassing almost every supporting player seen or heard in comedy, not excluding people of diminutive stature.

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All Gas and Gaiters is a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of "John Wraith" when writing the pilot. At St Oggs Cathedral is a carefree bishop, an old tippling archdeacon, and an accident-prone chaplain, who all wish to live a quiet bachelor life, but this is continually threatened by the dean, who tries to bring by-the-book rule to the cathedral.

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