Stephen Bill

It is 1970, there is World Cup and General Election fever. Marco, a wealthy Italian, has come to England to discover his true identity. Carl, a student, is torn between canvassing for the Labour party, watching the World Cup or going on a walking holiday with his girlfriend Ellie. Their paths cross in Preston library and the three take an epic journey across the Pennines.

Open details →

Jim Broadbent wrote and starred in this short film directed by none other than Mike Leigh. As a member of the landed gentry, the 23rd Earl of Leete has a duty to maintain and expand his lands. Shot in the style and manner of a BBC documentary, Broadbent tells his family history to the crew, who slowly come to realise - as do we - that things are not what they seem.

Open details →

Screen One biopic detailing the final eight years in the life of comedian Tony Hancock, from the peak of his powers as Britain's number one comedian to his eventual mental, alcoholic decline and suicide in Australia.

Open details →

When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage.

Open details →

Brass is a British comedy-drama series created by John Stevenson and Julian Roach, and produced by Granada Television for ITV and eventually Channel 4. Satirising the working-class period dramas of the 1970s and the American supersoaps such as Dallas and Dynasty, Brass was unusual for ITV comedies of the time, as there was no laugh track and the humour deliberately kept extremely dry, using convoluted wordplay and subtle commentary on popular culture. Set primarily in Utterley, a fictional Lancashire mining town in the 1930s, two feuding families—the wealthy Hardacres and the poor, working-class Fairchilds, who lived in a small terraced house rented from the Hardacre empire.

Open details →

Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.

Open details →

In 1920 a trio of British soldiers have to guard an exploded mine washes up on a beach. Part of the BBC2 Playhouse strand.

Open details →

Teenage Billy Stanyon faces the loss of his parents in a sailing accident, only to discover that he was adopted. Billy then sets off on a journey to find his biological parents that takes him across Europe.

Open details →

A new flat and a new friend. For Emmie life would be lovely-but her daughter hardly visits any more and won't even let Mum make those wonderful bouffant frocks for her ballroom dancing ...

Open details →

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

Open details →

Based on the book "Spend, Spend, Spend" by Vivian Nicholson and Stephen Smith. Story of pools winner, Vivian Nicholson.

Open details →

Jimmy is a talented young boxer. Every punch he throws is eagerly watched by his trainer, and resented by his girlfriend. His parents, however, aren't particularly interested – until a large car and what appears to be a handsome contract arrive at the door.

Open details →

An anthology series of six contemporary plays from writers at relatively early stages in their careers.

Open details →

A middle-class couple go camping in Dorset, but peace and quiet elude them.

Open details →

Churchill's People is a British anthology series based on A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies. 26 episodes were produced by the BBC and initially broadcast from 30 December 1974 to 23 June 1975.

Open details →

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Open details →

Maisie Raine was a drama series originally broadcast on BBC1 for 2 series from 28 July 1998 – 9 July 1999. Pauline Quirke took the lead role as DI Maisie Raine, an unorthodox detective whose hands on and down to earth approach was not always appreciated by her superiors. When she took on a case, she did it her way, regardless of whose toes she stepped on and who she offended. Each episode would see the team investigating a crime and often uncovering more about the perpetrators and the victims histories with DI Raine often becoming personally involved or bending the rules to get the results she wanted. Also starring alongside Quirke were Ian McElhinney, Steve John Shepherd, Rakie Ayola and Richard Graham.

Open details →

When his estranged wife is brutally attacked by a burglar, a law-abiding locksmith unconvinced that the junkie charged for the crime is the real attacker starts his own investigation.

Open details →

It is 1970, there is World Cup and General Election fever. Marco, a wealthy Italian, has come to England to discover his true identity. Carl, a student, is torn between canvassing for the Labour party, watching the World Cup or going on a walking holiday with his girlfriend Ellie. Their paths cross in Preston library and the three take an epic journey across the Pennines.

Open details →

Francis and his wife, Elaine, are proprietors of a struggling window-covering business, agree to install curtains in an exclusive club patronized by Ron, a wealthy friend of theirs. After completing the job, the shop owner has great difficulty collecting payment for the job. His "friend" becomes scarce and Francis finds he has no legal foot to stand on since there is no written record of the informal transaction. With the couple's business floundering due to mounting debts, and their former friend Ron's crass attitude towards their predicament, anger and frustration reach the boiling point.

Open details →