Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
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Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a seven-part BBC2 spy drama written by Arthur Hopcraft, adapted from John le Carré's eponymous 1974 novel. The serial, which stars Alec Guinness, Alexander Knox, Ian Richardson, Michael Jayston, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Ian Bannen, George Sewell and Michael Aldridge, was broadcast from 10 September to 22 October 1979. George Smiley, the ageing master spy of the Cold War and once heir-apparent to Control, is brought back out of retirement to flush out a top level mole within the Circus. Smiley must travel back through his life and murky workings of the Circus to unravel the net spun by his nemesis Karla 'The Sandman' of the KGB and reveal the identity of the mole before he disappears.
Shoestring is a BBC detective drana set in Bristol and starring Trevor Eve as private detective Eddie Shoestring, who operatee his own show on Radio West, the local radio station. The programme ran between 30 September 1979 and 21 December 1980, in two series with 21 hour-long episodes. Eve opted not to return after two series, as he wanted to diversify into theatre, so the production team changed the setting to Jersey and created Bergerac, also following a detective returning to work after a bad period in his life.
Richard O'Sullivan stars as Dick Turpin in this action-filled adventure series chronicling the exploits of England's most celebrated highwayman.
Sapphire & Steel is a British television science-fiction fantasy series starring David McCallum as Steel and Joanna Lumley as Sapphire. Produced by ATV, it ran from 1979 to 1982 on the ITV network. The series was created by Peter J. Hammond who conceived the programme under the working title The Time Menders, after a stay in an allegedly haunted castle. Hammond also wrote all the stories except for the fifth, which was co-written by Don Houghton and Anthony Read. None of the stories had onscreen titles, or any official titles assigned by the writers. The Region 1 Complete Series DVD release gives the titles "Escape Through a Crack in Time", "The Railway Station", "The Creature's Revenge", "The Man Without a Face", "Dr. McDee Must Die" and "The Trap", respectively. These titles have often been cited as having been created by science fiction magazine Time Screen.
Danger UXB is a 1979 British television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The programme is titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company which, as a result of thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz, has become a bomb disposal unit. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fusing. The storylines were primarily military, with a romantic thread between Ash and an inventor's married daughter, and other human interest vignettes.
The Mallens is a British television drama based on four Catherine Cookson novels, The Mallen Streak, The Mallen Girls, The Mallen Secret, and The Mallen Curse. Produced by Granada Television for ITV1, it ran for thirteen episodes from 10 June 1979 to 3 July 1980. A ruthless 19th-century Northumberland squire, Thomas Mallen of High Banks Hall, has a genetic white streak (poliosis) in his hair and fathers numerous illegitimate children, all of whom inherit the white streak and live disastrous lives.
Count Mátyás Sándor is the protagonist of this exciting series based on the popular novel by Jules Verne. In 1859, after the defeat of the Habsburgs in Italy, the wealthy Transylvanian lord sees the time has come to launch another armed struggle for Hungary's independence. The Viennese Chamberlain, however, learns of his activities and decides to 'liquidate' him. Two adventurous criminals are commissioned to carry out the assassination.
Agony is a British sitcom produced by LWT for ITV, broadcast from 1979 to 1981. It stars Maureen Lipman as successful agony aunt Jane Lucas, whose own personal life and marriage is a disaster. It was written by Len Richmond, Anna Raeburn, Stan Hey and Andrew Nickolds. Although a comedy, Agony sometimes dealt with taboo issues such as drug use, racism, abortion, interracial relationships, and swinging, and was the first British sitcom to portray a gay couple as non-camp, witty, intelligent and happy people. It also openly mocked the government, the ruling classes, and religion, and occasionally contained dark and dramatic storylines.
Dark Ages wizard Merlin, weary of the barbarism around him, creates a new order of enlightenment and justice with a youthful Arthur at its head. Merlin gifts Arthur with the magic legendary sword Excalibur to help him defeat the nobles who oppose his rule. But Arthur must also beware his half-sister Morgan, a sorceress who has sworn to kill him to avenge her father's death. As Morgan intensifies her plans for revenge, she uses magic to draw Lancelot and Guinevere into a passionate affair. However, it is the still more traitorous Mordred who will ultimately determine the fate of Arthur's rule.
This was a series of summer plays, one of which ("Waxwork") led to the popular series Cribb (1980).
A series of plays concerning the theme of love.
In early 20th-century England, young orphan Christina Parsons is sent to live with her Uncle Russell, who owns the country estate of Flambards, and has two sons. Mark, the elder, is a wastrel, a roue and, like his father, loves to hunt. The younger, William, lives to fly aeroplanes. Christina finds herself struggling with the ideas of classism as she falls in love with country life, the hunt, and one of her cousins. But after an impulsive marriage, when her husband is called away by the First World War, Christina must keep Flambards afloat by herself.
Rebecca is a four-part British television miniseries dramatised by Hugh Whitemore, adapted from Daphne du Maurier's eponymous 1938 mystery novel (which had famously been interpreted to film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940). A naive young woman marries a wealthy widower, but grows haunted by his late wife's legacy and the sinister housekeeper's obsession with the deceased Rebecca.
Shot in Polish-British co-production series of short stories based on themes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - "father" of the world's most famous detective: Sherlock Holmes.
A sweeping tale of love, hate, and ambition centered on the Cornish estate of Penmarric, with Mark Castallack torn between his wife Janna and his mistress, leading to family conflict and tragedy.
Timm Thaler is a 1979 children's television miniseries based on the 1962 children's novel by German writer James Krüss. The series originally aired in Germany as the first Christmas series on German national broadcaster ZDF. In 1988, the series was acquired for transmission in the United Kingdom by the BBC. The English version was produced by Angela Beeching, with script by Nel Romano, and retitled The Legend of Tim Tyler. It aired during Children's BBC in the weekday afternoons. The screenplay was written by Justus Pfaue and Peter M. Thouet and differs somewhat from the original novel. Directed by Sigi Rothemund, the series became a hit in Germany and made then 14-year-old Tommi Ohrner, in the lead role of Timm Thaler, a popular teen idol of the era. The role of the Baron was played by Horst Frank.
David McCallum stars as the rebellious Alan Breck Stewart, and this ambitious serial (a co-production between HTV and Germany's Tele-Munchen) also features a host of British character actors, including Bill Simpson, Patrick Allen, Andrew Keir, Patrick Magee and Frank Windsor. When young David Balfour arrives at his uncle's bleak Scottish house to claim his inheritance, his relative tries to murder him then has him shipped off to be sold as a slave in the colonies. Luckily for the lad, he strikes up a friendship with Alan Breck Stewart, who is on the run after Bonnie Prince Charlie's defeat at Culloden. When a ship's captain tries to kill Breck for his money, the two manage to get to land and set out for Edinburgh, dodging the ruthless Redcoats along the way.
The Island of Thirty Coffins is a 1979 French television series based on Maurice Leblanc's novel L'île aux trente cercueils, directed by Marcel Cravenne. It stars Claude Jade as Véronique d'Hergemont, a female protagonist, who is on the run and on searching for her father and her son, involved in horrible adventures on a terrific island. The story proceeds in 1917. Veronique d' Hergemont is a 35-year-old nurse at the military hospital of Besançon. She suddenly learns the assassination of her husband, the mysterious Count Vorski, whom she has not seen for fourteen years. Its research will also lead it on the track of her father and her son whom she believed dead in a shipwreck, it is already a long time.
A dramatization of Vera Brittain's 1933 autobiography Testament of Youth—a memorial to a generation devastated by WWI—chronicles her experiences as a nurse in London and Malta and at the front lines in France. It opens with 18-year-old Vera, the genteel daughter of a paper-mill owner, nurturing "hopes of escaping from provincial young ladyhood." Her plan is to attend Oxford.
Prince Regent is a British period television series that first aired on the BBC in 1979. It depicted the life of George IV from his youth, time as Prince Regent and his reign as King. It consists of eight episodes of 50 minutes.
Adaptation of Elizabeth Jane Howard's novel about the family of a publisher, killed in World War II, who discover unwelcome truths about him twenty years later in the course of a weekend at his widow's home.
The tale of an individualist proletarian in a time marked by the rise of mass political movements. In early 20th-century Italy, illiterate sailor Martin Eden seeks fame as a writer while torn between the love of a bourgeois girl and allegiance to his social class.
In the near future, a now-elderly Bernard Quatermass investigates the disappearance of his granddaughter and a mysterious cult.
The Old Curiosity Shop is a 1979 BBC miniseries based on the novel by Charles Dickens. It was directed by Julian Amyes, and adapted by William Trevor. A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.
Former student Raskolnikov is pushed to murder when struggling to pay the rent on his apartment. When the murder is being investigated by the police, Raskolnikov struggles between trying to hide his guilt and the pressure to confess.
The series describes the time of the First World War in 8 episodes based on the novel by Bernard von Brentano from the perspective of the family of a Hessian Reichstag member, an independent man of the Catholic-conservative Centre Party.
The Omega Factor is a British television series produced by BBC Scotland in 1979. It was created by Jack Gerson and produced by George Gallaccio, and transmitted in ten weekly episodes between 13 June and 15 August.
A miniseries about a pair of teenagers living in a slum at the fringes of Berlin. Alcoholism, prostitution, and violence are just a few of the themes of the three movies.
Sid Halley, champion steeplechase jockey, suffers a devastating injury in a fall that ends his career. He sinks into self-pity until his aristocratic father-in-law bullies him into trying something new: becoming a private detective. A great literary gumshoe emerges as Halley regains his dignity, faces his vulnerability, and finds new meaning in life.
It all starts with a minor rear-end collision. Gloria meets Maximillian Glanz in the process. Together with their mutual friend Lino, the two experience adventures that are as turbulent as they are insane...
The stern and reserved Gustav Hartmann, known as "Iron Gustav", is the last Berlin cab driver. At the end of the 1920s, his time is over as horse-drawn cabs are replaced by automobile cabs. He is threatened with impoverishment. His family wants to have him incapacitated. So he sets off on one last great journey that takes him from Berlin to Paris and back. A reporter with a nose for a big story accompanies him, Gustav becomes famous, returns to Berlin in triumph and, having become a gentle and approachable person, reconciles with his family.
Italian TV mini series
Kümo Henriette is a German television series.
A man visiting Cyprus to investigate the death of his brother is drawn into a strange conspiracy.
Family saga set in 19th century Germany, chronicling the lives of three generations of the Buddenbrook family, the owners of a family business in the northern town of Luebeck. Based on the novel by Thomas Mann.
Telford's Change is a 1979 BBC television series by Brian Clark which stars Peter Barkworth who plays bank manager, Mark Telford, who takes a backward step in his career in order to retreat from the rat race. He relinquishes his job in international banking and becomes a local branch manager in Dover. Telford's wife Laura (Hannah Gordon) and son Peter (Michael Maloney) remain in London where Laura is romantically pursued by her theatrical colleague Tim (Keith Barron). Despite the banking backdrop, events transpire to be less dull than one mght expect.
Thomas & Sarah is a British drama series that aired on ITV in 1979. A spin-off from the BAFTA Award-winning series Upstairs, Downstairs, it stars John Alderton and Pauline Collins reprising their Upstairs, Downstairs roles.
Turtle's Progress is a British television series broadcast between 1979 and 1980. The offbeat humour of the show attracted a small but cult audience, and the show only ran for two series.
Three TV plays written by and starring comedienne Victoria Wood. The plays, first broadcast between 1979 and 1981, include her debut offering, 'Talent', in which Julie (Julie Walters) and Maureen (Wood) attempt to escape their dreary domestic lives by signing up for a talent show at a local club. 'Nearly a Happy Ending' finds Maureen having attended the local slimmers' club, but is she any happier? Finally, in 'Happy Since I Met You', Frances (Walters) is happy and single until she meets Jim (Duncan Preston) and soon realises her life is about to change.
Malice Aforethought is a four-part 1979 BBC Two miniseries by Philip Mackie, adapted from Anthony Berkeley Cox's (pen name Francis Iles) 1931 noir novel of the same name. For ten years, Julia Bickleigh has despised and bullied her husband. For ten years Dr Bickleigh has dreamed of romance ... and escape.
Berlin, beginning of the 1930s. Harry and Ede always have brilliant plans to raise money. They want to steal gold from a dental practice, sell pedigree dogs for expensive money, or sell cheap earrings as rare collectibles but it seems that their brilliant plans fail every time.
The miniseries is adapted from the novel of the same name by Joseph Conrad, in which the great writer sought—along with his earlier work "The Secret Agent"—to explore the chains of guilt associated with European despotism.
Rentner haben niemals Zeit is a German television series.
Trilogy by William Trevor charting the changes in English society in the mid-twentieth century, seen through the memories of middle-aged Matilda looking back on her idyllic pre-war childhood.
Anthology of plays, each featuring an element of the 'flipside'.
A three-episode adaptation of Goethe's novel.
Rostock at the turn of 1945/46. Following the death of shipowner Karl Kempowski, the next generation must step up, supported by grandfather de Bonsac and Eduard Corneli, an old friend of the family. Robert Kempowski has returned from captivity as a prisoner of war and is attempting to rebuild the family's shipbrokerage business. This requires considerable perseverance.
In order to get parental permission to holiday together, a young couple announce their non-existent engagement.