Tony Benn
Birthday: Born in 1925-04-03 in Marylebone, London, England, UK
Deathday: 2014-03-14
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn was a British politician, writer, and diarist. He was a Member of Parliament for 47 years between the 1950 and 2001 general elections and a Cabinet minister in the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the 1960s and 1970s.
TV Credits
The Wilderness Years
Character: Self
Documentary showing the many travails of the UK Labour Party during its long period in opposition from 1979 and through the 1980s and 1990s....
Timeshift
Character: Self - Postmaster General
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past....
Timeshift
Character: Self
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past....
Wasted Windfall
Character: Self
Three part documentary series about the discovery and exploitation of North Sea oil and its political and economic consequences....
Banned in the UK
Character: Self
Four-part series demonstrating different kinds of censorship, such as censorship by the government or of art....
Question Time
Character: Self - Panellist
This topical debate series based on Any Questions? typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer pre-selected questions put to them by a carefully selected audience....
Movie Credits
Tony Benn: Labour's Lost Leader
Character: Self (Archive Footage)
Obituary film of the lifelong Labour politician, Tony Benn, who was an MP for over 50 years. Born the son of a viscount, Benn was elected Labour MP for Bristol South East at the age of 25, and in his political career became a champion of the working class....
Laissez-faire
Character: Self (archive footage)
A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so profoundly influences the choices of our governments and our lives....
Cabinet Confidential
Character: Self
A revealing one-off documentary that provides an inside view of how Tony Blair and former prime ministers - including Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher and John Major - have run their cabinet, the highest decision-making body in the land. Through candid interviews, rare archive footage and filming inside No 10, presenter Michael Cockerell opens the door to the Government's own chamber of secrets as he seeks the answer to the question: is the notion of cabinet government an obsolete concept?...
How to Be Prime Minister
Character: Self
It begins with cheers but almost always ends in tears. Yet, as the election looms, competition for the top job grows ever more intense. Why? The hours are terrible, money so-so, job security non-existent. On the plus side, there's free accommodation in central London and probably more power over your country than any other leader in the western world. With the help of the present and previous incumbents, Michael Cockerell offers the first "how to" guide to the job of prime minister....
Trust Me - I'm a Politician
Character: Self
Last December's "Cheriegate" affair did little to abate the rampant public cynicism reserved for politicians - a mistrust evidenced in the turnout at the 2001 general election, which was the lowest for more than 80 years. In this documentary, Michael Cockerell talks to figures including Edwina Currie, Max Clifford, Geoffrey Robinson and Neil Hamilton in an effort to see if spin, sleaze and ministerial failure is to blame, or whether the media's sneering political coverage is most at fault....
Ethos
Character: Self
Hosted by twice Oscar nominated actor and activist Woody Harrelson, Ethos lifts the lid on a Pandora's box of systemic issues that guarantee failure in almost every aspect of our lives; from the environment to democracy and our own personal liberty: From terrifying conflicts of interests in politics to unregulated corporate power, to a media in the hands of massive conglomerates, and a military industrial complex that virtually owns our representatives. With interviews from some of todays leadin...
The Battle of Orgreave
Character: Self
Intercuts dramatic photographic stills from the clashes in 1984 with footage of the clashes re-enacted in 2001, together with moving and powerful testimonies, to tease out the complexities of this bitter struggle....
News from Durham
Character: Himself
Combines footage of the 100th Durham Miner's Gala held in 1983, with extracts from a miners' weekend school held two months later, to raise the central issues that were of concern to the mineworkers' union during the lead up to the national strike of 1984....
Sicko
Character: Self
A documentary about the corrupt health care system in The United States who's main goal is to make profit even if it means losing people’s lives. "The more people you deny health insurance the more money we make" is the business model for health care providers in America....
Odd Man Out: A Film Portrait of Enoch Powell
Character: Self
A film portrait of Former Conservative and Unionist Party Politician, Enoch Powell....
London: The Modern Babylon
Character: Self - Interviewee
London: The Modern Babylon is legendary director Julien Temple's epic time-traveling voyage to the heart of his hometown....
The Spirit of '45
Character: Himself - Contributor
How the spirit of unity, which buoyed Britain during the war years, carried through to create a vision of a fairer, united society....
Truly Miss Marple: The Curious Case of Margaret Rutherford
Character: Self
The true life story of Margaret Rutherford (1892-1972) is in fact much more eccentric than the most famous fictional role she ever played: Miss Jane Marple, Agatha Christie's amateur sleuth. Rutherford's version was the very first appearance of Miss Marple on the big screen and it was far removed though from the petite, upper middle-class lady in the detective novels....
Beyond and Behind the Vote
Character: Himself
Documentation of the 1984 Chesterfield by-election, which saw Tony Benn returned to parliament, and the early days of the Miners’ Strike which began shortly after....
The Scar
Character: Himself (uncredited)
Like many women active during the miners' strike, May Murton (Charlie Hardwick) has been left to clean up the mess. The closure of the pit, a failed marriage and the community’s disintegration have shattered both her personal and political beliefs. Her teenage children (Darren Bell and Katja Roberts) are out of control. Her estranged husband (Brian Hogg) has taken up residence in the allotments. At a dance, the night before the Durham Miners’ Gala, May meets Roy Cotton (Bill Speed) the recently...
Heath vs Wilson: The 10-Year Duel
Character: Self
Harold Wilson and Edward Heath are two very different men equally overlooked by history, but they were the political titans of the era in which Britain changed for ever. For ten years they faced each other in the House of Commons, and swapped in and out of Number Ten. They fought four general elections, three of which were amongst the most exciting of the century....
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand
Character: Self
Paul Robeson: Here I Stand presents the life and achievements of an extraordinary man. Athlete, singer, and scholar, Robeson was also a charismatic champion of the rights of the poor working man, the disfranchised and people of color. He led a life in the vanguard of many movements, achieved international acclaim for his music and suffered tremendous personal sacrifice. His story is one of the great dramas of the 20th century, spanning an international canvas of social upheaval and ideological c...
Shades
Character: Self (archive footage)
1999: A tower block contains youths ‘bought off’ by the government, in a climate of microchip-created endless leisure, who experience (often pornographic) virtual reality-style fantasies by donning the titular ‘shades’, until a 1980s theme party (they predicted that right, at least) leads to ideology and political thought seeping in under the dazed lifestyle....
Blackpool Wakes
Character: Self
From political conferences to the George Formby Society's annual bash, and Pleasure Beach to the weather, an Arena documentary on the seaside town of Blackpool and its history....
Dad's Army: Missing Presumed Wiped
Character:
Documentary about the lost episodes of Dad's Army (1968) and their recovery and restoration....
Harold Wilson: A Life
Character: Self
BBC obituary documentary written and presented by Anthony Howard. Broadcast on the day of the death of Harold Wilson, May 24th 1995....