George Edward Cole, OBE (22 April 1925 - 5 August 2015) was an English film and television actor with a career which ran from the 1940s to the first decade of the twenty first century. Best known in the role of Arthur Daley in the long-running ITV hit drama show 'Minder', Cole's career began in the role of the young evacuee in the wartime thriller 'Cottage to Let', alongside long-time friend, Alastair Sim, and went onto to encompass over 40 movies, including the popular St Trinian's films, and a host of television roles.
Jack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter....
Gideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey. The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series. It starred Liverpudlian John Gregson in the title role as Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, with Alexander Davion as his assistant, Detective Chief Inspector David Keen, Reginald Jessup as Det. Superintendent LeMaitre, Ian Rossiter as Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Bell and Basil Dignam...
A secret, high-technology international agency called SHADO defends Earth from alien invaders....
Set during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines....
This comedy drama series featured Terry McCann, a former boxer with a conviction for G.B.H., and Arthur Daley, a second-hand car dealer with an eye for a nice little earner. Alongside his many business ventures, Arthur would regularly hire Terry out as a minder or bodyguard, later replaced by nephew, Ray Daley....
Anthology series in which characters find themselves in weird and scary situations. Not evoked by the supernatural but by other people....
Diamond Geezer is a British television comedy drama written by Caleb Ranson which stars David Jason as a jewel thief and professional con man....
Dad is a BBC1 sitcom that ran for 13 episodes over two series and a Christmas special. Described by the BBC as a 'generation-gap comedy', it starred George Cole as Brian Hook, Kevin McNally as his son Alan Hook, and Toby Ross-Bryant as his son Vincent Hook and Julia Hills as his wife Beryl Hook. Written by Andrew Marshall, the title of each episode was a pun on the word 'Dad'. Most of the episodes involved Alan Hook getting frustrated by situations brought upon him by his father and son. For ex...
New Tricks is a British comedy-drama that follows the work of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service. Originally led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes....
The Bounder is a British sitcom which ran from 16 April 1982 to 28 October 1983, made by Yorkshire Television. The series starred Peter Bowles as Howard Booth, an ex-convict who served two years in jail. He lives with Trevor Mountjoy who's his brother in law, and his wife Mary Rosalind Ayres. The latter left after Series one in 1982. It also starred Isla Blair as the next door widowed neighbour, Laura Miles. This series was created by Eric Chappell....
Comrade Dad was a BBC television comedy satire series set in 1999 in Londongrad, the capital of the USSR-GB. The UK has been invaded by the Soviet Union and turned into a Communist state. The programme centered around the Dudgeon family and their attempts to adapt to the new order....
Quiller is a British drama television . Quiller is the alias of a fictional spy created by English novelist Elleston Trevor who featured in a series of Cold War thrillers written under the pseudonym "Adam Hall"....
A working class single mother appeals to send her son to the best state school in her area. When the headmaster of a local private school hears of her campaign, he is intrigued, and offers her son a place at his school, betting that he can turn the boy's life around....
A thwarted Lady Maud runs off to her solicitor to start divorce proceedings and that gives Sir Giles his bright idea-why not run the proposed bypass for the area through their very own Cleene Gorge, thereby wrecking Lady Maud's ancestral home and copping rather a lot of compensation from the government to boot? Witness the frolics of the bumbling dundridge - the Y-front clad man from the ministry, Sir Giles' versatile Mrs Forthby - Mediterranean harlot and naughty schoolgirl extraordinaire, not ...
Follow the swashbuckling exploits of Simon Templar, a modern-day Robin Hood of sorts....
Mitchel, a mild-mannered suburban stockbroker spirals out of control after losing his job, finding his wife in flagrante with a sleazy neighbour, and discovering his dad is dying of cancer, all on the eve of his 44th birthday....
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty. ...
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
Don’t Forget to Write! is a British television sitcom, broadcast by the BBC from 1977 to 1979. The central character is George Maple (George Cole) who was formerly a successful playwright, but is now procrastinating, lacking self-confidence and suffering from writer's block. He is seen at home with his supportive wife Mabel (Gwen Watford), son Wilfred (Ron Emslie) and daughter Kate (Claire Walker). They are frequently visited by neighbour Tom Lawrence (Francis Matthews) who is a confident, suav...
The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over....
Thirty-Minute Theatre is an anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. Thirty-Minute Theatre followed on from a similarly named ITV series, beginning on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy Parsons Pleasure. In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service,...
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration....
Thirty-Minute Theatre is an anthology drama series of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, which was used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short running length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known. Thirty-Minute Theatre followed on from a similarly named ITV series, beginning on BBC2 in 1965 with an adaptation of the black comedy Parsons Pleasure. In 1967 BBC2 launched the UK's first colour service,...
The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show....
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968....
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968....
Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, m...
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....
The fourth form monsters' latest trick is their best ever – they have burned down St Trinian’s school! As the girls stand trial, the police breathe a sigh of relief, but miraculously the judge's infatuation with a student means the school is freed. For the authorities, it means a new reign of terror as the girls of St Trinian’s regroup with gleeful anticipation....
The unruly schoolgirls of St Trinian's are more interested in men and mischief than homework and hockey. But greater trouble than ever beckons when the arrival at the school of Princess Fatima of Makyad coincides with the return of recently expelled Arabella Fritton, who has the kidnap of a prize racehorse on her mind. The first film in the classic comedy series....
Determined to hold on to the throne, Cleopatra seduces the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. When Caesar is murdered, she redirects her attentions to his general, Marc Antony, who vows to take power—but Caesar’s successor has other plans....
In the heart of Styria the Karnstein Family, even after their mortal deaths, rise from their tombs spreading evil in the countryside in their lust for fresh blood. Baron Hartog whose family are all victims of Karnstein vampirism, opens their graves and drives a stake through their diabolical hearts. One grave he cannot locate is that of the legendary beautiful Mircalla Karnstein. Years of peace follow that grisly night until Mircalla reappears to avenge her family's decimation and satisfy her de...
A housemaid falls in love with Dr. Jekyll and his darkly mysterious counterpart, Mr. Hyde....
Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman; until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man....
Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution....
The all-girl school foil an attempt by train robbers to recover two and a half million pounds hidden in their school....
A boy accidentally shoots a friend with a gun he found in the rubble of a destroyed building. The gun turns out to be a clue in a ten-year-old murder case....
English vicar Dr. Syn becomes a scarecrow on horseback by night to thwart King George III's taxmen....
With their headmistress under lock and key in her majesty's prison, the St Trinian's girls find themselves under the protection of the army. However, when the sixth form take a fancy to winning a trip to Italy through means fair or foul, the army discover this is one battle they can't win. Let loose in Europe, it is not long before St Trinian's have succeeded in endangering European relations....
The crew of a submarine is trapped on the sea floor when it sinks. How can they be rescued before they run out of air?...
When an eccentric practical joker dies, he divides his fortune among four heirs. But before they can collect the cash they must each do something which goes completely against their nature. NB: This is the film which introduced Audrey Hepburn....
Based on a novel by Nigel Tranter, The Bridal Path is a light-hearted look at the somewhat unfortunate results that can come of the continued marrying of fairly close cousins in a restricted and remote community. Set in the Hebrides off Scotland, the story tells how Ewan MacEwan leaves the isle of Eorsa in search of the perfect wife, but finally returns to marry Katie....
Allied spies and Nazi Agents insinuate themselves at a Scottish cottage (converted to a wartime hospital) with interests on an inventor's nearly perfected bomb sight....
War hero turned villain George Martin escapes from the police, but he is handcuffed to a naive young crook Willie Stannard. After using a clever plan to obtain railway tickets, and with the police and the press in hot pursuit, George has to find a way of breaking loose from Willie, and to make his escape....
During the 15th century reign of France's King Louis XI, a young Scottish man is sent by his English Lord to woo a French lady on his behalf. The plan goes awry when the young man falls in love with her. Based on the classic novel by Sir Walter Scott....
Charles Hathaway wakes up in West Wales with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. With the help of a Cardiff specialist he traces his life back to his gorgeous wife and their large London house, so all seems well with the world. But more detective work starts to uncover an alarming chain of further stunning wives and a way of going on that the new Charles finds pretty unacceptable....
Unknown to everyone but his shady Middle Eastern bosses, watchmaker Hawkins is actually a professional hired assassin with a predilection for killing his targets with bombs. After disposing of a dictator and millionaire, Hawkins is assigned to kill a politician who is heading to a remote hotel, The Green Man, for a secret tryst with his secretary. There, however, Hawkins' plot is discovered by vacuum salesman William Blake, who determines to stop him....
"Scarecrow! Scarecrow! The soldiers of the King feared his name!" And so begins the hard-to-forget theme song to The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Walt Disney's thrilling 3-part adventure was produced for his Wonderful World of Color weekly TV show and aired February 1964. Filled with action, drama and suspense, it follows the adventures of Dr. Christopher Syn - brave priest by day, righter of wrongs by night. And, for the first time, presented in Widescreen format on DVD....
Jennifer Jones plays Hazel Woods, a beautiful young English Gypsey girl who loves animals and in particular her pet fox. She is hotly desired by Jack Reddin a fox hunting squire who vies for her affection and pursues her even after her marriage to the local pastor....
A study of absurdity in a suburban family: father recreates the Old Bailey in the living room while the son teaches speak-your-weight machines to sing in the attic....
A U.S. sergeant, a British sergeant and a British pilot hijack gold for a German refugee's war orphans....
A British Sanitary Engineer, goes on holiday with a set of plans for a new secret weapon which he has mistaken for his new plumbing invention. Everyone is hunting for him, including the Russians. The Russians find him and offer him a job in the Kremlin doing research (on plumbing he believes). He accepts, arrives in Russia and falls in love with Tania, a secret agent. And then discovers the true nature of the plans he is carrying......
Tim (Cliff Richard) is a successful ambitious young financier working for a London Merchant bank, but even his happy-go-lucky attitude is severely jolted when he is sent to Birmingham instead of his promised New York for his posting! But comedy reigns when the enterprising bank manager helps an unsuccessful Birmingham restaurant compete with its rivals by introducing a new fast food - the Brumburger!...
A trip to the theatre changes a meek bank clerk's life, as he undergoes hypnosis and leaves without being woken up. Suddenly, he believes he is the world's greatest lover and becomes a terrorizing Casanova....
A newly-arrived army chaplain is put in charge of camp entertainment and has the idea of putting on a Brains Trust with local notables. Unfortunately for him, it emerges from a question on the rights and wrongs of marriage that there is more going on between three of the panelists than he wants to know about - though the audience obviously thinks differently....
"The Spider and the Fly is set in Paris during the cloud-cuckoo days before WW I. The storyline intertwines the destinies of three people. Guy Rolfe plays Phillipe de Ledocq, a resourceful safecracker who always manages to elude arrest. Eric Portman is cast as police-chief Maubert, who will not rest until Ledocq is behind bars. And Nadia Gray is Madeleine, the woman beloved by both Ledocq and Maubert. Just as Maubert has managed to capture his man, Ledocq is released at the behest of the governm...
Two aspiring songwriters finally manage to sell a tune by claiming that it was composed by a reclusive musical genius. When the tune hits the top of the charts, they find themselves having to produce the "real" composer....
An outspoken single mum is determined her son will go to the school of her choice, and he ends up at a private school. Only then does she discover the headmaster offered a place merely to win a bet....
During World War II, four British soldiers are commissioned to set up an observation post on a seemingly deserted island in the Mediterranean. However, while surveying the island, the Brits come across four German soldiers holed up in a monastery. The Brits and the Germans agree to a truce, sharing the monastery together until either the British or German troops arrive. But when a shipwrecked Slavic girl ends up on the island, a battle over her erupts amongst the men....
Rich Sadie Patch is marooned on a desert island after an emergency on her cruise-ship. With her are Irish stoker Pat, prickly young Jimmy Carrol, and bald and bookish Professor Gibble. All fancy their chances....
The whole village mourns when General O'Leary, owner of a hunting estate in South Ireland, is killed in an accident. His nephew, Jasper O'Leary, takes over the state and soon has aroused the displeasure of all, with the exception of Serena McGluskey, as much a schemer as he is a cad. Led by Thady O'Heggarty, the villagers plot to drive Jasper away. They use the occasion of "O'Leary Night", when the ghost of the first O'Leary walks the halls, to create general chaos....
A school story with a noticeable difference - the adults regress to children....
Accident-prone Fingers runs a pretty unsuccessful gang. They try and rob wealthy but tricky Billy Gordon - who distrusts banks and fears the Inland Revenue - but he sees Fingers and the boys off. So they decide to kidnap his daughter, only to end up with his wife Lucy. Gordon makes out he couldn't be more pleased, spuring Lucy to take charge of the hopeless bunch of villains....
Bawdy adaption of Tom Sharpe's comic tale. A landowning MP attempts to have a motorway built through the grounds of his wife's ancestral home....
When Ex Colonel Merton discovers a burglar ransacking his home, he is shocked to find out that the thief is a former soldier from his tank regiment. When the thief escapes, Merton tries to contact former members of the regiment, in order to find out what set the thief on the road to crime....
Douglas Willetts is a shrew of a man in his mid-40s, barely able to communicate and renting a bedroom in a typically working-class two up-two down. Only he has a bit of a past. For Douglas, every day is just a question of getting through it as painlessly as possible – and that usually means retreating to his bedroom. Is it in order to escape the mundanities of the present? Or to ruminate on his past?...
A Cockney family inherit a ramshackle Devon farm. The rest of the family don't want to leave London but the father insists and off they go, to face the unknown....
To acquire a fresh supply of cadavers for use in his medical school experiments, Dr. Knox turns two of his inept students into graverobbers....
Marjory Clark wins a competition in her Midland town and finds herself in a Festival of Britain procession as Lady Godiva - though not in the buff. This leads by way of a suspect beauty competition to the show-business world of London. But it could be a slippery slope for simple home-town Marge....
Teenager James Greville has lived in children's homes his whole life, so he is surprised when a Great Uncle invites him to his country manor for a holiday. While exploring the sprawling Greville Lodge he soon discovers that it has many secrets....
Young couple Jackie and Leo move from North London to a suburban home in the green belt paradise of Southern England. At the birthday party of a neighbor, they soon discover the strict social hierarchies of village life....
When Miles Cornwall returns suddenly to the home he shares with his father and sister in a grace-and-favour house at St. James's Palace, he's amazed to find a pretty Irish girl in his favorite armchair. Intrigued, he turns on the charm but, as she explains her situation, he finds himself unaccountably falling in love with this pretty interloper....
Story of how two youngsters round up crooks planning to blow up the British fleet off Gibraltar....
In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415....
Comedy thriller. Walter Bryce hires the professional services of the sinister Vincent to eliminate his rich, neurotic wife, Celia. All this to achieve a place in the sun with his secretary Angie. What seems to be a neat idea goes wrong when Vincent becomes involved on a personal level....
When the Government decide to build a Festival of Britain exhibition site, everything goes to plan, all except the fact that the main road and the pedestrian subway into the site, are blocked by a little corner shop, which is owned and run by a Mr. Lord and his family. When the Lords refuse to be bought off, and decline the compensation offered by the authorities. the police and the bailiffs try to evict them, only to come under fire from the family, who have barricaded themselves inside the sho...
Based upon the play A Sleeping Clergyman by James Bridie, it tells the story of three generations of the Scottish Cameron family, with its various conflicts and romances....
A 70 year old man gets shunned into a retirement home....
Somerset Maugham introduces four of his tales in this anthology film: "The Facts of Life," "The Alien Corn," "The Kite," and "The Colonel's Lady."...
Ivan Kouznetsoff, a Russian engineer, recounts during World War II his stay in England prior to the war working on a new propeller for ice-breaking ships. Naïve about British people and convinced by hearsay that they are shallow and hypocritical, Ivan is both bemused and amused by them. He is blunt in his opinions about Britons and at first this puts off his hosts, including the lovely Ann Tisdall, whose grandfather runs the shipbuilding firm that will make use of Ivan's propeller. The longer Iv...
Peasant children Mytyl and Tyltyl are led on a magical quest for the fabulous Blue Bird of Happiness by the fairy Berylune. On their journey, they're accompanied by the anthropomorphized presences of a Dog, a Cat, Light, Fire, and Bread, among other entities....
An upper-crust family dinner is interrupted by a police inspector who brings news that a girl known to everyone present has died in suspicious circumstances. It seems that any or all of them could have had a hand in her death. But who is the mysterious Inspector and what can he want of them?...
A woman discovers that her husband has rented a flat in London for his mistress, and sets out to catch him in the act...
Violet Moon wants to be in control of the circumstances and people in her life. Particularly her son and daughter-in-law who she discovers are considering selling the farm where she has known some of the happiest times of her life. Violet's control is not only threatened by their decision, but also by the sudden reappearance of someone from her past whom she meets at a local spiritualists club. Someone who has the potential to resurrect a long buried secret as well expose her current plot to put...
Story is told by George Cole and Sheila Hancock ; adapted by Milton Subotsky from the original stories by Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault. Contains Puss in Boots, The Ugly Duckling, Rapunzel, The Four Musicians, The Emperor's New Clothes and The Princess And The Pea...
Two Englishmen (Richard Attenborough, Jack Watling) train with the Royal Air Force, ending with a bombing raid on Berlin....
Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together....
When a rapacious new landlord threatens to evict him, seize his horse, and leave him penniless, the young farmer Dick Turpin flees to London and reluctantly establishes himself in the underworld with the help of a street-smart boy....