Dirk Bogarde: More Than Just a Doctor
March 28, 2020Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde would have been a twinkly 99 years old this month. Although possibly best remembered for his “Doctor” stint in five adaptions of […]
Classic Comedies of the 60's: Father Came Too!
March 20, 2020British film comedies of the 60s rarely come as amiable or colourful as the brace of Julian Wintle-Leslie Parkyn productions The Fast Lady and Father Came Too!, both newly restored in stunning HD […]
Hammer Horror, Sex, and the 1970's
March 13, 2020Hammer will forever supplant itself in the minds and nightmares of cinemagoers, largely because of its run of lavish full colour horror spectaculars in the 1950’s. When The Quatermass Xperiment […]
Chamberlain & Dumas
March 9, 2020There is an interesting contrast in how the backwaters of television were perceived in the 1970s, compared to the wealth of high quality productions you see across streaming services today. Richard Chamberlain, often labelled the ‘King of […]
Stanley Baker: The Man Who Would Be Bond
February 28, 2020Born in Glamorgan 92 years ago, Billy “Stanley” Baker was a self-confessed tearaway whose energies caught the eye of a casting director from Ealing Studios. After sharing the limelight with […]
Need for Speed: The Fast Lady and Father Came Too!
February 24, 2020Is The Fast Lady the most “1962” comedy film in the history of British cinema? There is the Trad Jazz theme tune, the sun-drenched locations of Buckinghamshire, and various extras […]
It Was 20 Years Ago...
February 21, 2020The Day the Earth Caught Fire January 2020 marked 20 years since I was first involved in a project for Network. I worked at BBC Television Centre and one of […]
Men of Character: Geoffrey Bayldon
February 15, 2020Only a few actors have the power to create an indelible moment on television, one where their voice becomes an essential aspect of a childhood memory that abides for years. […]
Celebrating Tommy Cooper: The LWT Series at 50
February 7, 2020“I’ve taken a course of Penicillin. Tablets, injections – every time I sneeze, I cure somebody.” Tommy Cooper. For those of a certain age, the name alone is enough to […]