Joseph Gladwin was an English actor, best known for his roles as Fred Jackson in Coronation Street and Wally Batty in the world's longest-running sitcom, Last of the Summer Wine.
A rich merchant, Antonio is depressed for no good reason, until his good friend Bassanio comes to tell him how he's in love with Portia. Portia's father has died and left a very strange will: only the man that picks the correct casket out of three (silver, gold, and lead) can marry her. Bassanio, unfortunately, is strapped for cash with which to go wooing, and Antonio wants to help, so Antonio borrows the money from Shylock, the money-lender. But Shylock has been nursing a grudge against Antonio's insults, and makes unusual terms to the loan. And when Antonio's business fails, those terms threaten his life, and it's up to Bassanio and Portia to save him.
During WWII, the United States set up army bases in Great Britain as part of the war effort. Against their proper sensibilities, many of the Brits don't much like the brash Yanks, especially when it comes to the G.I.s making advances on the lonely British girls. One relationship that develops is between married John, an Army Captain, and the aristocratic Helen, whose naval husband is away at war. Helen loves her husband, but Helen and John are looking for some comfort during the difficult times.
This short feature, an early directing credit for Alan Parker, shows the reality of life during the WWII air raids with none of the traditional 'Blitz spirit' so often portrayed. Eric spends the nights crammed into a brick shelter with his dad, sister and her screaming kids, and every bombardment brings tears over the loss of his mother in an earlier raid. When he learns his sweetheart is to be evacuated, he finally buckles under the stress.
When the owner of a Yorkshire coal-mine decides to mechanize to increase profits, the mine's pit ponies are scheduled to be destroyed. So, three children plan to steal them to keep them safe. But when they're caught, it's up to the mine owners and the miners themselves to decide what's right.
Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker star in this big screen spin-off of one of ITV's most popular comedy series of all time. When the father of Eli and Nellie Pledge dies, they are left in charge of his pickle empire. The two siblings are completely different and Eli wants out of the business, but he can't leave until Nellie is married. So Eli sets about finding a husband for his old-fashioned sister.
Facing retirement, elderly journalist Clarence Hubbard reflects on the pointlessness of a life wasted writing banal tabloid human interest, animal, and crime stories. Rather than go quietly to tend roses in a garden, Hubbard begins a series of violent actions not unlike those described in tabloids, and this is heightened by inter cutting tabloid headlines between scenes. Throughout, there are occasional shots of a television critic who watches this very play as it unfolds, and he writes a negative review filled with cleverly phrased but bitter invective.
A 30-year-old man, who has been in a coma since birth, is finally restored to consciousness by a breakthrough brain operation. Although physically an adult, the man is "reborn" in the eye of an infant; the doctors caring for him must teach him to walk, talk and prepare for life in the outside world. Tension builds as he escapes from the hospital, wanders among people who do not realize his identity, and is hunted by the police.
Michael Marler, a successful businessman in London, is about to make his way to the top. After 37 years, the death of his father brings him back to his hometown of Liverpool, where he’s confronted with his lost Irish roots. He finds out that his father died in a fight with some Anglo-Saxon teddy boys. It becomes a matter of honour for him to take his revenge without involving the police.
A young train spotter heads to Staffordshire for a historic journey through a soon to be condemned tunnel. During his trip, he encounters a series of eccentric characters. With his passion for the railways and naïve disposition, Benjamin inadvertently encourages them to reveal their innermost fears and darkest secrets.
Dreamlike satire about a young man who resists getting a job at the lone employing conglomerate in his dreary industrial town, but changes his mind when he discovers the plant's boiler room has the perfect climate to assist him with his pet horticultural (fungal) project.
Charlie Bubbles, a writer, up from the working class of Manchester, England, who, in the course of becoming prematurely rich and famous, has mislaid a writer's basic tool – the capacity to feel and to respond. Now he must visit his estranged wife and son, whom he has set up on a farm outside his native city. His journey accidentally becomes an attempt to reestablish his connections with life, people, and his own history.
French movie pin up Sophie Hardy is Lisa Milan, a gorgeous Continental film star who's just arrived at Heathrow. She's in London for the premiere of her latest film, but within minutes she's beenw hisked away by her number one fan, Johnny Howjego and his Cockney pals Sammy, Flora and Cabbie Sid.
A psychotic killer gets in the good graces of his aging invalid employer, and worms his way into the affection of her beautiful daughter, with unpleasant results for all.
As Vic Brown vacillates between infatuation and disinterest for his co-worker Ingrid Rothwell, she finds out that she is pregnant and Vic has to reconcile how he thought his life would go with what life actually has in store for him.