First broadcast in 1983, Auf Wiedersehen Pet was an unlikely comedy hit about a group of British labourers forced to work in Germany during the recession. Scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, (previously responsible for Porridge and The Likely Lads) its main players are likeable stereotypes from all over England: theres Wayne (the late Gary Holton), a cockney charmer and womaniser; Barry (Timothy Spall), the bumbling, haplessly pretentious Brummie; gentle West Country giant Bomber (Pat Roach); amiable Scouse Moxey (Christopher Fairbank); and the three Geordies; nervous Neville (Kevin Whately), loudmouth xenophobic lummox Oz (Jimmy Nail) and put-upon Dennis (Tim Healy), the reluctant gaffer of the mob. The show spawned a second series in 1986 then a belated follow-up in 2002. The plotlines were entertaining--capers usually involving misunderstandings or hangovers or both: Oz eating rat poison, Oz attempting to smuggle porn, Neville waking up after a large night out with a German girls name mysteriously tattooed on his arm; Denniss tentative relationship with a German woman named Dagmar while on the rebound from his recent divorce. However, the real meat of Auf Wiedersehen Pet was in the interplay of the characters--who were confined in prison camp-style conditions--and Clement and Le Frenais rueful sense of the comedy of men in crisis. Tim Healys Dennis in particular was a classic example of the indignity of the traditional grafter who suddenly finds himself struggling in mid-life, a condition exacerbated at having to "wet nurse" a bunch of wayward geezers, as he frequently complains. --David Stubbs
Twenty-one years after an acrimonious split '70's rock band Strange Fruit are about to regroup and go on the road again. Their goal is to perform at the Wisbech Open Air Rock Festival the venue of their final disastrous performance which heralded their demise two decades earlier. The intervening years have seen the band members settling in to lives ranging from simply ordinary to the outright poverty stricken. 'Still Crazy' takes a sharp and acutely funny look at what it takes to get yourself back on stage with a group of people you haven't spoken to since glam-rock and platform shoes were all the rage! This hilarious film charts Strange Fruit's increasingly desperate efforts to recapture the magic the music the lost opportunities and the missed romance of their prime. Are they 'Still Crazy' enough to succeed?
First broadcast in 1983 with its second series airing in 1986, Auf Wiedersehen Pet was an unlikely comedy hit about a group of British labourers forced to work in Germany during the recession. Scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, (previously responsible for Porridge and The Likely Lads) its main players are likable stereotypes from all over England: Barry (Timothy Spall), the bumbling, haplessly pretentious Brummie; gentle West Country giant Bomber (Pat Roach); amiable scouse Moxey (Christopher Fairbank); and the three Geordies, nervous Neville (Kevin Whately), loudmouth xenophobic lummox Oz (Jimmy Nail) and put-upon Dennis (Tim Healy), the reluctant gaffer of the mob. The second series saw the lads reunited to work for a dubious entrepreneur called Ally Fraser to whom Dennis owes money, and the location varying from Spain to Derbyshire. Gary Holton (cheeky cockney Wayne) died during the making of the series and Clement and La Frenais farmed out several episodes to other writers, such as Stan Hey, but the characters were well established by this point and the comedy held up. An episode in which the gang upset the locals of a stuffy country pub with their very presence is particularly memorable. A belated third series followed in 2002. --David Stubbs
Episodes include: 'The Return Of The Seven (Part 1)' 'The Return Of The Seven (Part 2)' and 'A Law For The Rich'.
Episodes include: 'Scoop' 'Law And Disorder' 'For Better For Worse' and 'Quo Vadis Pet'.
Evita (Dir. Alan Parker 1996): Eva Peron (Madonna) was born the illegitimate daughter of a penniless farmer. Determined to make it to the top Eva attaches herself to a poplar tango singer (Jimmy Nail) in the big city. Eva becomes a radio and film actress moving in influential circles within Buenos Aires society. When she becomes involved with rising politician Juan Peron (Jonathan Pryce) the establishment disapproves and he is arrested. Eva fights on the freedom both for her husband and the oppressed masses. Peron is freed by the people the couple marries and Peron is elected president. But Eva's greatest battle is yet to come. Les Miserables (Dir. Bille August 1998): Based on Victor Hugo's classic novel this is an epic tale of love honour and obsession against the dramatic background of the French Revolution. Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson) lives a life on the run for stealing a loaf of bread. Settling in a remote town he devotes himself to the care of the poor including the beautiful young and poverty stricken Fantine (Uma Thurman). When Fantine dies she leaves a daughter Cosette (Claire Danes) who Valjean raises. But they are haunted by Javert (Geoffrey Rush) a policeman whose lifelong search for Valjean has become an obsession. A hunt begins that will come to a final confrontation on the revolution torn streets of Paris. Gyspy (Dir. Emile Ardolino 1993): It's Emmy Grammy and Golden Globe-winner Bette Midler in the role she was born to play. The superstar of Beaches Ruthless People Down & Out in Beverly Hills and For the Boys delivers a standing room only performance as Mama Rose the ultimate vaudeville stage mother. Rose's blind ambition for her two daughters forces one to desert her and the other to emerge as the world's most famous striptease artist - Gypsy Rose Lee. Based on the actual memoirs of Ms. Lee and directed by the late Emile Ardolino (Sister Act Dirty Dancing) this musical motion picture extravaganza is true to the original Broadway production... including the glorious Jerome Robbins choreography and the memorable Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim score. The classics are all here - from Everything's Coming Up Roses to Let Me Entertain You and as a special bonus the complete version of Gypsy's classic overture. Spectacular performances by Ms. Midler and her supporting cast - Peter Riegert Cynthia Gibb (as the legendary Gypsy Rose Lee) and Ed Asner - will leave you asking for an encore!
A South American dwarf by the name of Johnny Naples leaves a box of Maltesers in the incompetent hands of private eyes the Diamond brothers and is then found dead. The plot of this clever pastiche of 1940s noir movies also throws in 4 million in uncut diamonds a duo of Eton-trained assassins called Gott and Himmell and the Fat Man (the biggest criminal in England). It all ends with the younger Diamond brother (Nick 14 years old) alone and heroic about to be thrown to a watery grave in the Thames with a cement-filled bath attached to his legs. Poor kid. He's been kidnapped practically seduced by two women and threatend with death. And it's already way past his bedtime...
The adventures of a gang of British workmen abroad.
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