Wilfrid Brambell

Acting

Wilfrid Brambell

Born — Died

1912-03-22 — 1985-01-18

Place of birth

Dublin, Ireland

Known for

Acting

Credits

58 titles

Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor and comedian, best remembered for his role in the television series Steptoe and Son. He also performed alongside The Beatles in their debut film A Hard Day's Night, playing the fictional grandfather of Paul McCartney.

Known for

No Hiding Place poster
4.8

No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart.

No Hiding Place

1959

Sunday Night Theatre poster
3.5

Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.

Sunday Night Theatre

1950

The Adventures of Robin Hood poster
6.4

The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

1955

All Creatures Great and Small poster
7.8

The trials and misadventures of the staff at a country veterinary office in Yorkshire. James Herriot, a young animal surgeon, moves to a small Yorkshire town to begin his first job.

All Creatures Great and Small

1978

Maigret poster
7.1

BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.

Maigret

1960

Steptoe and Son poster
7.8

A father and son who work as rag-and-bone men live together in Shepherd's Bush, London. While Albert is content with their way of life, Harold aspires to better himself and build a life of his own, but his attempts are repeatedly thwarted by his father, leading to frequent clashes between the two.

Steptoe and Son

1962

Film credits

1980s · 5 titles

1970s · 6 titles

The Adventures of Picasso poster
6.8

A farcical biopic about Pablo Picasso, from his early years, to his middle years, to the years right before his death, and some of the years before and in-between that.

The Adventures of Picasso

1978

Steptoe & Son Ride Again poster
6.7

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live amicably together at the junk yard. Always on the lookout for ways to improve his lot, Harold invests his father's life savings in a greyhound who is almost blind and can't see the hare. When the dog loses a race and Harold has to pay off the debt, he comes up with another bright idea. Collect his father's life insurance. To do this his father must pretend to be dead.

Steptoe & Son Ride Again

1973

Steptoe & Son poster
6.3

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live together at the junk yard. Harold, who likes the bright lights in the West End of London, meets a stripper, marries her and takes her home. Albert is furious and tries every trick he knows to drive the new bride from his household.

Steptoe & Son

1972

Catch Me a Spy poster
5.0

While on vacation, a woman's husband is taken by the Russian government. After one attempt fails, she begins looking for a suitable spy to capture and trade in exchange for her husband, but she develops an attraction to the one she thinks is a good candidate.

Catch Me a Spy

1971

Some Will, Some Won't poster
5.2

Four people go to great lengths to obtain the fortune left in a will by a very wealthy practical joker.

Some Will, Some Won't

1970

Holiday on the Buses poster
7.4

Due to a female passenger falling out of her top whilst running for the bus Stan is distracted and crashes the bus resulting in the depot managers car being written off. As a result Stan, Jack and Blakey are fired. Stan and Jack soon get new jobs as a bus crew at a Pontins holiday resort but discover that Blakey has also gotten a job there as the chief security guard.

Holiday on the Buses

1973

1960s · 21 titles

A Hard Day's Night poster
7.3

Capturing John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in their electrifying element, 'A Hard Day's Night' is a wildly irreverent journey through this pastiche of a day in the life of The Beatles during 1964. The band have to use all their guile and wit to avoid the pursuing fans and press to reach their scheduled television performance, in spite of Paul's troublemaking grandfather and Ringo's arrest.

A Hard Day's Night

1964

In Search of the Castaways poster
6.5

Two teenagers, Mary (Hayley Mills) and Robert (Keith Hamshere) are lead by Professor Paganel (Maurice Chevalier) on a search expedition for the children's shipwrecked sea captain father. This Disney film was based upon Jules Verne's 1868 adventure novel Captain Grant's Children.

In Search of the Castaways

1962

Cry Wolf poster
6.3

A highly imaginative boy involves his friends in a series of false alarms, with the result that nobody will come to his aid when he is involved in a dangerous situation.

Cry Wolf

1968

Witchfinder General poster
6.5

England, 1645. The cruel civil war between Royalists and Parliamentarians that is ravaging the country causes an era of chaos and legal arbitrariness that allows unscrupulous men to profit by exploiting the absurd superstitions of the peasants; like Matthew Hopkins, a monster disguised as a man who wanders from town to town offering his services as a witch hunter.

Witchfinder General

1968

Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence poster
6.0

Through the childhood and adolescence of Signor Giacomo Casanova (from his memoirs), this is a description of how people lived in 18th-century Venice: their customs, habits, medicine, religion, and--most of all--the omnipresence of hypocrisy.

Giacomo Casanova: Childhood and Adolescence

1969

Crooks in Cloisters poster
5.4

Having pulled off the smallest ever train robbery, Little Walter and his crew decide to get out of London. The six of them set up business in a disused monastery off the Cornish coast, despite the fact that none of them really qualifies as a monk - least of all Walter's moll Bikini. Bit by bit, the quiet way of life starts becoming a habit.

Crooks in Cloisters

1964

The Three Lives of Thomasina poster
6.8

Thomasina the cat brings a family together through her mysterious death and reappearance.

The Three Lives of Thomasina

1963

What a Whopper poster
6.2

A writer attempts to raise some cash by writing a book about the Loch Ness Monster. No publisher will take it because they all think there isn't really a monster. The writer and some of his friends make a fake monster and take photographs and then travel to Scotland to see if they can convince the locals.

What a Whopper

1961

Flame in the Streets poster
6.3

Domestic difficulties develop in a working-class family when their daughter falls in love with a Jamaican man.

Flame in the Streets

1961

Carry On Again Doctor poster
6.1

Dr. Nookey is disgraced and sent to a remote island hospital. He is given a secret slimming potion by a member of staff, Gladstone Screwer, and he flies back to England to fame and fortune. But others want to cash in on his good fortunes, and some just want him brought down a peg or two.

Carry On Again Doctor

1969

Alice in Wonderland poster
6.0

Alice in Wonderland (1966) is a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe.

Alice in Wonderland

1966

Where the Bullets Fly poster
5.7

In a spoof of the spy genre a secret agent chases a missing formula that can drain nuclear energy from an element named Spurium,

Where the Bullets Fly

1966

The Small World of Sammy Lee poster
6.0

Soho strip club compère Sammy Lee struggles to stay one step ahead of the notorious bookie, to whom he owes £300.

The Small World of Sammy Lee

1963

San Ferry Ann poster
6.4

A motley crew of British characters ride The San Ferry Ann to the shores of France where they embark on a weekend of calamity. The campervan family led by Dad and Mum (David Lodge and Joan Sims) create chaos from the moment they set their tires on the shore resulting in frequent run-ins with the Gendarme, while Lewd Grandad (Wilfred Brambell) finds his own misadventures with a newly acquainted friend, a mad German ex-soldier (Ron Moody). Also aboard for the ride is a saucy hitchhiker (Barbara Windsor) who causes a few heads to turn including that of a fellow traveller (Ronnie Stevens) who pursues her affection with comic results. By the end of this weekend the French may well be wishing to say 'au revoir' to these trouble-making tourists. San Ferry Ann is a humorous take on the tradition of the British get-away. A classic sound effect comedy that sits with the likes of similarly praised titles such as 'The Plank', 'Futtock's End' and 'Rhubarb Rhubarb'.

San Ferry Ann

1965

The Boys poster
7.5

A night watchman at a garage is found murdered, and four teddy boys are put on trial for the crime. Witnesses and suspects give differing accounts of the lead-up to the crime, and the truth emerges.

The Boys

1962

No artwork available
NR

TV adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play. Jack pretends to be his foolish younger brother, Ernest in order to be a model of moral rectitude to his young ward, Cecily. And he intends to propose to Gwendolyn--that is until he discovers that she loves him because his name is Ernest.

The Importance of Being Earnest

1964

The Sinister Man poster
10.0

When a corpse is found in the Thames, the only clue is that the dead man was killed by a karate or judo expert.

The Sinister Man

1961

Mano di velluto poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Mano di velluto

1966

Lionheart poster
6.5

A lion escapes from a circus but is rescued and protected by a young boy.

Lionheart

1968

Go Kart Go poster
7.7

Jimpy leads a gang of kids as they attempt to beat another gang, no matter how underhanded their tactics are.

Go Kart Go

1964

Urge to Kill poster
5.6

A psychopathic killer murders three girls before police catch him.

Urge to Kill

1960

1950s · 6 titles

Nineteen Eighty-Four poster
7.3

A man who works for 'The Party' (an all powerful empire led by a man known only as 'Big Brother') begins to have thoughts of rebellion and love for a fellow member. Together they look to help bring down the party.

Nineteen Eighty-Four

1954

Serious Charge poster
6.2

Howard Phillips, a vicar who's new in the town of Bellington, wants to reach out to youth. The previous vicar's daughter, Hester Peters, who fears being a spinster, wants to be his wife. He tells her he's not interested. When he confronts a tough kid about something the youth has done, the lad sets out to frame the vicar. Hester, who's walked in on the confrontation, backs the youth's story. The town sides with her and the lad, turning against Phillips. He has a crisis of faith. What options does he have; can no one help him, his reputation, or his calling?

Serious Charge

1959

Captured poster
4.2

Directed by cult British director John Krish, the film was sponsored by the Army Kinematograph Corporation. This tightly plotted drama shows British POWs enduring brainwashing and torture during the Korean War, thereby revealing what a soldier could expect if he was ever captured by enemy forces.

Captured

1959

Break-In poster
NR

A dramatised training film for the Military Police showing the correct methods and procedures that should be used in solving a crime.

Break-In

1956

The Salvage Gang poster
6.5

Four children try to raise money to replace a broken saw, taking them on an unexpected journey through the capital.

The Salvage Gang

1958

The Government Inspector poster
6.0

Gogol's comedy of errors, satirizing human greed, stupidity, and the extensive political corruption of Imperial Russia.

The Government Inspector

1958

Series credits

No Hiding Place poster
4.8

No Hiding Place is a British television series that was produced at Wembley Studios by Associated-Rediffusion for the ITV network between 16 September 1959 and 22 June 1967. It was the sequel to the series Murder Bag and Crime Sheet, all starring Raymond Francis as Detective Superintendent, later Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart.

No Hiding Place

1959

Sunday Night Theatre poster
3.5

Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959. The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.

Sunday Night Theatre

1950

The Adventures of Robin Hood poster
6.4

The legendary character Robin Hood and his band of merry men in Sherwood Forest and the surrounding vicinity. While some episodes dramatised the traditional Robin Hood tales, most episodes were original dramas created by the show's writers and producers.

The Adventures of Robin Hood

1955

All Creatures Great and Small poster
7.8

The trials and misadventures of the staff at a country veterinary office in Yorkshire. James Herriot, a young animal surgeon, moves to a small Yorkshire town to begin his first job.

All Creatures Great and Small

1978

Maigret poster
7.1

BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.

Maigret

1960

Steptoe and Son poster
7.8

A father and son who work as rag-and-bone men live together in Shepherd's Bush, London. While Albert is content with their way of life, Harold aspires to better himself and build a life of his own, but his attempts are repeatedly thwarted by his father, leading to frequent clashes between the two.

Steptoe and Son

1962

The Buccaneers poster
6.4

The adventures of privateer Captain Dan Tempest and his crew of former pirates as they make their way across the seven seas in The Sultana.

The Buccaneers

1956

The Adventures of William Tell poster
6.8

The Adventures of William Tell is a British swashbuckler adventure series, first broadcast on the ITV network in 1958, and produced by ITC Entertainment.

The Adventures of William Tell

1958

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot poster
7.0

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot is a British television series first broadcast in 1956, produced by Sapphire Films for ITC Entertainment and screened on the ITV network. The series starred William Russell as the eponymous Sir Lancelot, a Knight of the Round Table in the time of King Arthur at Camelot.

The Adventures of Sir Lancelot

1956

Citizen Smith poster
6.8

Classic BBC comedy starring Robert Lindsay as revolutionary leader Wolfie Smith of the Tooting Popular Front. Hoping to emulate his icons, Wolfie forms the Tooting Popular Front with a small group of his friends. However, he soon finds himself struggling to get his ambitious plans off the ground due to his laid back attitude and lack of organisation.

Citizen Smith

1977

The Larkins poster
7.6

'The Larkins' is a British television sitcom which was produced by Associated Television and aired on ITV. It aired for four series between 1958 to 1960. An additional two series aired from 1963 to 1964.

The Larkins

1958

No artwork available
NR

Anthology of 70-minute UK dramatic productions.

Theatre '70

1960

Bleak House poster
9.0

The generous John Jarndyce, struggling with his own past, and his two young wards Richard and Ada, are all caught up, like Lady Dedlock, in the infamous case of Jarndyce vs Jarndyce, which will make one of them rich beyond imagination if it can ever be brought to a conclusion. As Tulkinghorn digs deeper into Lady Dedlock's past, he unearths a secret that will change their lives forever, and which is almost as astounding as the final outcome of the Jarndyce case.

Bleak House

1959

Spooky poster
7.0

A precursor to the later Dramarama series, Spooky explores the supernatural, and ventures into the dark corners of the imagination.

Spooky

1983

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

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

1956

Armchair Theatre poster
6.0

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

1956

No artwork available
7.0

Anthology series of plays where various disparate characters meet in the city of London.

They Met in a City

1961

No artwork available
NR

Never Say Die is a British television series, which aired in 1970. It was a comedy produced by Yorkshire Television.

Never Say Die

1970