Michael Kitchen

Acting

Michael Kitchen

Born

1948-10-31 (77)

Place of birth

Leicester, Leicestershire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

100 titles

Michael Kitchen (born 31 October 1948 in Leicester) is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as DCS Foyle in the British TV series Foyle's War. Description above from the Wikipedia article Michael Kitchen, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Play for Today poster
6.6

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.

Play for Today

1970

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

Minder poster
7.2

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Minder

1979

A Touch of Frost poster
7.6

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.

A Touch of Frost

1992

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

Film credits

2000s · 8 titles

Proof of Life poster
6.2

When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is on the verge of insolvency and will not provide the ransom. Peter's wife Alice is forced to deal with the matter on her own and she retains the services of freelance professional hostage negotiator Terry Thorne.

Proof of Life

2000

Lorna Doone poster
5.8

The year is 1675. England is threatened by religious and political rivalries. King Charles II's Catholic brother, James, is next in line for the throne, but many Protestants put their faith in Charles' illegitimate son, The Duke of Monmouth. On the king's death, conflict is inevitable... Over seven days journey from London, Exmoor is a primitive and lawless area. Here, farmer Jack Ridd lives with his wife Sarah, son John, and two daughters. The only shadow over their simple life is cast by the notorious outlaw family the Doones. The aristocratic Doones were banished from their ancestral lands and now live through looting, theft, and murder. Their brutality is legendary...

Lorna Doone

2001

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Winds of Change poster
5.8

Following World War I, Indy - now fluent in several languages - works as a translator at the controversial Paris Peace Conference, where he once more meets Lawrence of Arabia, and encounters the Arab Prince Faisal and a young Ho Chi Minh. Disillusioned by the hard and cynical realpolitik of international deal-making, he returns home to Princeton, New Jersey after a three-year absence, where he finds his father as cold and distant as ever, and discovers a detrimental change in his boyhood friend, Paul Robeson, caused by bigotry.

The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Winds of Change

2000

The Railway Children poster
6.8

At the dawn of the 20th century, following their father's arrest on suspicion of betraying state secrets, the three Waterbury children—Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter—move with their mother to Yorkshire, where they find themselves involved in unexpected dramas along the railway by their new home.

The Railway Children

2000

Alibi poster
5.2

A thriller with a bit of romance and touches of black humor along the way. Greg is discovered with the dead body of his wife's lover by Marcey, a public servant moonlighting as a waitress at a party thrown by Greg for he and his wife's wedding anniversary. Marcey sets about organizing the slightly neurotic Greg in his attempts to cover up the accident.

Alibi

2003

New Year's Day poster
5.3

Two 17-year-old boys mark the new year by doing twelve dangerous but exciting tasks set for them by their friends.

New Year's Day

2001

The Holocaust on Trial poster
5.0

An investigation of the evidence for Hitler's Final Solution, together with a dramatic reconstruction of key courtroom exchanges in the libel case lost by the historian David Irving, who was accused of being anti-Semitic and a Holocaust denier.

The Holocaust on Trial

2000

No artwork available
9.0

Council Planner Michael Fry uncovers a sinister plot in his Welsh seaside home town, and finds himself caught in a growing tide of corruption and sleazy internet sex.

The Secret World of Michael Fry

2000

1990s · 21 titles

GoldenEye poster
6.9

When a powerful secret defense system is stolen, James Bond is assigned to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using it.

GoldenEye

1995

The World Is Not Enough poster
6.3

Greed, revenge, world dominance and high-tech terrorism – it's all in a day's work for Bond, who's on a mission to protect a beautiful oil heiress from a notorious terrorist. In a race against time that culminates in a dramatic submarine showdown, Bond works to defuse the international power struggle that has the world's oil supply hanging in the balance.

The World Is Not Enough

1999

The Russia House poster
6.1

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.

The Russia House

1990

Fatherland poster
6.3

Fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Germany's war crimes have so far been kept a secret. Hitler wants to talk peace with the US president. An American journalist and a German homicide cop stumble into a plot to destroy all evidence of the genocide.

Fatherland

1994

Enchanted April poster
6.7

When married British women Rose Arbuthnot and Lottie Wilkins decide to take a break from their respective spouses, they stay at a castle in Italy for a quiet holiday. Joining the ladies is Caroline Dester, a young socialite, and Mrs. Fisher, an older aristocrat. Liberated from their daily routines, the four women ease into life in rural Italy, and each finds herself transformed by the experience.

Enchanted April

1991

Doomsday Gun poster
5.8

Dr Gerald Bull was a genius at designing and building superguns (very large long range guns capable of shooting at ranges more than 100 miles). When an operational plan by the CIA to export sanctioned arms to apartheid-South Africa through him was exposed, the CIA denied all knowledge and he went to jail. He was later released, and moved to Belgium to start a subsidiary, of which a major project was to help Saddam Hussein build a new supergun capable of firing over 500 miles.

Doomsday Gun

1994

Hostage poster
3.8

A weary British spy retreats to a Buenos Aires hotel and recalls his last dirty job, complete with lover.

Hostage

1992

The War That Never Ends poster
5.0

The Peloponnesian Wars (Athens versus Sparta for twenty-seven years) told in the format of news broadcast-like monologues by Theucydides, Plato, and others.

The War That Never Ends

1991

The Trial poster
6.0

Joseph K. awakes one morning, to find two strange men in his room, telling him he has been arrested. Joseph is not told what he is charged with, and despite being "arrested," is allowed to remain free and go to work. But despite the strange nature of his arrest, Joseph soon learns that his trial, however odd, is very real, and tries desperately to spare himself from the court's judgement.

The Trial

1993

Kidnapped poster
6.3

When Scottish young gentleman David Balfour's father dies, he leaves school to collect his inheritance from uncle Ebenezer, who in turn sells the boy as a future slave to a pirate ship. When staunch Stuart dynasty supporter Alan Breck Stewart accidentally boards the ship, he takes David along on his escape back to Edinburgh. They part and meet again repeatedly, mutually helpful against the Redcoats and respectful, although David is loyal to the English crown, but learns about its cruel oppression. Both ultimately face their adversaries.

Kidnapped

1995

Mrs. Dalloway poster
5.7

Clarissa Dalloway looks back on her youth as she readies for a gathering at her house. The wife of a legislator and a doyenne of London's upper-crust party scene, Clarissa finds that the plight of ailing war veteran Septimus Warren Smith reminds her of a past romance with Peter Walsh. In flashbacks, young Clarissa explores her possibilities with Peter.

Mrs. Dalloway

1997

The Hanging Gale poster
NR

In this historical miniseries created for BBC Northern Ireland, four brothers struggle to survive during the Irish potato famine of the 1840s while facing persecution from an agent (Michael Kitchen) of their indifferent English landlord. Looking on in horror as their primary food source dwindles, the Phelan brothers (portrayed by real-life siblings Joe, Mark, Paul and Stephen McGann) are torn between nonviolent protest and bloody revolt.

The Hanging Gale

1995

Crossing to Freedom poster
7.0

A very proper Englishman becomes saddled with youngsters that he has to help escape Nazi Germany. Adaptation of Nevil Shute's novel.

Crossing to Freedom

1990

The Winter's Tale poster
NR

Exquisitely sculptured Russian puppets perform this powerful and enchanting story full of regal and rustic characters. A fit of temper has tragic results for King Leontes. Sixteen years later, the gods and humbler mortals intervene to craft a happy, magical ending.

The Winter's Tale

1994

The Last Contract poster
5.8

Young police officer Roger is on the trail of the international master assassin, while the assassin follows his plan to murder Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.

The Last Contract

1998

Reckless: The Sequel poster
7.0

One year on in their lives, Owen and Anna plan to marry. But Anna's ex-husband may have an other idea. He schemes to rip the couple apart. Can Anna and Owen survive this emotional trauma to become man and wife?

Reckless: The Sequel

1998

Wilderness poster
NR

In the light of the moon, seduction and pleasure are never what they seem. And neither is Alice White (Amanda Ooms), a beautiful and obsessed woman with a painfully sinister secret: once a month when the moon is full, she locks herself away and transforms into a she-wolf. When a passionate triangle ensues between a psychiatrist who can hardly believe her erotically charged tales and a man who may be her one shot at love, Alice flees to the wilderness where she is free to satiate her most personal and sometimes shocking desires. Originally a three part British TV Mini-series, later released as a single episode on DVD.

Wilderness

1996

A Royal Scandal poster
7.6

The doomed marriage of the Prince Regent and Caroline of Brunswick.

A Royal Scandal

1997

Fools of Fortune poster
6.5

A Protestant Irish family is caught up in a conflict between Irish Republicans and the British army.

Fools of Fortune

1990

The Guilty poster
3.0

Michael Kitchen stars in this two-part television thriller as Steven Vey, a successful London barrister whose seemingly perfect life takes a devastating turn when a fleeting encounter with his secretary spawns a rape charge. Meanwhile, in a parallel tale, ex-convict Eddy Doyle discovers the man who raised him is not his real father. Doyle searches for his biological dad -- but winds up knee-deep in trouble. English

The Guilty

1992

Rik Mayall Presents: Dirty Old Town poster
8.0

A tramp called Raymond finds his life changes radically when he gets his hands on a sought-after film script.

Rik Mayall Presents: Dirty Old Town

1995

1980s · 12 titles

Out of Africa poster
7.1

Tells the life story of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on her 1937 autobiographical novel.

Out of Africa

1985

The Bunker poster
6.3

Dramatization depicting the events surrounding Adolf Hitler's last weeks in and around his underground bunker in Berlin before and during the battle for the city.

The Bunker

1981

Breaking Glass poster
6.9

Breaking Glass is the story of punk singer Kate and her meteoric rise to stardom. Starting out in the rock pubs of London, Kate, assisted by her manager Danny, becomes a huge star overnight. Once at the top the pressure is immense as Kate's band are squeezed out and she is left to cope alone in the spotlight.

Breaking Glass

1980

The Browning Version poster
6.4

Adaptation of Terence Rattigan's play produced for the BBC in 1985.

The Browning Version

1985

Caught on a Train poster
5.2

British playwright Stephen Poliakoff's comical teleplay investigates Europe's changing social landscape via three strangers who meet on a train. Peter, an English businessman on an overnight trip through Europe, shares a compartment with a beautiful American woman, Lorraine. But Peter's hope for romance is soon dampened by Lorraine's xenophobia and the arrival of a haughty Viennese aristocrat.

Caught on a Train

1980

King Lear poster
6.5

An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.

King Lear

1982

Customer Service From Hell poster
NR

John Cleese training video about customer service

Customer Service From Hell

1989

No artwork available
6.0

Trevor and Susannah, whose marraige is on the rocks, inflict their miseries on their nearest and dearest: three couples whose own relationships are tenuous at best. Taking place sequentially in the three beleaguered couples' bedrooms during one endless Saturday night of co-dependence and dysfunction, beds, tempers, and domestic order are ruffled, leading all the players to a hilariously touching epiphany.

Bedroom Farce

1980

The Dive poster
6.2

Sundquist and Eidsvold play the two deep sea divers, who agree to do a quick unscheduled dive before taking their Christmas vacation, to help an oil company who's got a oil-valve caught in a trawl. The dive is to take only 5 minutes, and the divers will get a nice bonus. But things go wrong. The diving bell gets tangled in the trawl, and while trying to hoist up the bell, they tear asunder the oxygen tanks. Suddenly the bell is stuck, and the crew is unable to get it up. Caught in a diving bell at the bottom of the sea, rapidly running out of air, both the divers and the crew on the surface are racing against time to find a solution; how to get the two men up ALIVE!

The Dive

1989

No artwork available
2.0

Michael Frayn play part of TV series Theatre Night.

Benefactors

1989

The Comedy of Errors poster
6.0

Aegeon of Syracuse has come to Ephesus to seek his son, who went in search of his missing twin and mother months ago. Too bad that Ephesus has just declared war on Syracuse, and will instantly put to death any Syracusean found within their borders unless a ransome's paid. Meanwhile, the son, Antipholus, and his servant, Dromio (also an identical twin), keep running into strangers who seem to know them...

The Comedy of Errors

1983

No artwork available
4.9

Joe and Sarah Marriot are a pair of European campers who have pitched their tent for a little R & R at a campsite in France. The other families that have come to the site on holiday provide great comedy and plenty of people watching for the Marriots. Of course, you'd expect hilarity from characters dubbed the Fitness Family, Mr. and Mrs. Topless, Fatty Granada, and the In-the-Trades. But the Marriots' enjoyment of observing the outside world turns inward when the entrance of Early Bird, a free-spirited female, shakes up their little nest.

Ball-Trap On The Cote Sauvage

1989

1970s · 13 titles

Dracula A.D. 1972 poster
6.0

Set in London in the early 1970's, supposedly for teen thrills, Johnny organises a black magic ceremony in a desolate churchyard. The culmination of the ritual, however, is the rejuvenation of Dracula from shrivelled remains. Johnny, Dracula' s disciple, lures victims to the deserted graveyard for his master's pleasure and one of the victims delivered is Jessica Van Helsing. Descended from the Van Helsing line of vampire hunters her grandfather, equipped with all the devices to snare and destroy the Count, confronts his arch enemy in the age-old battle between good and evil.

Dracula A.D. 1972

1972

The Reporters poster
9.0

Two provincial newspaper reporters - one a young idealist starting out on his career, the other an embittered man who previously wrote for a failed national daily - swap views.

The Reporters

1972

No Man's Land poster
7.0

'No Man's Land' is a play by Harold Pinter written in 1974 and first performed in 1975. In this 1978, TV adaptation, a seedy poet shows up at the home of a rich writer and they start reminiscing about the 'past,' in a menacing, Pinteresque fashion.

No Man's Land

1978

Hell's Angel poster
7.0

Dick Foster is adopted as a child, but has grown into a youth who causes problems and upsets.

Hell's Angel

1971

Beasts: What Big Eyes poster
7.5

An RSPCA officer is horrified when he discovers a pet shop owner has been conducting experiments on a wolf, searching for proof of lycanthropy. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale’s “Beasts” horror anthology miniseries.

Beasts: What Big Eyes

1976

Unman, Wittering and Zigo poster
6.8

A new schoolteacher learns that the previous teacher was killed by his students, and he fears the same fate will befall him.

Unman, Wittering and Zigo

1971

Sleepwalker poster
6.5

A young American woman visiting her author father in London discovers that her childhood habit of sleepwalking has recurred. She has a vivid dream of witnessing a murder in a strange house - or is it a dream?

Sleepwalker

1975

Once the Killing Starts poster
7.5

Married college professor Michael Lane falls in love with one of his students and hatches an elaborate scheme to dispose of his wife, Elizabeth. His murder plot goes as planned. However, he soon receives an anonymous note: "I know what you did, murderer!" Prof. Lane frantically tries to discover who knows his secret...

Once the Killing Starts

1974

School Play poster
NR

Life in an English public school - with all the parts played by adults.

School Play

1979

The Monkey's Paw poster
NR

An old army sergeant, back in England after long service in India, shows some old friends a strange possession he's acquired - a monkey's paw which can make wishes come true.

The Monkey's Paw

1973

The Long and the Short and the Tall poster
NR

Psychological drama about a British patrol in the Burmese jungle who fall out among themselves.

The Long and the Short and the Tall

1979

No artwork available
NR

Follows a PE teacher, whose attempt to impress the need for self-control on his pupils verges on the sadistic.

Is That Your Body, Boy

1970

No artwork available
7.0

A student commits murder. He inherits his victim's estate. For a while, he is content, but finally his conscience starts to trouble him.

The Imp of the Perverse

1975

Series credits

Play for Today poster
6.6

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.

Play for Today

1970

Play for Today poster
6.6

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.

Play for Today

1970

BBC Play of the Month poster
5.2

A BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983.

BBC Play of the Month

1965

Minder poster
7.2

Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.

Minder

1979

A Touch of Frost poster
7.6

Jack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.

A Touch of Frost

1992

Tales of the Unexpected poster
6.8

A British television anthology of stories, often with sinister and wryly comedic undertones, and a twist at the end. With early episodes written and presented by Roald Dahl, the series featured a plethora of big name guest stars.

Tales of the Unexpected

1979

ITV Playhouse poster
7.0

ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.

ITV Playhouse

1967

The Professionals poster
7.6

The lives of Bodie and Doyle, top agents for Britain's CI5 (Criminal Intelligence 5), and their controller, George Cowley. The mandate of CI5 was to fight terrorism and similar high-profile crimes. Cowley, a hard ex-MI5 operative, hand-picked each of his men. Bodie is a cynical ex-SAS paratrooper and mercenary whose nature ran to controlled violence, while his partner, Doyle, comes to CI5 from the regular police force, and is more of an open minded liberal. Their relationship is often contentious, but they are the top men in their field, and the ones to whom Cowley always assigned to the toughest cases.

The Professionals

1977

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

Thirty-Minute Theatre poster
4.2

An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.

Thirty-Minute Theatre

1965

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Playhouse poster
7.0

A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.

Playhouse

1974

Foyle's War poster
7.9

As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.

Foyle's War

2002

Inspector Morse poster
7.9

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.

Inspector Morse

1987

Dalziel and Pascoe poster
6.4

In the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.

Dalziel and Pascoe

1996

ITV Saturday Night Theatre poster
7.0

Anthology series of dramatic works.

ITV Saturday Night Theatre

1969

Pie in the Sky poster
8.3

Pie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997 as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series departs slightly from other police dramas in that the protagonist, Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty policeman, is also the head chef of the title restaurant set in the fictional town of Middleton and county of Westershire.

Pie in the Sky

1994

The BBC Television Shakespeare poster
6.0

The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.

The BBC Television Shakespeare

1978

Lovejoy poster
7.4

The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.

Lovejoy

1986

Thriller poster
7.0

Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.

Thriller

1973

Thriller poster
7.0

Thriller is a British television series, originally broadcast in the UK from 1973 to 1976. It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. As the title suggests, each story is a thriller of some variety, from tales of the supernatural to down-to-earth whodunits.

Thriller

1973

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales poster
6.5

An animated adaptation of twelve of Shakespeare's best-known plays. The series was produced by S4C for the BBC, but animated by some of the foremost artists of Soyuzmultfilm, the former Soviet Union's main animation studio. Each 26-minute play is directed by a different animator, in a wide variety of styles: cel animation for Macbeth, stop-motion puppets in Twelfth Night, and paint on glass for Hamlet.

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

1992

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales poster
6.5

An animated adaptation of twelve of Shakespeare's best-known plays. The series was produced by S4C for the BBC, but animated by some of the foremost artists of Soyuzmultfilm, the former Soviet Union's main animation studio. Each 26-minute play is directed by a different animator, in a wide variety of styles: cel animation for Macbeth, stop-motion puppets in Twelfth Night, and paint on glass for Hamlet.

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales

1992

Orson Welles' Great Mysteries poster
6.8

Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries is a British television anthology series produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network and broadcast between 1973 and 1974. The series presents standalone adaptations of classic mystery, crime, and supernatural stories drawn from literary sources including Dickens, Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Balzac, Maugham, O. Henry, and others. Each episode is framed by original introductory and closing sequences performed by Orson Welles, who serves as the series’ host and sole recurring on-screen presence. These segments, written and directed by Welles (uncredited), function as stylized narrative framing devices rather than dramatic participation in the stories themselves. The dramatic content of each episode is performed by separate casts and directors, with no continuing characters or serialized narrative, establishing the series as a unified television anthology rather than a collection of standalone films.

Orson Welles' Great Mysteries

1973

New Scotland Yard poster
6.3

New Scotland Yard is a police drama series produced by London Weekend Television for ITV from 1972 and 1974. It features the activities of two officers from the Criminal Investigations Department in the Metropolitan Police force headquarters at New Scotland Yard, as they dealt with the assorted villains of the day.

New Scotland Yard

1972

Between the Lines poster
5.5

Detective Superintendent Tony Clark is an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau, an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark overcomes strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean.

Between the Lines

1992

Centre Play poster
7.0

Anthology series of half hour plays produced in BBC's Television Centre's studios.

Centre Play

1973

Screen One poster
7.2

Anthology drama series.

Screen One

1989

Churchill's People poster
5.0

Churchill's People is a British anthology series based on A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies. 26 episodes were produced by the BBC and initially broadcast from 30 December 1974 to 23 June 1975.

Churchill's People

1974

Harry Enfield and Chums poster
7.2

Harry Enfield, Kathy Burke, Paul Whitehouse and others take on an array of oddball characters and old-time favorites in this sketch comedy show.

Harry Enfield and Chums

1994

Fall of Eagles poster
7.0

"Fall of Eagles" is a 13-part British television drama aired by the BBC in 1974. The series portrays historical events from 1848 to 1918, dealing with the collapse of the ruling dynasties of Austria-Hungary (the Habsburgs), Germany (the Hohenzollerns) and Russia (the Romanovs).

Fall of Eagles

1974

Lady Killers poster
7.5

Compelling crime anthology looks at some of Britain's most notorious murder trials, in which both male and female defendants stood accused of the murder of women. Presented by Robert Morley, seven hour-long dramas reconstruct sensational trials which shocked Britain, offering in-depth analyses of individuals' motives and methods.

Lady Killers

1980

Theatre Night poster
NR

A series of dramas featuring staged theatre plays.

Theatre Night

1985

A History of Britain poster
8.4

Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry.

A History of Britain

2000

The Buccaneers poster
6.0

Because of their "new money" background, four American girls have difficulty breaking into the upper-crust society of New York. Laura Testvalley, the governess of one of the girls, suggests a London season and thus the young women set sail for England and the unsuspecting English aristocracy. In England, all the girls soon find eligible husbands and the youngest girl, Nan, seems to land the best husband of them all: the handsome and very wealthy Julius, Duke of Trevennick. The girls soon discover that English upper-class men are not at all what they expected and hoped for.

The Buccaneers

1995

No artwork available
NR

Late Night Theatre is a UK television anthology series produced by Granada Television, Scottish Television (STV), Southern Television, and Westward Television. Forty-four episodes were aired on ITV (TV network) from 1972–1974.

Late Night Theatre

1972

Stay Lucky poster
7.0

Drama about a small-time gangster Thomas Gynn (Dennis Waterman) from London who discovers a new life up north in Yorkshire. Helping widowed, self-sufficient businesswoman Sally Hardcastle (Jan Francis) when her car breaks down on the motorway, Thomas reluctantly accepts an offer of a lift to Leeds. Over the coming months, the two become involved in a series of misadventures that soon find them being drawn closer together.

Stay Lucky

1989

Lorna Doone poster
7.7

Passionate love story set in 17th century rural England, charting the young John Ridd's search for revenge after his father's murder, and the chance encounter with beautiful Lorna Doone that changes the course of his life.

Lorna Doone

2000

Beasts poster
6.4

Beasts is a series of six television plays by Manx writer Nigel Kneale, unconnected save for a bestial horror theme, made by ATV for ITV in the United Kingdom and broadcast in 1976. The series avoids typical monster horror clichès, more so focusing on psychological and supernatural themes.

Beasts

1976

Oliver Twist poster
6.3

An orphan endures a harsh life in a workhouse before fleeing to London, where he falls in with a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the criminal Fagin, and eventually finds a better life, exposing the cruelties of poverty and child labor in Victorian England.

Oliver Twist

1999