John Le Mesurier

Acting

John Le Mesurier

Born — Died

1912-04-05 — 1983-11-15

Place of birth

Bedford, Bedfordshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

100 titles

John Le Mesurier (born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley) was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.

Known for

Crown Court poster
5.7

Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.

Crown Court

1972

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

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

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

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

Film credits

1970s · 10 titles

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother poster
6.0

After spending decades living in the shadow of his more famous and successful sibling, Consulting Detective Sigerson Holmes is called upon to help solve a crucial case that leads him on a hilarious trail of false identities, stolen documents, secret codes... and exposed backsides.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother

1975

Confessions of a Window Cleaner poster
5.0

Young Timmy starts as a window cleaner in the little company of his brother. Soon he learns that some female customers expect additional service. Young and curious as he is, he reluctantly accepts the juicy duty. However his heart belongs to Liz, who demands the highest commitment until she lets him go all the way.

Confessions of a Window Cleaner

1974

Jabberwocky poster
6.0

After the death of his father, young Dennis Cooper goes to town where he has to pass several adventures. The town and the whole kingdom is threatened by a terrible monster called 'Jabberwocky'. Will Dennis make his fortune? Is anyone brave enough to defeat the monster?

Jabberwocky

1977

Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? poster
6.2

Mystery abounds when it is discovered that, one by one, the greatest chefs in Europe are being killed. The intriguing part of the murders is that each chef is killed in the same manner that their own special dish is prepared in. Food critics and the (many) self-proclaimed greatest chefs in Europe demand the mystery be solved.

Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?

1978

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever poster
6.7

Daisy Gamble, an unusual woman who hears phones before they ring, and does wonders with her flowers, wants to quit smoking to please her fiancé, Warren. She goes to a doctor of hypnosis to do it. But once she's under, her doctor finds out that she can regress into past lives and different personalities, and he finds himself falling in love with one of them.

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

1970

Unidentified Flying Oddball poster
5.6

A NASA spacecraft proves Einstein right when, traveling faster than light, it ends up near King Arthur's Camelot. On board are big-hearted Tom Trimble and Hermes, the look-alike robot he built. Tom immediately makes friends with pretty Alisande while becoming enemies with the evil knight Sir Mordred. It seems Mordred has joined up with the Sorcerer Merlin and they are both up to no good. It is now up to Tom to try and use 20th century technology to foil their plans.

Unidentified Flying Oddball

1979

Three for All poster
3.3

A pop band and their girlfriends have fun in Spain

Three for All

1975

Au Pair Girls poster
4.6

Four sexy young foreign girls come to England as au pairs and quickly become quite intimate with their employers, host families, and just about everyone else they encounter.

Au Pair Girls

1972

Dad's Army poster
5.0

Dad's Army was a 1971 feature film based on the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army. Directed by Norman Cohen, it was filmed between series three and four and was based upon material from the early episodes of the television series. The film told the story of the Home Guard platoon's formation and their subsequent endeavours at a training exercise.

Dad's Army

1971

The Alf Garnett Saga poster
5.0

Alf and his family have been moved from their East End home into a high-rise council estate. Alf is not only having trouble coping with his new 'home', but also with the long commute to work, the long walk to the corner pub, his long-suffering wife Else, rebellious daughter Rita, and her philandering, constantly unemployed husband Mike.

The Alf Garnett Saga

1972

1960s · 34 titles

The Pink Panther poster
6.9

The trademark of The Phantom, a renowned jewel thief, is a glove left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Clouseau, an expert on The Phantom's exploits, feels sure that he knows where The Phantom will strike next and leaves Paris for the Tyrolean Alps, where the famous Lugashi jewel 'The Pink Panther' is going to be. However, he does not know who The Phantom really is, or for that matter who anyone else really is...

The Pink Panther

1963

Casino Royale poster
5.2

Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.

Casino Royale

1967

The Italian Job poster
6.9

Charlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of his friends has attempted a high-risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars, and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.

The Italian Job

1969

The 25th Hour poster
7.6

A Romanian peasant fights to get back to his family after he's imprisoned by the Nazis.The picture is based on real events. It includes Hungary's government in collaboration with the Nazis, the encroachment of Romania by Stalin's troopers, and other happenings.

The 25th Hour

1967

Salt & Pepper poster
5.3

After discovering the body of a murdered female agent in their trendy Soho, London nightclub, groovy owners Charles Salt and Christopher Pepper partake in a fumbling investigation and uncover an evil plot to overthrow the government. Can our cool, yet inept duo stop the bad guys in time?

Salt & Pepper

1968

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes poster
6.8

In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes

1965

The Magic Christian poster
5.8

Sir Guy Grand, the richest man in the world, adopts a homeless man, Youngman. Together, they set out to prove that anyone--and anything--can be bought.

The Magic Christian

1969

Where the Spies Are poster
5.4

A local doctor is recruited as a cold war spy to fulfill a very important secret mission in the Middle East, only to experience that his mission is complicated by a sexy female double agent.

Where the Spies Are

1966

Our Man in Havana poster
6.7

Jim Wormold is an expatriate Englishman living in pre-revolutionary Havana with his teenage daughter Milly. He owns a vacuum cleaner shop but isn’t very successful so he accepts an offer from Hawthorne of the British Secret Service to recruit a network of agents in Cuba.

Our Man in Havana

1960

Masquerade poster
5.0

The British send an American and a war hero to kidnap and hide an oil-country prince.

Masquerade

1965

Hot Enough for June poster
5.7

A young man travels to Prague to join his new employer, unaware that he is being used as an espionage courier.

Hot Enough for June

1964

Eye of the Devil poster
6.1

A French nobleman deserts his wife because of an ancient family secret.

Eye of the Devil

1966

The Pure Hell of St Trinian's poster
6.5

The fourth form monsters' latest trick is their best yet – they have burned down the school! As the girls stand trial, police breathe a sigh of relief, but miraculously the judge's infatuation with a student means the school is freed. For the authorities, it means a new reign of terror as the girls of St Trinian’s regroup with gleeful anticipation.

The Pure Hell of St Trinian's

1960

Never Let Go poster
6.5

John Cummings, an unsuccessful London cosmetics salesman, has his unpaid-for car stolen by a hood in the employ of Lionel Meadows, sadistic organiser of a car conversion racket. As the vehicle is uninsured, and since the police seem indifferent, Cummings decides to find it himself — and gets himself involved in an underworld battle.

Never Let Go

1960

War-Gods of the Deep poster
5.0

A chance discovery leads American mining engineer Ben Harris and acquaintance Harold to discover a lost city under the sea while searching for their kidnapped friend Jill. Held captive in the underwater city by the tyrannical Captain (Vincent Price), and his crew of former smugglers, the three plot to escape...

War-Gods of the Deep

1965

The Early Bird poster
7.5

Norman Pitkin is the assistant helping to run a small, old fashioned dairy which is threatened by a larger, modern organisation. Pitkin does his best to save the dairy (and his horse) and the usual chaos ensues

The Early Bird

1965

Our Man in Marrakesh poster
5.9

One of six travelers who catch the bus from Casablanca airport to Marrakesh is carrying $2 million to pay a local operator to fix United Nations votes. But which one?

Our Man in Marrakesh

1966

The Moon-Spinners poster
5.9

Young English girl Nikky and her aunt arrive at the Moon-Spinners, a hotel on Crete, to a less than enthusiastic welcome. The coolness of the owner is only out-done by the surliness of her brother Stratos, recently back from London. But then there is nice English lad Mark to make friends with, at least until Stratos and his pal take a shot at him one night. When Nikky helps him hide she finds the Greeks are after her too.

The Moon-Spinners

1964

On the Fiddle poster
5.7

Tricked into joining the RAF by a wily judge, wide boy Horace Pope sets his sights on the main chance, teams with slow-witted, good-hearted gypsy Pedlar Pascoe, and works up a lucrative racket in conning both his colleagues and the RAF. By means of various devious schemes Pope and Pascoe manage to avoid the front lines until they are sent to France - where they find themselves making unexpected and uncomfortably close contact with the enemy.

On the Fiddle

1961

The Mouse on the Moon poster
6.3

Sequel to The Mouse that Roared; The Tiny Country of Grand Fenwick has a hot water problem in the castle. To get the money necessary to put in a new set of plumbing, they request foreign aid from the U.S. for Space Research. The Russians then send aid as well to show that they too are for the internationalization of space. While the grand Duke is dreaming of hot baths, their one scientist is slapping together a rocket. The U.S. and Soviets get wind of the impending launch and try and beat them to the moon.

The Mouse on the Moon

1963

Don't Bother to Knock poster
4.8

An Edinburgh travel agent loses his keys and his fiancé in one night. A friend finds the keys and makes loads of copies with his address attached as a joke. She gives them to him as he leaves for a holiday. He gives the keys to several women he romances across the continent. He gets engaged again by phone and arranges to meet his fiancé at his flat, but the flat isn't empty...

Don't Bother to Knock

1961

The Rebel poster
7.8

Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist. Hancock proceeds to con the art world into thinking he is a genius.

The Rebel

1961

The Liquidator poster
6.3

Lighthearted spy drama about Boysie Oakes, who takes a nice job with the British Secret Service, enjoys all the perks, and signs all the forms before learning that his job depends on murdering people, and not romancing all the beautiful civilian staff in Whitehall.

The Liquidator

1965

Only Two Can Play poster
5.9

John Lewis is bored of his job and his wife. Then Liz, wife of a local councillor, sets her sights on him. But this is risky stuff in a Welsh valleys town - if he and Liz ever manage to consummate their affair, that is.

Only Two Can Play

1962

The Wrong Arm of the Law poster
6.7

The crooks in London know how it works. No one carries guns and no one resists the police. Then a new gang appears that go one better. They dress as police and steal from the crooks. This upsets the natural order of the police/criminal relationship and the police and the crooks join forces to catch the IPOs (Impersonating Police Officers), including an armoured car robbery in which the police must help the gangs to set a trap.

The Wrong Arm of the Law

1963

The Wrong Box poster
6.4

In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so.

The Wrong Box

1966

The Punch and Judy Man poster
7.9

Walter Pinner is the titular Punch And Judy Man plying his trade in the seaside town of Piltdown. Unhappily married to his social climbing wife, who gets him to perform at the 60th anniversary celebrations of the town in front of all the local dignitaries, his hatred of snobbery comes to a hilarious head.

The Punch and Judy Man

1963

The Main Attraction poster
4.0

An affable drifter on the lam for a murder he didn't commit hides out in a circus.

The Main Attraction

1962

In the Cool of the Day poster
5.8

After he mends a marital rift between a vacationing young couple, the bored, fragile wife falls hopelessly in love with the husband's ex-colleague who is married to a long-suffering and emotionally and physically scarred woman. The couple soon runs off to Greece together to pursue the romance.

In the Cool of the Day

1963

Tea Party poster
7.0

Mysteries abound. What is going on between the wife and her brother? Are they indeed brother and sister? Sisson has his doubts about that … . Why does Sisson feel that there must be something wrong with his eyes, although he knows that he can see clearly and his eye doctor has assured him that his vision is perfect? He forces his secretary to tie a chiffon scarf over his eyes, and then he is able to make a pass at her, in response to one of her many come-ons. Ordinary events assume a sinister tinge. Sisson's two sons, giving him the deadpan treatment that little boys have been inflicting on their elders from time immemorial, seem as eerie as characters out of a ghost story. Always the questions remain. Is there a conspiracy against Sisson. Wikipedia

Tea Party

1965

Jigsaw poster
7.2

A woman is found murdered in a seaside house along the coast from Brighton in the county of East Sussex, England. Local D.I. Fred Fellows and D.S. Jim Wilks lead an investigation methodically following up leads and clues mostly in Brighton and Hove but also further afield. _-= Based on the novel "Sleep Long My Love" by Hillary Waugh and Inspired by the Brighton Trunk Murders of the late 1930's =-_

Jigsaw

1962

The Night We Got the Bird poster
6.3

Good natured comic caper charting the misadventures of a hapless bunch of Brighton based petty crooks dogged with disaster at every turn.

The Night We Got the Bird

1960

The Bulldog Breed poster
6.1

Norman Puckle, a well-meaning but clumsy grocer's assistant, can't seem to do anything right. After being rejected by Marlene, the love of his life, he attempts suicide, but can't even do that. He is saved from jumping off a cliff at 'Lover's Leap' by a Royal Navy petty officer. He persuades Puckle to join the Royal Navy, where he'll meet 'lots of girls'. Life in the Navy proves not to be as rosy as it's been described, and Puckle fails at every task during basic training. But despite this, he's regarded by the Admiral in charge of a rocket project to be a 'typical average British sailor', and chosen to be the first man to fly into outer space in an experimental rocket.

The Bulldog Breed

1960

A Touch of Larceny poster
6.0

After falling in love with an American woman, Virginia Killain, who is engaged to another man, British Naval Commander Max Easton, hatches a plan that will get him enough money to support Virginia in the lifestyle she is accustomed to. Easton's plan is to disappear for a time making it seem that he has defected to the Soviets taking important Naval secrets from his job at the Admiralty and to return and sue the newspapers for slander. Not everything goes as planned for Commander Easton.

A Touch of Larceny

1960

1950s · 15 titles

Ben-Hur poster
7.9

In ancient Judea, a Jewish aristocrat opposing Roman occupation of his homeland reunites with his childhood friend, now a Roman commander — setting in motion a saga of betrayal, adventure, tragedy, revenge, and faith.

Ben-Hur

1959

The Hound of the Baskervilles poster
6.8

When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

1959

The Battle of the River Plate poster
6.4

In the early years of the World War II, the Royal Navy is fighting a desperate battle to keep the Atlantic convoy routes open to supply the British Isles, facing the great danger posed by the many German warships, such as the Admiral Graf Spee, which are scouring the ocean for cargo ships to sink.

The Battle of the River Plate

1956

The Wreck of the Mary Deare poster
6.3

A disgraced merchant marine officer elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship in order to prove the vessel was deliberately scuttled and, as a result, vindicate his good name.

The Wreck of the Mary Deare

1959

I'm All Right Jack poster
6.6

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

I'm All Right Jack

1959

Blood of the Vampire poster
5.8

A man and wife are terrorized by Mad Scientist Dr. Callistratus who was executed but has returned to life with a heart transplant. Along with his crippled assistant Carl, the 'anemic' Mad Scientist, believed to be a vampire, conducts blood deficiency research on the inmates of a prison hospital for the criminally insane to sustain his return to life.

Blood of the Vampire

1958

Operation Amsterdam poster
6.1

When Germany invades Holland in 1940, a British intelligence officer and two Dutch diamond merchants go to Amsterdam to persuade the Dutch diamond merchants to evacuate their diamond supplies to England.

Operation Amsterdam

1959

Shake Hands with the Devil poster
6.5

In 1921 Dublin, the IRA battles the "Black & Tans," special British forces given to harsh measures. Irish-American medical student Kerry O'Shea hopes to stay aloof, but saving a wounded friend gets him outlawed, and inexorably drawn into the rebel organization by his former professor Sean Lenihan, who has "shaken hands with the devil" and begun to think of fighting as an end in itself. Complications arise when Kerry falls for a beautiful English hostage, and the British offer a peace treaty that is not enough to satisfy Lenihan.

Shake Hands with the Devil

1959

I Was Monty's Double poster
6.9

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the Germans about his intentions before the North Africa campaign.

I Was Monty's Double

1958

Gideon's Day poster
6.4

Scotland Yard Inspector George Gideon starts his day off on the wrong foot when he gets a traffic-violation ticket from a young police officer. From there, his 'typical day" consists in learning that one of his most-trusted detectives has accepted bribes; hunts an escaped maniac who has murdered a girl; tracks a young girl suspected of involvement in a payroll robbery and then helps break up a bank robbery.

Gideon's Day

1958

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk poster
6.3

American scientist Dr. Frank Smith is brought to Britain to help the C.I.A. There is a defecting East block scientist they want him to debrief. The commies are less than amused and set Dr. Smith up for a murder.

The Man Who Wouldn't Talk

1958

The Admirable Crichton poster
6.8

Lord Loam has modern ideas about his household, he believes in treating his servants as his equals - at least sometimes. His butler, Crichton, still believes that members of the serving class should know their place and be happy there. But when the Loam family are shipwrecked on a desert island with the self-reliant Crichton and lady's maid Tweeny, the class system is put to the test.

The Admirable Crichton

1957

Another Time, Another Place poster
5.8

In England during WWII, an American news correspondent’s affair with a married British correspondent ends tragically when he is killed in action. Fearing a nervous breakdown as a result of his death, she travels to Cornwall to mourn with his family without any intention of revealing her relationship with him.

Another Time, Another Place

1958

The Baby and the Battleship poster
6.4

After a quayside mix-up with the Italian family of his fiancée, Able Seaman Knocker White finds himself literally left holding the baby. Unable to return it before his ship sails he enlists the help of best mate Puncher Roberts to smuggle the child aboard. But babies are surprisingly demanding and gradually the whole crew is drawn into helping keep it fed and washed - and undiscovered. Even so, the officers above deck start to puzzle over the increasingly strange happenings on board.

The Baby and the Battleship

1956

Carlton-Browne of the F.O. poster
6.1

Great Britain has had an international agreement for the last 50 years with a small pacific island. It has been ignored until the death of their king brings it to the attention of the Foreign Office in Whitehall. They decide to send Cadogan de Vere Carlton-Browne to re-establish friendly relations.

Carlton-Browne of the F.O.

1959

Series credits

Crown Court poster
5.7

Crown Court is an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984.

Crown Court

1972

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

The Avengers poster
7.8

A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners. Jonathan Steed - an urbane, proper gentleman spy - teams with various assistants throughout the series' run, including Dr. David Keel, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel and Tara King, to repeatedly save the world from diabolical schemes plotted by equally diabolical evil-doers (among them robots and man-eating monsters).

The Avengers

1961

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

The Wednesday Play poster
5.2

An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.

The Wednesday Play

1964

Theatre 625 poster
7.2

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.

Theatre 625

1964

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

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

Danger Man poster
7.3

Danger Man is a British television series which was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the programme and wrote many of the scripts. Danger Man was financed by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment.

Danger Man

1960

Dad's Army poster
7.5

Introducing the Walmington-On-Sea home guard. During WW2, in a fictional British seaside town, a ragtag group of Home Guard local defense volunteers prepare for an imminent German invasion.

Dad's Army

1968

Sykes poster
6.7

Classic sitcom starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques as brother and sister twins who have to tackle the trials and tribulations of suburban life.

Sykes

1972

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

Hancock's Half Hour poster
7.4

Hancock's Half Hour is a BBC television comedy series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock with Sid James. The final series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone. Comedian Tony Hancock starred in the show, playing an exaggerated and much poorer version of his own character and lifestyle, Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock, a down-at-heel comedian living at the dilapidated 23 Railway Cuttings in East Cheam. The series was influential in the development of the situation comedy, with its move away from radio variety towards a focus on character development.

Hancock's Half Hour

1956

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

Interpol Calling poster
7.2

The adventures of Interpol policemen Duval and Mornay as they fought against international drug-running, homicide, robbery and forgery.

Interpol Calling

1959

Morecambe & Wise poster
6.5

No synopsis available yet.

Morecambe & Wise

1961

Centre Play poster
7.0

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

Centre Play

1973

The Goodies poster
7.7

A British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s, combining surreal sketches and situation comedy.

The Goodies

1970

NET Playhouse poster
7.3

NET Playhouse is an American dramatic television anthology series produced by National Educational Television. NET subsequently merged with WNDT Newark, New Jersey to form WNET and was superseded by the Public Broadcasting Service. American television anthology series of wide range of genres, from history and drama, to fantasy, and science fiction. Fiction novels, stories, stage plays, fairytales, and historic events are dramatized in each episode.

NET Playhouse

1966

Worzel Gummidge poster
6.2

Worzel Gummidge is a children's comedy series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, based on the books by Barbara Euphan Todd. Starting in 1979, the programme starred Jon Pertwee in the title role and ran for four series in the UK until 1981. Channel 4 reprised the show in 1987 as Worzel Gummidge Down Under, which was set in New Zealand.

Worzel Gummidge

1979

Brideshead Revisited poster
7.9

Agnostic Charles Ryder is seduced by the allure of the Flytes, a wealthy aristocratic family. Although he finds himself at odds with their strong Catholicism, his ties to the family deepen for the decades between the two world wars.

Brideshead Revisited

1981

Hi-de-Hi! poster
7.0

Hi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom set in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, during 1959 and 1960, and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum amongst others. It aired on the BBC from 1980 to 1988. The series revolved around the lives of the camp's management and entertainers, most of them struggling actors or has-beens. The inspiration was the experience of writers Perry and Croft: after being demobilised from the army, Perry was a Redcoat at Butlin's, Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004, it came 40th in Britain's Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, 'Hi-de-Hi!" was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase.

Hi-de-Hi!

1980

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

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8.0

Story Parade specialized in adaptations of modern novels. It was broadcast on June 5, 1964 and repeated on August 28, 1964. The teleplay was by Terry Nation (who invented "Blake's 7" and the Daleks in Dr. Who), and Elijah Baley was played by the late Peter Cushing. It also starred John Carson John Carson as R. Daneel Olivaw and Kenneth J. Warren. The master tapes of the program were erased, however a few clips from the production have turned up in various documentaries about Isaac Asimov's work.

Story Parade

1964

Jason King poster
7.8

Jason King - a suavely sophisticated former secret agent turned novelist - travels the world searching for material to fill his books, encountering an endless parade of glamorous women, exotic locales, menacing villains and daring intrigue! Before Austin Powers swung into action, Jason King set the standard for the hip crime-fighting international playboy!

Jason King

1971

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8.0

An anthology of single plays offering up adaptations of either of prominent stage plays or novels.

Festival

1963

No artwork available
8.0

An anthology of single plays offering up adaptations of either of prominent stage plays or novels.

Festival

1963

Village Hall poster
8.0

Village Hall is an anthology drama series produced by Granada between 1974–75. It is entirely set in a village hall, with each episode highlighting a different use to which the space is put by locals.

Village Hall

1974

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9.0

Armchair Mystery Theatre is a 60-minute United Kingdom television anthology mystery series. Thirty-four episodes aired from 1960-65. It was hosted by Donald Pleasence and produced by Leonard White.

Armchair Mystery Theatre

1960

Hallmark Hall of Fame poster
8.8

Long-running anthology program sponsored by Hallmark Cards. Beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2019, the series received 80 Emmy Awards, 24 Christopher Awards, 11 Peabody Awards, 9 Golden Globes, and 4 Humanitas Prizes. Early seasons were a weekly live drama, eventually transitioning to videotaped and then filmed productions broadcast as occasional specials.

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

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NR

An anthology series based on the varied stories by W. Somerset Maugham divided into three categories: "Rule Britannia" about colonial life, "Women of the World" which focus on female characters, and "Victims of Fate".

W. Somerset Maugham

1969

Ripping Yarns poster
7.7

A British television comedy series, written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. Following an initial pilot episode in January 1976, it ran for two subsequent series of five and three episodes in October 1977 and October 1979 respectively. Each episode had a different setting and characters, looking at a different aspect of British culture and parodying pre-World War II literature aimed at schoolboys.

Ripping Yarns

1976

Shades of Greene poster
8.5

Shades of Greene is a British television series based on short stories written by the author Graham Greene. The series began in 1975, with each hour-long episode featuring a dramatisation of one of Greene's stories, many of which dealt with issues such as guilt and the Catholic faith, as well as looking at life in general. Actors to have appeared in the series include John Gielgud, Leo McKern, Virginia McKenna, Paul Scofield, and Roy Kinnear. The series began on 9 September 1975 and ran for two seasons.

Shades of Greene

1975

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6.5

Black and Blue was a BBC TV comedy-drama series, first broadcast in 1973. The show consisted of six 50–60 minutes episodes, each a separate self-contained playlet. The only connection was the Black and Blue humour theme. The first episode was broadcast on 14 August 1973, with the finale on 18 September 1973. The first, Secrets, was wiped, only surviving thanks to a domestic videotape copy made from the master by producer Mark Shivas.

Black and Blue

1973

A Married Man poster
5.0

A bored British barrister's affair with a rich American, discovered by his wife, ends in murder.

A Married Man

1983

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7.0

Pardon The Expression! is an ITV sitcom made by Granada Television, that was first broadcast from Wednesday 2 June 1965 to Monday 27 June 1966. The sitcom was one of only four spin-offs from the highly popular soap opera Coronation Street. Pardon the Expression itself had a spin-off: Turn out the Lights broadcast in 1967. There wasn't to be another spin-off until the 1980s with The Brothers McGregor, which reused two characters who appeared in a single episode. Leonard Swindley was the central character. Formerly the manager of the fashion retail store "Gamma Garments" in Coronation Street, in this series he is the deputy manager of the department store Dobson and Hawks. His boss in the series was Ernest Parbold played by Paul Dawkins who was replaced by Wally Hunt played by Robert Dorning in series 2. Other regulars were Betty Driver as canteen lady, Mrs Edgeley and Joy Stewart as Miss Sinclair, the boss's secretary.

Pardon the Expression

1965

All Gas and Gaiters poster
6.2

All Gas and Gaiters is a British television ecclesiastical sitcom which aired on BBC1 from 1966 to 1971. It was written by Pauline Devaney and Edwin Apps, a husband-and-wife team who used the pseudonym of "John Wraith" when writing the pilot. At St Oggs Cathedral is a carefree bishop, an old tippling archdeacon, and an accident-prone chaplain, who all wish to live a quiet bachelor life, but this is continually threatened by the dean, who tries to bring by-the-book rule to the cathedral.

All Gas and Gaiters

1967

Dear Mother... ...Love Albert poster
5.5

A British sitcom created by and starring Rodney Bewes, Bewes co-wrote and produced the series with Derrick Goodwin. The show proved popular and regularly made the TV ratings top ten throughout its three year run. There were 26 episodes, including the three Christmas specials, all three broadcast as part of All Star Comedy Carnival. The fourth and final series was broadcast as a sequel entitled Albert!, which ran for a further series of seven episodes. Series 1 was produced by Thames Television, while the subsequent series 2-4 were produced by Yorkshire Television.

Dear Mother... ...Love Albert

1969

Two in Clover poster
7.2

Two in Clover is a British sitcom produced by Thames Television for two series from 1969 to 1970 on ITV. It starred Sid James and Victor Spinetti and was written by Vince Powell and Harry Driver, and produced and directed by Alan Tarrant. The first series was made in black and white and the second series was made in colour. Frustrated office workers Sid Turner and Vic Evans decide to leave behind their nine-to-five lifestyle for the simpler life of living in the countryside and running a farm.

Two in Clover

1969

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