Edward Chapman

Acting

Edward Chapman

Born — Died

1901-10-13 — 1977-08-09

Place of birth

Harrogate, Yorkshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

68 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Edward Chapman (13 October 1901 - 9 August 1977) was an English actor who starred in many films and television programmes, but is chiefly remembered as "Mr. Wilfred Grimsdale", the officious superior and comic foil to Norman Wisdom's character of Pitkin in many of his films from the late 1950s and 1960s. Chapman was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. On leaving school he became a bank clerk but later began his stage career with Ben Greet's Company in June 1924 at the Repertory Theatre, Nottingham, playing Gecko in George du Maurier's Trilby. He made his first London stage appearance at the Court Theatre in August 1925 playing the Rev Septimus Tudo…

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

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

The Onedin Line poster
7.0

The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this central theme are the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner, shop owner Robert, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore. The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steam ships. It shows the role that ships played in affairs like international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.

The Onedin Line

1971

The World of Hammer poster
6.8

The World of Hammer is a thirteen-part British documentary series created and written by Robert and Ashley Sidaway for Channel 4. Initially broadcast from 12 August to 4 November 1994, the series is narrated by English actor and frequent Hammer collaborator Oliver Reed.

The World of Hammer

1994

The Man in Room 17 poster
6.2

The Man in Room 17 is a British television series which ran for two seasons in the mid-1960s, produced by the Northern ITV franchise, Granada Television. Key to the series' success was the involvement of writer/producer Robin Chapman. The show was set in Room 17 of the Department of Social Research, where former wartime agent-turned-criminologist Edwin Oldenshaw solved difficult police cases through theory and discussions with his assistants. The novelty of the series was that Oldenshaw and his colleagues never needed to leave their office in order to resolve cases, preferring to spend their time playing the Japanese board game of Go. They simply provided their prognosis and left the police to do the cleaning up. Different directors were often appointed to film the Room 17 and outside-world scenes independently, to maintain a sense of distance between the two worlds.

The Man in Room 17

1965

Night and the City poster
7.5

Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.

Night and the City

1950

Film credits

1960s · 8 titles

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

A Stitch in Time poster
7.3

An accident in the butchers shop leads Norman Pitkin and Mr Grimsdale to the hospital where, after causing the normal amount of chaos, Pitkin finds Lindy, a little girl who hasn't spoken or smiled since her parents were killed in an aeroplane accident. Pitkin decides to help.

A Stitch in Time

1963

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

Joey Boy poster
6.2

While posters urge austerity and vigilance in wartime Britain, 'Joey Boy' Thompson has never had it better. In a cellar beneath his East London fish shop, a gambling club thrives – and austerity provides a nice black-market sideline. But the dolce vita crumbles when police arrive in a lightning raid, and offer Joey and his fellow reprobates a stark choice: sign up for active service, or face another stint inside. Thus the lads find themselves heading off to Italy, determined to make the best of it...

Joey Boy

1965

Oscar Wilde poster
5.2

England, 1891. Ascending writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) meets Lord Alfred Douglas, a young nobleman. Over the years, they will maintain an intimate relationship that will be openly criticized by Alfred's father, the Marquis of Queensberry, in such a harsh way that Wilde, instigated by Alfred, decides to sue Queensberry in 1895, accusing him of defamation.

Oscar Wilde

1960

No artwork available
NR

Unscrupulous business Sir Pierson Cale is determined to win the contract to build a power station. He sees John Hamilton as someone who can get the job done but he wants him to bid half a million less than his nearest competitor.

The Big Deal

1961

Venus fra Vestø poster
6.2

Vestø island's isolated community's prize cow is in danger of being abducted by German WWII occupation forces.

Venus fra Vestø

1962

Hide and Seek poster
7.0

A professor of astronomy helping on a missile development program. An old friend of his is a Russian chess champion. The Russian is working with shady businessman Marek and they plan to kidnap the professor and make it look as though he has defected to the Soviet Union.

Hide and Seek

1964

1950s · 21 titles

Night and the City poster
7.5

Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.

Night and the City

1950

Mandy poster
7.1

London, the early 1950s. Born deaf, Mandy is mute for most of her childhood. As she reaches school age her family itself is in danger of breaking up. Christine, Mandy's mother, has heard of a residential school for the oral education of the deaf.

Mandy

1952

Gone to Earth poster
6.2

Hazel Woods, a beautiful and young Welsh girl, lives a wild, rustic life and loves animals — in particular, her pet fox. She is hotly desired by Jack Reddin, a fox hunting squire who vies for her affection and pursues her, despite the purer amorous intentions of the local pastor.

Gone to Earth

1950

The Ringer poster
6.1

An underhand solicitor receives threatening notes, and the police are called in to protect him.

The Ringer

1952

The Square Peg poster
6.5

Norman Pitkin and Mr Grimsdale are council workmen mending the road outside an Army base when they come into conflict with the military. Shortly afterwards, they get drafted and fall into the clutches of the Sergeant they have just bested. They are sent to France to repair roads in front of the Allied advance but get captured. Pitkin takes advantage of a useful similarity to impersonate General Schreiber and manages to return a hero

The Square Peg

1958

Bhowani Junction poster
6.1

Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India.

Bhowani Junction

1956

Lisbon poster
6.5

For Capt. Robert John Evans, smuggling black-market goods is nothing out of the ordinary. But one day he's hired by Aristides Mavros for a more involved assignment -- sneaking an imprisoned American out of communist-controlled territory. The job seems challenging enough, but when he meets the prisoner's sultry wife, Sylvia, he realizes his mission comes with a startling catch: Not only must he rescue this man, he must bring him back from the dead.

Lisbon

1956

The Card poster
7.0

A charming and ambitious young man finds many ways to raise himself through the ranks in business and social standing - some honest, some not quite so. If he can just manage to avoid a certain very predatory woman.

The Card

1952

The Crowded Day poster
5.8

One day in the lives and loves of the staff in a large department store.

The Crowded Day

1954

The Magic Box poster
6.5

Now old, ill, poor, and largely forgotten, William Freise-Greene was once young and handsome William Green. He changed his name to include his first wife's for the photographic portrait work he excelled at. But he was also an inventor and his search for a way to project moving pictures became an obsession that ultimately changed the life of all those he loved.

The Magic Box

1952

X: The Unknown poster
6.1

Army radiation experiments awaken a subterranean monster from a fissure that feeds on energy and proceeds to terrorise a remote Scottish village. An American research scientist at a nearby nuclear plant joins with a British investigator to discover why the victims were radioactively burned and why, shortly thereafter, a series of radiation-related incidents are occurring in an ever-growing straight line away from the fissure.

X: The Unknown

1956

Innocent Sinners poster
7.5

A neglected girl in post-World War II London befriends street urchins who help her build a tiny garden in a bombed-out church.

Innocent Sinners

1958

A Day to Remember poster
7.4

A group of men from a London pub are going on a darts team outing to Boulogne. Various members of the party have different reasons for going and get involved in various adventures.

A Day to Remember

1953

His Excellency poster
7.0

A trade union official becomes governor of a British island colony.

His Excellency

1952

A Yank in Ermine poster
6.0

An American airman inherits an Earldom in England along with the small matter of $3 million on the proviso that he gives up his US citizenship. Unsure if he is prepared to make the sacrifice he takes a trip with his two best friends to try our his new title, but will he be able to cope with the British aristocracy?

A Yank in Ermine

1955

The Intruder poster
7.6

When Ex Colonel Merton discovers a burglar ransacking his home, he is shocked to find out that the thief is a former soldier from his tank regiment. When the thief escapes, Merton tries to contact former members of the regiment, in order to find out what set the thief on the road to crime.

The Intruder

1953

Doctor at Large poster
5.7

Losing out to Dr. Bingham (Michael Medwin) in a competition for house surgeon when he offends a member of the board, young Dr. Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) finds himself going from post to post, filling in for other physicians. At one distant country post, he is taken aback when he works with a patient whose husband died after Simon treated the man years before. In another hospital, Simon examines a surprisingly mature teen and also tries courting devoted nurse Nan McPherson (Shirley Eaton).

Doctor at Large

1957

Folly to Be Wise poster
6.7

A newly-arrived army chaplain is put in charge of camp entertainment and has the idea of putting on a Brains Trust with local notables. Unfortunately for him, it emerges from a question on the rights and wrongs of marriage that there is more going on between three of the panelists than he wants to know about - though the audience obviously thinks differently.

Folly to Be Wise

1952

The Love Match poster
7.7

After being arrested for assaulting a football referee, desperate train driver Bill (Arthur Askey) raids the railwaymen's holiday fund to cover his £55 fine. He knows he's going to be discovered though, leaving him no choice but to get the money back by hook or by crook! His last chance is to run a book on the United v City football derby. If that wasn't tense enough, Bill's son is also making his debut for United. It looks like it's going to be a day to remember - do you dare look? ...The Love Match.

The Love Match

1955

The End of the Road poster
6.5

Having been given enforced retirement due to his age, Mick-Mack creates strain upon his extended family.

The End of the Road

1954

The Young and the Guilty poster
6.2

Parents veto the romance of two high-school students, forcing them to meet in secret.

The Young and the Guilty

1958

1940s · 15 titles

Convoy poster
5.6

A tale of life on board a Royal Navy cruiser assigned to protect the vital convoys between America and England during WWII.

Convoy

1940

The History of Mr. Polly poster
7.5

Quiet and somewhat direction-less, Alfred Polly uses the money he inherits from his father to marry and to set up shop in a small town. His heart is in neither of these enterprises and he eventually resorts to desperate measures to break free. His random wanderings in the countryside lead him to a new opportunity that just might be what he's been looking for all along.

The History of Mr. Polly

1949

It Always Rains on Sunday poster
6.6

During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.

It Always Rains on Sunday

1947

Man on the Run poster
6.7

An Army deserter, still a fugitive in Post-War Britain, wanders into a pawn-shop robbery and finds himself wanted for murder. He meets a war widow who helps him elude the police while he looks for the real criminals.

Man on the Run

1949

The Proud Valley poster
6.3

In a Welsh coal mining valley, a young man with a beautiful singing voice is called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice when a pit disaster threatens.

The Proud Valley

1940

The October Man poster
6.2

Jim Ackland, who suffers from a head injury sustained in a bus crash, is the chief suspect in a murder hunt, when a girl that he has just met is found dead on the local common, and he has no alibi for the time she was killed.

The October Man

1947

The Spider and the Fly poster
6.9

"The Spider and the Fly is set in Paris during the cloud-cuckoo days before WW I. The storyline intertwines the destinies of three people. Guy Rolfe plays Phillipe de Ledocq, a resourceful safecracker who always manages to elude arrest. Eric Portman is cast as police-chief Maubert, who will not rest until Ledocq is behind bars. And Nadia Gray is Madeleine, the woman beloved by both Ledocq and Maubert. Just as Maubert has managed to capture his man, Ledocq is released at the behest of the government, who wants him to steal secrets from the German embassy revealing the whereabouts of the Kaiser's secret agents. And just how does Madeleine figure into all of this? Spider and the Fly is a diverting precursor to the 1960s TV series It Takes a Thief." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The Spider and the Fly

1949

Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It poster
7.4

Third and final film in the 'Inspector Hornleigh’ series of comedy-thrillers. Inspector Hornleigh (Gordon Harker), disappointed at not being handed an important spy case, is assigned by Scotland Yard to an army barracks to investigate the mundane thefts of supplies from the stores. This accidentally leads Hornleigh and Sergeant Bingham (Alastair Sim) to a nest of fifth columnists when his dim-witted assistant carelessly talks to a girl in the cafeteria – and that night, news of Hornleigh and Bingham’s arrival is embarrassingly transmitted back to Germany.

Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It

1941

They Flew Alone poster
6.8

The story of flyer Amy Johnson the girl from Yorkshire who won the hearts of the British public in the 1930s with her record-breaking solo flights around the world. Her marriage to fellow aviator Jim Mallison was less noteworthy.

They Flew Alone

1942

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill poster
7.6

A handsome young master at a boys school incurs the jealousy of an embittered colleague. From the novel by Hugh Walpole.

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill

1948

Jeannie poster
7.7

Based on Aimee Stuart's play. Little Scots girl decides to use her inheritance for a "grand tour" of the Continent.

Jeannie

1941

Turned Out Nice Again poster
6.8

George Pearson, an employee at an underwear factory, is caught between his modern wife and his meddling mother. After buying a special yarn and getting his wife to promote it, he has an argument with his boss, Mr Dawson who insults Pearson's wife and refuses to apologise. Pearson then resigns. After finding out that the yarn is actually worth a fair amount, Mr Dawson tries to buy it from Pearson but he has some competition.

Turned Out Nice Again

1941

Ships with Wings poster
6.0

Before the war, a Fleet Air Arm pilot is dismissed for causing the death of a colleague. Working for a small Greek airline when the Germans invade Greece, he gets a chance to redeem himself and rejoin his old unit on a British carrier. This is regarded the last of the conventional, rather stiff 1930's style Ealing war films, to be succeeded by much more realism and better storytelling.

Ships with Wings

1941

Law and Disorder poster
6.3

On the eve of WWII a young defence lawyer, assisted by his wife, invaigles his way into a gang of foreign saboteurs. Comedy thriller, ably executed by a satisfactory cast.

Law and Disorder

1940

Eating Out with Tommy Trinder poster
6.0

Tommy Trinder promotes the virtues of the wartime communal British Restaurants.

Eating Out with Tommy Trinder

1941

1930s · 15 titles

Things to Come poster
6.4

The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.

Things to Come

1936

Murder! poster
5.9

When actress Diana Baring is found in a daze beside her colleague’s murdered body, all evidence points to her guilt. During the trial, juror Sir John Menier doubts the verdict, but yields to pressure. Haunted by remorse, he launches his own investigation.

Murder!

1930

Juno and the Paycock poster
4.6

In the slums of Dublin during the Irish Civil War, the Boyle family’s fragile stability collapses after news of an unexpected inheritance lures them into a false sense of prosperity. Captain Boyle, a boastful idler, squanders their meager resources, while his wife Juno holds the household together. When the fortune proves illusory, the family faces ruin, betrayal, and tragedy.

Juno and the Paycock

1930

The Citadel poster
6.4

Young, idealistic, newly qualified Scottish doctor Andrew Manson arrives in Wales and takes his first job in a mining town, and begins to wonder at the persistent cough many of the miners have. When his attempts to prove its cause are thwarted, he moves to London. His new practice does poorly, but when a friend shows him how to make a lucrative practice from rich hypochondriacs, it will take a great shock to show him what the truth of being a doctor really is.

The Citadel

1938

Rembrandt poster
6.8

A character study depicting the life of Rembrandt Van Rijn at the height of his fame in the mid 1600s. Beginning with the death of his wife, Rembrandt's work takes a dark turn, which offends many of his patrons.

Rembrandt

1936

Poison Pen poster
6.7

The inhabitants of a peaceful village begin receiving mysterious hate mail penned by someone with malicious thoughts.

Poison Pen

1939

The Four Just Men poster
6.7

The Four Men of the title are British WWI veterans who decide to work secretly against enemies of the country. They aren't above a bit of murder or sabotage to serve their ends, but they consider themselves to be true patriots.

The Four Just Men

1939

The Skin Game poster
5.4

An old traditional family and a modern family battle over land in a small English village.

The Skin Game

1931

The Man Who Could Work Miracles poster
6.0

An ordinary man, while vigorously asserting the impossibility of miracles, suddenly discovers that he can perform them.

The Man Who Could Work Miracles

1936

Caste poster
10.0

The daughter of a Cockney drunkard marries a young aristocrat who is presumed killed in action in WWI. When she gets the news she goes to stay with her aristocratic in-laws.

Caste

1930

Girls Will Be Boys poster
5.8

The Duke of Bridgewater sends for the heir he's never seen. His heir is Patricia, and the Duke is a woman-hater, so Patricia disguises herself as a boy.

Girls Will Be Boys

1934

Marigold poster
8.0

Marigold is a 1938 British drama film set in Scotland in the Victorian era. It was filmed in Edinburgh. It was based on a 1914 play of the same title by Lizzie Allen Harker and Francis R. Pryor.

Marigold

1938

There Ain't No Justice poster
6.0

A young boxer falls in with a crooked fight promoter.

There Ain't No Justice

1939

No artwork available
7.0

When Sally inherits a country house, her young brother Ronald, an aspiring journalist, hits on a sensational way to make his first big scoop: Sally will 'disappear', and he will be arrested for her murder! At his trial she will reappear, his acquittal will follow, and he will be able to supply his paper with an exclusive story. Sally and her fiance, Bill, fall in with the scheme. However, there are complications which they had not foreseen.

Someone at the Door

1936

No artwork available
9.0

Two window cleaners help a girl who is trying to get to Hollywood.

Happy Ever After

1932

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

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

The Onedin Line poster
7.0

The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this central theme are the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner, shop owner Robert, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore. The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steam ships. It shows the role that ships played in affairs like international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.

The Onedin Line

1971

The World of Hammer poster
6.8

The World of Hammer is a thirteen-part British documentary series created and written by Robert and Ashley Sidaway for Channel 4. Initially broadcast from 12 August to 4 November 1994, the series is narrated by English actor and frequent Hammer collaborator Oliver Reed.

The World of Hammer

1994

The Man in Room 17 poster
6.2

The Man in Room 17 is a British television series which ran for two seasons in the mid-1960s, produced by the Northern ITV franchise, Granada Television. Key to the series' success was the involvement of writer/producer Robin Chapman. The show was set in Room 17 of the Department of Social Research, where former wartime agent-turned-criminologist Edwin Oldenshaw solved difficult police cases through theory and discussions with his assistants. The novelty of the series was that Oldenshaw and his colleagues never needed to leave their office in order to resolve cases, preferring to spend their time playing the Japanese board game of Go. They simply provided their prognosis and left the police to do the cleaning up. Different directors were often appointed to film the Room 17 and outside-world scenes independently, to maintain a sense of distance between the two worlds.

The Man in Room 17

1965

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Men From Room 13

1959

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
10.0

The Yorkshire-based Champion family and the dramas surrounding the family textiles firm, Champion Mills.

Champion House

1967