
Acting
David Battley
Born — Died
1935-11-05 — 2003-01-20
Place of birth
Clapham, London, England, UK
Known for
Acting
Credits
61 titles
Was a British actor of stage and screen, mainly appearing in comedy roles.
Known for
5.2A 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
7.2Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
8.0Mr Bean turns simple everyday tasks into chaotic situations and will leave you in stitches as he creates havoc wherever he goes.
Mr. Bean
1990
7.2Theatre 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
7.4The 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
Film credits
1990s · 3 titles
5.4Based on the life of a classic french cineast Jean Vigo, the story follows his daily struggle with sanity, normal life and uncompromising filmmaking. Story also focuses on his relationship with his supporting wife whom he met in sanatorium.
Vigo
1998
7.0June, 1813. Major Richard Sharpe's men are in mortal danger - not from the French, but from the bureaucrats of Whitehall. Unless reinforcements can be brought from England, the depleted South Essex will be disbanded, their troops scattered throughout the army. Determined not to see his regiment die, Sharpe returns to England and uncovers a nest of well-bred, high-ranking traitors, any one of whom could utterly destroy his career with a word, or a stroke of the pen. Sharpe is forced into the most desperate gamble of his life - and not even the influence of the Price Regent may be enough to save him.
Sharpe's Regiment
1996
NRHe's back! Everyone's favourite big, bouncy, big blob (well how many do you know?) In his new guises, Mr Blobby is a complete hoot, hilariously bumping, bashing and bruising his way through life.
The All New Adventures of Mr Blobby
1996
1980s · 2 titles
1970s · 14 titles
7.5When eccentric candy man Willy Wonka promises a lifetime supply of sweets and a tour of his chocolate factory to five lucky kids, penniless Charlie Bucket seeks the golden ticket that will make him a winner.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
1971
7.8A strait-laced British banker hires an eccentric private detective to follow his free-spirited American wife, whom he suspects is cheating on him.
Follow Me!
1972
4.4In Frankie Howerd's third Up... film it's World War I and he plays Lurk, an absolute cowerd, er coward. He's evading the call-up for all he's worth. But one evening he's hypnotised by a drunken hypnotist (Stanley Holloway) into being brave, but he fails to be released from it. So with his yellow streak gone Lurk is down that army office before you can say "titter ye not." Off to war he goes, mingling with sexy spies like Zsa Zsa Gabor and before long, the spellbound recruit is heading hot-foot back to Blighty with the Germans' plan of attack tattooed on his bum, and the Germans are bringing up the rear...! Full of sauce, knowing real-life references and witty remarks to camera, this is a cheeky incorrigible final instalment.
Up the Front
1972
4.2Based on the hit play. A British Government Minister puts forward a bill to battle filth in the UK but that doesn't stop him having an affair with both his secretary, Miss Parkyn and Wendy, the wife of a high-up reporter. Opponents to the bill - mainly some hippy girls, lead by Johnny, kidnap the Minister's best friend and co-founder of the bill, Barry Ovis just as he was getting married to his fiancee, Joan. Barry escapes, just before the police raid the hippies hiding place - to claim that Ovis was in a orgy and get the bill defeated - and dashes back to his and Joan's flat followed by Inspector Ruff, who is investigating the kidnap and Damina, one of the hippies. Meanwhile, the Minister is also trying to use the flat to carry on his affairs with both Wendy and Miss Parkyn. The Minister, Barry & Joan tries to keep the truth from Ruft, Wilfred Potts, an old and honest MP, Birdie, the Minister's wife and stop the hippies, and this causes no end of trouble.
Don't Just Lie There, Say Something!
1973
4.8A kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.
The Old Curiosity Shop
1975
4.2A funny thing happened to Lurkalot, serf to Sir Coward de Custard, on the way to Custard Castle. Lurkalot sells lusty love potions and rusty chastity belts in the market place, but on this day Sir Graggart de Bombast arrives to sack the castle, and to get the lovely Lobelia Custard in the sack! Lurkalot must help Custard cream the knight in pining armour...
Up the Chastity Belt
1972
4.2Two funeral parlours fight one another for business, one of whom is more shady than the other.
That's Your Funeral
1972
All kinds of misfortune befall Moll Flanders in 18th-century England; but she's a great survivor.
Moll Flanders
1975
A man who feels trapped by his life volunteers to become an exhibit in a zoo.
A Man in the Zoo
1975
7.8A missing formula, a defecting Eastern European scientist kidnapped, car chases, foot chases, air chases, the British secret service, and a couple of American tourists caught right in the middle.
The London Connection
1979
4.2Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively... confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue...
Rentadick
1972
9.0Blinker, so named because he blinks whenever he has a bright idea for a new invention, is the son of an eccentric Professor who is developing a top secret Pulsar Crystal X. Blinker's inventions help him to be a successful goalkeeper and to keep an eye on The Masons gang - and some real crooks.
Blinker's Spy-Spotter
1972
NRThe Devil makes a mirror -and it shatters.This is the story of what happens to little Kay when one of the pieces finds its way through his eye and into his heart. The powers of evil are unleashed ... the Summer Garden Witch - the Robbers in the Wood - but above all - the mysterious elemental figure of The Snow Queen. Only Gerda - Kay's friend - helped by birds and animals - has the power to overcome them all.
The Snow Queen
1976
NRMichael Abbensetts’ first play for TV is a powerful, funny and shocking exposé of the racism faced by a black museum attendant in his place of work.
The Museum Attendant
1973
1960s · 7 titles
5.6A successful London ad-exec hires a beautiful Hungarian girl to pose for some modeling shots, little realising that she has overheard an assassination plot and is now being hunted by some dangerous killers.
Crossplot
1969
6.0Monsieur Feydeau has writer's block and he needs a new play, so he takes an opportunity to observe his upper class neighbors of 1900 Paris. There is Monsieur Boniface with hard domineering wife Angelique; also, Monsieur Cotte with beautiful but neglected wife Marcelle. Henri Cotte traces architectural anomalies (mostly "ghost" sounds in the drain pipes) and plans a night at the Hotel Paradiso, which happens to be the chosen romantic rendezvous spot of Marcelle and Monsieur Boniface. One wife, two husbands, a nephew, and the perky Boniface maid, all at this 'by the hour' hotel and consummation of the affair is, to say the least, severely compromised (not the least by a police raid). All of this is under Feydeau's eye, and his play is the 'success fou' of the next season.
Hotel Paradiso
1966
6.0Alice in Wonderland (1966) is a BBC television play based on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was directed by Jonathan Miller, then most widely known for his appearance in the long-running satirical revue Beyond the Fringe.
Alice in Wonderland
1966
10.0A new steward on a large passenger liner finds himself subject to "charges" levied by the senior bar steward.
Another Day, Another Dollar
1967
Farce in which the nouveau riche Mrs Frush buys Thark, a large country house, from Sir Hector Benbow but then complains that the house is haunted. An assortment of characters go to the house to investigate.
Thark
1968
Hill plays a caterer who gets drunk on the job and proceeds to make a disaster of a middle class couple's dinner party.
The Waiters
1969
No synopsis available yet.
The Franchise Trail
1968
Series credits
5.2A 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
5.2A 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
7.2Roguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979
6.8The daily lives of the men and women at Sun Hill Police Station as they fight crime on the streets of London. From bomb threats to armed robbery and drug raids to the routine demands of policing this ground-breaking series focuses as much on crime as it does on the personal lives of its characters.
The Bill
1984
8.0Mr Bean turns simple everyday tasks into chaotic situations and will leave you in stitches as he creates havoc wherever he goes.
Mr. Bean
1990
7.2Theatre 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
7.4The 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
6.7Classic 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
6.7Classic 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
6.7Classic 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
7.5An anthology series produced by Thames Television, comprised of short mystery, suspense or crime adaptations featuring, as the title suggests, detectives who were literary contemporaries of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes
1971
7.6Two lovers are reunited after decades apart following a mutual misunderstanding.
As Time Goes By
1992
6.9Comedienne Dawn French tackles dark, tongue-in-cheek thrillers as her various characters embark on a different mystery every episode. In one way or another, she is involved with murder — either committing the crime or even getting bumped off herself!
Murder Most Horrid
1991
7.0Anthology series of half hour plays produced in BBC's Television Centre's studios.
Centre Play
1973
7.9An idyllic picture of 1950's rural England as seen through the lives of the Larkins, a farm family living in Kent. The show revolves around Pa Larkin, a man of a kind and mischievous nature with a penchant for getting into scrapes and talking his way out of them with equal equanimity; and his daughters, as they deal with growing up and discovering the joys and sorrows of young love.
The Darling Buds of May
1991
5.8Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 on ITV and produced by ABC and Thames Television.
Mystery and Imagination
1966
7.9Walt Disney Productions has produced an anthology television series under several different titles since 1954. The original version of the series premiered on ABC, Wednesday night, October 27, 1954. The show, which was hosted by Walt Disney until his death and then from 1996 to 2002 by then-CEO Michael Eisner (with one-off hosts or no hosts during other periods) has since aired continually as either a weekly program or an irregular series of specials on several networks and streaming services, most recently on ABC and Disney+. The show is the second longest showing prime-time program on American television, behind its rival, Hallmark Hall of Fame. However, Hallmark Hall of Fame was a weekly program only during its first five seasons, while Disney remained a weekly program for more than forty years.
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954
5.0Churchill'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
7.7One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series. The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife, Margaret. The programmes invariably deal with Meldrew's battle against the problems he creates for himself. Living in a typical household in an unnamed English suburb, Victor takes involuntary early retirement. His various efforts to keep himself busy, while encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings are the themes of the sitcom. Despite its traditional production, the series supplants its domestic sitcom setting with elements of black humour and surrealism.
One Foot in the Grave
1990
7.5On Howard Road, travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott and his wife Jean constantly battle to comprehend the permissive ways of their teenage children Mike and Sally.
Bless This House
1971
7.5On Howard Road, travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott and his wife Jean constantly battle to comprehend the permissive ways of their teenage children Mike and Sally.
Bless This House
1971
7.5On Howard Road, travelling stationery salesman Sid Abbott and his wife Jean constantly battle to comprehend the permissive ways of their teenage children Mike and Sally.
Bless This House
1971
8.0Redcap is a British television series produced by ABC Weekend Television for ITV. John Thaw stars as Sergeant John Mann, a member of the Special Investigation Branch of the Royal Military Police. It ran for 26 episodes over two series between 1964 and 1966, being about 50 minutes in a 60 minute time slot. Surprisingly for a 1960s ABC Weekend Television programme, 23 of the 26 episodes still exist.
Redcap
1964
6.4Adapted from Forrest Wilson's books, the children's programme revolves around a grandmother with super powers and her arch nemesis, The Scunner Campbell.
Super Gran
1985
An anthology of 1920s set plays and musicals, transmissioned from 10 September to 10 December 1968 on BBC One.
The Jazz Age
1968
8.0Ex-insurance investigator Ian Souter sets up his own security agency — the SIS (Specialists in Security) — alongside ex-cop Robert Shoesmith and secretary Heather Keys - and fight crime.
The Protectors
1964
6.8Mixed Blessings is a British sitcom produced by LWT for broadcast on the ITV network between 1978 and 1980, It was created by comedy-writer Sid Green and starred Christopher Blake and Muriel Odunton. White Thomas Simpson and Black Susan Lambert are a young couple who wed without their families' knowledge, forcing them to navigate the challenges of introducing their families to their relationship. The show explores themes of cultural differences and family dynamics within the context of a mixed-race marriage.
Mixed Blessings
1978
Series of plays based on Irish short stories.
The Sinners
1970
A situation comedy about divorcee James Shepherd, a charismatic vet, who struggles to run both a successful surgery and a home for his two teenage children.
Close to Home
1989
7.0When Harry Lumsden, a humble bakery worker, adds up the results wrong of an IQ test, he mistakenly thinks he is a genius. Filled with a new sense of self worth Harry decides to set about improving all aspects of his life and especially his "career".
The Climber
1983
6.8The Beiderbecke Tapes is a two-part 1987 British television comedy-drama serial written by Alan Plater. The second installment in The Beiderbecke Trilogy, it stars James Bolam and Barbara Flynn as schoolteachers Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinburne. When a tape recording of a conversation about nuclear waste inadvertently falls into Chaplin's hands, he and Swinburne find themselves being pursued by national security agents.
The Beiderbecke Tapes
1987
Fitz finds out he has a son from a holiday fling at Butlins in Clacton. When he turns up Fitz has to be a father for the first time.
Relative Strangers
1985
6.3Comedy sketch series purporting to show the programming of a low key regional television service. Written by Eric Idle of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' fame. A popular feature was the music of Neil Innes (one time member of the eccentric Bonzo Dog Dooh Dah Band), especially his Beatles parody The Rutles. They later featured in their own film: 'The Rutles (All You Need Is Cash)'.
Rutland Weekend Television
1975
5.0Don’t Rock The Boat follows the adventures of widower Jack Hoxton,who runs a riverside boatyard with his two grown-up sons: Les and Billy.Jack meets a young girl Dixie who puts the spring back in his step. When he decides to marry her ructions ensue, as up until the marriage his sons had run a perfectly well-ordered, resoundingly all-male establishment. Now with the arrival of Dixie, a former conjurer’s assistant and chorus girl, things have changed. Now the boys have a stepmother who’s barely older than they are.
Don't Rock The Boat
1982
That's Your Funeral was a BBC sitcom from 1971. The show was about a North of England funeral director called Basil Bulstrode. It used numerous urban legends about the funeral industry in its storylines. The show only lasted for one series before being axed. A very similar theme was used far more successfully in the ITV sitcom In Loving Memory.
That's Your Funeral
1970


