John Shrapnel

Acting

John Shrapnel

Born — Died

1942-04-27 — 2020-02-14

Place of birth

Birmingham, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

100 titles

Shrapnel was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, the son of Mary Lillian Myfanwy (née Edwards) and journalist/author Norman Shrapnel.[1] As a stage actor, he was a member of Laurence Olivier's Royal National Theatre company and the Royal Shakespeare Company and most recently appeared as Sir Oliver Surface in The School for Scandal (directed by Deborah Warner) at the Barbican Centre in 2011. He has also appeared extensively in film and on television in roles in Elizabeth R, Z-Cars, Edward and Mrs. Simpson, 101 Dalmatians, Space: 1999, Inspector Morse, Coogan's Run, Notting Hill and Foyle's War. He presented an episode of the 1983 BBC television travel series Great Little Railways. He gave perf…

Known for

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Gladiator poster
8.2

After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.

Gladiator

2000

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

Natural World poster
7.4

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Natural World

1983

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

Waking the Dead poster
7.2

A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.

Waking the Dead

2001

Film credits

2010s · 7 titles

The Awakening poster
6.4

In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys boarding school.

The Awakening

2011

King Charles III poster
6.4

Prince Charles' accession to the throne following the Queen's death. When he refuses to sign a controversial bill into law, political chaos ensues: a constitutional crisis, rioting on the streets and a tank in front of Buckingham Palace.

King Charles III

2017

Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale poster
7.7

A jealous king jeopardizes his family, friendships and succession.

Branagh Theatre Live: The Winter's Tale

2015

National Theatre Live: Macbeth poster
6.9

Performing from within the walls of a deconsecrated Manchester church, Kenneth Branagh takes the lead role in this ambitious production of William Shakespeare's tragic tale of ambition and treachery.

National Theatre Live: Macbeth

2013

Run. poster
NR

A mysterious boy bursts into an internet café, claiming he is being chased by a murderous foe. The owner does not share his urgency, nor does he seem overly keen on helping the boy, in fact his only advice is to sit at a computer, to 'take machine number 5'. With no alternative, the boy is forced to take a seat and hope that whatever he is running from won't find him in this place with no other exit than the door he came through. But as his fear and paranoia begin to take hold and alter the environment around him, the boy must decide who to trust before it's too late.

Run.

2013

No artwork available
NR

Film following the Flying Scotsman, the world's most famous steam engine, as it returns to the tracks following a ten-year restoration which cost more than £4 million.

The Return of the Flying Scotsman

2016

Hamlet poster
8.2

From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.

Hamlet

2015

2000s · 22 titles

Gladiator poster
8.2

After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.

Gladiator

2000

Troy poster
7.2

In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnon to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. They set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy.

Troy

2004

Elizabeth: The Golden Age poster
6.7

When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd adviser must act to safeguard the lives of her people.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

2007

The Duchess poster
7.0

A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.

The Duchess

2008

K-19: The Widowmaker poster
6.6

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

K-19: The Widowmaker

2002

The Body poster
5.5

An ancient skeleton has been discovered in Jerusalem in a rich man's tomb. Colouration of the wrist and leg bones indicates the cause of death was crucifiction. other signs, include a gold coin bearing the marks of Pontius Pilate and faint markings around the skull, lead authorities to suspect that these could be the bones of Jesus Christ. Politicians, clerics, religious extremists and those using terror as a means to an end, find their beliefs and identities tested while risking their lives to unearth the truth.....

The Body

2001

Mirrors poster
6.3

An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.

Mirrors

2008

Alien Autopsy poster
5.7

Humouristic reconstruction of the 1995 scandal when two British lads were accused of having faked a documentary from the Roswell incident in 1947.

Alien Autopsy

2006

Shadow of the Sword poster
5.8

Central Europe, early 16th century: two childhood friends, Martin & Georg, find themselves on rival sides of a religious war with both of them struggling to do the right thing.

Shadow of the Sword

2005

National Theatre Live: Phèdre poster
7.8

A new English adaptation of the classic French tragedy Phèdre by Jean Racine (1639-1699). It retells the ancient Greek tale of the wife of the Atenian King Theseus, who conceived a forbidden love for his son (by an earlier wife) Hyppolytus. All ends badly for all. One of the first five episodes also released on terrestrial TV on a 2009 BBC TV series titled "National Theatre Live".

National Theatre Live: Phèdre

2009

Chemical Wedding poster
4.2

A shy, stuttering professor brings satanist Aleister Crowley back to life.

Chemical Wedding

2008

Alone poster
5.1

Experience the fear as you're sucked into the disturbed mind of Alex. Tormented by harrowing voices of the past Alex searches for the one girl who can silence the horror of a tortured soul. As the quest becomes darker and more sinister Alex's fear filled stalking leaves behind a trail of dead bodies. Inspector Hannah is the detective who makes a desperate attempt to piece together the mystery as he is drawn into this terrifying journey.

Alone

2002

The Misfit and the Matterhorn poster
NR

"Edward Whymper's relentless siege of the Matterhorn in 1865 ended in controversy when four of his companions plunged to their deaths an hour after leaving the summit... The documentary is the second episode of 'Mountain men', a British documentary series looking at the achievements of pioneering mountaineers. The series, accompanied by unique archival materials, detailed maps, and photographs, invites us to follow in the footsteps of these fearless explorers, and tells us their stories with all the romance and audacity, bravado and suffering, courage and miscalculation intact."

The Misfit and the Matterhorn

2001

The Race for Everest poster
10.0

The dramatic story of the British expedition that made the first ascent of Everest. Combining interviews with the surviving members of the 1953 British and 1952 Swiss attempt on Everest with rare archival material, this film tells the story of the race to climb Everest in the early 1950s and its climax in 1953.

The Race for Everest

2003

An Organization of Dreams poster
NR

A disillusioned writer follows the intertwining stories of several people, but are they his own inventions or do they really exist?

An Organization of Dreams

2009

Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies poster
6.0

The film explores the background and build-up to this final flight to disaster. Using dramatic reconstruction, archive footage and exclusive interviews with leading historians and engineering experts, the special delves into the political and scientific events that led up to the catastrophe.

Hindenburg: Titanic of the Skies

2007

Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome poster
NR

Able to inspire wonder and awe in all who gazed upon them, The Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome - the Pantheon, the Aqueducts of Rome, the Via Appia, the Baths of Caracalla, Trajan's Markets, Circus Maximus and the Colosseum - were the works of great men who translated fantastic visions into the epitome of human achievement. These visionaries included ambitious Emperors like Hadrian and engineers with revolutionary ideas such as Apollodorus. By the second century AD, Rome had become the 'caput mundi' - the head of the world.

Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome

2004

Once Upon a Time on the Westway poster
NR

On the same day a notorious crime kingpin Jimmy Vincent is released from prison, there is a daring armored car diamond heist of diamonds using his m.o.

Once Upon a Time on the Westway

2007

No artwork available
NR

Following years of research, the intimacies of this female-led group of baboons, are dramatically revealed. Almost every day for the past 25 years, the Viramba troop of yellow baboons have been accompanied by scientists in one of the most extensive primate research projects ever conducted.Wild Women of Viramba, reveals the trials and tribulations of daily life, deep in the African bush. Researcher Holly Carroll has come to understand the troop, which is controlled by its female members.

Wild Women of Viramba

2003

Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes poster
8.0

"Horizon" examines the recent discovery of supermassive black holes, which spawn galaxies even as they threaten to destroy everything in their path.

Horizon: Supermassive Black Holes

2000

Claim poster
5.1

A young ambitious claims assessor investigates a multi million dollar marine insurance fraud.

Claim

2002

Whistle poster
6.2

Whistle depicts the dreary off-hours of an ultra-technological hit-man who becomes 'involved' in the life of one of his victims. The hit-man's wife is not only fully cognizant of her husband's day job but she is also the cold-blooded contact with his bosses when the conscience crisis sets in!

Whistle

2002

1990s · 11 titles

101 Dalmatians poster
5.9

An evil, high-fashion designer plots to steal Dalmatian puppies in order to make an extravagant fur coat, but instead creates an extravagant mess.

101 Dalmatians

1996

Notting Hill poster
7.3

London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with famous actress Anna Scott sparks an unlikely romance challenged by their vastly different worlds.

Notting Hill

1999

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

Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters poster
7.2

Lieutenant Hornblower and his shipmates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.

Hornblower: The Frogs and the Lobsters

1999

Two Deaths poster
5.6

While a brutal revolution rampages just outside his mansion, pleasure-seeking doctor Daniel Pavenic hosts a genteel dinner party. When asked about a photograph of a mysterious woman, Pavenic reveals the sordid details of his erotic obsession with the woman, his aging servant Ana Puscasu, and his attempts to dominate her psychologically. As the evening progresses, Pavenic's guests reveal their own dark secrets as well.

Two Deaths

1996

Selling Hitler poster
8.0

In 1981, Gerd Heidemann, a war correspondent and reporter with the German magazine Stern, makes what he believes is the literary and historical scoop of the century: the personal diaries of Adolf Hitler. Over the next two years, Heidemann and the senior management figures at Stern secretly pay 10 million German marks to a mysterious 'Dr Fischer' for the sixty volumes of 'Hitler's diaries'. However, to the dismay of all, it is discovered after the publication of first extract that the diaries are crude forgeries, faked by Stuttgart criminal Konrad Kujau.

Selling Hitler

1993

Mary, Mother of Jesus poster
4.1

Mary, Mother of Jesus is a 1999 made-for-television Biblical film that retells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, his mother.

Mary, Mother of Jesus

1999

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Solo Shuttle

1998

King Arthur: His Life and Legends poster
8.5

The legend of King Arthur spans centuries and has inspired countless novels and films. But who was King Arthur, and what was his real legacy? Through reenactments and historical images, this A&E production explores the romance, adventure and politics of the noble ruler of Camelot. He inspired the Knights of the Round Table and fought to defend England, only to be betrayed by the one he loved most, his own Queen Guinevere.

King Arthur: His Life and Legends

1995

The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story poster
7.0

Examination of the events that led to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

The Tragedy of Flight 103: The Inside Story

1990

England, My England poster
6.5

The story of Henry Purcell.

England, My England

1995

1980s · 11 titles

Personal Services poster
6.0

Fed up with working hard just to scrape by, Christine Painter comes up with a bold plan to become the madam of a brothel and earn her financial freedom: she opens a house of spanking to fabulous reviews.

Personal Services

1987

How to Get Ahead in Advertising poster
6.3

Pressure from his boss and a skin-cream client produces a talking boil on a British adman's neck.

How to Get Ahead in Advertising

1989

Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus poster
8.0

Oedipus's wanderings come to an end when he finds his final resting place, as foretold by the gods. But his brother-in-law and his son each try to take him away.

Theban Plays: Oedipus at Colonus

1986

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King poster
4.5

Plagues are ravaging Thebes, and the blind fortune-teller Tieresias tells Oedipus, the King, that the gods are unhappy. The murder of the former king has gone unavenged, and Oedipus sets out to find the killer.

Theban Plays: Oedipus the King

1986

Timon of Athens poster
8.5

Timon loves to give parties and objects to friends, but when he cannot pay his creditors, his "friends" refuse to help him, and he becomes a misanthropic hermit.

Timon of Athens

1981

Testimony poster
5.6

The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.

Testimony

1988

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

The Burston Rebellion poster
8.0

Drama reconstructing the events of a strike by the schoolchildren of a Norfolk school in 1914, who refused to accept the dismissal of their teachers, Tom and Annie Higdon, who were both socialists.

The Burston Rebellion

1985

Theban Plays: Antigone poster
9.0

In a final battle for the control of Thebes, Oedipus's two sons kill each other. Creon issues an order that no one is to bury Polynices upon pain of death. But Antigone is determined that her brother's body will have the proper rites of burial.

Theban Plays: Antigone

1986

No artwork available
7.0

He is a respectable pillar of London society who yearns for an idyllic existence away from the noise and the smoke. She feels hemmed in by the confines of an isolated fishing village and dreams of the bright lights, and even brighter people, of the great metropolis. On a hot August day in 1883, Clement Scott, the writer, and Louie Jermy, the miller's daughter, meet each other for the first time.

Poppyland

1985

Partition poster
5.5

The tumultuous events surrounding the sub-continent's partition in 1947 into India and Pakistan are re-imagined in Ken McMullen's complex and visually striking film. A lunatic asylum in the city of Lahore becomes a mirror image of events in the outside political world, with the same actors playing both inmates and rulers. Adapted by Tariq Ali and McMullen from famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto's short story 'Toba Tek Singh', Partition speaks for the countless millions that the usual British Raj films sweep out of sight. Released to mark the 60th anniversary of the partition of the Indian sub-continent, this is the film's first-ever release on DVD.

Partition

1987

1970s · 7 titles

Nicholas and Alexandra poster
7.0

Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.

Nicholas and Alexandra

1971

Hennessy poster
5.2

Former Irish Republican Army member Niall Hennessy lives in Belfast, Ireland, with his wife and daughter amid the ongoing Irish-British conflict. Though he still knows people in the IRA, including fugitive leader Tobin, Niall has given up his violent ways. One day his family is caught in a chaotic street shootout and killed by British forces. Overwhelmed with rage and hunted by a Scotland Yard inspector, Niall heads to London to exact his deadly revenge.

Hennessy

1975

Pope Joan poster
6.1

Based on the medieval legend of Pope Joan, who was made Pope for a brief period around 855 A.D. The movie presents her existence as fact, though it is questionable that Pope Joan really did exist, and portrays her relationships with other notables of the time.

Pope Joan

1972

Edward & Mrs. Simpson poster
10.0

While still the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII meets the married American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Their relationship causes furor in the palace and in parliament, especially when King George V dies, Mrs. Simpson gets divorced, and King Edward announces his intentions to marry her.

Edward & Mrs. Simpson

1978

Flayed poster
NR

'There's absolutely no escape. No chairs or tables to hold on to, no fags to light or drinks to pour: no small talk or trivial daytime chatter. Just the naked person.'

Flayed

1978

Gossip from the Forest poster
7.0

The events around the signing of The Armistice at the end of the First World War.

Gossip from the Forest

1979

Professional Foul poster
7.5

Three philosophy professors travel to Prague for a conference. One of them, Anderson, is forced to rethink his ideas on ethics when a former student is arrested by the Czech authorities for writing about individualist approaches to morality.

Professional Foul

1977

Series credits

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

Midsomer Murders poster
7.5

The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.

Midsomer Murders

1997

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

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

Natural World poster
7.4

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Natural World

1983

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

Waking the Dead poster
7.2

A detective team apply new techniques to old crimes as they solve cold cases.

Waking the Dead

2001

Merlin poster
7.8

The unlikely friendship between Merlin, a young man gifted with extraordinary magical powers, and Prince Arthur, heir to the crown of Camelot.

Merlin

2008

New Tricks poster
7.3

New Tricks is a British comedy-drama that follows the work of the fictional Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad of the Metropolitan Police Service. Originally led by Detective Superintendent Sandra Pullman, it is made up of retired police officers who have been recruited to reinvestigate unsolved crimes.

New Tricks

2004

Omnibus poster
7.2

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.

Omnibus

1967

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

Screen Two poster
7.1

Series of single made-for-television dramas.

Screen Two

1985

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

Kavanagh Q.C. poster
7.3

John Thaw dons the silks as barrister James Kavanagh Q.C., one of the most highly respected criminal advocates in London, commanding admiration from colleagues and opponents alike. However, all this has come at a price as his dedication to work has taken its toll on his private life… Going beyond traditional courtroom dramas, “Kavanagh Q.C.” uncovers the pressures of legal battles and the problems of defining the truth, providing a compelling representation of the euphoric ups and costly downs of success and failure in the legal world.

Kavanagh Q.C.

1995

Space: 1999 poster
7.1

The crew of Moonbase Alpha must struggle to survive when a massive explosion throws the Moon from orbit into deep space.

Space: 1999

1975

Wycliffe poster
6.8

Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.

Wycliffe

1994

Jonathan Creek poster
7.6

Working from his home in a converted windmill, Jonathan Creek is a magician with a natural ability for solving puzzles. He soon puts this ability to the use of solving impossible crimes and mysterious murders.

Jonathan Creek

1997

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

BBC2 Play of the Week poster
7.0

An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.

BBC2 Play of the Week

1977

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries poster
7.4

DS Barbara Havers is assigned to work with the upper-crust DI Thomas Lynley to solve murders.

The Inspector Lynley Mysteries

2002

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

The Chief poster
7.0

The Chief is a British crime drama transmitted on ITV from 20 April 1990 to 16 June 1995. Produced by Anglia Television, it centred on the politics at the top of a typical English police force in its continual battle to solve the problems the times, in this case the fictional Eastland of East Anglia.

The Chief

1990

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

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

Justice poster
7.3

Justice is a British drama television series which originally aired on ITV in 39 hour-long episodes between 8 August 1971 and 16 October 1974. Margaret Lockwood stars as Harriet Peterson a female barrister in the North of England. It was made by Yorkshire Television and was based loosely on Justice Is a Woman, an episode of ITV Playhouse broadcast in 1969 in which Lockwood had previously also played a barrister. The theme music was Crown Imperial by William Walton.

Justice

1971

The 10th Kingdom poster
7.6

Virginia and Tony, a father and daughter living in Manhattan, find themselves in a parallel universe where Snow White, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are struggling to maintain order. Their kingdoms have been fragmented by trolls, giants and goblins.

The 10th Kingdom

2000

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire poster
7.6

Turning points in ancient Roman history and some of the Empire's greatest stories are brought to life in this drama documentary series.

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

2006

Elizabeth R poster
7.5

This historical mini-series documents the reign of Elizabeth I with each episode focusing on one dramatic period in the lengthy reign of the Virgin Queen, including her ascension to the throne, her various marital intrigues, her problems with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, and the threatened invasion of the Spanish Armada.

Elizabeth R

1971

Private Schulz poster
5.3

Private Schulz is a six-part 1981 television comedy-drama serial written by Jack Pulman and produced for BBC Two. It stars Michael Elphick in the title role, with Ian Richardson, Tony Caunter, Billie Whitelaw, Billy Murray, and Mark Wingett. Set primarily in Germany, during and immediately following World War II, fraudster and petty criminal Gerhard Schulz is forced to serve in the SS. In a story based on the real, though unrealised, plot by the Germans known as Operation Bernhard, Schulz tricks the Nazis into making counterfeit British £5 notes, millions of which will be used to destroy the British economy.

Private Schulz

1981

Armchair Thriller poster
4.7

Armchair Thriller is a British television programme, broadcast on ITV in two series in 1978 and 1980. Owing something to some of the off-shoots of the earlier Armchair Theatre, the new series used scripts adapted from published novels and stories. Although not properly a horror series it included several supernatural elements. Armchair Thriller was produced by Thames Television, but it included serials made by Southern Television.

Armchair Thriller

1978

Mr. Palfrey of Westminster poster
5.7

Mr. Palfrey is a mild-mannered, but highly skilled counter-espionage agent employed by a small, unnamed department within British intelligence. He and his team tackle complex cases, often involving government cover-ups and internal affairs.

Mr. Palfrey of Westminster

1984

I Am Not an Animal poster
8.6

I Am Not An Animal is an animated comedy series about the only six talking animals in the world, whose cosseted existence in a vivisection unit is turned upside down when they are liberated by animal rights activists.

I Am Not an Animal

2004

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers poster
8.0

This documentary series uses drama and commentary to shed light on the lives and works of Joseph Conrad, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, T. S. Eliot, Henrik Ibsen, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Luigi Pirandello, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.

The Modern World: Ten Great Writers

1988

G.B.H. poster
6.3

GBH was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The protagonists were Michael Murray, the Militant tendency-supporting Labour leader of a city council in the North of England and Jim Nelson, the headmaster of a school for disturbed children. The series was controversial partly because Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council — in an interview in the G.B.H. DVD Bleasdale recounts an accidental meeting with Hatton before the series, who indicates that he has caught wind of Bleasdale's intentions but does not mind as long as the actor playing him is "handsome". In normal parlance, the initials "GBH" refer to the criminal charge of grievous bodily harm - however, the actual intent of the letters is that it is supposed to stand for Great British Holiday.

G.B.H.

1991

Coogan's Run poster
6.6

Coogan's Run is a 1995 British anthology comedy programme created by and starring Steve Coogan as a series of odd characters residing in the fictional town of Ottle. The series consists of six self-contained stories, although Coogan's characters from the other episodes make occasional cameo appearances.

Coogan's Run

1995

For the Greater Good poster
9.0

For the Greater Good is a three-part 1991 BBC Two television drama serial written by G.F. Newman and directed by Danny Boyle. It centres on three politicians attempting to reform the British prison system. However, their efforts are undermined when the tabloid press exposes their private lives.

For the Greater Good

1991

Invasion: Earth poster
6.3

Scientists and the military join forces as the Scottish Highlands become the battleground for a struggle against alien invaders... Invasion: Earth is a BBC science fiction mini-series. It was made in collaboration with the Sci Fi Channel, and released in 1998 as six fifty minute episodes.

Invasion: Earth

1998

Edward and Mrs Simpson poster
6.8

While still the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII meets the married American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Their relationship causes furor in the palace and in parliament, especially when King George V dies, Mrs. Simpson gets divorced, and King Edward announces his intention to marry her.

Edward and Mrs Simpson

1978

Vanity Fair poster
NR

In early 19th century England, ambitious and ruthless orphan Rebecca Sharp advances from the position of governess to the heights of British society.

Vanity Fair

1987

Screenplay poster
6.3

This was a series of summer plays, one of which ("Waxwork") led to the popular series Cribb (1980).

Screenplay

1979