FlashBacks of A Fool (2008)
A fading Hollywood star looks back at the days of his youth as he returns home from his best friend's funeral.
The Bank Job (2008)
Business is slow for Terry Leather, a London car dealer, married with children. He's an artful dodger, so Martine, a former model with a thing for him, brings him her scheme: a bank's alarm is off for a couple weeks, so let's tunnel into the vault. He assembles a team, not realizing her real goal is a safe-deposit box with compromising photos of a royal: she needs the photos to trade for avoiding a jail sentence - and MI-5, or is it MI-6, is pulling the strings two steps removed. A Trinidadian thug, a high-end bordello owner, and a pornographer also have things stored in the vault, so the break-in threatens many a powerful personage. Is there any way these amateurs can pull it off?
Death at a Funeral (2007)
Daniel is a decent young man, married to Jane, still living at his father's home. When his father dies, it is up to him to organize his funeral. On this painful morning, the suitable grave expression on his face, Daniel is ready to welcome his father's friends and relatives. But preserving the dignity inherent in such circumstances will be a hard task. Particularly with an undertaker who botches his work, the return from the USA of his famous but selfish brother, his cousin's fiancé who has accidentally ingested drugs, the presence a moron who takes advantage of the sad event to win back the heart (or rather the body) of a woman who is about to marry another, of a handicapped old uncle who is also the most unbearable pain in the neck. To cap it all, Daniel notices the presence among the mourners of a mysterious dwarf nobody else seems to know.
After Thomas (2006)
A true story about a couple's struggles to meet the challenges of their son's autism.
Interview:
The Best Man (2006)
After painter Michael 'Mike' Sheldrake's failed suicide attempt, house-mate and life-long best friend Peter Tremaine, an antiques shop owner, reminisces their common past, like Mike does in therapy. It started at the beach, when scrubby, scared Mikey become the dependent protégé of forceful Pete, both doted by Pete's dad, a wealthy lawyer. Afterwards Mike moves out to marry Kate. Pete accepts to be best man, but overdoes that, 'arranging' to get stuck in the honeymoon hotel he paid for. Drama from their boarding school childhood intertwines with tragedy for the mates, Kate and vindictive former police detective Miller.
Under The Greenwood Tree (2005)
A Cock & Bull Story (2005)
Michael Winterbottom's TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY is a rollicking, inventive adaptation of the classic 18th Century comic novel "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" by Laurence Sterne. A well-known though not necessarily widely read masterpiece, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" is a bawdy romp that plays with the techniques and conventions of the novel; its autobiographical speaker is prone to narrative excursions, direct addresses to the reader, and other eccentricities that make his tale anything but linear. Winterbottom (IN THIS WORLD, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE) multiplies Sterne's conceit to tell two stories: that of an 18th Century Englishman, Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan); and that of the hapless 21st Century filmmakers who are adapting the notoriously unfilmable work, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman," with "Steve Coogan" (Coogan) in the title role. Slyly acknowledging public fascination with the movie industry, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY strolls onto a modern film set, complete with insecure actors, scandal-hunting reporters, and balky investors. As it follows the fortunes of two families - one blood, one professional - the film makes us privy to calamities, crises, and flirtations that transcend centuries. (WIKI)
Sex & Lies (2004)
A late night radio host receives a call from Kate, she reveals that she has been raped by a colleague. She tells the host what has happened, and how everybody around her, and Alex, the man in question, have reacted, questioning her every word. Was it just a regretful night of passion, or is something more sinister the route of Kate's accusations? Who is to be believed?
Chaos & Cadavers (2003)
Chaos & Cadavers follows two young newlyweds who go to a lovely secluded hotel for their honeymoon, only to discover that the hotel is also being occupied by an undertaker convention. Desperate to make the best of it, they attempt to go through their honeymoon. However when the groom has a strong fear of death, one of the undertakers has just died & the bride has secrets of her own, trying to relax isn't going to be very easy.
Me & Mrs Jones (2002)
Love and politics don’t mix. Prepare for an explosive romance.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows, indeed. Robson Green (Reckless, Touching Evil) portrays a Fleet Street tabloid writer who earns his keep airing the private doings of public figures. His next story is going to take him right to the top.
The snooping columnist, who writes under the pseudonym Mrs. Jones, secretly infiltrates 10 Downing Street in an effort to reveal the Prime Minister’s intimate personal details and deflate her re-election campaign. But once inside, he finds not scandal but true love–with the married Prime Minister herself. This secret affair may end both his career and the PM’s political hopes, but the heart doesn’t always listen to logic.
Caroline Goodall (Schindler’s List, The Princess Diaries) co-stars as the British Prime Minister in Me and Mrs. Jones, a winning romantic drama propelled by gossip, scandal, and outrage, as well as powerhouse performances from two of today’s top talents.
A Is For Acid (2002)
Dramatisation of the true story of the notorious "acid bath murderer" 'John Haigh' , who murdered women and disposed of their bodies in vats of acid in the 1940s. He was only caught when the gallstones of one of his victims, Mrs Durand-Deacon, failed to dissolve in the acid and were detected by the pathologist who examined the residue from the acid bath.
Othello (2001)
This modern crime drama uses the names of the homonymous Shakespeare play's main characters which inspired its plot. White London Metropolitan Police commissioner Sinclair Carver promises to maintain law and order and further racial integration by recruiting and promoting black and Asian officers, but is taped in the lavatory by a tabloid reporter telling his assistant commissioner Ben Jago there is no black with a brain as big as his dick, and is thus forced to resign. When the death of the black Billy Coates in custody causes racial unrest, John Othello, the only authoritative black police officer, manages to prevent riots by pointing to the press and promising to solve the case; the government names him successor to Carver over his friend Jago's head. The ambitious Ben doesn't show his furious disappointment, but must have his revenge. His plots starts by making sure racists harass Othello's white wife Desdemona.
Complicity (2000)
Cameron Colley is a young scottish journalist, with an interest in exposing the wrongs committed by the rich and powerful. Life is comfortable enough but uneventful, until someone starts murdering the people in his articles in gruesome ways based on their misdeeds. All the evidence points to Cameron, but is he guilty?
Wives & Daughters (1999)
For many years, young Molly Gibson had lived a blissful sheltered life with her widower father. However, her world is shaken with the introduction of new acquaintances and situations. Molly becomes friends with a landed gentry family, which includes two brothers with very different temperaments. Meanwhile, her father marries a widow with a daughter close in age to Molly. Eventually, Molly becomes a trusted confidante for her new friends and family; but the secrets become burdensome, as the gossip begins to circulate about Molly herself.
A fading Hollywood star looks back at the days of his youth as he returns home from his best friend's funeral.
The Bank Job (2008)
Business is slow for Terry Leather, a London car dealer, married with children. He's an artful dodger, so Martine, a former model with a thing for him, brings him her scheme: a bank's alarm is off for a couple weeks, so let's tunnel into the vault. He assembles a team, not realizing her real goal is a safe-deposit box with compromising photos of a royal: she needs the photos to trade for avoiding a jail sentence - and MI-5, or is it MI-6, is pulling the strings two steps removed. A Trinidadian thug, a high-end bordello owner, and a pornographer also have things stored in the vault, so the break-in threatens many a powerful personage. Is there any way these amateurs can pull it off?
Death at a Funeral (2007)
After Thomas (2006)
A true story about a couple's struggles to meet the challenges of their son's autism.
Interview:
For Nicola, the care and development of Kyle has overtaken her entire life, particularly as she refuses time and time again to give up hope on a breakthrough with her son. ‘Nicola is under a great deal of stress coping with Kyle. Although she works a couple of nights a week as a nurse, she really doesn’t have a life apart from caring for him. Although Rob wants him to go away to a boarding school for autistic children, Nicola is adamant that she can help Kyle more herself.’ It was a raw, honest and unsentimental account of Nicola’s fight which attracted Keeley to the film. ‘I liked the script because it wasn’t sentimental in the way it might have been. It’s not sugary and, with a TV drama, it could have easily gone down that route. And I read it in one sitting, which is always a good sign. It’s not good when it takes you three weeks to get through something! And you care about the characters, which is so important. With any drama, you have to care about the characters enough to want to stick with the story and see everything from their point of view.’ And the fact that those characters are not only a figment of a writer’s imagination brings an even greater weight to the story. ‘The fact that Nicola is based on a real woman comes with quite a lot of responsibility. If you play somebody famous, you sort of feel like you know them anyway, which is an entirely different kind of responsibility. I know the writer Lindsey (Hill) worked very closely with the ‘real family’ so a lot of the dialogue has actually been spoken by somebody. That weighs quite heavily. It gets easier and you think about it less and less as filming progresses, but you always feel that you want to do the people you are portraying justice. Thankfully, the couple we are based on are happy with Ben and I, so that’s a relief!’
"Having a child without a disability is so difficult sometimes, it’s almost unimaginable to identify with people who cope with children with disabilities.”
As a mother of a five-year-old herself, Keeley found Nicola’s story hugely inspiring – and hopes parents in similar situations will too. ‘This story really is awe-inspiring. Having a child without a disability is so difficult sometimes, it’s almost unimaginable to identify with people who cope with children with disabilities. That is why this is inspiring for other people. It’s not a miracle, it’s not a cure. The story is miraculous but it’s not saying that everyone with autistic children should go and buy a Golden Retriever. But it is inspiring that not every story has a bad ending. It’s very hopeful. As naff as it sounds, this job has made everybody realise how lucky they are. Which is never a bad thing, is it?’ Keeley and the rest of the production team were keen to ensure that autism was correctly portrayed, an objective which required much research and a real insight into the condition. ‘We did a lot of research into autism. I‘ve got several books at home and we went to a school for autistic children, where we met children who were the same age as my own son. I thought I was much better prepared for that but I wasn’t. They were gorgeous, those little boys. And all the older children were so beautifully behaved because they are so well looked after and sort of ‘trained’ in social behaviour – the ones I met were much better behaved than most other kids their age! They were just wonderful, wonderful kids. They were so pleased to see us and there was even a little boy who was given a line in the film. The whole school was standing in the playground watching us shooting and when the boy had delivered his line and walked off, they all cheered and clapped. It was just so moving. The job’s been worth it just to have the experience with those people, to work with them and to meet the children. One thing I didn’t know before this was that there are so many levels of autism. It’s often hard to get diagnosed because some of the symptoms are the same as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. It’s a really complicated, grey area. Fifteen years ago when Nicola was trying to get Kyle diagnosed, people didn’t know as much. It’s only really since the early nineties that people understand the condition enough to diagnose it, which is quite frightening. What on earth was going on beforehand with the amount of children who had this problem? What help were they being given? Did people simply think that they were ‘badly behaved’ children? I was watching a video of autistic children with my son and he said ‘these children are naughty.’ Because that’s what they looked like. You can’t explain autism to a five-year-old though really. I know you should try to explain but personally I don’t think they can take that in. I’m just getting my head around it.’
And getting their head around autism is something Keeley would like to see more people trying to do. ‘I think taking anything to an audience so it can be better understood, especially when it’s something as visible as autism, is a good thing.
Thankfully, we are continually being educated about disabilities and people are more aware of their behaviour and how they should relate to disabled people. It can only be a good thing for people to get a greater understanding of autism. And I’m sure it will also be quite good for people bringing up autistic children to see that other people have been through it and come out the other side.’ If the subject matter wasn’t challenging enough, then filming certainly was… ‘Any scenes with children or dogs are very difficult to film! There isn’t a scene which wasn’t difficult if I’m totally honest. My role with Kyle is very physical a lot of the time. Andrew (Byrne) is six so he’s not a little toddler. There are scenes where I am struggling with him, like the opening scenes when I am holding him down in the road. For him it’s exhausting and for me it’s exhausting. I’ve got no idea how people cope with that all day, every day. They must be so physically strong as well as mentally. You just feel battered by the end of the day, like you’ve been on an assault course. Both Ben (Miles) and I have children of our own, which I think was really important, especially as we are spending so much time with Andrew.’
Yet it is these challenges which make Keeley one of Britain’s most versatile actresses, tackling everyone from an MI5 agent (in two series of Spooks) to Victorian heroines (Under The Greenwood Tree, Tipping the Velvet) to modern day versions of Shakespearean characters Lady Macbeth and Desdemona. ‘I’ve been really lucky with my career so far. I haven’t been pigeon-holed, which sometimes happens to actors. The exciting thing is having something that you’d have never thought of
“There isn’t a scene which wasn’t difficult if I’m totally honest”
drop on your mat and thinking ‘Oh God, I’d love to do this’. But I can’t complain…I’m even lucky enough to have done my pocket version of Lady Macbeth!’
After painter Michael 'Mike' Sheldrake's failed suicide attempt, house-mate and life-long best friend Peter Tremaine, an antiques shop owner, reminisces their common past, like Mike does in therapy. It started at the beach, when scrubby, scared Mikey become the dependent protégé of forceful Pete, both doted by Pete's dad, a wealthy lawyer. Afterwards Mike moves out to marry Kate. Pete accepts to be best man, but overdoes that, 'arranging' to get stuck in the honeymoon hotel he paid for. Drama from their boarding school childhood intertwines with tragedy for the mates, Kate and vindictive former police detective Miller.
Interview:
The Best Man has a bit of everything: love, murder, and a heck of a lot of intrigue. It also has the gorgeous Keeley Hawes who becomes unwittingly trapped in a rather bizarre ménage-a-trois.
Michael and Peter have a very odd relationship…
They do. Usually you try to second guess things when you read a script – it’s like trying to read a novel – and you try to be cleverer than the writer. But I didn’t know what the hell was going on with this. I just thought the two boys would get together or they had been together - that there was some homosexual undertone - but I was as surprised as hopefully anybody will be.
Kate goes on one heck of a journey in this programme. Is that what attracted you to her?
Well, she’s a survivor which is attractive. But I think the journey is a little to do with the editing. Sometimes scenes are cut so you lose a little bit of the journey. But she does get very strong very quickly from having been hospitalised.
But she knows that she loves Michael, and his friend is obviously very, very strange. Her problems aren’t with people as much as living with her self.
Do you ever think that maybe they’ve over-edited something?
Oh yeah. You can drive yourself insane with it, watching something and thinking ‘why did they use that?’ and things like that. I’m sure there’s always a good reason for these things.
There are some pretty scary moments in The Best Man…
Well, it’s more of a psychological thriller, but it was fun to play all of that.
Michael and Peter have a very odd relationship…
They do. Usually you try to second guess things when you read a script – it’s like trying to read a novel – and you try to be cleverer than the writer. But I didn’t know what the hell was going on with this. I just thought the two boys would get together or they had been together - that there was some homosexual undertone - but I was as surprised as hopefully anybody will be.
Kate goes on one heck of a journey in this programme. Is that what attracted you to her?
Well, she’s a survivor which is attractive. But I think the journey is a little to do with the editing. Sometimes scenes are cut so you lose a little bit of the journey. But she does get very strong very quickly from having been hospitalised.
But she knows that she loves Michael, and his friend is obviously very, very strange. Her problems aren’t with people as much as living with her self.
Do you ever think that maybe they’ve over-edited something?
Oh yeah. You can drive yourself insane with it, watching something and thinking ‘why did they use that?’ and things like that. I’m sure there’s always a good reason for these things.
There are some pretty scary moments in The Best Man…
Well, it’s more of a psychological thriller, but it was fun to play all of that.
Are there any roles you’ve seen and thought ‘I would have loved to have played that’?
It’s quite funny when you’re down to the last two and you see the person that you’ve learnt most of the lines for and you think ‘I wouldn’t have done it like that!'
Quite often it’s a relief. There’s one role that springs to mind where I sat there, and I had nearly gone off to the arse-end of nowhere for a couple of months then I saw it and sat back and just laughed and thought ‘thank God!’
You met your husband [Matthew MacFadyen] on the set of Spooks. Was it difficult combining work and relationship?
Well, we met and then we got together and then we had to go back and do another series while we were together. I thought it was going to be more difficult than it actually was. I made provisions for it. One very environmentally unfriendly one was us both having separate cars to go to work in because I knew that they’d try and get us both in one car.
It worked really well because I’m a girl and I need longer in make-up, whereas Matthew doesn’t have to leave at the same time. If they had got him in an hour earlier for that, it would have started to p*ss him off a bit.
Do you ever look at each others parts and feel a bit jealous?
Before I got together with Matthew I had never been out with an actor. I often wondered what people meant when they talked about competitiveness or jealousy or rivalry. Now I understand it only in so much as it is other people who put it on to you.
I have people say to me ‘how do you feel with Matthew doing a film? Are you going to do a film?’ and I think f**k me, I couldn’t have played Mr. Darcy. I could have tried but I wouldn’t have done a very good job.
How can I be anything but thrilled that he’s in an Oscar-nominated film?
It’s quite funny when you’re down to the last two and you see the person that you’ve learnt most of the lines for and you think ‘I wouldn’t have done it like that!'
Quite often it’s a relief. There’s one role that springs to mind where I sat there, and I had nearly gone off to the arse-end of nowhere for a couple of months then I saw it and sat back and just laughed and thought ‘thank God!’
You met your husband [Matthew MacFadyen] on the set of Spooks. Was it difficult combining work and relationship?
Well, we met and then we got together and then we had to go back and do another series while we were together. I thought it was going to be more difficult than it actually was. I made provisions for it. One very environmentally unfriendly one was us both having separate cars to go to work in because I knew that they’d try and get us both in one car.
It worked really well because I’m a girl and I need longer in make-up, whereas Matthew doesn’t have to leave at the same time. If they had got him in an hour earlier for that, it would have started to p*ss him off a bit.
Do you ever look at each others parts and feel a bit jealous?
Before I got together with Matthew I had never been out with an actor. I often wondered what people meant when they talked about competitiveness or jealousy or rivalry. Now I understand it only in so much as it is other people who put it on to you.
I have people say to me ‘how do you feel with Matthew doing a film? Are you going to do a film?’ and I think f**k me, I couldn’t have played Mr. Darcy. I could have tried but I wouldn’t have done a very good job.
How can I be anything but thrilled that he’s in an Oscar-nominated film?
Is it difficult being a model-turned-actress?.
The difficult thing now is that there is a crossing over of models and actresses, with actresses having to look a certain way and be as thin as models because they’re now cover girls and contracts with make-up companies. And I’m not sure that that is quite right. It shouldn’t be about that and it is more and more.
I think there’s a lot of unnecessary pressure for people.
People like Kate Winslet who did so much for normal looking women – she was always thinner than most people anyway! But now suddenly she’s gone and lost six stone and kind of given into it. And you think ‘you were just about the last hope for normality’ and I really admired the whole package because she played fantastic parts and looked fabulous. Now she’s apparently lost weight due to the pressure.
Is that the fault of the glossy magazines?
I think it’s appalling. I think it’s absolutely appalling. Someone like Helena Bonham-Carter is such a brilliant English eccentric that should be celebrated for her individuality and she is absolutely ripped to pieces every time she steps out of the front door. We should celebrate her like we do Vivien Westwood. But we don’t.
When you go to the doctors and flip through a magazine and there’s just a big cross through whatever she’s doing. You know, with this awful ticks and crosses thing. And I think ‘how dare you!’ She’s done so much for the British film industry and she’s so fantastic, why not celebrate her instead of ripping her to pieces?
I’d like all these magazines to have to have a page at the front of all the people who write this sh*t so we can say ‘look at yourselves’.
The difficult thing now is that there is a crossing over of models and actresses, with actresses having to look a certain way and be as thin as models because they’re now cover girls and contracts with make-up companies. And I’m not sure that that is quite right. It shouldn’t be about that and it is more and more.
I think there’s a lot of unnecessary pressure for people.
People like Kate Winslet who did so much for normal looking women – she was always thinner than most people anyway! But now suddenly she’s gone and lost six stone and kind of given into it. And you think ‘you were just about the last hope for normality’ and I really admired the whole package because she played fantastic parts and looked fabulous. Now she’s apparently lost weight due to the pressure.
Is that the fault of the glossy magazines?
I think it’s appalling. I think it’s absolutely appalling. Someone like Helena Bonham-Carter is such a brilliant English eccentric that should be celebrated for her individuality and she is absolutely ripped to pieces every time she steps out of the front door. We should celebrate her like we do Vivien Westwood. But we don’t.
When you go to the doctors and flip through a magazine and there’s just a big cross through whatever she’s doing. You know, with this awful ticks and crosses thing. And I think ‘how dare you!’ She’s done so much for the British film industry and she’s so fantastic, why not celebrate her instead of ripping her to pieces?
I’d like all these magazines to have to have a page at the front of all the people who write this sh*t so we can say ‘look at yourselves’.
Under The Greenwood Tree (2005)
Keeley Hawes stars in this enchanting adaptation of Thomas Hardy's pastoral romance set in the mid-19th century. Under The Greenwood Tree was the first of Hardy's great Wessex novels. Part love story, part comedy, the tale evokes the richness of village life tinged with melancholy for a rural world that Hardy saw fast disappearing.
Amongst the surrounding farms and woodlands of the idyllic village of Mellstock, Dorset, a bond grows between local boy Dick Dewy and a new arrival, the beautiful schoolteacher Fancy Day. The Reverend Maybold creates a furor among the village's musicians with his decision to abolish the church's stringed instruments Quire (choir) and replace it with a new mechanical organ.
But Miss Day causes an upheaval of a more romantic nature, as she steals the hearts of three very different men -- the wealthy but older Farmer Shiner, the penniless young laborer and musician Dick Dewy, and the Reverend Maybold himself. Through a maze of intrigue and passion across four seasons, Fancy is torn; she must make a decision of either head or heart. Will true love win out or will the social traditions of Victorian England determine Fancy's future?
Meanwhile, the men's choir is restless and in open revolt about the new organ, spurred by their choirmaster, Reuben Dewy (Tony Haygarth, Bleak House), who is Dick's father. Hardy treats this subplot as playfully as he does Fancy's romantic quandary, but it also has a poignant edge: The pump organ, or harmonium, was a new invention of the day that symbolized the passing of ancient village customs, as does the arrival of steam power and new farm machinery.
Hardy himself grew up in a village like Mellstock, and he used to play the fiddle at country-dances, weddings, and other celebrations, so he had great sympathy for the performers who fit into this vital rural niche. In the end, Fancy finally makes up her mind to a serenade from the men's choir, singing an old English folksong, One Night as I Lay on My Bed. Under the Greenwood Tree was first published in 1872. Although Hardy originally thought of calling it The Mellstock Quire, he settled on a title taken from a song in Shakespeare's As You Like It (Act II, Scene V)
A Cock & Bull Story (2005)
Michael Winterbottom's TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY is a rollicking, inventive adaptation of the classic 18th Century comic novel "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" by Laurence Sterne. A well-known though not necessarily widely read masterpiece, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" is a bawdy romp that plays with the techniques and conventions of the novel; its autobiographical speaker is prone to narrative excursions, direct addresses to the reader, and other eccentricities that make his tale anything but linear. Winterbottom (IN THIS WORLD, 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE) multiplies Sterne's conceit to tell two stories: that of an 18th Century Englishman, Tristram Shandy (Steve Coogan); and that of the hapless 21st Century filmmakers who are adapting the notoriously unfilmable work, "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman," with "Steve Coogan" (Coogan) in the title role. Slyly acknowledging public fascination with the movie industry, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY strolls onto a modern film set, complete with insecure actors, scandal-hunting reporters, and balky investors. As it follows the fortunes of two families - one blood, one professional - the film makes us privy to calamities, crises, and flirtations that transcend centuries. (WIKI)
Sex & Lies (2004)
A late night radio host receives a call from Kate, she reveals that she has been raped by a colleague. She tells the host what has happened, and how everybody around her, and Alex, the man in question, have reacted, questioning her every word. Was it just a regretful night of passion, or is something more sinister the route of Kate's accusations? Who is to be believed?
Chaos & Cadavers (2003)
Chaos & Cadavers follows two young newlyweds who go to a lovely secluded hotel for their honeymoon, only to discover that the hotel is also being occupied by an undertaker convention. Desperate to make the best of it, they attempt to go through their honeymoon. However when the groom has a strong fear of death, one of the undertakers has just died & the bride has secrets of her own, trying to relax isn't going to be very easy.
Me & Mrs Jones (2002)
Love and politics don’t mix. Prepare for an explosive romance.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows, indeed. Robson Green (Reckless, Touching Evil) portrays a Fleet Street tabloid writer who earns his keep airing the private doings of public figures. His next story is going to take him right to the top.
The snooping columnist, who writes under the pseudonym Mrs. Jones, secretly infiltrates 10 Downing Street in an effort to reveal the Prime Minister’s intimate personal details and deflate her re-election campaign. But once inside, he finds not scandal but true love–with the married Prime Minister herself. This secret affair may end both his career and the PM’s political hopes, but the heart doesn’t always listen to logic.
Caroline Goodall (Schindler’s List, The Princess Diaries) co-stars as the British Prime Minister in Me and Mrs. Jones, a winning romantic drama propelled by gossip, scandal, and outrage, as well as powerhouse performances from two of today’s top talents.
A Is For Acid (2002)
Dramatisation of the true story of the notorious "acid bath murderer" 'John Haigh' , who murdered women and disposed of their bodies in vats of acid in the 1940s. He was only caught when the gallstones of one of his victims, Mrs Durand-Deacon, failed to dissolve in the acid and were detected by the pathologist who examined the residue from the acid bath.
Othello (2001)
This modern crime drama uses the names of the homonymous Shakespeare play's main characters which inspired its plot. White London Metropolitan Police commissioner Sinclair Carver promises to maintain law and order and further racial integration by recruiting and promoting black and Asian officers, but is taped in the lavatory by a tabloid reporter telling his assistant commissioner Ben Jago there is no black with a brain as big as his dick, and is thus forced to resign. When the death of the black Billy Coates in custody causes racial unrest, John Othello, the only authoritative black police officer, manages to prevent riots by pointing to the press and promising to solve the case; the government names him successor to Carver over his friend Jago's head. The ambitious Ben doesn't show his furious disappointment, but must have his revenge. His plots starts by making sure racists harass Othello's white wife Desdemona.
Complicity (2000)
Cameron Colley is a young scottish journalist, with an interest in exposing the wrongs committed by the rich and powerful. Life is comfortable enough but uneventful, until someone starts murdering the people in his articles in gruesome ways based on their misdeeds. All the evidence points to Cameron, but is he guilty?
Wives & Daughters (1999)
For many years, young Molly Gibson had lived a blissful sheltered life with her widower father. However, her world is shaken with the introduction of new acquaintances and situations. Molly becomes friends with a landed gentry family, which includes two brothers with very different temperaments. Meanwhile, her father marries a widow with a daughter close in age to Molly. Eventually, Molly becomes a trusted confidante for her new friends and family; but the secrets become burdensome, as the gossip begins to circulate about Molly herself.
The Last & September (1999)
In 1920s Ireland, an elderly couple reside over a tired country estate. Living with them are their high-spirited niece, their Oxford student nephew, and married house guests, who are trying to cover up that they are presently homeless. The niece enjoys romantic frolics with a soldier and a hidden guerrilla fighter. All of the principals are thrown into turmoil when one more guest arrives with considerable wit and unwanted advice.
The Cater Street Hangman (1998)
In the class-conscious world of Victorian England, the Ellison family is painfully aware of their respectable place in the comfortable London neighborhood of Cater Street. But when a young woman is garroted nearby, it is the beginning of a remarkable sequence of events that will see their world shattered.
At first, the Ellisons dismiss the murder as the result of the victim's impropriety after all, a real lady simply couldn't be the victim of such a tragedy. But when the killer strikes again, he takes the life of the Ellison's maid, and a gruff, no-nonsense police inspector with no care for anything but solving the crime comes calling. Inspector Pitt makes it clear that no one is above suspicion, and though some in the family object strenuously to a man of his position asking questions, their answers suggest that not all is being revealed. And when Pitt and one of the Ellison daughters start to fall for each other, a complicated case gets even stickier?
Based on Anne Perry's critically acclaimed novel of the same name, the first in a series of Charlotte and Thomas Pitt mysteries.
The Avengers (1998)
British Ministry agent John Steed, under direction from "Mother", investigates a diabolical plot by arch-villain Sir August de Wynter to rule the world with his weather control machine. Steed investigates the beautiful Doctor Mrs. Emma Peel, the only suspect, but simultaneously falls for her and joins forces with her to combat Sir August.
Our Mutual Friend (1998)
The tongues of London high society gossips begin to wag when John Harmon --a young man whose inheritance depended on his marrying a woman he had never met-- is found dead in the River Thames. The fortune passes into the hands of the working-class Boffins, who take into their new home both Bella Wilfer (Harmon's would-be bride), and a mysterious secretary known as Rokesmith. Meanwhile, Lizzie Hexam, the daughter of the boatman suspected of Harmon's murder, is pursued by two suitors: obsessive and self-righteous Bradley Headstone and roguish and lethargic Eugene Wrayburn. An expansive and varied cast of characters create an epic intertwining tale.
The Moonstone (1997)
When the fabulous Moonstone diamond is stolen, all the suspects appear to have alibis. Even the young girl who owns the diamond won't say whom she saw took it. Her fiancee calls in the famous Sergeant Cuff to solve the case, but they'll have to untangle a skein of lies and retrieve lost memories before they'll find the path to the diamond.
The Beggar Bride (1997)
The Beggar Bride was a British two-part television programme adapted from the Gillian White novel of the same name.
Interview:
Bursting into tears on cue or launching into a pub brawl is all in a day's work for an actor.
But the director of a new BBC drama had a very unusual request for actress Keeley Hawes.
In the two-part story The Beggar Bride Keeley had to breast-feed her screen baby in front of the cameras.
"It was very strange but it wasn't painful," she says.
"People say it's strange enough when it's your own child - this was a bottle-fed baby who hadn't been breast-fed before so it was very odd.
"The baby was fine and soon realised it wasn't going to get anything and it just stayed there."
Nine sets of twins were used during filming. "They were lovely but I won't be having one of my own for a while because I'm only 21," says Keeley.
The Beggar Bride tells the story of skint but beautiful young mum Ange Harper who decides to save her family from the poverty trap by bigamously marrying a rich industrialist in order to hit him for a massive divorce pay-out.
Everything runs smoothly until she discovers someone knows what she has done.
It was a great part for Keeley because she almost gets to play two roles.
"It's a fantastic part," she says. "But there were times when I couldn't remember whether I was Ange or Angela. It was very confusing!"
Keeley isn't sure if she's got more in common with working-class Ange or upmarket Angela. "My background is very normal," says Keeley. "We lived in a maisonette in London and my dad is taxi driver and my mum is a housewife.
"Then I went off and had elocution lessons at stage school and had friends whose parents had country mansions so I saw that other sort of life."
Among Keeley's stage school pals was Emma Bunting - better known as Baby Spice. "We met when we were ten and we were best friends for years," says Keeley. "I used to go camping with her and her mum and brother.
"She's done incredibly well. She was always into singing and dancing, whereas I was always more into acting. In fact, I used to do her drama course work for her!"
Keeley lives with her boyfriend, model agent Kelly, 27. And despite her stunning looks, she admits it's hard having a boyfriend who spends his days looking at beautiful women.
"He goes off to work and speaks to girls like Helena Christensen. But he's very reassuring about it all."
