The Dame Edna Experience is a British television comedy talk-show hosted by Dame Edna Everage. It ran for twelve regular episodes on ITV, plus two Christmas specials. The first seven aired for the first time in 1987, the next seven in 1989. It was directed by Ian Hamilton and Alasdair MacMillan and produced by London Weekend Television.
Regulars on the program, besides Dame Edna, were her "bridesmaid" Madge Allsop and Robin Houston who was the announcer, with orchestra conducted and arranged by Laurie Holloway.
Each program featured several celebrity guests, usually three, but some programs included up to eight guests. There would also be other invited "guests" like Kurt Waldheim and Imelda Marcos who once introduced at stage right would fall victim to a trap door or something similar and fail to make it to their chair.
The entire series was released on DVD by BBC Video in June 2004, and can now also be purchased as a complete set including the Christmas specials and the three An Audience with Dame Edna specials
Celebrity series of The Chase. Contestants must pit their wits against the Chaser, a ruthless quiz genius determined to stop them winning the cash prize.
The New Avengers is a British secret agent fantasy adventure television series broadcast during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series The Avengers and was developed by Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens.
A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the show picks up the adventures of John Steed and his team of Avengers fighting evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit, a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey, a former trainee with The Royal Ballet who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's previous female partners.
The Human Jungle is a British TV series about a psychiatrist, made for ABC Television by the small production company Independent Artists for transmission on ITV. Starring Herbert Lom, it ran for two series which were first transmitted during 1963 and 1965.
Hadleigh was a British television series made by Yorkshire Television which originally ran from 1969 to 1976. Developed by Robert Barr, it was a sequel to the writer's earlier Gazette for the same company. The theme music was composed by Alan Moorhouse and, from series 3, Tony Hatch.
James Hadleigh played by Gerald Harper, was "the perfect squire, paternalistically careful of his tenantry's welfare, beloved in the village, respected in the council." A "knight in a shining white Aston Martin V8, he sets about correcting local injustices." His wife, from a lower-class background, was played by Hilary Dwyer. The series attracted around 17 million viewers at its peak.
The Kids from 47A is a British children's television series produced by ATV Network about four children whose widowed mother is taken into hospital, leaving them to cope on their own. The eldest—office worker Jess Gathercole—becomes the family matriarch, making every effort to keep her schoolchild sister and brothers at home with her.
At the start of the second series, the Gathercole mother has died and Jess is only able to keep the family together after battling with social services, who continue to keep a watchful eye.
Three series were made; the first was shown in 1973, the second and third in 1974. The third series ends with Jess getting married. A one-off episode was broadcast on 31 August 1975.
Episode writers included Lynda La Plante and Phil Redmond. The series directors were Alan Coleman, Richard Bramall and Jonathan Wright-Miller.
Jess was played by Christine McKenna, her bookish sister Binny by Gaynor Hodgson and her brothers—football-mad Willy and primary schoolboy George—by
Keep It in the Family is a British sitcom that aired for five series between 1980 and 1983. It is about a likable and mischievous cartoonist, Dudley Rush. Also featured were Dudley's wife, Muriel and their two daughters, Jacqui and Susan. Dudley's literary agent, Duncan Thomas, was also featured.
It was made by Thames Television for the ITV network.
A remake of Keep It in the Family was produced in the United States under the title Too Close for Comfort, starring Ted Knight.
Up the Elephant and Round the Castle was an ITV sitcom which aired from 1983 to 1985, starring comedian Jim Davidson, who played the role of Jim London. The show spawned a sequel, Home James, which was also made by Thames Television. Home James ran from 1987 to 1990. "Up the Elephant and Round the Castle" also gave early exposure to Anita Dobson. The show was made for the ITV network by Thames Television.
Kingdom is a British television series produced by Parallel Film and Television Productions for the ITV network. It was created by Simon Wheeler and stars Stephen Fry as Peter Kingdom, a Norfolk solicitor who is coping with family, colleagues, and the strange locals who come to him for legal assistance. The series also starred Hermione Norris, Celia Imrie, Karl Davies, Phyllida Law and Tony Slattery.
The first series of six one-hour episodes was aired in 2007 and averaged six million viewers per week. Despite a mid-series ratings dip, the executive chairman of ITV praised the programme and ordered a second series, which was filmed in 2007 and broadcast in January and February 2008. Filming on the third series ran from July to September 2008 for broadcast from 7 June 2009.
Stephen Fry announced on his blog in October 2009 that ITV was cancelling the series, which was later confirmed by the channel, which said that given tighter budgets, more expensive productions were being cut.
Boon is a British television drama and modern-day western series starring Michael Elphick, David Daker, and later Neil Morrissey. It was created by Jim Hill and Bill Stair and filmed by Central Television for ITV. It revolved around the life of a modern-day Lone Ranger and ex-firefighter, Ken Boon.
Brought together by professional and personal heartache, two plucky ladies plant the seeds for a brighter future. Rosemary Boxer, with a doctorate in plant pathology, and Laura Thyme, a former police constable and avid gardener, discover their shared love of green-thumbness and start a gardening business. As they restore various English gardens back to their lavish states, the inquisitive pair also find themselves uncovering an assortment of mysteries.
Taste The Nation is a British daytime cookery show on the ITV Network. The judges are Henrietta Jane Green, William Sitwell and Richard Johnson. Nick Hancock is the host of the show, which airs weekdays at 5pm.
The Chefs
Series Guides
Series 1: 16 March - 24 April 2009
Innovative and influential, and originally envisaged as children’s show, Do Not Adjust Your Set was a madcap early-evening comedy sketch show that quickly acquired a cult following with Swinging Sixties adults, who rushed home from work to see it. Written by and starring Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, with great performances and additional material by David Jason and Denise Coffey, it also provided an early showcase for the hilarious animations of Terry Gilliam, and the brilliantly bizarre musical antics of the legendary Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.
Days Like These is a British TV series remake of the popular American sitcom That '70s Show. Directed by Bob Spiers, it was broadcast Fridays at 8.30pm on ITV in 1999 and used many of the same names, or slight alterations. It was set in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Only 10 of the 13 produced episodes were aired. Five began broadcasts of That '70s Show after the failure of Days Like These and it was one of the first comedy shows imported onto the channel.
Emergency – Ward 10 is a British television series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like The Grove Family, a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, Emergency – Ward 10 is considered to be one of British television's first major soap operas.