Mark Arden
Actor · b. 1956 · Newbury, Berkshire, England, UK
Mark David Darwin Arden (born 31 July 1956) is a British comedian and actor, best known for his television appearances. During the 1980s, he was one half of comic double act 'The Oblivion Boys', alongside Stephen Frost. Arden was born in Newbury, Berkshire. He and Frost came to prominence in the late 1970s alternative comedy boom, and became recognisable to a national audience with regular spots on Saturday Live. In the early 1980s, they were instrumental in the forming of the long-running north London comedy show News Revue, and shortly afterwards began appearing as a pair in episodes of series such as The Black Adder and The Young Ones; they are perhaps most remembered for a series of commercials for Carling Black Label lager, one of which involved Arden and Frost appearing in the nude. Arden continued to perform with Frost in comedy clubs, although he did not follow his partner into the genre of improvisation. Nevertheless, he featured as the chauffeur Johnny Blackpool (a paranoid ex-soldier) in the partially-improv 1994 comedy film There's No Business..., opposite Raw Sex (Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron). Arden had a role as Roland 'Vaseline' Cartwright in London's Burning, appearing in the original pilot film[1] and the first two series; he has also had roles in such comedies as Blackadder II and Bottom. He and Frost also played the title roles in the surrealist police sitcom Lazarus and Dingwall. Later, Arden appeared in the 1992 film Carry On Columbus and in the 1990s series Harry Enfield and Chums. In October 1996 he played Jansson in an episode of the 6th series of Heartbeat (Snapped). Arden also has had a theatre career, appearing in Willis Hall's play The Long, the Short and the Tall in the West End.[2] He also played the inspector in An Inspector Calls at the Garrick Theatre, Pop in the musical We Will Rock You at London's Dominion Theatre, and in Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be[3] at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. Arden's television career continued in 2002 with The Estate Agents. In 2018, he appeared in several episodes of Endeavour.
Series19
TV5.8SoapDramaDrama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.
Holby City
1999 · 48 votes
TV7.1CrimeDramaSet during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992 · 34 votes
TV6.8CrimeDramaThe 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 · 47 votes
TV8.0ComedyBlackadder traces the deeply cynical and self-serving lineage of various Edmund Blackadders throughout British history, from the muck of the Middle Ages to the frontline of The Great War.
Blackadder
1983 · 580 votes
TV7.4ComedyThe Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
The Comic Strip Presents...
1982 · 19 votes
TV7.9ComedyThe misadventures of four lunatic students who live in a shared student house. There's Rick, the overblown political one addicted to Cliff Richard, Vyvyan the experimental scientific one/part-time anarchist, Neil the worried hippy, and Mike the ladies' man (at least he is in his mind).
The Young Ones
1982 · 153 votes
TV6.1ComedyMysteryBurnt out on office politics, Agatha Raisin retires early to a picturesque village in the Cotswolds and soon finds a second career as an amateur detective investigating mischief, mayhem, and murder in her deceptively quaint town.
Agatha Raisin
2016 · 55 votes
TV6.5CrimeDramaIntroduced by renowned English actor Edward Woodward, In Suspicious Circumstances is an anthology of reenactments depicting real-life murder mysteries, some famous and some obscure, exploring cases with elements of miscarriage of justice, unsolved mysteries, and unusual circumstances, often spanning different historical periods.
In Suspicious Circumstances
1991 · 2 votes
TV5.8ComedyDramaAll Quiet on the Preston Front (or the shortened Preston Front as it became known for series two and three) was a BBC comedy drama about a group of friends in the fictional Lancashire town of Roker Bridge, and their links to the local Territorial Army infantry platoon. It was created by Tim Firth and ran from 1994 to 1997.
(All Quiet on the) Preston Front
1994 · 4 votes
TV7.9ComedyRichie Richard (socially awkward, sexually inexperienced) and Eddie Hitler (carefree alcoholic ) are two social outcasts living on the dole. Trapped together in a squalid flat in Hammersmith, London they are perpetually skint, bored and sexually frustrated. They spend their days scheming, bickering, and being nasty and sadistic to each other.
Bottom
1991 · 148 votes
TV7.5ComedySteve Coogan plays Tommy Saxondale: an ex-roadie with anger management issues and a pest-control business. Tommy is a little arrogant, a little egotistical and feels the world owes him more respect than it typically shows him. He has an assistant named Raymond who lives in a spare room in Tommy's house, a live-in girlfriend named Magz who owns a T-shirt business, and a receptionist named Vicky who has a tendency to drive him up the wall.
Saxondale
2006 · 32 votes
TV5.4ComedyFour girls share a flat together in London. Having nothing in common aside from their gender, they barely manage to co-exist.
Girls On Top
1985 · 11 votes
TV6.2Sci-Fi & FantasyChiller is a five-part British horror anthology television series, produced by Yorkshire Television, broadcast on ITV from 9 March to 27 April 1995. Described by The Guardian as ITV's 'answer to The X Files', the series is inspired by, but unconnected to, the 1991 Channel 4 thriller Gray Cray Dolls, which broadcast under the Chiller banner. The series featured writing contributions from renowned playwrights Stephen Gallagher, Glenn Chandler and Anthony Horowitz.
Chiller
1995 · 9 votes
TV5.0ComedyDocumentaryThe Story of Light Entertainment is a British documentary series shown on the BBC in 2006. The series comprises eight episodes and is narrated by Stephen Fry.
The Story of Light Entertainment
2006 · 3 votes
TV7.5ComedyLazarus and Dingwall is a British sitcom starring Stephen Frost and Mark Dingwall as two inept detectives in a pastiche of police dramas. The programme ran for six episodes on BBC Two from 1 February 1 to 8 March 1991. Steve Lazarus and Mark Dingwall are a somewhat unconventional duo in the more than slightly unconventional sector of Really Serious Crimes. Their chief is both eccentric and incompetent, and everyone else is equally oddball, from desk worker and the object of Dingwall's affections, Beverly Armitage, to the plainclothes duo. However, despite their somewhat unique approach, what the department seems to come up trumps more often than not.
Lazarus and Dingwall
1991 · 4 votes
TV7.5ComedyKidsSpace Vets was a 39-episode children's sci fi show about a motley crew of misfit intergalactic space vets. The concept was devised by Stephen Edmondson and Jerome Vincent, but the characters were created by writer Christopher Middleton, and most of the 39 episodes written by him, too. Music for the series was produced by former Doctor Who composer Dominic Glynn.
SpaceVets
1992 · 2 votes
TV4.2ComedyTeenage Kicks is a British sitcom starring Adrian Edmondson, Ed Coleman and Laura Aikman, filmed at Teddington Studios. Originally as a radio show for BBC Radio 2 in 2007, it was turned into a TV series by Phil McIntyre Productions for ITV. The show ran for 8 episodes beginning 28 March 2008 although the show was not recommissioned for any further series. The opening theme tune is "Teenage Kicks" by the band The Undertones.
Teenage Kicks
2008 · 3 votes
TV8.0The Winjin' Pom is a television puppet series about a talking British caravan, renowned for his moaning, and five Australians who live and travel in him. The travellers who include Adelaide, Sydney, Bruce, Frazer, and Darwin, are members of the Gullagaloona backpackers club and are on a mission to travel the world. Discovering the caravan near London when lost, the travellers soon find the Winjin' Pom to be one of their biggest allies. A mafia-like team headed by evil Hammond organ playing vulture J.G. Chicago soon discover the caravan's rare ability to speak and decide to hijack it in a sinister plot to make themselves rich. Part of this mafia gang includes two villainous brothers. Ronnie and Reggie relentlessly chase the caravan and follow the backpackers on their travels in an attempt to steal it always of course failing miserably. The Winjin' Pom caravan is famous not only for talking but also for flying, something which occurs several episodes in after a hijack by The Crows. This talking-flying caravan was not seen by many people and the series did not air for long.
The Winjin Pom
1991 · 2 votes
- TV7.0Comedy
In south London, three hapless estate agents inhabit a deliciously skewed parallel universe packed with twisted characters and disastrous scenarios.
The Estate Agents
2002 · 3 votes
Movies12
Movie6.4ActionAdventureKraven Kravinoff's complex relationship with his ruthless gangster father, Nikolai, starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.
Kraven the Hunter
2024 · 2.5K votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryComedyThis documentary explores the legacy of one of the most notorious British sitcoms of all time. Launching alternative comedy onto our screens, the show made household names of its performers and writers and proved to be a huge influence, despite the BBC reportedly being baffled by what they'd commissioned back in 1982. Never before had a flagship comedy show contained so much violence, depravity and anarchy - it was a shot across the bow to mainstream comedians that things would never be the same again.
How The Young Ones Changed Comedy
2018 · 2 votes
Movie8.5DramaTV MovieIt's Josie Ingham's first day at Blackwall Firestation but things aren't going so well being the only female firefighter in an all-male team. Not only does she have to prove to them that she can do the job, problems at home complicate her life even further. Outside, in the heart of the city, tensions are rising to the extreme, Blue Watch have a long night ahead.
London's Burning: The Movie
1986 · 4 votes
Movie3.9ComedyChristopher Columbus believes he can find an alternative route to the far East and persuades the King and Queen of Spain to finance his expedition...
Carry On Columbus
1992 · 46 votes
Movie8.3ThrillerJohnny Fortune (Damon Lowry) is no good to anyone, not mean, but just no good. Surrounded by violence and dishonesty, Johnny lives with Kate. Johnny messes up, he loses a lot of money, his girlfriend Kate's money. Alone, desperate and on the run from a couple of hit-men, he applies for a job as an entertainer's assistant becoming a dancing bear. Unwittingly learning of secrets around him, his past catches up with him.
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale
1989 · 3 votes
Movie7.6DramaRomanceTwo households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
Romeo and Juliet
1978 · 7 votes
Movie9.0ComedyMusicThere's No Business... is a 1994 British partially improvised comedy film directed by Kevin Molony and produced by Claudia Lloyd for Prospect Pictures. It stars Raw Sex (Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron) as Ken Bishop and his stepson Duane, and Lee Cornes as their musical agent Dickie Valentino, in their attempt to remake a track by Ken's old band, 'The Nice Twelve' for a TV advert for 'Pinkies', a brand of kitchen gloves made by Mort Clayton (Mac McDonald). Alexander Armstrong (Tim) and Sam Graham (Fergus) work for the fictional advertising agency Sprote and Sprote. The film takes its name from the 1954 film There's No Business Like Show Business which itself borrowed the 1946 song of the same name by Irving Berlin, written for the musical Annie Get Your Gun.
There's No Business...
1994 · 2 votes
MovieDocumentaryA look back at the making of the insane sitcom and the impact it caused.
Movie4.3ActionAdventureEssex has been the central hub for many famous criminal activities. For generations Essex Boys have ruled the streets of Essex and East London in their underworld empires. Many people thought this ended in a Range Rover in 1995. They were wrong... Danny - an ex hooligan is driven back into a life of crime after his world is turned upside down on the streets of Essex.
Essex Boys: Law of Survival
2015 · 17 votes
Movie4.4DramaActionSet in Post World War II Britain, chronicles the rise and fall of real life British crime lord Charlie Richardson.
Charlie
2004 · 10 votes
Movie4.5HorrorClaire and Anna are cousins who share a mysterious connection to a dark family secret. Following the death of Clare’s grandmother, ancient spirits are unleashed and the women must do battle with ‘Lilith’, a malevolent female spirit who has returned to claim possession of Anna’s unborn child.
The Heiress
2021 · 11 votes
Movie2.0ComedyTeen-age gang leaders Passion and Little Sister are released from prison, only to find that their gang the Slags has disbanded due to a rival gang, the Hawaiians, who wear garlands and drink Pina Coladas.
Slags
1984 · 1 votes