
Gretchen Franklin
Actor · 1911 – 2005 · Covent Garden, London, England, UK
Born in Covent Garden, West London in 1911, Gretchen Franklin was an English actress and dancer whose showbusiness career spanned over 70 years. She was best known for her role as Ethel Skinner in the long-running BBC 1 soap opera EastEnders. She appeared in the very first episode in 1985 and was a regular in the series until 1988. After this she returned to the show intermittently until 2000 when her character was killed off, allowing Franklin to retire from acting at the age of 89. Born into a theatrical family (her father had a song and dance act, her grandfather was a famous music hall entertainer at the turn of the century and her cousin was Dad's Army star Clive Dunn) Gretchen Franklin made her theatre debut as a teenage chorus girl. She toured with comedians such as Gracie Fields before making the switch to serious acting. Her film appearances included Cloak Without Dagger (1956), Flame in the Streets (1961), The Murder Game (1965), Help! (1965), How I Won The War (1967), Twisted Nerve (1968), The Night Visitor (1971), The Three Musketeers (1973), Quincy's Quest (1979), and Ragtime (1981), among others. She is namechecked in The Fall's 1990 song Telephone Thing.
Series24
TV4.2SoapDramaThe everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.
EastEnders
1985 · 229 votes
TV7.3DramaZ-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
Z-Cars
1962 · 7 votes
TV8.1Action & AdventureDramaJack Regan, an unethical officer of the Flying Squad, uses unorthodox methods to pursue criminals with the help of his partner, George Carter.
The Sweeney
1975 · 28 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 · 579 votes
TV7.7ComedyA snobbish housewife is determined to climb the social ladder, in spite of her family's working class connections and the constant chagrin of her long suffering husband.
Keeping Up Appearances
1990 · 177 votes
TV6.0DramaDixon of Dock Green was a BBC television series following the activities of police officers at a fictional Metropolitan Police station in the East End of London from 1955 to 1976. Some episodes were later remade as a BBC radio series in 2005 and 2006.
Dixon of Dock Green
1955 · 4 votes
TV6.7ComedyClassic sitcom starring Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques as brother and sister twins who have to tackle the trials and tribulations of suburban life.
Sykes
1972 · 6 votes
TV6.1Action & AdventureCrimeThe Protectors is a British television series, an action thriller created by Gerry Anderson. It was Anderson's second TV series using live actors as opposed to electronic marionettes, and also his second to be firmly set in contemporary times. It was also the only Gerry Anderson produced television series that was not of the fantasy or science fiction genres. It was produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment production company. Despite not featuring marionettes or any real science fiction elements, The Protectors became one of Anderson's most popular productions, easily winning a renewal for a second season. A third season was in the planning stages when the show's major sponsor pulled out, forcing its cancellation. The Protectors first aired in 1972 and 1973, and ran to 52 episodes over two series, each 25 minutes long - making it one of the last series of this type to be produced in a half-hour format. It starred Robert Vaughn as Harry Rule, Nyree Dawn Porter as the Contessa Caroline di Contini, and Tony Anholt as Paul Buchet. Episodes often featured prominent guest actors.
The Protectors
1972 · 14 votes
TV5.0DramaWar & PoliticsChurchill's People is a British anthology series based on A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, Winston Churchill's four-volume history of Britain and its former colonies. 26 episodes were produced by the BBC and initially broadcast from 30 December 1974 to 23 June 1975.
Churchill's People
1974 · 2 votes
TV7.0DramaGideon's Way is a British television crime series made by ITC Entertainment in 1964/65, based on the novels by John Creasey. The series was made at Elstree in twin production with The Saint TV series. It starred Liverpudlian John Gregson in the title role as Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard, with Alexander Davion as his assistant, Detective Chief Inspector David Keen, Reginald Jessup as Det. Superintendent LeMaitre, Ian Rossiter as Detective Chief Superintendent Joe Bell and Basil Dignam as Commissioner Scott-Marle. The show did not acknowledge any help from Scotland Yard, any other police force or advisor. Daphne Anderson starred as his wife, Kate with Giles Watling as young son, Malcolm, Richard James as older son, Matthew who seemed to have a lot of new girlfriends and Andrea Allan as daughter, Pru. Unusually for police stories, Gideon was shown as a family man at home though urgent phone calls from his bosses tend to disrupt family plans too often. However, he did admit in "State Visit" that his wife had walked out on him for a while years ago when he put the job first and her second. They live in an expensive detached house in Chelsea.
Gideon's Way
1965 · 5 votes
- TV8.0
Story Parade specialized in adaptations of modern novels. It was broadcast on June 5, 1964 and repeated on August 28, 1964. The teleplay was by Terry Nation (who invented "Blake's 7" and the Daleks in Dr. Who), and Elijah Baley was played by the late Peter Cushing. It also starred John Carson John Carson as R. Daneel Olivaw and Kenneth J. Warren. The master tapes of the program were erased, however a few clips from the production have turned up in various documentaries about Isaac Asimov's work.
Story Parade
1964 · 1 votes
TV6.5ComedyMiddle-aged Terry and June Medford are beginning to find the trials of life more difficult as they try to succeed in their daily lives. The couple have just moved to Purley, south-east London... Aunt Lucy and the mynah bird have disappeared, as had the occasionally visiting daughters. Terry and June now mixed with friendly next door neighbour Beattie; Terry's chatty work colleague, Malcolm; and their gruff boss Sir Dennis Hodge. Otherwise, things were much as before, with Terry's pigheaded childishness causing no end of problems, usually thwarting June's attempts at leading a cosy life.
Terry and June
1979 · 13 votes
TV7.2Budgie is a popular British television series starring former popstar Adam Faith which was produced by ITV company London Weekend Television and broadcast on the ITV network between 1971 and 1972. The series was created by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall . The show was produced by Verity Lambert, Rex Firkin was the Executive producer.
Budgie
1971 · 6 votes
TV6.7CrimeDramaThe Scales of Justice is a series of thirteen British cinema featurettes produced from 1962 to 1967 for Anglo-Amalgamated at Merton Park Studios in London. The first nine were made in black and white, and the last four in colour. The finale, Payment in Kind, was Merton Park's final production. Episodes were based on criminal cases, and each film was introduced by criminologist Edgar Lustgarten. The series derives its title from the symbolic scales held by the statue of Justice, situated above the dome of London's Central Criminal Court, The Old Bailey. The opening narration describes her as having "in her right hand, the Sword of Power and Retribution, and in her left – The Scales of Justice".
The Scales of Justice
1962 · 3 votes
TV7.0DramaA British television anthology series with a fantasy, science fiction and supernatural theme, similar to the American television series The Twilight Zone, and deals with normal people whose everyday situations somehow become extraordinary.
Journey to the Unknown
1968 · 4 votes
TV7.8ComedyA father and son who work as rag-and-bone men live together in Shepherd's Bush, London. While Albert is content with their way of life, Harold aspires to better himself and build a life of his own, but his attempts are repeatedly thwarted by his father, leading to frequent clashes between the two.
Steptoe and Son
1962 · 39 votes
TV8.0DramaDanger UXB is a 1979 British television series developed by John Hawkesworth and starring Anthony Andrews as Lieutenant Brian Ash, an officer in the Royal Engineers. The programme is titled and partly based on the memoirs of Major A. B. Hartley, M.B.E, RE, Unexploded Bomb - The Story of Bomb Disposal, with episodes written by Hawkesworth and four screenwriters. The series chronicles the exploits of the fictional 97 Tunnelling Company which, as a result of thousands of unexploded bombs in London during the Blitz, has become a bomb disposal unit. As with all his fellow officers, Ash must for the most part learn the techniques and procedures of disarming and destroying the UXBs through experience, repeatedly confronted with more cunning and deadlier technological advances in aerial bomb fusing. The storylines were primarily military, with a romantic thread between Ash and an inventor's married daughter, and other human interest vignettes.
Danger UXB
1979 · 8 votes
TV5.2CrimeDramaHazell is a British television drama based on the novel series by Terry Venables and Gordon Williams (collectively known as P.B. Yuill), and starring Nicholas Bell as James Hazell, a 'smart parody' of Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade. The program ran for 2 series, from January 1978 to July 1979.
Hazell
1978 · 5 votes
TV10.0DramaThe generous John Jarndyce, struggling with his own past, and his two young wards Richard and Ada, are all caught up, like Lady Dedlock, in the infamous case of Jarndyce vs Jarndyce, which will make one of them rich beyond imagination if it can ever be brought to a conclusion. As Tulkinghorn digs deeper into Lady Dedlock's past, he unearths a secret that will change their lives forever, and which is almost as astounding as the final outcome of the Jarndyce case.
Bleak House
1959 · 1 votes
TV7.4ComedySet in a seedy bedsit, the cowardly landlord Rigsby has his conceits debunked by his long suffering tenants.
Rising Damp
1974 · 33 votes
TV7.5FamilyAction & AdventureThe Famous Five is a British television series based on the children's books of the same name by Enid Blyton. It was broadcast on ITV over two series in 1978 and 1979. It was produced by Southern Television in 26 half-hour episodes.
The Famous Five
1978 · 20 votes
TVDramaLondon itself takes the starring role in this series of plays from the BBC – a role which varies between hero and villain, enchantress and harpy. The series features extensive location filming, ranging from Soho to the Law Courts, Wembley to the docks. Of the twelve episodes, eleven are believed to be lost.
Londoners
1965
- TV6.5ComedyDrama
Black and Blue was a BBC TV comedy-drama series, first broadcast in 1973. The show consisted of six 50–60 minutes episodes, each a separate self-contained playlet. The only connection was the Black and Blue humour theme. The first episode was broadcast on 14 August 1973, with the finale on 18 September 1973. The first, Secrets, was wiped, only surviving thanks to a domestic videotape copy made from the master by producer Mark Shivas.
Black and Blue
1973 · 2 votes
TV8.0CrimeDramaEx-insurance investigator Ian Souter sets up his own security agency — the SIS (Specialists in Security) — alongside ex-cop Robert Shoesmith and secretary Heather Keys - and fight crime.
The Protectors
1964 · 1 votes
Movies23
Movie6.7ActionAdventureIn 17th century France, young D'Artagnan wants to join the King's Musketeers, but instead befriends three legendary musketeers—Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—and together, they become embroiled in the political intrigue surrounding King Louis XIII and his adversaries, particularly the powerful Cardinal Richelieu.
The Three Musketeers
1973 · 379 votes
Movie6.5ActionAdventureThe Four Musketeers defend the queen and her dressmaker from Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter.
The Four Musketeers
1974 · 232 votes
Movie6.8ThrillerHorrorMartin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.
Twisted Nerve
1968 · 60 votes
Movie6.9AdventureComedyAn obscure Eastern cult that practices human sacrifice pursues Ringo after he unknowingly puts on a ceremonial ring (that, of course, won't come off). On top of that, a pair of mad scientists, members of Scotland Yard, and a beautiful but dead-eyed assassin all have their own plans for the Fab Four.
Help!
1965 · 359 votes
Movie7.0DramaHistoryA young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence, and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
Ragtime
1981 · 197 votes
Movie5.6ComedyWarAn inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
How I Won the War
1967 · 39 votes
Movie5.3ThrillerA young wife is becoming very distraught over the fact that her husband, a secret service "spy" for England, has changed his mind about transferring away so that he can spend more time with her and their young son. He has grown cold and distant towards her; she thinks it 's because of the secretiveness of his work. Meanwhile, an American spy comes to England and is induced to help the British "team" with an undercover spy ring. When this spy ring is over turned the "bugs" that crawl out from under its rock shocks everyone!
Subterfuge
1968 · 4 votes
Movie6.3DramaDomestic difficulties develop in a working-class family when their daughter falls in love with a Jamaican man.
Flame in the Streets
1961 · 11 votes
MovieDramaTV MovieAspiring dancer Phyllis Dixey makes her name as a stripper.
Movie6.5ThrillerMysteryAn insane Swedish farmer escapes from an asylum to get revenge on his sister, her husband and others.
The Night Visitor
1971 · 58 votes
Movie6.6CrimeA beautiful redhead becomes involved with a group of small-time hoodlums who plan and perform a daring diamond robbery.
The Secret Place
1957 · 5 votes
Movie7.0MusicDramaTottie True is a gay-90s British music-hall performer who has her sights set on moving from rags to riches, who loses her heart to the pure-and-true blue balloonist, Sid Skinner, but continues her upward search on improving her social status. She finally settles for Lord Landon Digby who has lots of assets and a very-stiff upper lip. She gets a lot of the latter and very little of the former, and decides Sid might have been a better choice.
Trottie True
1949 · 3 votes
Movie6.8MusicDramaA man taking the train to work one morning is overcome by melancholy memories and morbid fantasies.
Return to Waterloo
1984 · 24 votes
Movie6.0FamilyFantasyIt's the night before Christmas, and all the toy store rejects are due to be tossed into the furnace. This includes Quincy, a most lifelike doll. In a last ditch effort to save himself and his "unwanted" chums from incineration, he goes on a long and perilous journey in search of the only one who can save them: Santa Claus.
Quincy's Quest
1979 · 5 votes
Movie6.7MysteryA British theater actress unable to get out of her contract is assisted by an American playwright when a pair of her scissors is discovered lodged in her producer's back.
The High Terrace
1956 · 3 votes
Movie10.0CrimeA woman abandons her husband, changes her name, and remarries again. Complications ensue.
The Murder Game
1965 · 1 votes
Movie5.3ThrillerPolice hunt for mental hospital out patient Simon Lacey, who has been unwittingly handing out barbiturates to children as sweets.
The Silent Playground
1963 · 4 votes
Movie6.4TV MovieComedySecrets Chocolates receive an unexpected sales boost when three maintenance workers fall into the chocolate vat and are fed through the production line.
Secrets
1973 · 8 votes
- Movie8.0
Agnes realizes 'the other woman' in her and Bob's family life is the company he works for. 'The Company' demands total priority and loyalty in Bob's life.
The Company Man
1970 · 1 votes
- Movie
Michael and Jo Richardson are celebrating their wedding anniversary at a secluded country cottage. Jo discovers the body of their friend Edward Fellowes in the bedroom and calls Dr Clarkeson, but finds his behaviour very strange.
Movie5.2MysteryA woman travels to England to attend her parents' funeral. She is told by officials that they died of natural causes together, but she doesn't buy it. She comes to suspect that the nurse who took care of her parents was involved in their deaths, but since the nurse is well thought of in the town, no one believes her. What she doesn't know is that her parents' killer has selected her as the next victim
Before I Wake
1955 · 11 votes
Movie7.6MysteryA woman reporter discovers a former lover and intelligence officer during WWII apparently working as a waiter in a hotel; and, believing something she impulsively did while he was on a mission is responsible for his current situation, sets out to make things better by finding a foreign agent known only as Kupchek, with the help of the hotel's detective.
Cloak Without Dagger
1956 · 5 votes
- MovieDramaFamily
Film "The Poet" based on the one-act play Il Poeta by Dario Niccodemi.
The Poet
1960