
Robert Hardy
Actor · 1925 – 2017 · Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK
One of England's most successful and enduring character actors, with a prolific screen career on television and in films, Robert Hardy was acclaimed for his versatility and the depth of his performances. Born in Cheltenham in 1925, he studied at Oxford University and, in 1949, he joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Television viewers most fondly remember him as the overbearing Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small (1978) but his most critically acclaimed performance was as the title character of Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981). His portrayal of Britain's wartime leader was so accurately observed that, in the following years, he was called on to reprise the role in such productions as The Woman He Loved (1988) and War and Remembrance (1988). Unlike some British character actors, Hardy was not a Hollywood name and his work in films was therefore restricted to appearances in predominantly British-based productions such as The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) and Sense and Sensibility (1995). However, in the 21st century, Hardy came to the attention of a whole new generation for his performances in the hugely successful Harry Potter films, while also continuing to make regular appearances in British television series. His co-star from All Creatures Great and Small (1978), Peter Davison, quite simply described Hardy as an "extraordinary" actor who would "never do the same thing twice" when he was acting with him. He was awarded the CBE for services to acting. He died in August 2017.
Movies24
Movie8.0AdventureFantasyHarry Potter's life is in danger once more as dangerous wizard Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban Prison and is heading to Hogwarts.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2004 · 23K votes
Movie7.7AdventureFantasyCars fly, trees fight back, and a mysterious house-elf comes to warn Harry Potter at the start of his second year at Hogwarts. Adventure and danger await when bloody writing on a wall announces: The Chamber Of Secrets Has Been Opened. To save Hogwarts will require all of Harry, Ron and Hermione's magical abilities and courage.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
2002 · 24K votes
Movie7.8AdventureFantasyWhen his name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools. Signs of Voldemort's return emerge as Harry's friends help him prepare for the Triwizard Tournament.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
2005 · 22K votes
Movie7.7AdventureFantasyWhen a new professor's methods leave Hogwarts unprepared to fight the rising tide of evil, Harry teaches students how to defend against the dark arts.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2007 · 21K votes
Movie7.4DramaRomanceThe Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne, learn that their prospects of marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. After Henry Dashwood dies unexpectedly, his estate must pass on by law to his son. These circumstances leave Mr. Dashwood's wife and daughters without a home and with barely enough money to live on. As Elinor and Marianne struggle to find romantic fulfillment in a society obsessed with financial and social status, they must learn to mix sense with sensibility in their dealings with both money and men.
Sense and Sensibility
1995 · 1.9K votes
Movie6.4DramaHorrorVictor Frankenstein is a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster, which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It's not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
1994 · 1.4K votes
Movie7.1DramaThrillerBritish agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.
The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
1965 · 348 votes
Movie6.4AdventureDramaA family in financial crisis is forced to sell Lassie, their beloved dog. Hundreds of miles away from her true family, Lassie escapes and sets out on a journey home.
Lassie
2005 · 148 votes
Movie5.7HorrorThrillerItinerant traveler Cassie Grant comes out of a car accident in Glastonbury, England, with partial memory loss. The deeply regretful driver allows her to convalesce at a large rural home, where she becomes friends with the woman's stepson, Michael. As Cassie delves into Michael's research about an old, newly discovered area church, it triggers some strange premonitions and offers gradual clues about her deeper links to this British community.
The Gathering
2003 · 206 votes
Movie7.0ComedyDramaDouglas is a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Jane is his assistant. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young cadet Andrej Tolstoy with whom she shares a fondness for opera, and the powerful General Radlov who is entranced by her beauty and wants to marry her.
Movie3.5ComedyFamilyAn 11-year-old boy's amazing ability to break wind leads him first to fame and then to death row, before it helps him to fulfill his ambition of becoming an astronaut.
Thunderpants
2002 · 93 votes
Movie5.5HorrorThe heir of a mysterious estate must unveil its secrets and discover its treasures before a scheming doctor and his seductive sister can steal what is rightfully his.
Dark Places
1973 · 37 votes
Movie6.2AdventureFantasyThis Lost World is a splendid BBC TV dramatisation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous adventure story. Bob Hoskins makes an unusually genial Professor Challenger, far less of a bully than Doyle's character, but his slightly stereotyped companions are nicely filled out by a solid cast. James Fox is Challenger's more timid but still covertly adventurous rival, Tom Ward is the moustachioed big game hunter who faces an Allosaurus with an elephant gun, and Matthew Rhys plays the tagalong reporter hoping to impress his faithless fiancée.
The Lost World
2001 · 76 votes
Movie7.3CrimeThrillerThe story of British serial killer John Christie, who committed most or all of his crimes in the titular terraced house, and the miscarriage of justice involving Timothy Evans.
10 Rillington Place
1971 · 222 votes
Movie5.7CrimeDramaA lady ringmaster milks the publicity from a string of murders.
Berserk!
1967 · 47 votes
Movie10.0RomanceDramaIn 1936, Edward VIII abdicated in order to marry the woman he loved, Wallis Simpson, a twice divorced American. These events caused a scandal around the world and Wallis has since been demonised as the woman who stole the King of England.
The Woman He Loved
1988 · 1 votes
Movie6.1WarDramaA submarine commander is on a relentless pursuit of a Japanese aircraft carrier in the South Seas during World War II.
Torpedo Run
1958 · 29 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
Movie6.2ActionAdventureThis historical drama is an account of the early life of British politician Winston Churchill, including his childhood years, his time as a war correspondent in Africa, and culminating with his first election to Parliament.
Young Winston
1972 · 54 votes
Movie7.0ThrillerDramaFor years, a blackmailer has been preying on the weaknesses of others throughout London. When Holmes hears of the utter misery this mystery man is creating, he adopts a campaign to thwart his evil scheming. The campaign astonishes Dr. Watson by its strangeness and finds Holmes falling in love.
The Master Blackmailer
1992 · 28 votes
Movie5.7DramaRomanceClarissa Dalloway looks back on her youth as she readies for a gathering at her house. The wife of a legislator and a doyenne of London's upper-crust party scene, Clarissa finds that the plight of ailing war veteran Septimus Warren Smith reminds her of a past romance with Peter Walsh. In flashbacks, young Clarissa explores her possibilities with Peter.
Mrs. Dalloway
1997 · 76 votes
Movie5.0FantasyAdventureThe medieval legend of a supernatural knight who challenges the king's men to kill him.
Gawain and the Green Knight
1973 · 6 votes
Movie6.3DramaRomanceA young girl, whose head is full of romantic and melodramatic notions, goes to stay with the wealthy Tilney family. Through her adventures, Catherine Morland comes to learn that marriage in the society of her day is determined not by true love but by wealth and social status.
Northanger Abbey
1987 · 10 votes
Movie7.3DramaThrillerWho is Anton Haliakov, who has just been abducted by the M.I.5 in London? A Soviet scientist apparently. But sixteen years before the man had another identity, Clément Tibère, and another nationality, French. So what led him to become Russian and to change identity? And why are the British secret services interested in him?
Series24
TV7.5CrimeDramaThe 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 · 374 votes
TV6.1ComedyDocumentaryThe best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.
Great Performances
1971 · 25 votes
TV8.2CrimeDramaSherlock Holmes uses his abilities to take on cases by private clients and those that the Scotland Yard are unable to solve, along with his friend Dr. Watson.
Sherlock Holmes
1984 · 269 votes
TV6.0DramaComedyThe BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.
The BBC Television Shakespeare
1978 · 6 votes
TV7.7DramaAction & AdventureTense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid.
Spooks
2002 · 147 votes
TV7.8DramaCrimeThe adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.
Agatha Christie's Marple
2004 · 149 votes
TV7.1DramaSeries of single made-for-television dramas.
Screen Two
1985 · 7 votes
TV7.8ComedyDramaThe trials and misadventures of the staff at a country veterinary office in Yorkshire. James Herriot, a young animal surgeon, moves to a small Yorkshire town to begin his first job.
All Creatures Great and Small
1978 · 49 votes
TV7.9MysteryDramaAs 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 · 111 votes
TV7.4Action & AdventureCrimeSimon Templar is The Saint, a handsome, sophisticated, debonair, modern-day Robin Hood who recovers ill-gotten wealth and redistributes it to those in need.
The Saint
1962 · 136 votes
TV7.4DocumentaryNatural 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 · 31 votes
TV7.2DramaTheatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.
Theatre 625
1964 · 5 votes
TV7.6CrimeDramaInspector Robert Lewis and Sergeant James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.
Lewis
2007 · 123 votes
TV7.9CrimeDramaInspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.
Inspector Morse
1987 · 146 votes
- TV4.5Talk Show
The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
2007 · 4 votes
TV5.2DramaAn anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.
The Wednesday Play
1964 · 5 votes
TV7.0DramaITV 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 · 3 votes
TV7.0DramaA one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Playhouse
1974 · 1 votes
TV7.8DramaUpstairs: the wealthy, aristocratic Bellamys. Downstairs: their loyal and lively servants. For nearly 30 years, they share a fashionable townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in London’s posh Belgravia neighborhood, surviving social change, political upheaval, scandals, and the horrors of the First World War.
Upstairs, Downstairs
1971 · 32 votes
TV4.3DramaAn anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
Thirty-Minute Theatre
1965 · 8 votes
TV7.0Anthology series of dramatic works.
ITV Saturday Night Theatre
1969 · 3 votes
TV7.0Action & AdventureSci-Fi & Fantasy20th-century astronaut Buck Rogers awakens in the 25th century after a freak accident puts him in suspended animation for 500 years. Upon returning to Earth and discovering the planet is recovering from a nuclear war, Buck uses his combat skills and ingenuity to protect Earth and fight evil throughout the galaxy alongside starfighter pilot Colonel Wilma Deering and robot companion Twiki.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
1979 · 146 votes
TV7.3DramaThe Troubleshooters is a British television series made by the BBC between 1965 and 1972, created by John Elliot. During its run, the series made the transition from black and white to colour transmissions. The series was based around an international oil company – the "Mogul" of the title. The first series was mostly concerned with the internal politics within the Mogul organisation, with episodes revolving around industrial espionage, internal fraud and negligence almost leading to an accident on a North Sea oil rig.
The Troubleshooters
1965 · 3 votes
- TVDrama
Thursday Theatre is a British television anthology programme produced by and aired on the BBC from 1964–1965. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the 23 episodes, 13 are believed lost, and one is incomplete.
Thursday Theatre
1964