
Gavin Richards
Actor · b. 1946 · London, England
After training at the Bristol Old Vic, Gavin Richards worked at the Liverpool Everyman and then with radical playwright John McGrath, in 7:84. Joining the Ken Campbell Roadshow in the early 70s he got performance experience working outdoors, in pubs and clubs. A lucrative German tour gave him and a group of colleagues the financial security to set up Belt and Braces Roadshow Company, formed with Eugene Geasley, Marcel Steiner and Jeni Barnett. Their leftist political and musical roadshows were taken to trade union meetings, working-men’s clubs, colleges and schools as well as traditional theatres and arts centres. Richards was Artistic Director, writer and performer for this collective inspired by the work of Alan Dosser at the Everyman and Ken Campbell and John McGrath of 7:84 Theatre Company. With 7:84 Richards had also directed Arden/D’Arcy’s Ballygoimbeen Bequest and Adrian Mitchell’s Man Friday and worked with both Richard Eyre and Trevor Griffiths. Many B&B members had worked for one or more of those companies and over the course of its 12 years on the road some of its members went on to form other companies like Monstrous Regiment. John Fiske, B&B’s musical director and Paul Kessel formed their own company in Sweden, still working today. B&B also collaborated on joint productions with both 7:84 and Roland Muldoon’s CAST. Others involved in the early years included Shane Connoughton, Sylvester McCoy, Vari Sylvestre, Andy Andrews, Gillian Hanna, David Bradford, Derek Thompson, Jim Carter and Colm Meaney. As well as writing original scripts with the company, Richards directed and adapted other political plays, most famously Dario Fo’s Accidental Death of an Anarchist based on a translation by Gillian Hanna which ran in the West-End for two years after an extensive tour starring Alfred Molina. He also oversaw the Belt and Braces production of Steve’ Gooch’s version of Brecht’s The Mother directed by Paul Hellyer which helped to launch the career of Maggie Steed. In the 80s and 90s Richards was a successful television and film actor (again working with Trevor Griffiths on Central TV’s Oi For England and with Paula Milne on the BBC series Driving Ambition). Assisted by Paula Milne and other ex members of B&B Richards produced A Night For A Nuclear Free Europe for the Labour Party at Wembley Arena in 1984 at the height of the miner’s strike. In the 90’s he also worked with Jack Shepherd on Comic Cuts, Griff Rhys Jones onThe Alchemist and Richard Sparks on The Crimson Lizard. His work on BBC’s ‘Allo ‘Allo and EastEnders is something he would rather forget. More recently, with Tamara Henry, he formed a theatre company in New Zealand called Theatre South whose youth production for the child soldier’s charity War Child won several awards. His recent book of poetry entitled 200 Weeks was published by Muswell Press in North London in 2015.
Series20
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
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
TV7.1ComedyDramaRoguish comedy drama following the misadventures of small-time crook Arthur Daley.
Minder
1979 · 30 votes
TV7.6DramaCrimeJack Frost is a gritty, dogged and unconventional detective with sympathy for the underdog and an instinct for moral justice who attracts trouble like a magnet. Despite some animosity with his superintendent, Norman “Horn-rimmed Harry” Mullett, Frost and his ever-changing roster of assistants manage to solve cases via his clever mind, good heart, and cool touch.
A Touch of Frost
1992 · 79 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
TV7.8ComedyWar & PoliticsThe misadventures of hapless cafe owner René Artois and his escapades with the Resistance in occupied France.
'Allo 'Allo!
1984 · 280 votes
TV8.3ComedyDramaPie in the Sky is a British offbeat police comedy drama programme starring Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, created by Andrew Payne and first broadcast in five series on BBC1 between 13 March 1994 and 17 August 1997 as well as being syndicated on other channels in other countries, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series departs slightly from other police dramas in that the protagonist, Henry Crabbe, while still being an on-duty policeman, is also the head chef of the title restaurant set in the fictional town of Middleton and county of Westershire.
Pie in the Sky
1994 · 15 votes
TV5.5DramaDetective Superintendent Tony Clark is an ambitious member of the Complaints Investigation Bureau, an internal organisation that investigates claims of corruption inside the police in England and Wales. Along the way Clark overcomes strong influence from his superiors and problems in his private life, most notably the break-up of his marriage following an affair with WPC Jenny Dean.
Between the Lines
1992 · 13 votes
TV7.4ComedyDramaThe adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.
Lovejoy
1986 · 56 votes
TV7.2ComedyThe Upper Hand is a British television sitcom, produced by Central Independent Television and Columbia Pictures Television and broadcast by ITV from 1990 to 1996. The programme was adapted from the American sitcom Who's the Boss?. As in the former series, an affluent single woman, raising a son with the help of her mother, hires a housekeeper only to have a man apply for the job.
The Upper Hand
1990 · 6 votes
TV6.5ComedyFamilyMike and Angelo is a British sci-fi TV sitcom series, that ran on CITV between 16 March 1989 and 7 March 2000. It centres on Angelo, an alien who came from another world during the first series; the portal from his world being that of a wardrobe in one of the bedrooms. He lives with Mike King, and Mike's mother Rita. Later series had Mike and Rita move away, with Rita's nephew Mike Mason staying on in the house with housekeeper Katy. Together, Mike and Angelo get up to all kinds of crazy adventures - all within the vicinity of the house that they live in. Angelo is always inventing something crazy, or walking on the ceiling, or summoning up historical figures from the past. They always wreak havoc together, much to Katy's annoyance, crying "ANGELO!!" in her Scottish accent constantly or Rita in her Canadian accent before her. Their neighbours are the posh Fawkes-Bentleys, in whose house some of the show's scenes are occasionally based. The 1999 series began with Angelo and Katy reading a postcard explaining that Mike was having a good time in America. In his place, Daphne Fawkes-Bentley's niece Michaela became Angelo's sidekick. For the final series, Katy's nephew, also called Mike, joined. The final series was shown in 2000.
Mike and Angelo
1989 · 4 votes
TV7.0ComedyHi-de-Hi! is a British sitcom set in Maplins, a fictional holiday camp, during 1959 and 1960, and was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also wrote Dad's Army and It Ain't Half Hot Mum amongst others. It aired on the BBC from 1980 to 1988. The series revolved around the lives of the camp's management and entertainers, most of them struggling actors or has-beens. The inspiration was the experience of writers Perry and Croft: after being demobilised from the army, Perry was a Redcoat at Butlin's, Pwllheli during the holiday season. The series gained large audiences and won a BAFTA as Best Comedy Series in 1984. In 2004, it came 40th in Britain's Best Sitcom and in a 2008 poll on Channel 4, 'Hi-de-Hi!" was voted the 35th most popular comedy catchphrase.
Hi-de-Hi!
1980 · 20 votes
TV6.0CrimeDramaAustralian ex-cop Jack Bartholomew goes to Britain when he discovers he's heir to a family title; when he doesn't get on with his new family, he starts working as a private detective.
Call Me Mister
1986 · 2 votes
TV6.5Action & AdventureMysteryHannay is a 1988 spin-off prequel series to the 1978 film adaptation of John Buchan's novel The Thirty-Nine Steps which stars Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, a role which he reprises in the series, an Edwardian mining engineer from Rhodesia of Scottish origin. It features his adventures in pre-World War I Great Britain. These stories had little in common with Buchan's novels about the character, although some names are taken from his other novels.
Hannay
1988 · 4 votes
TV6.5MysteryComedyLadies in Charge is a 1986 British television drama, an expansion from a 1985 pilot in the Storyboard anthology programme. Produced by Thames Television for ITV, the six-episode programme stars Carol Royle, Julia Hills, and Julia Swift. After serving as World War I ambulance drivers, three women start a private agency in London to solve problems for clients, blending mystery and drama with a lighthearted tone. They take on various cases, from finding lost items to uncovering secrets, often challenging societal expectations for women of the era.
Ladies in Charge
1986 · 2 votes
TV5.2ComedyHardwicke House is a 1987 British sitcom produced by Central Independent Television for ITV. Seven spisodes were made, but the series was so poorly received that only the first two were transmitted. In the large comprehensive school Hardwicke House, the staff of which are as dysfunctional as the pupils. One teacher is a multiple murderer while the deputy headmaster lusts after male pupils. One teacher, Moose Magnusson, is on an extended exchange placement because his own school in Iceland refuses to have him back.
Hardwicke House
1987 · 5 votes
TV9.0CrimeDramaFor the Greater Good is a three-part 1991 BBC Two television drama serial written by G.F. Newman and directed by Danny Boyle. It centres on three politicians attempting to reform the British prison system. However, their efforts are undermined when the tabloid press exposes their private lives.
For the Greater Good
1991 · 1 votes
- TV8.0Drama
A bored and frustrated suburban housewife follows her dream of becoming a racing driver.
Driving Ambition
1984 · 1 votes
TV6.8Action & AdventureDrama15-year-old Davie Balfour is poised to receive a vast inheritance when he's lured onto a cargo ship, knocked unconscious, and kidnapped by his malevolent uncle Ebenezer, who devises a scheme to sell him into slavery. But Davie's unforeseen rescue at the hands of a Scottish rogue, Alan Breck, with them racing across the Scottish moors, with English bounty hunters in hot pursuit.
Kidnapped
2005 · 4 votes
TV6.3Sci-Fi & FantasyComedyB.B. Miller is a motorcycle riding time traveller who gets into various troubles throughout history with her companion Ben, a Victorian street urchin.
Time Riders
1991 · 3 votes
Movies11
Movie5.1DramaComedyOne man must learn the meaning of courage across four lifetimes centuries apart.
Being Human
1994 · 65 votes
Movie5.6ComedyWhen a small British owned island in the Caribbean is invaded and the world's most dangerous terrorist kidnaps a member of the Royal family, the countdown to World War 3 begins. If anyone can prevent the oncoming apocalypse it's the American President, but her closest ally the British Prime Minister appears to have gone stark raving mad.
Whoops Apocalypse
1986 · 19 votes
Movie9.0DramaTV MovieTwo provincial newspaper reporters - one a young idealist starting out on his career, the other an embittered man who previously wrote for a failed national daily - swap views.
The Reporters
1972 · 1 votes
Movie5.3ComedyRomanceThe Queen's youngest son is off to university, mainly because "I'm hopeless at anything else". Barry, his new bodyguard, has no time for the royal family and left school at fifteen. He certainly didn't volunteer for this job, and is damned if he's going to enjoy it. Yet he can't help liking the hopelessly unworldly young prince, at least, until they both set their eyes on the new American student!
The Student Prince
1998 · 4 votes
Movie7.0DramaExperimental drama set in London during the Thatcher administration involving four characters: Neil, a science-fiction illustrator; Kim, a woman rock musician; Vermilion, an analyst of satellite photography; and Julian, an old friend of the illustrator who has just finished his Ph.D thesis on the fairy-tales of Charles Perrault. Their four lives are closely interlinked as events happen to each of them.
Crystal Gazing
1982 · 2 votes
Movie5.8DramaWarAfter her husband is captured during WWII, homesteader Alice is forced to maintain their land herself. One day, a wandering soldier named Barton stops by the farm and the pair begin a relationship. When the military police pass through the area looking for deserters, Barton is forced to disguise himself as a woman to stay with Alice. But he soon catches the eye of a sergeant posted nearby.
The Triple Echo
1972 · 26 votes
Movie7.8DramaTV MovieHaving subdued the Goths, warrior Titus Andronicus returns to Rome to bury his sons, with Gothic Queen Tamora and her retinue as captives. The newly-dead Roman Emperor's two sons, Saturninus and Bassianus, are competing for their father's title. According to Roman custom, Titus sacrifices Tamora's eldest son to the Gods; having the deciding vote, he also chooses Saturninus as Emperor.
Titus Andronicus
1985 · 6 votes
Movie8.0DramaTV MovieDuring questioning by the police, a railway worker falls to his death from the multi-story police HQ. The government says it was an accident but there is a public outcry. The Superintendant and Inspector responsible are awaiting the arrival of an Investigating Judge but get more than they bargained for when a lunatic escapes and impersonates him.
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist
1983 · 5 votes
Movie8.8MusicDramaIn the Moss Side, Manchester "race riots" of 1981 a struggling punk band are tempted by a sinister entrepreneur to perform at a major gig in support of British extreme Right political organizations.
Oi for England
1982 · 2 votes
Movie8.0RomanceDramaDuring a rugby tour of Britain and Ireland in 1888, a young New Zealander searches for his father who he has never met. While there he falls in love with the daughter of an aristocrat.
Savage Play
1995 · 1 votes
- MovieDocumentary
Part of BFI collection "The Miners' Campaign Video Tapes."