
Avis Bunnage
Actor · 1923 – 1990 · Manchester, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Avis Bunnage (22 April 1923, Manchester, England, UK – 4 October 1990, England) was a British actress of film, stage and television. She attended Manley Park Municipal School and Chorlton Central School in Manchester. She worked as a secretary and a nursery teacher before deciding to become an actress. She gained stage experience in rep and made her first professional appearance at Chorlton Rep Theatre in Manchester in 1947. Most notably, she appeared as Veronica, the wife of Rigsby, in Rising Damp, for one episode. Bunnage was a member of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. There she created the role of Helen, the mother in A Taste of Honey, her first West End role when the play transferred to Wynndems Theatre, and also a role in Oh, What a Lovely War! at Stratford East, which also transferred to Wyndams Theatre. When Avis was on holiday from this production for two weeks, her role was taken over by Danny La Rue. Among her other roles for Theatre Workshop were Mrs. Lovitt in Christopher Bond's play Sweeny Todd (the basis for the Sondheim musical), and the title role in a play about the music hall legend Marie Lloyd. In the early years of Coronation Street she played Lucile Hewitt's auntie. She was in the musical Billy at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, playing the mother of 'Billy Liar'. She played Golda in Fiddler on the Roof, opposite Alfie Bass, at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Married to Derek Orchard, she died in Thorpe Bay, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, aged 67. Description above from the Wikipedia article Avis Bunnage, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies22
Movie7.6DramaHistoryIn the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
Gandhi
1982 · 2.6K votes
Movie5.9ComedyRomanceTom loves Sophie and Sophie loves Tom. But Tom and Sophie are of differering classes. Can they find a way through the mayhem to be true to love?
Tom Jones
1963 · 250 votes
Movie6.2CrimeDramaWhen Watson reads from the newspaper there have been two similar murders near Whitechapel in a few days, Sherlock Holmes' sharp deductive is immediately stimulated to start its merciless method of elimination after observation of every apparently meaningless detail. He guesses right the victims must be street whores, and doesn't need long to work his way trough a pawn shop, an aristocratic family's stately home, a hospital and of course the potential suspects and (even unknowing) witnesses who are the cast of the gradually unraveled story of the murderer and his motive.
A Study in Terror
1965 · 77 votes
Movie7.0DramaRomanceA 22-year-old factory worker lets loose on the weekends: drinking, brawling, and dating two women, one of whom is older and married.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
1960 · 162 votes
Movie7.2DramaA rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy’s reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution by impressing its Governor through his prowess as a long distance runner. He is encouraged to compete in an upcoming race, but faces ridicule from his peers.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
1962 · 176 votes
Movie6.8DramaRomanceJane is young, French, pregnant and unmarried. Bucking convention, she is uninterested in settling with her baby's father or getting an abortion. After renting a room in a dingy London boarding house, Jane befriends the odd group of inhabitants and starts an affair with one boarder, Toby. As Jane's pregnancy threatens her new relationship, and the reality of single motherhood approaches, she is forced to decide what to do about both her baby and her budding romance.
The L-Shaped Room
1962 · 42 votes
Movie6.4ComedyIn Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other—or can be made to have seemed to do so.
The Wrong Box
1966 · 69 votes
Movie6.0DramaCrimeTwins Ronnie and Reggie Kray are raised in east London, under the influence of their hateful but doting mother Violet. As they grow up, Ronnie's violent nature takes over, and Reggie follows his brother's lead. The two become notorious crime lords who rule over the East End club scene. But at the height of their power, the brothers veer into different lives, giving the older crime bosses a chance to reclaim what the Krays took from them.
The Krays
1990 · 125 votes
Movie5.3ComedyDramaCharlie returns to the East End after two years at sea to find his house demolished and wife Maggie gone. Everyone else knows she is now shacked up with married bus driver Bert and a toddler, and they all watch with more than a little interest at the trail of mayhem Charlie leaves as he goes about sorting things out.
Sparrows Can't Sing
1963 · 25 votes
Movie6.7DramaJohnnie Byrne is a member of the British Parliament. In his 40s, he's feeling frustrated with his life and his personal as well as professional problems tower up over him. His desires to win the next election are endangered by his constant looking for love and he is faced with the choice of giving up a career in politics or giving up the woman he loves.
No Love for Johnnie
1961 · 9 votes
Movie5.5ComedyDoctors Burke and Hare leave the confines of St Swithins for the world of general practice, stopping off on the way as patients at the Foulness Anti-cold Unit. Hare then takes up a position as junior in a well-healed G.P.'s surgery while Burke continues to sow his doctorial wild oats.
Doctor in Love
1960 · 18 votes
Movie6.5CrimeComedyRogues Jelly Knight, Scapa Flood, and Lennie the Dip leave prison expecting boss The Duke to have their stash ready to share out. Instead, Duke's girl Sara gives them the news Duke is dead and the money gone on nursing care. They soon discover that Duke is actually running Hope Springs Nature Clinic with the help of most of the local villains. Very strange - and the nearby army camp and Sara's encouragement of Lieutenant Vine would seem to be no coincidence either. Written by Jeremy Perkins
Rotten to the Core
1965 · 11 votes
Movie5.1ComedyMusicHerman inherits a greyhound and decides to make his fortune by dog racing. After traveling from Manchester to London in the hope of entering a national invitational, Herman and his friends find work in a pop group, and Herman falls in love.
Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter
1968 · 7 votes
Movie7.5ThrillerHorrorAfter being harassed by a couple of punks, a young woman picks up an old lady standing at the roadside in the rain.
Panic
1978 · 2 votes
Movie6.7ComedyIt's New Year's Eve in Thatcher's de-industrialising Britain. The scene is set at a seedy bar in Liverpool where a group of Irish Protestant and Irish Catholic pensioners will gather to clash and bash the new year in.
No Surrender
1985 · 12 votes
Movie6.5DramaThrillerMargaret Ross is an impoverished old woman who lives alone in a seedy apartment and enjoys a rich fantasy life as an heiress. One day she discovers stolen money hidden by her son and believes her fantasy has come true.
The Whisperers
1967 · 34 votes
Movie5.3ComedyMusicA seedy London promoter turns a naive, working-class teenager into a pop singing sensation.
Expresso Bongo
1959 · 19 votes
Movie4.0ComedyDramaSweet Hilda Capper spends her birthday fending off the well-meaning intrusions of family and friends.
Mrs Capper's Birthday
1985 · 2 votes
Movie9.0TV MovieComedyScully invites his mates to gatecrash his mum's New Year's Eve party.
Scully's New Year's Eve
1978 · 2 votes
Movie6.4MusicUnemployed East End lad Alf Hitchens has an on-off relationship with his girlfriend Marilyn and a dream of hitting the big time in the music business. Cheerful pop musical with a working-class background which uses a number of genuine London locations.
What a Crazy World
1963 · 7 votes
Movie10.0DramaTV MovieA woman starts work as a nanny to a mute boy in a Victorian household. The boy's growing attachment to her however causes greater problems than his original detachment to his family. Part of the 1980 season of BBC Play for Today.
Jessie
1980 · 1 votes
MovieTV MovieHorrorEpisode of The Frighteners: A tired and worried man fails to see his reflection in a train window. He comes to the conclusion that he is being ignored in life because he is disappearing from the world.
Series22
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
TV7.0DramaA one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Playhouse
1974 · 1 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
- TVDrama
Drama 61-67 is anthology drama series which took a different title, based on year of transmission, each year. It alternated with Armchair Theatre from ABC in the Sunday evening slot. The series was described at the time as epitomising ATV drama.
Drama 61-67
1961
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
TV10.0Action & AdventureDramaPulled from actual case histories and utilizing newsreel and documented narratives, the activities of spies from various countries are depicted as far back as the American Revolution and as recent as the Cold War.
Espionage
1963 · 1 votes
TV7.2CrimeDramaNotable as the first British series to feature a female police officer (predating Juliet Bravo by four months), Detective Inspector Maggie Forbes raises her teenage son while navigating a male-dominated police force following the murder of her police commissioner husband.
The Gentle Touch
1980 · 8 votes
TV8.0A mostly live weekly entertainment show starring Cilla Black and her special guests.
Cilla
1968 · 3 votes
TV8.2The 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.
The Human Jungle
1963 · 5 votes
TV8.5MysteryDramaA horror anthology series, with each episode featuring a different eerie tale.
The Frighteners
1972 · 2 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
TV7.5Drama18 short plays written especially for TV, an opportunity for up-and-coming directors such as floor manager Alan Clarke, who ended up doing 10 of the episodes. Some top ranking performers were attracted to the series.
Half Hour Story
1967 · 2 votes
TV5.8ComedyThe Fosters is a British sitcom created and written by Jon Watkins and Eric Monte. It showcases the early work of Lenny Henry as the budding artist son of easygoing family man Samuel Foster (Norman Beaton). The series follows the day-to-day trials of Samuel, his lively wife Pearl (both immigrants from Guyana) and their three children on a South London housing estate.
The Fosters
1976 · 8 votes
- TV8.0Comedy
Set in Bolton, Lancashire, Charlie Fisher, a keen young agent, gets employed by the Lancastrian Insurance Company.
Leave it to Charlie
1978 · 3 votes
TV6.8ComedyIn Loving Memory is a British period sitcom set in an undertakers business that starred Thora Hird and Christopher Beeny. A pilot was transmitted in 1969 by Thames Television who rejected the idea before it was finally accepted by Yorkshire Television in 1979 where it further ran for five series between until 1986.
In Loving Memory
1969 · 6 votes
- TV7.0Comedy
A situation comedy about divorcee James Shepherd, a charismatic vet, who struggles to run both a successful surgery and a home for his two teenage children.
Close to Home
1989 · 3 votes
TV7.3ComedySeven of One is a 1973 BBC2 comedy anthology starring Ronnie Barker. 7 of 1 is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms, three of which were picked up for a full series run. Originally called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half Dozen of the Other.
Seven of One
1973 · 6 votes
TV6.0DramaArmchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series of single plays that ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television from mid-1968.
Armchair Theatre
1956 · 6 votes
TV6.8DramaThe Mayor of Casterbridge is a 1978 BBC seven-part serial based on the eponymous 1886 book by the British novelist Thomas Hardy. The six-hour drama was written by dramatist Dennis Potter and directed by David Giles, with Alan Bates as the title character. Michael Henchard, an out-of-work hay-trusser, gets drunk at a fair and, for five guineas, sells his wife and child to a sailor. When the horror of his act finally sets in, Henchard swears he will not touch alcohol for twenty-one years. Through hard work and acumen, he becomes rich, respected, and eventually the mayor of Casterbridge. But eighteen years after his fateful oath, his wife and daughter return to Casterbridge, and his fortunes steadily decline.
The Mayor of Casterbridge
1978 · 4 votes
- TV6.0Drama
A chronicle of three working-class Manchester lads and their descendants spanning from 1877 to the onset of the Second World War. Hamer Shawcross' youthful socialist zeal soon converts to personal ambition, exploiting the Labour movement to become an MP, marrying well and eventually entering the House of Lords. Arnold Ryerson is the sensitive and courageous pioneer of Trade Union growth. Tom Hannaway is a perky opportunist who progresses from rag-and-bone man to tycoon and a knighthood following his own self-help philosophy.
Fame Is the Spur
1982 · 2 votes
TV5.0DramaWar & PoliticsIn the aftermath of the Second World War, the Haywards are staunch labour supporters, the Warringtons own a soon to be nationalised coal mine. A riveting story exploring the differing effects of the Labour election victory on working class and upper class life, as well as the disruptive effect of war on the love lives of the younger members of the families.
The Spoils of War
1980 · 1 votes
- TV9.0
Drama with Paul Freeman and Judy Loe
Yesterday's Dreams
1987 · 1 votes