
John Henshaw
Actor · b. 1950 · Manchester, England, UK
John Henshaw is a British actor famed for his roles as Ken the landlord in Early Doors, Wilf Bradshaw in Born and Bred and PC Roy Bramwell in The Cops. Henshaw was born one of 12 children. He grew up in Ancoats, Manchester's "Little Italy" community. He was a refuse collector for ten years before deciding to become an actor at the age of 40. His first big break in acting was as a minder to Robert Lindsay's character Michael Murray in the acclaimed Channel 4 series, G.B.H. Other TV credits include The Royle Family, The Visit, Life on Mars, whilst film credits include the Steve Coogan comedy The Parole Officer, the Bert Trautmann biopic The Keeper, and the Ken Loach films Looking For Eric and The Angels' Share. Henshaw is chairman of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, an annual festival of new writing for theatre based in Manchester.
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
TV6.2DramaSoapDrama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.
Casualty
1986 · 88 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
TV7.6DramaCrimeFather Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.
Father Brown
2013 · 142 votes
TV7.2CrimeDramaSet during the 1960s in the fictional North Yorkshire village of Aidensfield, this enduringly popular series interweaves crime and medical storylines.
Heartbeat
1992 · 33 votes
TV7.7CrimeDramaA detective chief inspector from 2006 is investigating a serial killer when he is knocked over by a speeding car. Waking up, he finds himself mysteriously transported back in time to 1973. Initially struggling to come to terms with his situation, he has to come to terms with the old-fashioned technology and attitude of the day, while figuring out how he came to be trapped in the past.
Life on Mars
2006 · 330 votes
TV7.1ComedyLoving parodies of some of the world's best-known documentaries. Each episode is shot in a different style of documentary filmmaking, and honors some of the most important stories that didn't actually happen.
Documentary Now!
2015 · 79 votes
TV6.6CrimeDramaThe wise-cracking Edward 'Fitz' Fitzgerald is a brilliant but flawed criminal psychologist with a remarkable insight into the criminal mind.
Cracker
1993 · 121 votes
TV6.8Sci-Fi & FantasyGuy Anatole joins the clandestine world of the Talamasca, an international spy agency for the immortal universe, as he searches for answers to his family's own part in the supernatural world.
Talamasca: The Secret Order
2025 · 109 votes
TV9.0DramaIn the 1950s at the fictional Lancashire village of Ormston, a father and son, both doctors, navigate the challenges of running a cottage hospital under the newly established National Health Service.
Born and Bred
2002 · 3 votes
TV7.0DocumentaryTalk ShowWhat are the secrets of our favourite TV shows? Famous names from both sides of the camera reflect on making some of the most popular and influential programs of all time.
Remembers…
2022 · 1 votes
TV6.5DramaComedyThe Afternoon Play is a British television anthology series of standalone contemporary dramas aired during the afternoons of 2003–07 on BBC One, featuring well-known actors in one-off stories. A daytime drama strand showcasing a variety of genres, from comedy to mystery, it was part of a long tradition of afternoon plays on BBC Radio 4, which would go on to influence the television version.
The Afternoon Play
2003 · 2 votes
TV7.0DramaComedyAllie Henshall and Gavin Ferraday are partners in love and business. They own Henshall Ferraday hair salon, where Allie's sisters Darcey and Sydney work alongside them. As Allie and Gavin consider taking over a vacant property across the road, they are rocked by the news that a rival hairdresser has bought it. To make matters worse, Allie discovers that the new salon, Blade Runner, is run by her ex, Finn, and his wife, Mia Bevan. Finn fathered the child Allie claimed to have aborted. He left her when he found out she was pregnant, but he's back in town to try and woo Allie.
Cutting It
2002 · 8 votes
TV7.2ComedyDramaThe Full Monty gang is back after 25 years, swapping their stage costumes for dognapping, racing pigeons, and one very unconventional hostage situation. Gaz might be older, but he's no wiser. And his best friend, Dave, refuses to get sucked into any more of his antics. But when tragedy strikes, the whole Monty gang must pull together for a common purpose: to honor an old friend.
The Full Monty
2023 · 45 votes
TV7.6ComedyThe Royle Family is a British sitcom created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, and produced by Granada Television for BBC Two (series 1) and BBC One (series 2 and 3). It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, comprising lazy patriarch Jim, his hard-working wife Barbara, their entitled daughter Denise, their put-upon son Antony, and Denise's lad fiancé–later husband–David.
The Royle Family
1998 · 62 votes
TV5.0DramaSet in and around Stanton, a faceless and grim Northern enclave, The Cops depicts the daily grind for a group of policemen and women out on the beat as they interact, and sometimes clash, with the local community.
The Cops
1998 · 5 votes
TV6.6CrimeDramaFollows two rival barristers' chambers in Manchester, England, contrasting defence Jack Roper's struggling firm with his former mentor, prosecutor Laurence Scammel's more established chambers, and exploring their personal and professional rivalry through complex legal cases.
New Street Law
2006 · 8 votes
TV5.1DramaThe Grand is an ITV television drama series created and written by Russell T Davies and starring Rebecca Callard, Tim Healy, Susan Hampshire, Paul Warriner, and Mark McGann. Following WWI, the Bannerman family re-opens the Grand Hotel after a lengthy closure and a costly re-furbishing. The hotel has been in the family for a long time, and John Bannerman and his wife Sarah desperately want to make a go. Their son Stephen has returned from the wars without any physical harm but still suffers from the mental anguish of seeing so many of his comrades-in-arms falling on the battlefield. When they learn that their accountant has squandered what little money they had left, they must turn to John's brother Marcus, a successful businessman who has eschewed any interest in the hotel over the years but now seems ready to plunge into the business with both feet.
The Grand
1997 · 7 votes
TV6.2MysteryDramaRetired Detective Inspector Alex Ridley is lured back into service as a consultant detective when his former protégée, Carol Farman, needs help cracking a complex murder case.
Ridley
2022 · 37 votes
TV7.5CrimeDramaDramatizing one of the most infamously notorious and shocking serial killer cases in the world, the hunt for Peter Sutcliffe, commonly dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper, between October 1975 and January 1981, South Yorkshire police undertook the biggest manhunt in British criminal history. The search for Sutcliffe lasted five years, involved over a thousand officers and changed the way the British police worked forever.
The Long Shadow
2023 · 85 votes
TV6.3DramaGBH was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The protagonists were Michael Murray, the Militant tendency-supporting Labour leader of a city council in the North of England and Jim Nelson, the headmaster of a school for disturbed children. The series was controversial partly because Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council — in an interview in the G.B.H. DVD Bleasdale recounts an accidental meeting with Hatton before the series, who indicates that he has caught wind of Bleasdale's intentions but does not mind as long as the actor playing him is "handsome". In normal parlance, the initials "GBH" refer to the criminal charge of grievous bodily harm - however, the actual intent of the letters is that it is supposed to stand for Great British Holiday.
G.B.H.
1991 · 18 votes
TV7.2CrimeDramaRed Riding is a British crime drama limited series written by Tony Grisoni, based on the book series of the same name by David Peace. Comprised of the novels 1974 (1999), 1977 (2000), 1980 (2001), and 1983 (2002), with the first, third, and fourth of these became three feature-length television episodes, Red Riding 1974, Red Riding 1980 and Red Riding 1983. Three epic tales of murder, corruption and obsession. Utilising recurring characters and events, the Red Riding Trilogy recounts three series of gruesome crimes over a turbulent decade in Northern England.
Red Riding
2009 · 11 votes
TV6.6CrimeDramaBy Any Means follows a clandestine unit living on the edge and playing the criminal elite at their own game, existing in the grey area between the letter of the law and true justice.
By Any Means
2013 · 16 votes
TV7.2ComedySci-Fi & FantasyMoist von Lipwig is a con-man with a particular talent-- he is utterly unremarkable. When his execution is stayed in Terry Pratchett's remarkable Discworld, he must work off his debt to society as the land's head Postman. Things are not always as they seem, and soon Lipwig is delivering mail for his very life!
Going Postal
2010 · 217 votes
Movies23
Movie7.9FamilyDramaJames Bowen, a homeless busker and recovering drug addict, has his life transformed when he meets a stray ginger cat.
A Street Cat Named Bob
2016 · 1.6K votes
Movie6.8DramaHistoryIn 1843, despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer, the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads, until the moment when, struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood memories, a new character is born in the depths of his troubled mind; an old, lonely, embittered man, so vivid, so human, that a whole world grows around him, a story so inspiring that changed the meaning of Christmas forever.
The Man Who Invented Christmas
2017 · 884 votes
Movie6.9ComedyDramaWith their golden era long behind them, comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy embark on a variety hall tour of Britain and Ireland. Despite the pressures of a hectic schedule, and with the support of their wives Lucille and Ida – a formidable double act in their own right – the pair's love of performing, as well as for each other, endures as they secure their place in the hearts of their adoring public
Stan & Ollie
2018 · 1.2K votes
Movie6.4DramaComedyIn 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of knowledge for its own sake and a childhood spent watching University Challenge, a college quiz show. At Bristol he tries out for the Challenge team and falls under the spell of Alice, a lovely blond with an extensive sexual past.
Starter for 10
2006 · 464 votes
Movie6.0ActionDramaLondon, England, April 1980. Six terrorists assault the Embassy of Iran and take hostages. For six days, tense negotiations are held while the authorities decide whether a military squad should intervene.
6 Days
2017 · 785 votes
Movie6.5DramaComedyMiddle-aged postman and football fan Eric Bishop struggles with his increasingly chaotic existence, but receives some life coaching from the famously philosophical Éric Cantona.
Looking for Eric
2009 · 379 votes
Movie6.9DramaComedyRobbie is a Glasgow boy locked in a family feud who just wants a way out. On community service, he meets Rhino, Albert and Mo. Little did Robbie imagine that turning to drink might change their lives, leading them to the distilleries of the Scottish Highlands and the biggest gamble of his life.
The Angels' Share
2012 · 637 votes
Movie6.6ThrillerMysteryYorkshire, 1974. Fear, mistrust and institutionalised police corruption are running riot. Rookie journalist Eddie Dunford is determined to search for the truth in an increasingly complex maze of lies and deceit surrounding the police investigation into a series of child abductions. When young Clare Kemplay goes missing, Eddie and his colleague, Barry, persuade their editor to let them investigate links with two similar abductions that draw them into a deadly world of secrecy, intimidation, shocking revelations and police brutality.
Red Riding: The Year of Our Lord 1974
2009 · 291 votes
Movie6.8ComedyJimmy Grimble is a shy Manchester school boy. At school he is constantly being bullied by the other kids, and at home he has to face his mother's new boyfriend. However, through football, and some special boots, he manages to gain the confidence to succeed and leads his school football team towards the final of the local schools cup.
There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
2000 · 205 votes
MovieFantasyComedy
Movie7.4DramaWarThe story of a man whose love for football, for England and for the love of his life, Margaret, saw him rise from Nazi 'villain' to British hero. Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper won over even his harshest opponents by winning the FA Cup Final for Manchester City in 1956 - playing on with a broken neck to secure victory.
Movie5.8CrimeComedyA hapless parole officer is framed for murder by a crooked police chief. To prove his innocence he must entice his former clients away from the law abiding lives they are now living to recover the evidence that will save him.
The Parole Officer
2001 · 127 votes
Movie6.4DramaSuper close mother Lyn and daughter Iona (Dafty One and Dafty Two) are excited for their new life in a new town. Determined to make a success of things after a tricky start, Iona becomes 'best friends' with Keely, Stacey and Chelsea. Used to being Iona's bestie herself, Lyn feels left out. So Lyn also makes friends with Belinda, her neighbour.
Pin Cushion
2018 · 51 votes
Movie6.5ComedyDramaA Romanian police officer teams up with a small crew of bank robbers to pull off a heist by convincing everyone at the scene of the crime that they are only filming a movie.
Closer to the Moon
2014 · 66 votes
Movie6.3AdventureFamilyFour children dream of escaping the tedium of a summer holiday with their mother. When finally given permission to camp on their own on an island in the middle of a vast lake, they are overjoyed. But when they get there they discover they may not be alone… The battle for ownership of a lonely island teaches them the skills of survival, the value of friendship and the importance of holding your nerve.
Swallows and Amazons
2016 · 100 votes
MovieHorrorThrillerDesperate to escape her decaying coastal town but unable to abandon the grandfather who depends on her, Ori sees a way out when tainted fish wash ashore, but only if she can bring herself to put them on his plate.
Fishbrain
2026
Movie7.0ComedyRomanceFrom the billowing gauze of The Meatloaf Suite to the twinkling lights on The Kem & Amber terrace, every detail of Silky Hotel has been designed with obsessive care by romance gurus Jim and Barbara. This is the only hotel where you'll find the original tent peg from Brokeback Mountain and the air is infused with the delicate aroma of oysters. Prepare to smell the love. But Silky Hotel is in trouble. Guests don't turn up like they used to, and unbeknownst to Jim, the debt collectors are closing in. In a last-ditch effort to save Silky's, Barbara takes a punt on an advert from the local paper: 'TV SHOW WANTS THE WORLD'S MOST ROMANTIC HOTEL.' When flashy producer Coral arrives, Jim and Barbara must wrangle their motley crew of staff to ensure they make it onto TV. If they fail, it'll be check-out time at Silky Hotel - for good.
Silky Hotel
2021 · 1 votes
Movie5.8DramaJimmy Muir comes from a typical gritty, northern town where there are only two options: working down the pit or in a factory. But Jimmy has other ideas — he dreams of becoming a professional footballer. Confronted by a bitter and unsupportive father, hard-drinking friends and a lifetime of bad habits...has Jimmy the will to achieve his ultimate goal?
When Saturday Comes
1996 · 30 votes
Movie6.0ThrillerAll grown up and gunning for political power in a small North Wales community, Glen Marcus and his best mate harbour a dark secret which seems to be coming back to haunt them. But can the daughter of Tina Trent, a local woman just returned from Alaska, be the same girl the two lads buried fourteen years earlier? Only local policeman Max Bracchi can solve the case with the help of a wrongly accused tramp, Tin Man.
Happy Now
2001 · 8 votes
Movie7.1DramaComedyLinda is out on her hen night while her fiance Dave is out on his stag night. Linda is having major doubts about getting married. Both groups end up at the same club, only to discover that its band is fronted by her ex-boyfriend - and the love of her life - Peter. Linda has to decide: does she stay and settle down with Dave, like her friends want her to, or does she chuck it all in and run away with Peter?
Dancin' Thru the Dark
1990 · 8 votes
Movie6.6ComedyDramaConsumed with sadness after the death of his wife and subsequent rejection from his son, a widower, at the urging of his friends, opts to appear on a vulgar, wildly popular game show (for which his wife signed him up) and watches his life start to change for the better.
Cheeky
2003 · 9 votes
Movie5.3DramaSuzy's a British soldier, born and bred, but fitting back into civilian life after fighting in Iraq isn't easy. Haunted by the responsibility she feels for the death of an Iraqi child, she becomes obsessed with the safety of her own daughter, feeling the need to protect her against a threat that doesn't seem to exist. As Suzy's paranoia builds, her behaviour becomes more and more erratic, until finally, she puts her own child in serious danger.
In Our Name
2010 · 10 votes
Movie5.0ComedyWhen thirty-something David isn't working as a photographer at a high-street photo studio he is stressing over his love-life. Torn between his rather-too-agreeable girlfriend Lisa and the exciting but tricky Nina, he has serious decision to make. When he gets it all wrong and loses them both he has to start all over again.
Someone Else
2006 · 7 votes