"Based on a True Story": Theatre, Screen and Radio
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- DirectorAlberto CavalcantiStarsTommy TrinderStanley HollowayBetty WarrenThe story of a 19th century English music hall (vaudeville) performer and life behind the scenes.
- DirectorSidney GilliatStarsRobert MorleyMaurice EvansEileen HerlieThe common career of W.S. Gilbert,a barrister turned comic writer, and Arthur Sullivan, a classic composer turned converted against his will to light music, who wrote fourteen operettas between 1871 and 1896, to great public acclaim.
- DirectorJames HawesStarsJessie WallaceRichard ArmitageShaun ParkesIn the first decade of the twentieth century Miss Marie Lloyd is the biggest female entertainer in England, adored by her public, in a biography commented on in song by 'the Showman'. Marie's first marriage is to fellow music hall entertainer Alec Hurley but it ends in divorce. She then marries Percy Courtenay, an adoring fan, but he is side-lined as Marie's popularity grows and this marriage also ends in disaster. Whilst Marie is a huge hit with the public because of her down-to-earth attitude, some fellow performers, such as Nelly Powers, find her act vulgar and a Mrs. Chant takes Marie to a tribunal, claiming that her songs are obscene. Marie simply points out that any vulgarity is in the minds of the listener and is acquitted. However, she is considered too rude for the Royal Command Performance, in which Alec appears, and finances a very successful 'Command' performance of her own. Ever unlucky in love, however, her last relationship is with a much younger jockey, who abuses her and spends her money. Not in the best of health and drinking heavily, Marie collapses on stage, ironically whilst singing, 'One of the Ruins that Cromwell Knock'd About a Bit' and later dies at the comparatively young age of fifty-two.
- DirectorMike LeighStarsJim BroadbentAllan CordunerDexter FletcherSet in the 1880s, the story of how, during a creative dry spell, the partnership of the legendary musical/theatrical writers Gilbert and Sullivan almost dissolves, before they turn it all around and write the Mikado.
- DirectorCompton BennettStarsPat KirkwoodLaurence HarveyJerry StovinThe life and loves of Music hall singer Vesta Tilley, who married into the nobility.
- DirectorRichard ThorpeStarsMario LanzaAnn BlythDorothy KirstenThis film traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to Musetta's because he sings; to Dorothy's because he is a peasant. To New York patricians, Caruso is short, barrel-chested, loud, emotional, and unrefined. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film depicts Caruso's lament that "the man does not have the voice, the voice has the man": he cannot be places he wants to be, because he must be elsewhere singing, including the day his mother dies. Throughout, Mario Lanza and stars from the Met sing.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsRobert Downey Jr.Geraldine ChaplinPaul RhysAn elderly Charlie Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor, recounting his amazing journey from his poverty-stricken childhood to world-wide success after the ingenious invention of the Little Tramp.
- DirectorPeter BogdanovichStarsKirsten DunstCary ElwesEdward HerrmannSemi-true story of the Hollywood murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.
- DirectorTim RobbinsStarsHank AzariaRubén BladesJoan CusackA true story of politics and art in the 1930s U.S., focusing on a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRalph FiennesJohn TurturroRob MorrowA young lawyer, Richard Goodwin, investigates a potentially fixed game show. Charles Van Doren, a big time show winner, is under Goodwin's investigation.
- DirectorTim BurtonStarsJohnny DeppMartin LandauSarah Jessica ParkerAmbitious but troubled movie director Edward D. Wood Jr. tries his best to fulfill his dreams despite his lack of talent.
- DirectorJon SenStarsJim NortonTrevor CooperDearbhla MolloyBased on the Neil Brand's critically acclaimed radio play of the same name, the drama follows Stan Laurel's last visit to his dying friend and comedy partner Oliver 'Babe' Hardy and Stan's subsequent coming to terms with the ghosts of his past.
- DirectorJon S. BairdStarsSteve CooganJohn C. ReillyShirley HendersonLaurel and Hardy, the world's most famous comedy duo, attempt to reignite their film careers as they embark on what becomes their swan song: a grueling theatre tour of post-war Britain.
- DirectorSimon CurtisStarsMichelle WilliamsEddie RedmayneKenneth BranaghColin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier, documents the tense interactions between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during the production of The Prince and the Showgirl (1957).
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsSienna MillerToby JonesImelda StauntonThe turbulent relationship between filmmaker Sir Alfred Hitchcock (Toby Jones) and actress Tippi Hedren (Sienna Miller).
- DirectorSacha GervasiStarsAnthony HopkinsHelen MirrenScarlett JohanssonThe relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho (1960) in 1959 is explored.
- StarsJason IsaacsLaura AikmanKara TointonFour-part drama depicting the life of Hollywood's greatest leading man, Archibald Alexander Leach - A.K.A. Cary Grant.
- CreatorJaffe CohenRyan MurphyMichael ZamStarsJessica LangeAlison WrightNaomi WattsAn anthology series centering on famous feuds, including Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and Truman Capote and the New York elite.
- CreatorThomas KailSteven LevensonStarsSam RockwellMichelle WilliamsNorbert Leo ButzAn inside look at the romantic and creative partnership between influential choreographer/director, Bob Fosse, and Gwen Verdon, one of the greatest Broadway dancers of all time.
- DirectorCharles SturridgeStarsAnn ArisLynda BaronSteven BerkoffThe story of how the 22-year-old Tony Warren conceived, wrote and fought for the record breaking UK TV series Coronation Street (1960).
- DirectorBill PrydeStarsTony ScannellMatt HealyMark StrattonBiography of famous soap star Pat Phoenix and her relationship with Tony Booth.
- DirectorPaul Andrew WilliamsStarsMartin FreemanAnthony LaPagliaRebecca FrontDramatisation of the team hoping to televise the trial of Adolf Eichmann, an infamous Nazi responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews. It focuses on Leo Hurwitz, a documentary film-maker and Milton Fruchtman, a producer.
- DirectorStephen HopkinsStarsGeoffrey RushCharlize TheronEmily WatsonThe feature adaptation of Roger Lewis' book about the actor best remembered as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies.
- DirectorJonny CampbellStarsReece ShearsmithJosh BensonTom AtkinsonA telling of the fledging careers and early days of the comedy duo that was Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, from their dance-hall performances of northern England to cult status.
- DirectorDan ZeffStarsStephen TompkinsonMark BonnarNeil MaskellHow Eddie Braben transformed Morecambe and Wise into the nation's most beloved entertainers.
- DirectorJohn AlexanderStarsDavid WalliamsRafe SpallPeter Sandys-ClarkeIn the 1950s Frankie Howerd, the famous radio and film comedian, meets a young waiter Dennis Heymer, who, like himself, is a closet homosexual.
- DirectorMichael SamuelsStarsRoger AllamJason IsaacsZoë TapperIn the early 1960s aspiring stage actor Harry H. Corbett jumps at the chance to play junk-dealer Harold Steptoe in a television comedy show 'Steptoe and Son'. However, the show's success proves to be a poisoned chalice for him, type-casting him and thwarting his stage ambitions. Wilfrid Brambell, the actor playing his father, is marginalized in a different way. He is a gay man in an England where homosexuality is still illegal. The show runs for several years, incorporating film spin-offs but both, in their own way, feel that they have invoked the curse of Steptoe.
- DirectorTerry McDonoughStarsDavid BradleyRoss Gurney-RandallRoger MayAn actor tapped by a succession of hard-man roles and a wannabe producer frustrated by the TV industry's glass ceiling find unlikely hope and unexpected challenges in the form of a Saturday tea-time drama, time travel and monsters.
- DirectorDan ZeffStarsRuth JonesRobert BathurstAidan TurnerMarried comic actors Hattie Jacques and John LeMesurier seem the perfect couple, with their two young sons and the legendary Christmas dinners they host for their friends. However, in 1963, after a charity fund raiser for leukaemia, Hattie meets the young and handsome John Schofield, whose son died of the disease. He tells her that she is lovely and boosts her confidence about her plumpness. When he splits with his wife, John LeMesurier suggests he becomes the family's lodger but he becomes Hattie's lover, jealously so, angry that he cannot be part of her 'This Is Your Life' TV tribute. The gentlemanly LeMesurier moves into the spare room, all the while remaining good friends with Hattie, who encourages him to date family friend Joan Malin, whom he will eventually marry. To preserve Hattie's public reputation, her husband accepts blame in the divorce court and will remain on good terms with her for the rest of her life. Two years later, Schofield deserts Hattie for an Italian heiress. She will never remarry, seeking the company of younger men and succumbing to illness propounded by her size, leading to her death from a heart attack at the early age of fifty-eight.
- DirectorRichard LaxtonStarsKen StottMaxine PeakeAlex JenningsIn the mid-1960s, Joan, not long married to comic actor John Le Mesurier, meets and is mutually attracted to comedian Tony Hancock, married to the long-suffering Freddie. Hancock's most successful period is in the past and he has become depressive and alcoholic, recently emerging from a stay in a rehab centre. Joan tells him that if he can remain sober for a year she will leave John for him. Hancock goes to Australia to film a comedy series there but it does not work out and he commits suicide. Joan stays with John until his death in the 1980s.
- DirectorSteve BendelackStarsPaul RitterRichard DormerStuart McQuarrieA dramatization of the creation of the BBC's classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968).
- DirectorAndy De EmmonyStarsMichael SheenCheryl CampbellPeter WightMartyn Hesford's comedy-drama about the life and times of tortured comic Kenneth Williams based on his diaries.
- DirectorTerry JohnsonStarsJacqueline DefferaryGeoffrey HutchingsDavid McAlisterDramatisation of the love affair between Sidney James and Barbara Windsor, played out against the backdrop of the 'Carry On' films during the 1960s and 1970s.
- DirectorDaniel PercivalStarsTrevor EveJack ArmstrongIan CairnsIn 1934 Hughie Green, a nervous 14-year-old performer, is pushed onto a stage in his native Canada. Twenty-four years later he is a big name in British television as the quiz-master of the popular game show 'Double Your Money'. Whilst on a stage tour with the show he meets a former show business acquaintance, Jess Yates, now running a hotel with his young wife Elaine, and Hughie stays with them. For the next decade and a half Hughie is a top name in British light entertainment, hosting a talent contest titled 'Opportunity Knocks'. His catch-phrase is "I mean that most sincerely" and he is shown to have a genuine loyalty to his audience and his staff. However, he is a serial womanizer, frequently indulging in sex in his dressing-room with female fans, and his wife leaves him, taking their son and daughter. Jess Yates re-enters television, initially hosting a religious program called 'Stars on Sunday', earning him the nickname of The Bishop. He becomes Hughie's producer and the two men clash. However, Hughie knows something that Jess does not--he and not Jess is the father of Elaine's child, Paula.
- DirectorAndy De EmmonyStarsJulie WaltersAlun ArmstrongHugh BonnevilleDocuments the rise of Mary Whitehouse during the 1960s, and the relationship between her and Sir Hugh Carleton Greene, the Director General of the BBC.
- StarsMatthew MacfadyenSian CliffordMark Bonnar'Quiz' tells the story of Charles Ingram, a former British army major who caused a major scandal after being caught cheating his way to winning £1 million on the game show 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'
- DirectorChris DurlacherStarsRob BrydonMichael CochraneLisa EichhornIn 1963, flamboyant, eccentric English theatre critic Kenneth Tynan is made 'literary manager' of London's National Theatre. His views on censorship (can't stand it) and sexuality (as much of it onstage as possible) set him on a collision course with the NT's Chair, Sir Oliver Lyttelton. Tynan has a friend and ally in the Governor, Laurence Olivier, but cannot always count on the older, more conventional man's support. Demoted after becoming the first person to drop the F-bomb on British TV, Tynan struggles to stage his 'erotic entertainment' "Oh Calcutta" in the face of opposition from friends, family and colleagues, and in spite of his own deteriorating health.
- DirectorPhilippa LowthorpeStarsKeira KnightleyGugu Mbatha-RawJessie BuckleyA group of women hatch a plan to disrupt the 1970 Miss World beauty competition in London.
- DirectorRob EpsteinJeffrey FriedmanStarsAmanda SeyfriedPeter SarsgaardSharon StoneThe story of Linda Lovelace, who is used and abused by the porn industry at the behest of her coercive husband before taking control of her life.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsSteve CooganMatt LucasAnna FrielThe life of Paul Raymond, the controversial entrepreneur who became Britain's richest man.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGary OldmanAlfred MolinaVanessa RedgraveBiographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful.
- DirectorBetty ThomasStarsHoward SternMary McCormackRobin QuiversThe autobiographical story of Howard Stern, the radio rebel who is now also a TV personality, an author and a movie star.
- DirectorJames StrongStarsOliver LansleyKatherine KellyPerry MillwardSchoolboy Maurice Cole, growing up in 1960s Liverpool, is picked on for being effeminate but is already making his own comedy tapes, one of which impresses agent Wilfred De'ath through whom he gets a job on a pirate radio station, changing his name to Kenny Everett. Though sacked for annoying the sponsor his popularity sees him working on the BBC's newly-formed Radio One. Around this time he meets and marries Lee Middleton, who not only sticks by him through his career lows but is sympathetic when, following a drugs over-dose, he admits to being gay. She even helps him find a boyfriend though, unlike his friend Freddie Mercury, he is reluctant to come out. Following their divorce Kenny is best man when Lee marries actor John Alkin and, in 1985, in typically flamboyant style comes out, owing to having not one but two 'husbands'. However, in 1989 he is diagnosed as HIV+ and, in 1995, a year after winning the prestigious Sony award, dies of AIDS aged fifty. Throughout the film commentary on events is provided by Everett's comic creations.
- DirectorOwen HarrisStarsBen CrispinSteve PuntCharles EdwardsTells the story of the outraged, and sometimes violent, response to 'The Life of Brian' the Monty Python movie that satirized the life of Jesus.
- DirectorBenjamin CaronStarsDavid ThrelfallHelen McCroryAmanda RedmanWith his trade-mark fez and bumbling stage persona involving clever conjuring tricks which appear to have gone wrong Tommy Cooper is one of Britain's most popular comedians, respected by his peers. However behind the public image is a curmudgeonly man who drinks too much. Mother of his children Tom Junior and Vicky, his wife Gwen - known as Dove - frequently travels with him to his performances but now feels that her place is at home with the children. Afraid of loneliness Tommy asks the married stage manager Mary Kay to join him on tour. Whilst Dove is concerned that his drinking and late nights are damaging to his health and a sign for him to give up, Mary is encouraging - partly as she sees Tommy as being helpful to her husband's writing aspirations. Soon Tommy is declaring his love for Mary whilst remaining married to Dove, with whom there are violent domestic exchanges. Surprisingly Tommy is able to sustain relationships with both women until his death on stage in 1984, a fact which causes sarcastic comments from Miff, his plain-spoken agent, who is not afraid to tell Tommy exactly what he thinks of him.
- DirectorCoky GiedroycStarsJulia DavisMark GatissJason WatkinsThe bizarre tale of Fanny Cradock, Britain's famous and maligned TV chef from 50s to the 70s.
- CreatorRussell T. DaviesStarsHelena Bonham CarterCon O'NeillAugustus PrewExploring the reign, and fall from grace, of the inimitable British soap star, Noele Gordon.
- DirectorS.J. ClarksonStarsOscar KennedyVictoria HamiltonColin ProckterThe ultimate nostalgia trip through everything edible in 1960s Britain.