Birds of a Feather is a British sitcom originally broadcast on BBC One from 16 October 1989 to 24 December 1998, then revived on ITV from 2 January 2014 to 24 December 2020. The series stars Pauline Quirke and Linda Robson, with Lesley Joseph. It was created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, who also wrote many of the episodes.
Pauline Perpetua Sheen is an English actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, Pauline's Quirkes, in 1976. She later starred as Vicky Smith on the BBC drama series Angels (1982–1983), and achieved fame with her portrayal of Sharon Theodopolopodous on the long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, for which she won a British Comedy Award and was nominated on three occasions for a National Television Award. In 1997, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her role in the BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Between 2010 and 2012, Quirke played Hazel Rhodes on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.
Taggart is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries Killer from 6 until 20 September 1983, before a full series was commissioned that ran from 2 July 1985 until 7 November 2010. The series revolved around a group of detectives initially in the Maryhill CID of Strathclyde Police, though various storylines were set in other parts of Greater Glasgow and in other areas of Scotland. The team operated out of the fictional John Street police station. Mark McManus, who played the title character Jim Taggart, died in 1994. However, the series continued under the same name. Taggart is one of the UK's longest-running television dramas.
Waking the Dead is a British television police procedural crime drama series, produced by the BBC, that centres on a fictional London-based cold case unit composed of CID police officers, a psychological profiler and a forensic scientist. A pilot episode aired in September 2000, and a total of nine series followed. Each story is split into two hour-long episodes, shown on consecutive nights on BBC One. A third series episode won an International Emmy Award in 2004. The programme was also shown on BBC America in the United States, though these screenings are edited to allow for advertising breaks, as well as UKTV in Australia and New Zealand and ABC1 in Australia. A total of 46 stories aired across the nine series. The show aired its final episode on 11 April 2011. A spin-off from the series, titled The Body Farm, revolving around forensic scientist Eve Lockhart, was announced by the BBC in January 2011 and ran for just one series.
Girls on Top is a British sitcom, broadcast on ITV in 1985 and 1986, and made by Allan McKeown's Witzend Productions for the ITV contractor Central Independent Television. It starred Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Ruby Wax and Tracey Ullman with Joan Greenwood. It was written by French, Saunders, and Wax, with additional material for two episodes written by Ullman.
Down to Earth was a BBC One television drama series first broadcast in 2000 about a couple who start a new life on a Devon farm. The early episodes of the series were based on a series of books written by Faith Addis about their real-life move from London to Devon.
Stephen John Shepherd is an English actor. He is known for his portrayals of Jo in the TV drama This Life and Michael Moon in the soap opera EastEnders from 2010 to 2013.
Above Suspicion is a British crime drama based on the series of Anna Travis novels written by Lynda La Plante. The series stars Kelly Reilly and Ciarán Hinds as the protagonists Anna Travis and James Langton. Four series were broadcast over a total of four years on ITV. The first episode was broadcast on 4 January 2009, and the final episode on 28 January 2012. The first three series all aired on consecutive nights; whereas the fourth series a more traditional weekly format.
Missing is a British daytime television crime drama series starring Pauline Quirke and Mark Wingett. The series is set in a busy, under-resourced missing-persons unit, and follows the team led by DS Mary Jane "MJ" Croft (Quirke). The first series of five episodes aired on BBC One in 2009, with an extended second series of 10 episodes airing in 2010. It was filmed in and around Dover, and Tonbridge. The series also starred Felix Scott and Pooja Shah as Croft's sidekicks, Jason Doyle and Amy Garnett. Guest stars who appeared throughout the series run include Paul Nicholas, Brooke Kinsella, Gary Lucy, and Sylvia Syms.
The eighteenth series of the British medical drama television series Casualty began airing on BBC One in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2003, and concluded on 28 August 2004. The series consists of 46 episodes, which focus on the professional and personal lives of medical and ancillary staff at the emergency department (ED) of the fictional Holby City Hospital. Foz Allen serves as the series producer, while Mal Young and Mervyn Watson act as the executive producers of the series. Twelve regular cast members reprised their roles from the previous series and six actors joined the cast during the series. Original cast member Julia Watson, who portrays Baz Wilder, also returned.
The Body in the Library is a 3-part 1984 television film adaptation of Agatha Christie's 1942 detective novel The Body in the Library, which was co-produced by the BBC and the A&E Network. The film uses an adapted screenplay by T. R. Bowen and was directed by Silvio Narizzano. Starring Joan Hickson in the title role, it was the first film presented in the British television series Miss Marple and premiered in three parts from 26 to 28 December 1984 on BBC One. In the United States the film was first broadcast on 4 January 1986 as a part of PBS's Mystery!. In his review in The New York Times, critic John J. O'Connor wrote:
Miss Christie would no doubt approve of Joan Hickson, the veteran British character actress who plays Miss Marple... This BBC/Arts & Entertainment co-production offers an especially good example of Agatha Christie in adaptation. The characters are nicely realized and the suspense holds. Miss Hickson is lovely, neither as awesome as Miss Rutherford nor as overly cute as Helen Hayes. And the supporting cast is admirable, particularly Gwen Watford as Dolly and David Horovitch as Inspector Slack. As someone notes about the case, "you'll have to admit it has all the bizarre elements of a cheap thriller." Once hooked, you won't be able to turn it off.
Circles of Deceit is a British television thriller series, produced by Yorkshire Television, first broadcast on ITV on 16 October 1993. The series stars Dennis Waterman as John Neil, a former serving officer in the Special Air Service, who works as a private investigator for the secret service. A total of four episodes were broadcast, including a single feature-length self-titled pilot in 1993, and a series of three episodes, filmed in 1995, and broadcast between 1995 and 1996. Although broadcast as the final episode of the series, Sleeping Dogs is set chronologically after the events of the self-titled pilot.
The Fall is a crime drama television series filmed and set in Northern Ireland. The series, starring Gillian Anderson as Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, is created and written by Allan Cubitt and features Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector. It is produced by Artists Studio, and shown on ZDFneo in Germany, RTÉ One in the Republic of Ireland, and BBC Two in the UK.
In Defence is a four-part British television legal drama series, created and partially written by Mike Cullen, that first broadcast on ITV on 26 June 2000. The series stars Ross Kemp and Sophie Okonedo, and follows Sam Lucas (Kemp), a lawyer and legal detective, who takes it upon himself to investigate cases where the police have failed to uncover enough evidence to secure a conviction. The series was co-written by Maxwell Young and Abigail Fray, and was initially billed as a "star-vehicle" for Kemp, as part of a "golden handcuffs" deal to lure Kemp away from the BBC. The series broadcast weekly until 17 July 2000.
City Central is a British television police procedural drama series, written and created by Tony Jordan, that first broadcast on BBC One on 4 April 1998.
Real Men is a two-part British television crime drama series, written by playwright Frank Deasy and directed by Sallie Aphramain, that first broadcast on BBC Two on 12 and 13 March 2003. The series stars Ben Daniels as Detective Inspector Matthew Fenton, who after re-opening the cold case of a missing child, finds himself drawn to a local orphanage where he suspects the caretaker of sexual improprieties with the minors. The script for the series took writer Frank Deasy more than four years to write.
Fallen is a two-part British television crime drama, written by Steve Griffiths and directed by Omar Madha, first broadcast on ITV on 26 April 2004. The drama stars Jonathan Cake as Jason Shepherd, a police detective who wakes up in hospital in an amnesiac state after being subjected to a near fatal electrocution by members of a gang suspected to be involved in nuclear terrorism. Simone Lahbib stars as Shepherd's superior, DCI Kate Gunning, with Kerrie Taylor, Gary Love, David Gant and William Beck also among the principal cast members credited.
The Locksmith is a six-part British television drama series, created and written by Stephen Bill, that first broadcast on BBC1 on 25 September 1997. The series, which stars Warren Clarke and Chris Gascoyne, follows Roland Pierce (Clarke), a locksmith-turned-vigilante who tries to track down the man responsible for a brutal attack on his estranged wife, Carla, which leaves her with brain damage. The police suspect a local junkie, Paul is responsible, but Roland remains unconvinced and sets out on his own quest to discover the truth.
Darby and Joan is an Australian cozy murder mystery, crime comedy drama television series starring Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi about a retired Australian detective and an English nurse who work together to solve the mystery of her husband's recent death. The title alludes to the proverbial mutually devoted couple Darby and Joan. The series was announced in 2021 and began streaming on Acorn TV from 8 August 2022. The eight part series was created by Glenys Rowe and Phillip Gwynne and filmed in Queensland across the Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, Redland City, North Stradbroke Island, Mount Isa and Cairns.
