Eric Sykes was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, most notably through his collaboration on The Goon Show scripts. He became a TV star in his own right in the early 1960s when he appeared with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series.
Norma Ann Sykes, better known as Sabrina or Sabby, was a 1950s English glamour model who progressed to a minor film career.
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams. The final television series, renamed simply Hancock, starred Hancock alone.
I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney based on the 1958 novel Private Life by Alan Hackney.
The Punch and Judy Man is a 1963 black and white British comedy film made by Elstree Studios directed by Jeremy Summers from a script by Philip Oakes and Tony Hancock for the Associated British Picture Corporation. It was Hancock's second and last starring role in a film, following The Rebel (1961).
William Simpson Fraser was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play When We Are Married.
The Way Ahead (1944) is a British Second World War drama film directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov. The film stars David Niven, Stanley Holloway and William Hartnell along with an ensemble cast of other British actors, including Ustinov in one of his earliest roles. The Way Ahead follows a group of civilians who are conscripted into the British Army and, after training, are shipped to North Africa where they are involved in a battle against the Afrika Korps.
Mario Edgio Pantaleone Fabrizi was an English comedian and actor of Italian descent, noted for his luxuriant moustache. He was active in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s.
David William Frederick Lodge was an English character actor.
Never Let Go is a 1960 British thriller film starring Richard Todd, Peter Sellers and Elizabeth Sellars. It concerns a man's attempt to recover his stolen Ford Anglia car. Sellers plays a London villain, in one of his rare serious roles.
John and Julie is a 1955 British comedy film written and directed by William Fairchild for Group 3 Films and distributed by British Lion Films. The cast includes Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley as John and Julie respectively. Other stars include Noelle Middleton and Moira Lister, and featuring Peter Sellers and Sid James in early screen roles. It marked the film debut of Valerie Buckley. In 1953, two children are determined to see the Queen and decide to make their way to London.
Orders Is Orders is a 1933 British comedy film starring Charlotte Greenwood, James Gleason and Cyril Maude about an American film crew who move into a British army barracks to start making a film, much to the commander's horror. Much of the film concerns the interaction between the American crew and the British officers. It is based upon the 1932 play Orders Are Orders by Ian Hay and Anthony Armstrong. It was shot at the Lime Grove Studios in London with sets designed by the art director Alfred Junge.
Suspect is a 1960 British thriller film directed by Roy Boulting and John Boulting and starring Tony Britton, Virginia Maskell, Peter Cushing, Ian Bannen and Donald Pleasence. Based on the 1949 novel A Sort of Traitors by Nigel Balchin, it was filmed on a limited budget in seventeen days. The film was released in the United States as The Risk.
Thatcher: The Final Days is a 1991 British television film about the events surrounding the final few days of Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister. It was written by Richard Maher, directed by Tim Sullivan and starred Sylvia Syms in the role of Thatcher. The film was produced for ITV by Granada Television and first shown on ITV on Wednesday 11 September 1991 at 9:00pm.
The New Lot is a 1943 British drama film directed by Carol Reed and starring Eric Ambler, Robert Donat, Kathleen Harrison, Bernard Lee, Raymond Huntley, John Laurie, Peter Ustinov and Austin Trevor, with music by Richard Addinsell. It is a short training film made for the Army Kinematograph Service, which follows five new recruits from different background and their experiences as they join the army.
Nobody Ordered Love is a lost 1972 British drama film directed by Robert Hartford-Davis and starring Ingrid Pitt, Judy Huxtable and Tony Selby.
Waltz of the Toreadors is a 1962 film directed by John Guillermin and starring Peter Sellers and Dany Robin. It was based on the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh with the location changed from France to England. It was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay, in 1963.
Glad Tidings is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Barbara Kelly, Raymond Huntley and Ronald Howard. It was based on the play of the same title by R. F. Delderfield and made at the Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames. The film's art direction was by John Stoll. The backers Eros Films were pleased enough with the film's success to adapt another Delderfield play as Where There's a Will in 1955.
Tarnished Heroes is a 1961 British war film directed by Ernest Morris and starring Dermot Walsh and Anton Rodgers. It was produced by Danziger Productions. The film is set in France during World War II, and concerns a British major who destroys a Nazi convoy. The plot of the film bears similarities to The Dirty Dozen, although it was made five years before Robert Aldrich's film, and three years before the novel on which it is based. However, it is possible that Tarnished Heroes was inspired by the success of The Magnificent Seven, released in 1960, as the concept seems close: the recruitment of a band of renegades to fight a difficult fight for the common good.
Group 3 Films was a short lived British film production company that operated from 1951 to 1955.
