Starting Out is the title of seven series of programmes made for UK schools by ATV and Central from 1973 to 1992. The writers included Catherine Storr, Dave Simpson, Anthony Horowitz and Grazyna Monvid. Comprising 56 episodes in total, the series were repeated until 1994. [1]
The episodes were designed for older pupils who were about to leave school and who would soon be starting out on life as adults. A new series was made roughly every three years and was totally unrelated to that which came before, so that it was self-contained and relevant to the needs of each new generation of pupils. Several of the series were first broadcast late at night for preview by an adult audience, sometimes months before they were available to pupils. [1]
The cast across the seven series included Joanna Lumley, Kirsten Hughes, John Savident, Kevin Lloyd, Rolf Saxon, [2] Katharine Levy, [3] Chris Gascoyne, Hywel Williams-Ellis, Nicholas Bond-Owen, Amanda Noar, [4] Nick Conway, Perry Cree, David Nunn, Carol Chell, Rebecca Lacey and Ian Mercer. [5]
Scripts from four episodes of the third series by Monvid were published as Choices: Four Plays from ITV's 'Starting Out' Series in 1986, [6] (reprinted as Challenges: Four Plays from ITV's 'Starting Out' Series (Heinemann Floodlights) 1988), while scripts from the 1989 series by Horowitz were published as Starting Out. [7]
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.
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Thomas Nigel Kneale was a Manx screenwriter who wrote professionally for more than 50 years, was a winner of the Somerset Maugham Award, and was twice nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.
Anthony John Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His works for children and young adult readers include the Alex Rider series featuring a 14-year-old British boy who spies for MI6, The Power of Five series, and The Diamond Brothers series.
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Arthur of the Britons is a British television show about the historical King Arthur. Produced by the HTV regional franchise, it consisted of two series, released between 1972 and 1973. ITV had already a reputation for entertaining historical TV shows that would display adventure and swordplay, such as The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1956), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955), The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (1956), Ivanhoe (1958) and Sir Francis Drake (1961). Like Richard Lionheart in the TV shows about Robin Hood and Ivanhoe this King Arthur shows greatness by making peace between the two foremost peoples in the England of his era. The looks of King Arthur and his brother-in-arms Kai resemble contemporary rockstars. Arthur of the Britons was broadcast repeatedly on numerous local ITV stations during the 1970s and 1980s.
Dramarama is a British children's anthology series broadcast on ITV between 1983 and 1989. The series tended to feature single dramas with a science fiction, supernatural and occasionally satirical theme. It was created by Anna Home, then head of children's and youth programming at TVS; however, the dramas themselves were produced by a total of twelve ITV regional companies. Thus, each episode was in practice a one-off production with its own cast and crew, up to and including the executive producer.
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Catherine Storr, Baroness Balogh was an English children's writer, best known for her novel Marianne Dreams and for a series of books about a wolf ineptly pursuing a young girl, beginning with Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf. She also wrote under the name Helen Lourie.
Ian Cameron Mercer is an English actor. He is known for playing Gary Mallett in the ITV soap opera Coronation Street from 1995 to 2000, having previously appeared in 1987 as Pete Jackson. His other television credits include Brookside (1982–83), Cracker (1993), and The Street (2007).
Grazyna Monvid is a British actress, author and award-winning playwright.
Amanda Noar is a British actress and the former wife of actor Neil Morrissey.
Blue Murder is a British crime drama television series based in Manchester, originally broadcast on ITV from 2003 until 2009, starring Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis and Ian Kelsey as DI Richard Mayne. Five series of the programme were broadcast over the course of six years. Reruns have aired on ITV3.
Just Ask for Diamond, alternatively titled Diamond's Edge, is a 1988 British comedy crime film directed by Stephen Bayly and starring Colin Dale, Saeed Jaffrey and Dursley McLinden. It is based on The Falcon's Malteser (1986), the first book of The Diamond Brothers series written by Anthony Horowitz. A six-part television miniseries sequel, The Diamond Brothers, was broadcast on ITV in 1991, with McLinden and Dale reprising their roles.
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Hywel Williams-Ellis, sometimes billed as Hywel Williams Ellis, is a British actor who was active in the 1980s and 1990s.
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