Dermot John Morgan was an Irish comedian and actor, best known for his role as Father Ted Crilly on the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.
Blackadder's Christmas Carol, a one-off episode of Blackadder, is a parody of Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. It is set between Blackadder the Third (1987) and Blackadder Goes Forth (1989), and is narrated by Hugh Laurie. Produced by the BBC, it was first broadcast on BBC1 on 23 December 1988.
Matilda is a 1988 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. It was published by Jonathan Cape. The story features Matilda Wormwood, a precocious child with an uncaring mother and father, and her time in a school run by the tyrannical headmistress Miss Trunchbull.
Miriam Margolyes is a British and Australian actress. Known for her work as a character actor across film, television, and stage, she received the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Mingott in Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence (1993), and achieved international prominence with her portrayal of Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series (2001–2011). Margolyes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours for Services to Drama.
Sinéad Moira Cusack is an Irish actress. Her first acting roles were at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before moving to London in 1969 to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has won the Critics' Circle and Evening Standard Awards for her performance in Sebastian Barry's Our Lady of Sligo.
Juno and the Paycock is a play by Seán O'Casey. Highly regarded and often performed in Ireland, it was first staged at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Irish Civil War period. The word "paycock" is the Irish pronunciation of "peacock", which is what Juno accuses her husband of being.
Niamh Cusack is an Irish actress. Born to a family with deep roots in the performing arts, she has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, and many others. Her most notable television role was as Dr. Kate Rowan in the UK series Heartbeat (1992–1995). Other TV and film credits include Always and Everyone (1999–2002), The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends (1992–1995), The Closer You Get (2000), Agatha Christie's Marple, Midsomer Murders (2008), A Touch of Frost (2010), In Love with Alma Cogan (2011), Testament of Youth (2014), Departure (2015), ChickLit, The Ghoul, The Virtues (2019), Death in Paradise (2021), and The Tower (2023). She has been nominated at IFTA for her performance in Too Good to be True (2003).
Sorcha Cusack is an Irish television and stage actress. Her numerous television credits include playing the title role in Jane Eyre (1973), Casualty (1994–1997), Coronation Street (2008) and Father Brown (2013–2022).
Susie Blake is an English television, radio and stage actress.
Imagine is a wide-ranging arts documentary series first broadcast on BBC One television in 2003, hosted and executive produced by Alan Yentob. Most series consist of 4 to 7 episodes, each on a different topic. Episodes have been directed by, among others, Geoff Wonfor, Lucy Blakstead, Jill Nicholls, Roger Parsons and Zoë Silver.
Revolting Rhymes is a 1982 poetry collection by British author Roald Dahl. Originally published under the title Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes, it is a parody of traditional folk tales in verse, where Dahl gives a re-interpretation of six well-known fairy tales, featuring surprise endings in place of the traditional happily-ever-after finishes.
Story Teller was a magazine partwork published by Marshall Cavendish between 1982 and 1985. It was sold as Story Time in Australia and New Zealand; in Italy Story Teller 1 was sold as I Raccontastorie while Story Teller 2 as C'era una volta)
The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends is a British animated anthology television series based on the works of Beatrix Potter, featuring Peter Rabbit and other anthropomorphic animal characters created by Potter. 14 of Potter's stories were adapted into 9 films, and the series was originally shown in the U.K. on the BBC between 20 December 1992 and 25 December 1998. It was subsequently broadcast in the U.S. on Family Channel between 13 May 1992 and 26 June 1995. For the initial VHS releases, some of the characters' voices were dubbed-over by actors with more American-like accents.
The Water Margin is a Japanese television series based on the 14th-century book Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Made in two seasons of 13 episodes each by Nippon Television it was shown in Japan in 1973 and 1974 as 水滸伝.
The third series of Merlin began on 11 September 2010. Series three regular cast members include Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Katie McGrath, Angel Coulby, Anthony Head, and Richard Wilson, as well as Emilia Fox joining the regular cast. John Hurt took his previous role as the voice of the Great Dragon but was no longer one of the regular cast. Series three consists of 13 episodes. The series three premiere was watched by 6.49 million viewers.
Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie is a 2014 comedy film based on the sitcom Mrs. Brown's Boys and is co-produced by That's Nice Films, Penalty Kick Films, RTÉ and BocFlix. BBC Films is acting as sales agent and it was distributed by Universal Pictures. It was written by series creator Brendan O'Carroll, who also plays the lead role. The film sees Agnes Brown go to court to protect her family's stall at Dublin's Moore Street market from a corrupt Russian businessman who wishes to convert it into a shopping centre. The film was released on 27 June to negative reviews from critics. It topped the UK and Ireland box office with £4.3 million in its opening weekend, on a budget of £3.6 million, and retained the top spot for a second week. On 27 October it was released on home media, again topping the charts.
The Making of a Marchioness is a 1901 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, followed by a sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst. Subsequent editions published the two books together, either under the original name The Making of a Marchioness or as Emily Fox-Seton. The collected version was republished by Persephone Books in 2007, and it was then adapted for radio and television.
The Phoenix and the Carpet is a 1997 British serial miniseries based on the book of the same name by E. Nesbit co-produced by HIT Entertainment and the BBC which aired throughout November-December 1997. Starring David Suchet as the Phoenix, the serial focuses on four children in Edwardian England who acquire a phoenix and the adventures they have as a result.
Anticyclone Hartmut was a storm that began on 22 February 2018, and brought a cold wave to Great Britain and Ireland. Anticyclone Hartmut also brought widespread unusually low temperatures and heavy snowfall to large areas. The cold wave combined with Storm Emma, part of the 2017–18 European windstorm season, which made landfall in southwest England and the south of Ireland on 2 March.
