Last of the Summer Wine is a British sitcom set in Yorkshire created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of Comedy Playhouse on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes followed on 12 November 1973. Alan J. W. Bell produced and directed all episodes of the show from late 1981 to 2010. The BBC confirmed on 2 June 2010 that Last of the Summer Wine would no longer be produced and the 31st series would be its last. Subsequently, the final episode was broadcast on 29 August 2010. Since its original release, all 295 episodes, comprising thirty-one series—including the pilot and all films and specials—have been released on DVD. Repeats of the show are broadcast in the UK on BBC One, Gold, Yesterday, and Drama. It is also seen in more than 25 countries, including various PBS stations in the United States and on VisionTV in Canada. With the exception of programmes 'rebooted' after long hiatuses, Last of the Summer Wine is the longest-running TV comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running TV sitcom in the world.
Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television.
William Miles Malleson was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career he also appeared in cameo roles in several Hammer horror films, with a fairly large role in The Brides of Dracula as the hypochondriac and fee-hungry local doctor. Malleson was also a writer on many films, including some of those in which he had small parts, such as Nell Gwyn (1934) and The Thief of Bagdad (1940). He also translated and adapted several of Molière's plays.
'Allo 'Allo! is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. Originally broadcast on BBC1, the series focuses on the life of a French café owner in the town of Nouvion, during the German occupation of France in the Second World War, in which he deals with problems from a dishonest German officer, local French Resistance, the handling of a stolen painting and a pair of trapped British airmen, all while concealing from his wife the affairs he is having with his waitresses.
Eva Moore was an English actress. Her career on stage and in film spanned six decades, and she was active in the women's suffrage movement. In her 1923 book of reminiscences, Exits and Entrances, she describes approximately ninety of her roles in plays, but she continued to act on stage until 1945. She also acted in more than two dozen films. Her daughter, Jill Esmond, was the first wife of Laurence Olivier.
Donald Marland Hewlett was a British actor who was best known for his sitcom roles as Colonel Charles Reynolds in It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Lord Meldrum in You Rang, M'Lord?, both written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft. He also had other roles in British film and television productions.
Sir Edward Seymour Hicks, better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and producing Edwardian musical comedy, often together with his famous wife, Ellaline Terriss. His most famous acting role was that of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.
Mary Ellaline Terriss, Lady Hicks, known professionally as Ellaline Terriss, was a popular British actress and singer, best known for her performances in Edwardian musical comedies. She met and married the actor-producer Seymour Hicks in 1893, and the two collaborated on many projects for the stage and screen.
Up the River is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by John Ford, and starring Claire Luce, Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart. The plot concerns escaped convicts, as well as a female convict. It was the feature film debut role of both Tracy and Bogart. Despite Bogart being billed fourth, Tracy's and Bogart's roles were almost equally large, and this is the only film in which they appeared together. Up the River is also Bogart's only film directed by John Ford. Bogart's image is featured with Luce on some of the film's posters rather than Tracy's since Bogart was the romantic lead with Luce. Fox remade the film in 1938 starring Preston Foster and Tony Martin playing their roles.
An Inspector Calls is a 1954 British drama film directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Alastair Sim, Jane Wenham and Eileen Moore. It is based upon the 1945 play An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley and was adapted for the screen by Desmond Davis. It was shot at Shepperton Studios with sets designed by the art director Joseph Bato.
Claire Luce was an American stage and screen actress, dancer and singer. Among her few films were Up the River (1930), directed by John Ford and starring Spencer Tracy and Humphrey Bogart in their feature film debuts, and Under Secret Orders, the English-language version of G. W. Pabst's French-language feature, Salonique, nid d'espions (1937).
Peter Haddon was an English actor.
Milo Sperber was a British actor, director and writer, who was born in Poland.
Scrooge is a 1913 British black and white silent film based on the 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. It stars Seymour Hicks as Ebenezer Scrooge. In the United States it was released in 1926 as Old Scrooge. It was directed by Leedham Bantock.
Over She Goes is a 1937 British musical comedy film directed by Graham Cutts and starring Stanley Lupino, Claire Luce, Laddie Cliff, Gina Malo and Max Baer. It was based on a successful London stage play by Lupino, with music by Billy Mayerl.
The Five Pound Man is a 1937 British comedy crime film directed by Albert Parker and starring Judy Gunn, Edwin Styles and Charles Bannister. It was made at Wembley Studios as a quota quickie by the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.
Judy Gunn was a British stage and film actress.
Elisabeth Croft was an English actress, known for playing Edith Tatum in the ITV soap opera Crossroads.
The Big Hangover is a 1950 American comedy film released by MGM. The film starred Van Johnson and Elizabeth Taylor and was written and directed by Norman Krasna. Supporting players include Percy Waram, Fay Holden, Leon Ames, Edgar Buchanan, Selena Royle, Gene Lockhart, and Rosemary DeCamp.
Change for a Sovereign is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Seymour Hicks, Chili Bouchier and Bruce Lester. It was made at Teddington Studios by the British subsidiary of Warner Brothers.
