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Courtesy of StudioCanal

by James Cameron-wilson

I have always been aware of the 1969 British film A Touch of Love, but I knew relatively little about it other than it starred Sandy Dennis and Ian McKellen. The title is misleading, to say the least, and the author of its screenplay, Margaret Drabble, was not happy with it either – the title, that is. Neither was she wild about the American moniker, Thank You All Very Much. Neither really sums up the content or the tone of the film, which was adapted by Dame Margaret from her own 1965 novel The Millstone, the name of which the producers, horror tycoons Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky, were none too happy with, either. Being a restored title as part of StudioCanal’s Vintage Classics Collection, it does though offer considerable historical merit and had a significant impact on changing the attitude and practices of the NHS.

On Sunday 6 October 2024, ITV broadcasts Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh!

Season 6 Episode 24 Episode Summary

“Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh” is set to bring a delightful episode to ITV this weekend. The show will feature some special guests who are sure to charm everyone. Dame Penelope Keith, known for her acting talent, will join Alan along with Robert Lindsay, a familiar face in British television. Marisha Wallace, a talented singer, will also be part of the fun.

This episode introduces a new member of the family, Titch, a ten-week-old guide dog puppy. Titch is expected to steal hearts with his adorable antics. Alan and his guests will likely share moments of joy and laughter as they welcome this little pup into their lives.

In addition to the guests and Titch, horticulturalist Camilla Bassett Smith will showcase ways to add vibrant colors to autumn borders. Viewers can look forward to...

After a brief hiatus, Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh returns to ITV1 on Sunday, 6 October 2024, at 9:30 am, with a line-up of guests that includes legendary actors Robert Lindsay and Penelope Keith. Joining Alan Titchmarsh at Manor Farm are the distinguished actress Penelope Keith, celebrated actor Robert Lindsay, and musical theatre star […]

Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh: Penelope Keith, Robert Lindsay...

It’s natural that, while you may want to stay on the cutting edge of prestige TV drama and join in all those “How great is Shogun?!” conversations of the moment, there are also times when the world makes you want to shrink down to the size of a Subbuteo player, step into a book illustration from a copy of Thumbelina you owned as a child, and go to sleep underneath a single feather inside a walnut shell.

Those walnut shell moments demand a TV accompaniment that isn’t noisy or confrontational. There should be no difficult thoughts there, just a gentle tide of ‘everything’s okay-ness’ lapping at your brain’s shore. These British TV shows all provide exactly that sense of comfort. Please recommend your own picks below.

The Good Life

Stream on: BritBox (UK & US)

Tom and Barbara, Jerry and Margo. Repeat those names as a mantra...

Prepare for a trip down memory lane as Channel 5 presents “When 70s TV Goes Horribly Wrong,” airing this Thursday at 10:00 Pm. Narrated by the esteemed Dame Penelope Keith, the program offers a humorous and nostalgic look back at the not-so-perfect moments from 70s television that even the stars would rather forget.

Featuring iconic shows like ‘Fawlty Towers,’ ‘Jukebox Jury,’ ‘The Goodies,’ and ‘Question Time,’ viewers can anticipate a collection of hilarious and cringe-worthy moments that made 70s TV truly memorable. Dame Penelope Keith guides the audience through a delightful journey, shedding light on the mishaps, bloopers, and unexpected surprises that occurred behind the scenes.

For those who fondly remember the golden era of television or those curious about the entertaining mishaps of the past, “When 70s TV Goes Horribly Wrong” promises an evening of laughter and a unique perspective on the challenges faced by some of the most beloved shows of the time.

As news emerges that Netflix is planning to reboot the Teletubbies this November, narrated by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Tituss Burgess, there have been mixed reactions. Some are pleased to see this ’90s favourite of kids’ TV – which has attained cult status over the years – returning once again, while others still find the show too creepy and psychedelic.

Regardless of how you feel about this children’s TV classic, the Teletubbies have certainly provided us with some weird moments over the years. Let’s activate our antennae and take a look at our tummy screens as we relive these surreal Teletubbies appearances “again, again!”

When an episode got banned

Back in 1997, one of the original episodes of the Teletubbies featured a section called The Lion and The Bear, in which a cut-out lion on wheels chases a cut-out bear on wheels (voiced by none other than British sitcom royalty Penelope Keith...

Peter Bowles, the British star of shows including “To The Manor Born” and “Rumpole of the Bailey,” has died. He was 85.

Bowles died from cancer, according to his agency Gavin Barker Associates.

The agency said in a statement: “The actor Peter Bowles has sadly passed away at the age of 85 from cancer. Starting his career at the Old Vice Theatre in 1956, he starred in 45 theatrical productions ending at the age of 81 in ‘The Exorcist’ at the Phoenix Theatre. He worked consistently on stage and screen, becoming a household name on TV as the archetypal English gent in ‘To The Manor Born,’ ‘Only When I Laugh,’ ‘The Bounder’ and ‘Lytton’s Diary,’ which he devised himself. He leaves his wife of over 60 years, Sue, and their three children Guy, Adam and Sash.”

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Bowles was best known for his...

Sometimes it takes drastic circumstances for seemingly diverse people to accept others for who they are, and embrace the true dynamic between them. That’s certainly the case for the distinctly different protagonists of the British sitcom, ‘To the Manor Born,’ which was created and written by by Peter Spence. The popular television show follows actress […]

The post Penelope Keith Hatches a Plan to Foil Peter Bowles’ Plans on To the Manor Born appeared first on Shockya.com.

Sometimes it takes drastic circumstances for seemingly diverse people to accept others for who they are, and embrace the true dynamic between them. That’s certainly the case for the distinctly different protagonists of the British sitcom, ‘To the Manor Born,’ which was created and written by by Peter Spence. The popular television show follows actress […]

The post Penelope Keith Dreads Leaving the Estate in Richard DeVere’s Care on To the Manor Born appeared first on Shockya.com.

It’s a Brit sex comedy that addresses the basic facts about boy-girl petting — and not much else. A noted ‘adult’ role for Hayley Mills, it pairs her with an unlikable Oliver Reed, trying his damnedest to affect natural charm. Was Reed the reason Hayley chose as her next picture a story about a lady studying penguins?

Take a Girl Like You

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1970 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Hayley Mills, Oliver Reed, Noel Harrison, John Bird, Sheila Hancock, Ronald Lacey, Penelope Keith, Imogen Hassall, Pippa Steel, George Woodbridge.

Cinematography: Dick Bush

Film Editor: Jack Harris, Rex Pyke

Original Music: Stanley Myers

Written by George Melly

Produced by Hal E. Chester

Directed by Jonathan Miller

Wait a minute — when exactly did they finally stop calling young women, ‘birds?’

When the Hollywood studios all but collapsed at the end of the 1960s,...

Alex Westthorp Oct 3, 2016

It's 40 years since Multi-Coloured Swap Shop made its television debut and kick-started the Saturday morning kids' TV slot...

Imagine the excitement - it's just before 9.30am on Saturday 2nd October 1976. It's almost like Christmas has come early, such is the anticipation. The nation's kids, who hitherto got their kicks at the Saturday morning pictures, settle in front of their television screens and press the button marked 'BBC1'. Those who read their parents' Radio Times know a new show is about to start with Radio 1 Breakfast Show DJ Noel Edmonds at the helm. 28 year old Noel is cool and down with the kids. Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen - the Doctor and Sarah Jane from Doctor Who - are to be the first star guests, and you can actually speak to them live by telephone! The TV set warms up and the familiar blue and yellow BBC...

UK TV ratings roundup - data supplied by Barb

The Women's World Cup in Canada drew an audience of more than 1.4 million yesterday (July 4), according to overnight figures.

England's third-place play-off match against Germany averaged 1.44m (8.5%) from 8.30pm on BBC Three. England eventually won 1-0 after extra time, becoming the most successful senior team since the men's 1966 World Cup triumph.

Family Guy followed the football, as the 11pm and 11.20pm episodes entertained 2.07m (17%) and 2.03m (19%) respectively.

On the terrestrials, BBC One's coverage of Wimbledon continued with 4.17m (29.5%) across the evening from 5.15pm. BBC Two's Wimbledon 2Day managed 754k (4.3%) from 8.30pm.

ITV aired Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which averaged 2.3m (13.7%).

On Channel 4, Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages concluded with 833k (4.9%) from 8pm, before movie GI Joe: Retaliation attracted 1.92m (6.1%).

Over on Channel 5, the latest batch of Big Brother highlights appealed to 898k (5.6%) in the 10pm hour.

UK TV ratings roundup – data supplied by Barb

Prized Apart dipped slightly to 2.5 million last night (June 27), according to overnight figures.

The BBC One show averaged 2.48m (17.6%) from 7pm, before The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins earned 3.53m (21.1%).

Casualty treated 3.99m from 8.55pm, and The John Bishop Show appealed to 2.76m (16.7%) afterwards.

On BBC Two, a Dad's Army repeat entertained 1.16m (6.6%). Coverage of Glastonbury and Kanye West's headline set appealed to 1.04m (9.1%) from 9.30pm.

ITV aired Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from 7pm, which was enjoyed by 2.21m (13.9%).

On Channel 4, Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages fell to 904k (5.5%) from 8pm. The film Taken 2 then averaged 1.7m (9.8%).

Channel 5's latest Big Brother highlights took 877k (4.8%) in the 9pm hour.

On the multichannels, Paloma Faith's Glastonbury performance managed 807k (4.9%) from 8pm on BBC Four.

UK TV ratings roundup – data supplied by Barb

Prized Apart continued with 2.6 million viewers last night (June 20), according to overnight data.

The BBC One show averaged 2.63m (17.3%) from 7pm, before The National Lottery: Who Dares Wins earned 3.59m (21.5%).

Casualty treated 4.05m from 8.55pm, and The John Bishop Show appealed to 3.14m (19.1%) afterwards.

On BBC Two, a Dad's Army repeat entertained 1.3m (7.5%). It was followed by La Traviata: Love, Death and Divas with 675k (3.8%) in the 9pm hour.

ITV aired Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire from 7pm, which was enjoyed by 2.5m (15.2%).

On Channel 4, Penelope Keith's Hidden Villages began with 1.03m (6.1%) from 8pm. The film Rush then averaged 1.08m (6.8%).

Channel 5's latest Big Brother highlights took 1.02m (6.6%) in the 10pm hour.

On the multichannels, ITV3's Foyles War managed 720k (4.2%) from 7.55pm.

Alex pays a fond return revisit to 1960s classic TV series, The Avengers...

Stylish crime fighting, despicable evil masterminds, a bowler-hatted old Etonian gentleman spy and a series of beautiful leather cat-suited, kinky-booted, no-nonsense heroines. The Avengers had all this and more. What began as a monochrome tape series in January 1961 ran the whole of the Sixties, becoming a colourful slice of period hokum, full of flair, wit and sophistication, yet with its tongue firmly in its cheek.

Always the perfect gentleman, John Steed was played by Patrick Macnee. Originally billed second to the late Ian Hendry, Macnee was still playing Steed over 15 years later when he was teamed with the youthful duo of Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt for The New Avengers in 1976. In the 1998 film, the role of Steed was given to Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman played Emma Peel. I will say no more about the film.

Washington, Dec 31: Actresses Angela Lansbury and Penelope Keith have topped the New Year's Honours list, which for the first time features more women than men.

Around 611 women make up the majority (51 percent) of the list, while the previous highest proportion was 47 percent, the BBC reported.

Former Wimbledon champion Ann Jones and football boss Karren Brady became CBEs, while Gavin and Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones becomes an MBE in the honour list.

DJ Pete Tong received an MBE and composer and conductor Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, who is Master of the Queen's Music, became a Companion of Honour.

Other.

Penelope Keith and Angela Lansbury are among the stars in the Queen's New Year Honours List for 2014.

Pete Tong, Karren Brady and Ruth Jones are also named on the annual list.

For the first time since the Order of the British Empire was founded in 1917, women outnumber men in the overall list.

Keith - perhaps best known for her roles in the sitcoms The Good Life and To the Manor Born - is named a dame. She said: "You know I sort of feel elated, exhausted and thrilled. It's the big one. I had already got an OBE and then a Cbe, so I don't know what is better than the icing on the cake, but this is."

British-born Murder, She Wrote star Lansbury is also named a dame for her successful acting career, charitable work and philanthropy.

Apprentice star Karren Brady, the vice-chair of West Ham Football Club, gets...

Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin and Jenna Coleman feature in new pictures from Death Comes to Pemberley.

BBC One's Pride and Prejudice follow-up - based on the novel by Pd James - is a murder mystery set six years after the events of Jane Austen's classic.

Rhys stars as Mr Darcy, Maxwell Martin is cast as Elizabeth and Coleman plays Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia Wickham.

Other members of the cast include Penelope Keith, Matthew Goode, Tom Ward, Joanna Scanlan, Trevor Eve and James Fleet.

The period drama will air on BBC One across three consecutive nights over the Christmas and New Year period, beginning on Boxing Day at 8.15pm.

Death Comes to Pemberley will also air on PBS in the Us but a broadcast date has yet to be announced.

Catch up on all the latest TV and Movies releases in Digital Spy's Screen Time:...

The first trailer for BBC period drama Death Comes to Pemberley has been released.

The 45-second trailer - which features stars Matthew Rhys, Jenna Coleman and Anna Maxwell Martin - is the first full-length preview of Juliette Towhidi's Pd James adaptation.

Rhys stars as Mr Darcy, Maxwell Martin is cast as Elizabeth and Coleman plays Elizabeth's younger sister Lydia Wickham.

Other members of the cast include Penelope Keith, Matthew Goode, Tom Ward, Joanna Scanlan, Trevor Eve and James Fleet.

The three-part drama centres around a murder mystery plot that takes place after the events of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Doctor Who, Sherlock: BBC One unveils Christmas, New Year listings

The period drama will air on BBC One across three consecutive nights over the Christmas and New Year period, beginning on Boxing Day at 8.15pm.

Death Comes to Pemberley will air on PBS in the Us but a...

Jean Kent: ‘The Browning Version’ 1951, Gainsborough folds (photo: Jean Kent in ‘The Browning Version,’ with Michael Redgrave) (See previous post: “Jean Kent: Gainsborough Pictures Film Star Dead at 92.”) Seemingly stuck in Britain, Jean Kent’s other important leads of the period came out in 1948: John Paddy Carstairs’ Alfred Hitchcock-esque thriller Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948), with spies on board the Orient Express, and Gordon Parry’s ensemble piece Bond Street. Following two minor 1950 comedies, Her Favorite Husband / The Taming of Dorothy and The Reluctant Widow / The Inheritance, Kent’s movie stardom was virtually over, though she would still have one major film role in store. In what is probably her best remembered and most prestigious effort, Jean Kent played Millie Crocker-Harris, the unsympathetic, adulterous wife of unfulfilled teacher Michael Redgrave, in Anthony Asquith’s 1951 film version of Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version — a Javelin Films production...

Kieran Kinsella

Appropriately enough for this time of year, Acorn Media’s latest batch of DVD releases includes The Fall. It’s a Belfast based psychological crime drama in which Dsi Stella Gibson attempts to hunt down a sadistic serial killer who seems to delight in deviousness. Somewhat unusually for a crime drama, the killer is identified fairly early on as Paul Spector. Thereafter, Spector and Gibson become embroiled in a game of cat and mouse that lasts through five suspensful episodes. The relationship between Spector and Gibson is similar to the one involving Hannibal Lector and Clarice except for the fact that Lector was banged up while Spector is on the loose.

X-Files actress Gillian Anderson takes on the role of Gibson and she seems quite at home on British TV these days having enjoyed success in recent hits such as Great Expectations. Her nemesis is the rather less...

PBS is to air BBC One's upcoming drama Death Comes to Pemberley.

Doctor Who actress Jenna Coleman will star in the adaptation of Pd James's novel, which brings back characters from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

In three one-hour episodes, the drama will be a combination of Austen's story and a murder mystery.

Matthew Rhys will play Mr Darcy, while Matthew Goode portrays Mr Wickham. Coleman stars as Lydia Wickham.

A broadcast date has yet to be revealed, but it will air as part of PBS's Masterpiece lineup. Downton Abbey has previously aired on the network.

Penelope Keith, Matthew Goode, Tom Ward, Joanna Scanlan, Trevor Eve and James Fleet are also in the cast, which is currently filming in Yorkshire.

Watch Matthew Rhys talk playing Darcy with Digital Spy below:...

The first pictures of Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman shooting new BBC period drama Death Come To Pemberley have been revealed.

Coleman stars as Lydia Wickham in Juliette Towhidi's Pd James adaptation, which is a follow-up to the events in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

Matthew Rhys stars as Mr Darcy in the drama, while Anna Maxwell Martin is cast as Elizabeth.

Penelope Keith, Matthew Goode, Tom Ward, Joanna Scanlan, Trevor Eve and James Fleet are also in the cast, which is currently filming in Yorkshire.

The three-part series centres around a murder mystery plot.

Watch Digital Spy's interview with Matthew Rhys about playing Mr Darcy below:...

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive follow-up boasts plenty of lurid ultraviolence but precious little originality

Well, I thought, after Only God Forgives, that makes two movies in a row Nicolas Winding Refn has got through without disembowelling a single person. Well done. Such restraint. And yet … Elsewhere, two men have a total of three arms subtracted by sword. A raped and murdered Thai prostitute is glimpsed in a vast lake of blood, and soon thereafter her killer is seen horribly mutilated, maimed, murdered and enucleated, the latter being pretty much my personal final frontier in the realm of movie ultraviolence (you can eat my brains and stew my flesh all the live-long day, but for pity's sake leave my eyeballs alone). And then it happens again, on screen this time, to a man whose all four limbs have been skewered to his chair with steel chopsticks.

Somewhere in here is...

Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive follow-up boasts plenty of lurid ultraviolence but precious little originality

Well, I thought, after Only God Forgives, that makes two movies in a row Nicolas Winding Refn has got through without disembowelling a single person. Well done. Such restraint. And yet … Elsewhere, two men have a total of three arms subtracted by sword. A raped and murdered Thai prostitute is glimpsed in a vast lake of blood, and soon thereafter her killer is seen horribly mutilated, maimed, murdered and enucleated, the latter being pretty much my personal final frontier in the realm of movie ultraviolence (you can eat my brains and stew my flesh all the live-long day, but for pity's sake leave my eyeballs alone). And then it happens again, on screen this time, to a man whose all four limbs have been skewered to his chair with steel chopsticks.

Somewhere in here is...

The all-star casting of BBC One's "Death Comes to Pemberley" mini-series continues. Jenna-Louise Coleman, best known to American audiences as Clara, the Doctor's most recent companion on "Doctor Who."

According to Deadline, Coleman will play the part of Lydia Wickham, the youngest sister of "Pride and Prejudice" heroine Elizabeth Bennet (played by Anna Maxwell Martin in this adaptation). The story of this three-part suspense serial is based on a P.D. James novel, which in turn derives from the Jane Austen classic novel. Set six years after the end of "Pride and Prejudice," the action begins when Lydia and her husband George Wickham (Matthew Goode) arrive at the Pemberley estate owned by Elizabeth and her husband, Fitzwilliam Darcy (Matthew Rhys, "The Americans").

Instead of the planned annual ball, a murder investigation -- with Lydia at the center of it -- unfolds.

This mini-series will be filmed in Yorkshire (all the better to resemble "Downton Abbey!

I know what you’re thinking. Is it April Fool’s Day again? Why does this headline feature the seemingly completely unrelated topics of Doctor Who, Jane Austen and crime thrillers? Well, today’s BBC story is so interesting that I couldn’t have made it up on my own if I tried. Doctor Who star Jenna-Louise Coleman has signed on to appear in the three-part mini-series, Death Comes to Pemberley, which is based on a P.D. James novel that includes classic Jane Austen characters. No foolin’!

Death Comes to Pemberley is a drama, which was commissioned by BBC’s controller Ben Stephenson along with former BBC One Danny Cohen. Cohen was recently promoted to director of television.

In front of the camera, the BBC One min-series has added Jenna-Louise Coleman to play Lydia Wickham, who is the sister of Pride and Prejudice protagonist Elizabeth Bennet. That famous role has...

Last month, BBC One set Matthew Rhys to play Mr. Darcy in Death Comes To Pemberley, the three-part serial based on P.D. James’ suspense novel which revisits Jane Austen’s most iconic characters. A vast lineup of British TV talent has now been added to the cast, including Doctor Who star Jenna-Louise Coleman as Lydia Wickham, the sister of Austen’s Pride And Prejudice heroine Elizabeth Bennett. As previously announced, Anna Maxwell Martin is playing Bennett and Matthew Goode is George Wickham, Lydia’s husband. The story picks up six years into Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage as they prepare for their annual ball. When Lydia arrives, she brings a shocking halt to the proceedings and a murder investigation unfolds. Also joining the cast are Trevor Eve (Waking The Dead), Rebecca Front (The Thick Of It), James Fleet (Sense And Sensibility), Penelope Keith (To The Manor Born), Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It...

Doctor Who's Jenna-Louise Coleman is among the list of stars who have been added to BBC One's new period drama Death Comes To Pemberley.

Coleman will star as Lydia Wickham in Juliette Towhidi's Pd James adaptation, joining last week's lead cast announcements of Anna Maxwell Martin (Elizabeth), Matthew Rhys (Darcy) and Matthew Goode (Wickham).

The three-part series is set six years after the events of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and centres around a murder mystery plot.

Other additions to the cast include Trevor Eve as Sir Selwyn Hardcastle, Rebecca Front as Mrs Bennett, James Fleet as Mr Bennett and Penelope Keith as Lady Catherine de Burgh.

Joanna Scanlan (Mrs Reynolds), Tom Ward (Colonel Fitzwilliam), Eleanor Tomlinson (Georgiana Darcy) and James Norton (Mr Alveston) have also signed up.

Shooting starts later this month in Yorkshire and the series will be directed by Daniel Percival.

Watch Digital Spy's interview...

Philip Madoc in A Mind to Kill. Acorn Media DVD

Kieran Kinsella

The late Philip Madoc was a fantastically talented actor who specialized in playing dark and brooding characters. A familiar face on British TV, Madoc appeared in everything from Doctor Who to Dad’s Army but he saved his best performances for the crime drama A Mind to Kill. Two versions of the series were made with one being in English and the other in Madoc’s native Welsh tongue.

Madoc’s character was Detective Chief Inspector Noel Bain – an old-school detective who unhappily faces up to the fact that the world is a darker and scarier place than it was when he first walked his beat. Much to his chagrin, his daughter Hannah, (Ffion Wilkins) eventually decides to follow in his footsteps and become a police officer. The duo have a difficult relationship away from the office and...

Madness will help close BBC Television Centre with a gig from the car park outside the iconic building.

Suggs's '80s pop collective will perform a concert that will act as a warm-up for a final two-hour pre-recorded show about the broadcaster's studios, Goodbye TV Centre.

Airing in March, the show will celebrate the BBC's flagship studios, looking back at events such as the power cut on the launch night of BBC Two, and visiting the studios used for Monty Python's parrot sketch, Del Boy's living room, Miranda's shop and the corridors that Alan Partridge ran down with his stolen Stilton.

Guests who joined former BBC chairman Michael Grade on the sofa include Penelope Keith, Ronnie Corbett, David Mitchell, Michael Parkinson, Terry Wogan, Mark Lawson, David Jason and Zoe Ball.

Completing the lineup are Phillip Schofield, Gary Lineker, Chris Hollins, Bob Harris and Fiona Bruce.

BBC Television Centre opened on...

Penelope Keith will remember Richard Briers' ''warmth, smile and laughter'' whenever she thinks of him. The 72-year-old actress - who starred alongside the late acting legend, who passed away ''peacefully'' on Sunday (17.02.13) aged 79, in British sitcom 'The Good Life' - praised Richard for his ''courteous'' nature and admitted she will ''miss him very much''. She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: ''I knew Richard a long time and he was wonderful and charming - a pleasure to spend time with. ''When someone dies, people tend to eulogise them and you always wonder if they could have been so nice. Richard was. ''He...

Penelope Keith will remember Richard Briers' ''warmth, smile and laughter'' whenever she thinks of him. The 72-year-old actress - who starred alongside the late acting legend, who passed away ''peacefully'' on Sunday (17.02.13) aged 79, in British sitcom 'The Good Life' - praised Richard for his ''courteous'' nature and admitted she will ''miss him very much''. She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: ''I knew Richard a long time and he was wonderful and charming - a pleasure to spend time with. ''When someone dies, people tend to eulogise them and you always wonder if they could have been so nice. Richard was. ''He...

Richard Briers has died at the age of 79.

The Good Life actor had recently revealed that he was battling with emphysema as a result of his smoking addiction and his agent confirmed that he died "peacefully" at his London home yesterday (February 17).

> Richard Briers 1934-2013: Career highlights in video

"I've got emphysema, you see, so I'm buggered," Briers told the Daily Mail only last month.

"I haven't even got the strength to garden anymore. Five hundred thousand cigarettes, darling - that's the trouble."

He added: "It's totally my fault. So, I get very breathless, which is a pain in the backside. Trying to get upstairs - oh God, it's ridiculous. Of course, when you're bloody nearly 80 it's depressing because you've had it anyway.

"The ciggies got me. I stopped ten years ago but too late. If you do it in your 30s then you're okay, but after 30 it gets you.

BBC Four has confirmed the details of Goodbye Television Centre, a final 120-minute show bidding farewell to the broadcaster's iconic building.

David Attenborough, Jeremy Paxman and Noel Edmonds are among the talent who will join former BBC chairman Michael Grade at BBC's Studio One to talk about their favourite memories of TV Centre.

Airing in March, the show will celebrate the BBC's flagship studios, looking back at events such as the power cut on the launch night of BBC Two, and visiting the studios used for Monty Python's parrot sketch, Del Boy's living room, Miranda's shop and the corridors that Alan Partridge ran down with his stolen Stilton.

Other guests confirmed to join Grade on the sofa include Penelope Keith, Ronnie Corbett, David Mitchell, Michael Parkinson, Terry Wogan, Mark Lawson, Richard Briers, David Jason and Zoe Ball.

Completing the lineup are Phillip Schofield, Gary Lineker, Chris Hollins, Bob Harris and Fiona Bruce.

While not all of the American populace purports to always understand British humor, it’s been an indelible part of the cultural landscape for decades. Whether the sophisticated stylings of Noel Coward or the outrageous offerings of French & Saunders, British television comedies (aka Britcoms) have provided countless hours of entertainment to legions of fans, and have even occasionally been adapted into historic mega-smashes (without ‘Til Death Us Do Part and Man About the House, we’d never have seen the likes of All in the Family and Three’s Company, after all). Fifteen of those shows will always immediately spring to mind and provide copious memories of cherished moments in front of the tube (or the telly, as it were).

15. To the Manor Born (1979-81)

Formulaic though it may have been (widowed aristocrat gives up ancestral estate after purchase by a supermarket magnate of Bratislavic descent, and moves with butler...

One of the more memorable films at the Toronto International Film Festival was Terence Davies‘ postwar romantic drama The Deep Blue Sea. Based on Terence Rattigan’s play, it was a bit dry and I didn’t love Rachel Weisz‘s performance, but the restraint and emotion that came through are its strong suits. We recently posted a clip, but now the full trailer has arrived on I Love Film. Music Box recently picked up the film for Us distribution, so expect to see it sometime next year. Check out the trailer below for the film also starring Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale by clicking the image. We’ll pop in an embed when available.

Synopsis:

Postwar England has been a recurring and vital setting for Terence Davies. His semiautobiographical masterpieces Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, as well as the bulk of his rapturous documentary Of Time and the City,...

Penelope Keith will host a new BBC One series titled To the Manor Reborn later this year. Four hour-long episodes will see Keith introduce the National Trust property Avebury Manor in Wiltshire that will be restored by historians and experts. The actress famously played aristocrat Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in the popular sitcom To the Manor Born opposite Peter Bowles. Keith will be joined by Flog It! presenter Paul Martin during the refurbishment of the 500-year-old property. (more)...

Kino Lorber will release the 1981 biographical film drama Priest of Love starring Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings) as famed author D.H. Lawrence on Blu-ray and DVD on June 21.

Ian McKellen (ctr.) and Janet Suzman are D.H. and Frieda Lawrence in Priest of Love.

Directed by Christopher Miles, the movie deals with the later years in the life of writer D.H. Lawrence (McKellen), his wife Frieda (Janet Suzman, Max) and their friend Dorothy Brett (Penelope Keith, TV’s To the Manor Born) after they have moved to the U.S. following the banning and burning of Lawrence’s latest novel, The Rainbow. Staying at the home of wealthy art patron Mabel Dodge Luhan (Ava Gardner, Mogambo), in Taos, New Mexico, Lawrence ponders his life, literature and sexuality before contracting tuberculosis and returning to Europe, where he writes the work for which he is best remembered, Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

Upstairs, Downstairs finished its three-part series strongly on Tuesday night, overnight data indicates. The period drama drew 6.88m (26.5%) at 9pm, a climb of 220k on the night before, but still down 660k on Sunday's opener. Meanwhile, ITV1's premiere screening of sci-fi movie I Am Legend appealed to 4.65m (19.1%) until 10.45pm. BBC One's Celebrity Mastermind quizzed 4.86m (19.4%) at 7pm, while River Monsters had 2.61m (10.1%) for ITV1 at 7.30pm, and Smile: That Was Candid Camera entertained 3.03m (11.8%) on the channel at 8pm. Over on BBC Two, a Good Life-themed evening brought in decent numbers: Penelope Keith: Lady of the Manor logged 2.37m (9.4%) at 8pm, 2.7m (10.5%) watched a classic episode of The Good Life half an hour later, before documentaries All About The Good Life and Giles and Sue Live The (more)...

Damsels in Distress

Opens: 2011

Cast: Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Ryan Metcalf

Director: Whit Stillman

Summary: The story revolves around a group of style-obsessed college girls who take in a new student (Gerwig) and teach her their misguided ways of helping people at their grungy university.

Analysis: The first film in a decade from arthouse darling Whit Stillman, a filmmaker's filmmaker whose three Manhattan-based, yuppie-themed mannerist comedies - "Metropolitan," "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco" - were a big influence on the likes of auteurs such as Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Stillman says this film varies somewhat from his previous trilogy of sorts, telling First Things that "This film is different, Completely different. Okay, not completely different, but it’s different".

Independently financed by Castle Rock CEO Martin Shafer, the project recently wrapped filming in Manhattan where Stillman returned to last year after having spent much...

Damsels in Distress

Opens: 2011

Cast: Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Ryan Metcalf

Director: Whit Stillman

Summary: The story revolves around a group of style-obsessed college girls who take in a new student (Gerwig) and teach her their misguided ways of helping people at their grungy university.

Analysis: The first film in a decade from arthouse darling Whit Stillman, a filmmaker's filmmaker whose three Manhattan-based, yuppie-themed mannerist comedies - "Metropolitan," "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco" - were a big influence on the likes of auteurs such as Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Stillman says this film varies somewhat from his previous trilogy of sorts, telling First Things that "This film is different, Completely different. Okay, not completely different, but it’s different".

Independently financed by Castle Rock CEO Martin Shafer, the project recently wrapped filming in Manhattan where Stillman returned to last year after having spent much...

We know who won our Twitpitch Challenge. But what does the poster look like?

You are Hollywood's top movie mogul. Infinite cash is at your disposal. Ditto stars – even the dead ones don't dare refuse your casting call. Now: what film would you most want to make? That's the question we asked readers for our Twitpitch Challenge as part of the Guardian and Observer's Film Season. We invited you to pitch your dream film, were death and cash and genre no obstacle, in 140 characters or less.

Our panel, including Jonathan Meades, Richard Eyre and Frank Cottrell Boyce, chose their favourites. And here we present thereddress's poster for the winning entry -@johnbodkinadams's "To the Manor Bourne: Jason Bourne retires to the countryside. With violent consequences". Note Penelope Keith, fleeing on the right, plus Timothy Spall on the left - the casting choice of judge Meades, who extrapolated the plot. "There's...

The spectre of global warming has inspired many members of today's middle classes to join the queue for an allotment. Back in 1975, though, the only catalyst the country needed for more ecological living was The Good Life. Sure, there were plenty of fine comic moments from fellow DS Icons Penelope Keith, Richard Briers and Paul Yes Minister Eddington, but the real star of the foursome was Felicity Kendal. In four short series, Felicity won us over with her winning smile, girl-next-door charm and ever-present desire to get stuck in to some self-sufficiency. The 1981 'Rear Of The Year' winner was born in Solihull but educated (more)...

Britain's Queen Elizabeth had dinner with her favourite radio presenter this week. BBC Radio 2 host Sir Terry Wogan was invited to Windsor Castle to dine with the monarch, as well as 'The Good Life' actress Penelope Keith and her husband Rodney Timson. A courtier told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "Her Majesty was adamant that she should sit next to Wogan. She is a regular listener of his programme." The queen is famously a fan of the 71-year-old presenter's 'Wake Up To Wogan' breakfast show - whose eight million listeners are affectionately known as TOGs, or Terry's Old Geezers and Gals - and when presenting him with a knighthood in 2005 told him she had been listening to his show...

Before the days of Horne & Corden and Little Britain, there was a time when British comedies didn't rely on bodily functions and fat people for gags. Classic sitcoms such as The Good Life, To The Manor Born, Moving and No Job For A Lady relied on witty scripts, gentle humour and, most importantly, talented stars. Gluing all the above shows together with her inimitable dim, posho act was Penelope Anne Constance Keith Cbe. Keith may not be one of comedy's greatest radicals, her shows are always fluffy and life-affirming rather than gritty or realistic, but she has mastered the art of playing a two-dimensional (more)...

LONDON -- House star Hugh Laurie was awarded an Order of the British Empire award in the Queen's New Year's Honors list, it was announced Monday.

The British actor was recognized for his contribution to drama in a career that has spanned over 20 years. The actor began his career as a sketch comedian in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and later played a series of English upper class twits in such shows as Jeeves and Wooster and Blackadder before crossing the pond to take U.S. audiences by storm as the curmudgeonly but brilliant medic.

Also honored in the Royal list was director Peter Greenaway who was named a Commander of the British Empire for a career featuring such textured and intricate films as The Draughtman's Contract, Drowning by Numbers, A Zed and Two Noughts and Prospero's Books.

Other leading media figures named in the annual honors list include singer Rod Stewart, television actress Penelope Keith and former Ofcom chief executive Stephen Carter, who were awarded CBEs.