Coronation Street’s Jean Alexander dies aged 90

Jean Alexander, who played Coronation Street‘s Hilda Ogden and shop-owner Auntie Wainwright in Last of the Summer Wine, has died aged 90. Alexander portrayed Hilda Ogden, a sharp-tongued, put-upon housewife who was one of Coronation Street‘s best known characters, from 1964 to 1987. She also appeared as shopkeeper Auntie Wainwright which, according to Alexander, was […]

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Burt Kwouk, Pink Panther’s Cato and LOTSW’s Entwistle, dies at 85

Best known for playing alongside Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther films, Burt Kwouk has passed away at the age of 85. While his international fame came from his recurring role as Inspector Clouseau’s sidekick, Cato, in the Pink Panther films from 1975-1993, Kwouk was a small-screen fixture from 2002-2010 starring as electrical and mechanical engineer Entwistle in Last Of The […]

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‘Still Open All Hours’ – Arkwright’s lease renewed for a second series

From 1973 until the mid-80’s, Open All Hours, starring Ronnie Barker and David Jason as the penny-pinching South Yorkshire corner shop proprietor Albert Arkwright and his illegitimate nephew, Granville, sat atop the BBC comedy world for much of its’ existence. Ranking eighth in the 2004 Britain’s Best Sitcom poll, Open All Hours was created and […]

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‘Open All Hours’ – a must see, a must read AND a comedy classic

I may be in the minority here, but one of my most favorite British situation comedies of all-time is Open All Hours. Written by Roy Clarke (Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances) and starring comedy legends Ronnie Barker and David Jason, Open All Hours ‘premiered’ in 1973 as a last-minute addition to Barker’s comedy anthology series, Seven […]

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BBC revives Comedy Playhouse with 'Over to Bill'

This Spring will see two brilliant returns to the telly. Not so coincidentally, brilliance will collide when Doug Naylor’s Over to Bill launches as one of three pilots scheduled for the revival of the BBC’s Comedy Playhouse strand. Comedy Playhouse began in 1961 and ran until 1975 as an anthology series which served as the […]

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Wallace & Gromit: Behind-the-scenes

Full disclosure, I have been a huge Wallace & Gromit fan from the beginning. A product of the British animation studio, Aardman Studios, and the brilliant mind of Nick Park, the characters are made from moulded plasticine modeling clay on metal armatures and filmed with stop motion clay animation. I hate to reduce it to […]

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Fancy a self-guided Sherlock tour while in the UK?

As you prepare for 6 May 2012 and the premiere of Sherlock on PBS…. If you find yourself either in the UK or planning a visit in the not-too-distant future, think about taking a tour of locations made famous, or infamous, by the brilliance that is Sherlock. Not to worry. You are not alone in […]

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