If it wasn’t the case before, I’m now fully convinced that if you looked up the definition of brilliant in the dictionary, there would simply be a photo of Dame Judi Dench. The Oscar/Tony/BAFTA/Laurence Olivier/Golden Globe/Screen Actors Guild award winner turns 88 years young today and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
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Watching Fawlty Towers recently, I got to thinking about all those British actors that had long, successful careers but that, for whatever reason, would be forever known as ‘being in one episode of Fawlty Towers.” I immediately flashed back to the time we had the good fortune to interview Nicky Henson in 2005 for the PBS program, […]
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Tom Owen, who played Tom Simmonite in Last Of The Summer Wine, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 73. Having starred in over 90 episodes of the sitcom between 2000 and 2010, Owen played Tom Simmonite, the long lost son of William ‘Compo’ Simmonite – the character who was played by his real-life father, Bill Owen.
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The Christmas gift-giving season will get started a bit early this year as over the next few months, a number of PBS stations across the country will be giving viewers an early comedic gift of Happy Birthday Mr. Bean, a celebratory documentary looking back at the thirty years since comedy legend Mr Bean landed on our screens. […]
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First it was Lead Balloon, now it’s Bad Move. Somehow, Jack Dee makes you feel like you don’t have a bad life after all. Nothing can compare to what he faces around every corner every minute of every day. In, Bad Move, Dee’s latest effort that is making it’s way to a number of public television stations in […]
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October 6, 1974. The day that charted the British comedy course in the U.S. for decades to come. Thanks to a ground-breakingly brilliant decision by then KERA President/CEO Bob Wilson and Program Director Ron Devillier, the legend of Monty Python’s Flying Circus had its American beginning on KERA/Dallas as part of one seemingly uneventful Sunday […]
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The British Comedy Guide revealed yesterday that The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin will return for two, 1-hour episodes this November on BBC Radio 4. David Haig (Cobra, The Thin Blue Line, Yes Prime Minister, Four Weddings and a Funeral) will star as the frustrated fantasist alongside Pip Torrens (Up The Women, The Lenny Henry Show) as CJ, Selina Griffiths (The […]
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In the United States, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement, dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country. We simply can’t let the long weekend pass by without paying tribute to some of the hardest working friends across the pond…the staff of the ladies’ and gentlemen’s clothing departments of Grace Brothers Department Store.
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Taking absolutely nothing away from our stops earlier in the week touring filming locations for Downton Abbey (Highclere Castle), Poldark (Chavenage House), Midsomer Murders (Dorchester-on-Thames), Inspector Morse/Lewis/Endeavour (Oxfordshire) and Agatha Raisin (Biddestone), the final day of the KERA British Telly Tour before returning to London may have been the best of all with a stop in Turville, yet another picturesque small English village (thankfully, no murders have occured there to my knowledge) for a behind-the-scenes look at the Vicar of Dibley and then on to Bletchley Park (Bletchley Circle) for a glimpse at the brilliant work that came out of the minds of the roughly 9000 men and women that worked tirelessly to end World War II .
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Bernard Cribbins, the rather fussy spoon salesman mistaken for a hotel inspector in one episode of Fawlty Towers, has died at the age of 93. **In spite of a brilliant seven decade plus career, Cribbins will be forever known as ‘being in the “Hotel Inspectors” episode of Fawlty Towers, which is a testament to the greatness of perhaps the best British comedy of all time but speaks more to Cribbins’ brilliant ability to make even a relatively minor role such as Mr. Hutchinson in one episode of Fawlty Towers so memorable.
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