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Birthday:
06-07-1931
(93 years)
Birthplace:
London, England, UK
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dame Virginia Anne McKenna, DBE (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author, activist, and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films A Town Like Alice (1956), Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), Born Free (1966), and Ring of Bright Water (1969), as well as her work with The Born Free Foundation.
Dame Virginia Anne McKenna, DBE (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author, activist, and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films A Town Like Alice (1956), Carve Her Name with Pride (1958), Born Free (1966), and Ring of Bright Water (1969), as well as her work with The Born Free Foundation.
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The Lady in Waiting
Act like Miss Peach
event1992 star_border 6.3
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In 1970s New York, a drag queen and elderly woman meet during a blackout. The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Blood Link
Act like Woman in Ballroom
event1982 star_border 5.1
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A man who has been having psychic visions of himself killing naked women soon discovers that it's not himself he's seeing, it's his Siamese twin. (yes, they've been separated) So he travels to Hamburg, where the things he's seen start to come to pass…
The Smallest Show on Earth
Act like Jean Spenser
event1957 star_border 6.6
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Jean and Bill are a married couple trying to scrape a living. Out of the blue they receive a telegram informing them Bill's long-lost uncle has died and left them his business—a cinema in the town of Sloughborough. Unfortunately they can't sell it for the fortune they hoped as they discover it is falling down and almost worthless.
Swallows and Amazons
Act like Mrs. Walker
event1974 star_border 7.6
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On holiday with their mother in the Lake District in 1929 four children are allowed to sail over to the nearby island in their boat Swallow and set up camp for a few days. They soon realise this has been the territory of two other girls who sail the Amazon, and the scene is set for serious rivalry.
Born Free
Act like Joy Adamson
event1966 star_border 6.8
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At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.
Carve Her Name with Pride
Act like Violette Szabo
event1958 star_border 5.7
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London, England, during World War II. After living a tragic life experience, young Violette Szabo joins the Special Operations Executive and crosses the German enemy lines as a secret agent to aid a French Resistance group.
The Cruel Sea
Act like Julie Hallam
event1953 star_border 6.9
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At the start of World War II, Cmdr. Ericson is assigned to convoy escort HMS Compass Rose with inexperienced officers and men just out of training. The winter seas make life miserable enough, but the men must also harden themselves to rescuing survivors of U-Boat attacks, while seldom able to strike back. Traumatic events afloat and ashore create a warm bond between the skipper and his first officer
The Ship That Died of Shame
Act like Helen Randall
event1955 star_border 6.9
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After World War II the crew of a motor gunboat join together to buy their old vessel and go into business for themselves. This may sound like a laudable scheme, but the business they choose to go into is smuggling.
Simba
Act like Mary Crawford
event1955 star_border 6.5
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A European family in East Africa finds itself caught up in an uprising by local black Africans against their white colonial masters. Based on the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya in the early 1950s.
Ring of Bright Water
Act like Mary MacKenzie
event1969 star_border 5.6
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Stuck in a dead-end job, Graham Merrill adopts an otter, Mij, as a pet and then moves to an isolated village in western Scotland. Together they set out to explore the curious and magnificent natural wonders that surround their seaside home. Soon, Graham finds himself falling in love with the beautiful town doctor, Mary. Before long, the three become inseparable friends.
A Town Like Alice
Act like Jean Paget
event1956 star_border 6.3
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In 1941 Malaysia, the advancing Japanese army captures a lot of British territory very quickly. The men are sent off to labor camps, but they have no plan on what to do with the women and children of the British.
The Gathering Storm
Act like Clemmie Churchill
event1974 star_border 7
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Winston Churchill's life in the years leading up to World War II.
The Wreck of the Mary Deare
Act like Janet Taggart
event1959 star_border 6.2
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A disgraced merchant marine officer elects to stay aboard his sinking cargo ship in order to prove the vessel was deliberately scuttled and, as a result, vindicate his good name.
Father's Doing Fine
Act like Catherine
event1952 star_border 6.3
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Lady Buckering, an English widow, has four daughters; Doreen, married to Dougall and about to give birth at home, and Gerda, Bicky and Catherine. The story revolves around the impending birth and the love affairs of the other three daughters; Bicky, with eccentric student Roly; Gerda, married to artist Wilfred; and Catherine, in love with the landlord's son, Clifford Magill. In addition, the impoverished Lady Buckering is being courted by Dr. Drew. Written by Les Adams
The Barretts of Wimpole Street
Act like Henrietta Barrett
event1957 star_border 6.2
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Director Sidney Franklin's 1957 remake of his own 1934 film, about the romance of poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning.
Two Living, One Dead
Act like Helen Berger
event1961 star_border 7
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Three Post Office employees are at work when the facility is held up. The robber kills the supervisor and knocks out another employee. The third one offers no resistance and survives unscathed. Afterwards he begins to wonder if his refusal to resist was a prudent move to preserve his family, or an act of cowardice, as many in the town believe. The resulting conflict begins to tear apart his family.
Rosamunde Pilcher: September
Act like Violet
event1996 star_border 7.8
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Verena Steynton is holding a party for her daughter. All the aristocratic families of Strathcroy in the Scottish Highlands are attending, with all their guilty secrets...
Julius Caesar
Act like Portia
event1979 star_border 8.5
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The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for Brutus and the republic.
An Elephant Called Slowly
Act like Ginny
event1969 star_border 6
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Bill and Ginny are invited by a naturalist friend to take care of his home in Africa while he is away, and they find themselves adopted by three orphan elephants.
Beauty and the Beast
Act like Lucy
event1976 star_border 6
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A beautiful girl agrees to marry a hideous, deformed beast and live in his castle in order to save her father's life.
Waterloo
Act like Duchess of Richmond
event1970 star_border 7.1
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After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him. The best of the British generals, the Duke of Wellington, beat Napolean's best generals in Spain and Portugal, but now must beat Napoleon himself with an Anglo Allied army.
The Scold's Bridle
Act like Violet Orloff
event1998 star_border 7
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Detective Cooper investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding the murder of Matilda who was found dead in her bath wearing the Scold's Bridle.
A Passage to India
Act like Adela Quested
event1965
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The BBC's 1965 adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel, screened as part of their Play of the Month strand, adapted by Santha Ramu Rau and John Maynard, and directed by Waris Hussein.
Echoes of Camusfearna
Act like Narrator
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This fascinating and haunting wildlife program is narrated by Virginia McKenna and centers on the West of Scotland not far from the Isle of Mull, the last stronghold of the wild sea otter in Britain, made famous by Gavin Maxwell and his highly acclaimed book 'Ring of Bright Water'.
Love/Loss
Act like Mary
event2010
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A chance meeting reunites Mary and Joe, childhood sweethearts from the 1940s. But after 60 years apart, is there still love between them? How have their separate experiences shaped their lives over this long period apart, and is there still time for them to share the happiness that has so long been denied? As Mary and Joe confront the mistakes of their past and share memories of a previously unspoken love, their reunion appears to take them on a path to happiness. But the gentle narrative hides a twist that will challenge any preconceptions of love and loss.
Holocaust 2000
Act like Eva Caine
event1977 star_border 5.9
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An executive in charge of a nuclear power plant in the Mid-East must stop his son-- who turns out to be the Anti Christ -- from blowing it up.
The Lions Are Free
event1969
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The true life sequel to the movie classic Born Free. The actors from the movie Born Free, Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, with the help of their friend legendary conservationist George Adamson, reveal what became of the lions used in the filming of the popular movie classic Born Free.
The Admirable Crichton
Act like Lady Mary
event1968 star_border 6
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A group of people are shipwrecked when their yacht runs aground on a South Pacific island. The usual hierarchy in an upper-class British family breaks down quickly when it becomes apparent that only the servant, Crichton, is capable of surviving on his own and he becomes the community's leader.
Puccini
Act like Elvira
event1984 star_border 1
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In Torre del Lago, by Lake Massaciuccoli, Puccini is writing "The Girl of the Golden West" when his wife Elvira accuses him of a dalliance with their maid, Doria Manfredi, a young women from town. Although the maestro is frequently unfaithful, he denies the affair; Elvira insists she's right and publicly hounds Doria. Between scenes in this domestic drama that turns tragic, we watch a Scottish company rehearse and stage "Turandot," Puccini's last opera. The film finds parallels between the two stories and suggests that in the opera, Puccini expresses love for his wife and guilt in Doria's fate. Three local gentlemen provide a spoken chorus as Puccini's score plays throughout.
The Whistle-Blower
Act like Theresa Elliot
event2001 star_border 8
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A bank employee, Laura Tracey, places herself and her family in mortal danger after reporting irregularities in the firm's overseas accounts to the National Criminal Intelligence Service. She learns that the money belongs to South American drug cartels, and her family are immediately taken into the Witness Protection Program and relocated.
Golden Years
Act like Martha
event2016 star_border 6.3
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Fate, the pensions crisis and a steadfast refusal to accept the injustice of old age have contrived to force law abiding, retired couple, Arthur and Martha Goode into a life of crime.
Staggered
Act like Flora
event1994 star_border 5.3
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Very much in love, Neil's wedding plans are sabotaged, beginning when he is abandoned, naked, on a Scottish island. A road trip ensues, with Neil encountering many obstacles as he makes his way to London for what he believes is to be his wedding day. Or is it?
The Lion at World's End
event1971 star_border 8
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The astonishing true story of a zoo-born lion who found himself in the pet department of Harrods, then the cellar of an antique shop in London and, ultimately the wilds of Africa.
Ethel & Ernest
Act like Lady of the House (voice)
event2016 star_border 7.4
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This hand drawn animated film, based on the award winning graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, is an intimate and affectionate depiction of the life and times of his parents, two ordinary Londoners living through extraordinary events.
Storm Over Jamaica
Act like Judy Waring
event1958 star_border 6
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A British schoolteacher moves to Jamaica to teach after a tumultuous divorce and meets an exciting new woman.
Sliding Doors
Act like James' Mother
event1998 star_border 6.6
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London publicist Helen, effortlessly slides between parallel storylines that show what happens when she does or does not catch a train back to her apartment. Love. Romantic entanglements. Deception. Trust. Friendship. Comedy. All come into focus as the two stories shift back and forth, overlap and surprisingly converge.
Leona Calderon
event2013
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Leona Calderon is a retiring altruistic music lover earning her living cleaning establishments and private homes. Having a fun loving nature she is fancied by her landlord who dreams of dancing with her to her favorite tune. Another admirer is a homeless man who gets endears by her jolly disposition and not by her loose pennies for a can of lager. She befriends an isolated elderly English lady, a migrant worker with no visa and a charitable middle age woman. As a breadwinner she looks forward to her much awaited retirement which is now doomed following a diagnoses of cancer. The island where she comes from where she plans to spend her life with her family becomes just a dream. She now faces a dilemma between losing her hard earned savings to medical expenses or losing the time with her family if she spends her retirement in a country where her treatment is free. Leona's wit and fun nature will make you smile, laugh and cry. What happens to this happy lady in this funny world?
Peter Pan
Act like Mrs. Darling
event1976 star_border 6
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Peter Pan is a 1976 musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up, produced for television as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, starring Mia Farrow as Peter Pan and Danny Kaye as Captain Hook, and with Sir John Gielgud narrating. Julie Andrews sang one of the songs, "Once Upon a Bedtime", off-camera over the opening credits. It aired on NBC at 7:30pm on Sunday, December 12, 1976, capping off the program's 25th year on the air. The program did not use the score written for the highly successful Mary Martin version which had previously been televised many times on NBC. Instead, it featured 14 new and now forgotten songs, written for the production by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse.
The Oracle
Act like Shelagh
event1953 star_border 5
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An Irish "oracle" foretells the next day's track results to a newspaperman, resulting in a national uproar.
Hello: A Portrait Of Leslie Phillips
Act like Self
event2013 star_border 8.3
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A Portrait Of Leslie Phillips takes a look at the life of Leslie Phillips; the legendary actor, writer and veritable British institution. Leslie's frank and open conversations combine with personal interviews from some of the greats who have worked with him.
Widow's Walk
Act like Myrtle
event2019 star_border 4.2
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Eve's husband has been killed in Afghanistan. She takes her young son to a Suffolk beach house on the edge of the North Sea to grieve. But someone else is in the house grieving her loss from another war.
The Case of the Frightened Lady
Act like Lady Lebanon Amersham
event1983
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A woman tries to protect her family's name when one relative becomes a murderer.
The Disappearance
Act like Catherine
event1977 star_border 5.6
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The wife of a contract killer disappears. When he is hired by an international organisation to carry out a hit, he suspects they are connected with her disappearance.
Wings
Act like Dora
event2020
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A heartwarming love story that spans over six decades, between two Land Army girls during World War II.
Duel of Hearts
Act like Lady Brecon
event1992 star_border 7
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Lady Caroline Faye meets Lord Vane Brecon and is attracted to him. When she finds out that he is being accused of a murder he did not commit, she sets out to prove him innocent
Have a Nice Night
Act like Jennifer Warrenton
event1990 star_border 6.5
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Movie star Barbara Jenkins arrives in Cannes to host an auction of her costumes, under protection of Tom Lepski. She is under surveillance of a political terror group and some wily jewel thieves.
The Merv Griffin Show
Act like Self (1 ep.)
event1962 star_border 5.6
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The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986.
Richard & Judy
Act like Self (1 ep.)
event2001 star_border 2.9
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Richard & Judy was a British chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4, from 2001 to 2008, but later moved to digital channel, Watch, in October 2008. The programme featured a number of celebrities and a book club. Its final episode aired in July 2009 due to low ratings.
BBC Play of the Month
Act like Adela Quested (1 ep.)
event1965 star_border 5
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Play of the Month is a BBC television anthology series featuring productions of classic and contemporary stage plays which were usually broadcast on BBC1. Each production featured a different work, often using prominent British stage actors in the leading roles. The series was transmitted from October 1965 to September 1983; the producer most associated with the Play of the Month was Cedric Messina.
Some of the 121 episodes are missing from the archives, having been junked in the 1960s and 1970s. Unless stated otherwise, the indication that the play is "lost" is taken from the lostshows.com website page as of 25 May 2013.
Lovejoy
Act like Harriet Fisher (1 ep.)
event1986 star_border 7.3
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The adventures of the eponymous Lovejoy, a likeable but roguish antiques dealer based in East Anglia. Within the trade, he has a reputation as a “divvie”, a person with an almost supernatural powers for recognising exceptional items as well as distinguishing genuine antique from clever fakes or forgeries.
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Act like Lady Mary (1 ep.)
event1951 star_border 8.7
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Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, though the program began with live telecasts of dramas and then changed to videotaped productions before finally changing to filmed ones.
The series has received eighty Emmy Awards, twenty-four Christopher Awards, eleven Peabody Awards, nine Golden Globes, and four Humanitas Prizes. Once a common practice in American television, it is the last remaining television program such that the title includes the name of the sponsor. Unlike other long-running TV series still on the air, it differs in that it broadcasts only occasionally and not on a weekly broadcast programming schedule.
Mystery and Imagination
(1 ep.)
event1966 star_border 5.5
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Mystery and Imagination is a British television anthology series of classic horror and supernatural dramas. Five series were broadcast from 1966 to 1970 by the ITV network and produced by ABC and Thames Television.
The Camomile Lawn
Act like Polly (older) (5 ep.)
event1992 star_border 5.9
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The Camomile Lawn is British adaptation of the Mary Wesley's classic novel that aired on Channel 4. As storm clouds gather over Europe in 1939, five cousins meet to pay tribute to a world that will never be the same again.
The BBC Television Shakespeare
(1 ep.)
event1978 star_border 5.2
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The BBC Television Shakespeare is a series of British television adaptations of the plays of William Shakespeare, created by Cedric Messina and produced by BBC Television. It was transmitted in the UK from 3 December 1978 to 27 April 1985 and spanned seven series. Development of the series began in 1975 when Messina saw that Glamis Castle would make a perfect location for an adaptation of Shakespeare's play As You Like It. On returning to London, he envisioned an entire series devoted exclusively to the dramatic works of Shakespeare. After encountering numerous problems trying to produce the series, Messina eventually pitched the idea to the BBC’s departmental heads and the series was greenlighted. The series as a whole received generally negative reviews from critics.
GMTV
Act like Self (1 ep.)
event1993 star_border 5.6
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GMTV is the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.
The Edwardians
(1 ep.)
event1972 star_border 5.7
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It was a time when England was a nation on the cusp of change, an evolving landscape tht lay between Victorian England and the First World War. 'The Edwardians' explores the lives of and events in the lives of many who helped define the era, the "Belle Epoque".
Natural World
Act like Participant (1 ep.)
event1983 star_border 7.1
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Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983.
Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
Act like Milborough Lang (1 ep.)
event1987 star_border 6.2
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The Ruth Rendell mysteries is a British television series made by TVS and Meridian Television for ITV between 2 August 1987 and 11 October 2000.
The First Olympics: Athens 1896
Act like Annabel Flack (2 ep.)
event1984 star_border 6
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This two part mini-series shows the trials and tribulations all the participants endured to be a part of the very first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. It focuses on the individuals from the many countries around the world that joined together to lay the foundation of the modern Summer Olympic Games.
Agatha Christie's Marple
Act like Belle Goedler (1 ep.)
event2004 star_border 7.6
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The adventures of Miss Jane Marple, an elderly spinster living in the quiet little village of St Mary Mead. During her many visits to friends and relatives in other villages, Miss Marple often stumbles upon mysterious murders which she helps solve. Although the police are sometimes reluctant to accept Miss Marple's help, her reputation and unparalleled powers of observation eventually win them over.
September
Act like Violet (2 ep.)
event1996 star_border 5
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Scottish aristocrats' secrets and relationships are threatened by the return of a woman who left under suspicious circumstances 20 years earlier.
Kavanagh Q.C.
Act like Alice Aldermarten (1 ep.)
event1995 star_border 7
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James Kavanagh QC is one of the top flight barristers in Britain. Each episode has him handling challenging cases and defendants which put his skills to the test regularly.
Sunday Night Theatre
Act like Juliet (1 ep.)
event1950 star_border 3.5
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Sunday Night Theatre was a long-running series of televised live television plays screened by BBC Television from early 1950 until 1959.
The productions for the first five years or so of the run were re-staged live the following Thursday, partly because of technical limitations in this era, and the theatrical basis of early television drama. Some of the earliest collaborations between Rudolph Cartier and Nigel Neale were produced for this series, including Arrow to the Heart and Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Sunday night drama slot was subsequently renamed The Sunday-Night Play which ran for four seasons between 1960 and 1963. ITV transmitted its own unrelated run of Sunday Night Theatre between 1971 and 1974.
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