The Tales of Para Handy is a Scottish television series set in the western isles of Scotland in the 1930s, based on the Para Handy books by Neil Munro. It starred Gregor Fisher as Captain Peter "Para Handy" MacFarlane, Sean Scanlan as first mate Dougie Cameron, Rikki Fulton as engineer Dan Macphail and Andrew Fairlie as Sunny Jim. These four made up the crew of the puffer 'Vital Spark' which was employed by the Campbell Shipping Company, headquartered in Glasgow and run by Andrew Campbell
Filmed on location in 1997 at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, the show was a six-part BBC documentary, which followed the day-to-day running of the park. It was mainly focused on the rides and the park managers, Jim Rowland and Keith Allen. The film crews also spoke to Geoffrey Thompson and Amanda Thompson, the director and producer of Stageworks Worldwide Productions (which directs, produces and choreographs the shows within the park.)
Child of Our Time is a documentary commissioned by the BBC, co-produced with the Open University and presented by Robert Winston. It follows the lives of 25 children, born at the beginning of the 21st century, as they grow from infancy, through childhood, and on to becoming young adults.
The aim of the series is to build up a coherent and scientifically accurate picture of how the genes and the environment of growing children interact to make a fully formed adult. A large portion of the series is made up of experiments designed to examine these questions. The main topic under consideration is: "Are we born or are we made?". The nature of the family in contemporary Britain is also addressed.
The project is planned to run for 20 years, following its subjects from birth until the age of 20. During the first half of its run a set of about three or four episodes was produced annually. After 2008 new episodes became less frequent, and in 2011 there was some doubt about the future of the programme, including from Winsto
Bel, after spending the past 18 years as a homemaker, steps in to save the family business in a failing family run beauty salon in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Family feuds and bitter rivalries, professional and personal, escalate in the salon amongst the Botox, fillers and facelifts.
BBC comedy-drama series about the life of Reg Toomer (Tim Healy), an ex-pat Briton living in Australia and running Melbourne Confidential, a failing private detective agency with his shifty business partner Dennis Tontine. His estranged young cousin Leslie arrives in Melbourne from the United Kingdom after a painful divorce looking for fun and excitement in the new world, instead he finds himself used as a drone for Melbourne Confidential.
This dramatic true crime series reveals how some of the UK’s most serious and complex cases were solved by the expertise of a band of unsung heroes – the expert witnesses.
The very different lives of Jan Leigh, a poor but studious young country lad, and Diana Gayelorde-Sutton, the equally single minded daughter of a rich landowner, from the 1920s through to post-war Britain.
Wild, Wild Women was a British sitcom that aired on BBC from 1968 to 1969. Made in black-and-white, it starred Barbara Windsor and was written by Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney.
Disaster Masters was a series on BBC1 which followed the workers of the British emergency and non-emergency repairs company Homeserve as they carried out repair work contracted by householders' insurance companies. During the different series, they were seen dealing with major disasters such as the Carlisle floods, Birmingham tornado and the Buncefield oil depot explosion. They were also seen carrying out more minor repairs such as boarding up broken windows.
Disaster Masters ran for a total of two series and eighteen episodes before it was cancelled by the BBC. The series was then bought by Sky, who broadcast it at different times throughout the week on Sky Real Lives.
There is no bigger moment in a person’s life than when they first hold their baby in their arms. It doesn’t matter how many guidebooks you’ve read, or antenatal classes you’ve attended - nobody is ever prepared for the total shock of new parenthood.
This warm and insightful new series follows the lives of eight babies in those first six months of their lives and the impact on their parents’ lives and relationships.
Our families are drawn from a range of backgrounds – from young first-time parents of triplets, to seasoned pros, a single-parent family to a modern-day ‘earth mother’. We will follow each of our families on the rollercoaster ride of their lives.
Whack-O! was a British sitcom TV series starring Jimmy Edwards, written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden, and broadcast from 1956 to 1960 and 1971 to 1972.
The series ran on the BBC from 1956 to 1960 and from 1971 to 1972. Edwards took the part of Professor James Edwards, M.A., the drunken, gambling, devious, cane-swishing headmaster who tyrannised staff and children at Chiselbury public school. The Edwards character bore more than a passing resemblance to Sergeant Bilko as he tried to swindle the children out of their pocket money to finance his many schemes.
Satellite City was a Welsh sitcom which started out originally as a radio show on BBC Radio Wales in 1994 and then evolved into a TV version made by BBC Wales and was first broadcast in 1996.
The setting was an imaginary small town in the South Wales Valleys. The plot centred on the arrival of Randy, an American visitor, who was taken in by the Price family
Nic is lonely, stuck in her marriage, and the cat’s missing. She loves her son but wants more from life. When new mum Jen arrives in town, Nic’s life is lit up. But it comes at a cost.
Observational documentary series following the devoted vets at Wear Referrals in County Durham as they help furry patients and the owners who travel from far and wide with their beloved pets.
Big Cat Diary, also known as Big Cat Week or Big Cat Live, is a long-running nature documentary series on BBC television which follows the lives of African big cats in Kenya's Maasai Mara. The first series, broadcast on BBC One in 1996, was developed and jointly produced by Keith Scholey, who would go on to become Head of the BBC's Natural History Unit. Eight further series have followed, most recently Big Cat Live, a live broadcast from the Mara in 2008.
The original presenters, Jonathan Scott and Simon King, were joined by Saba Douglas-Hamilton from 2002 onwards. Kate Silverton and Jackson Looseyia were added to the presenting team for Big Cat Live.
Rogue Traders was a prime-time BBC One presenter-led investigative consumer affairs television series starring Matt Allwright, an investigative journalist and presenter and his side-kick, Dan Penteado who also works as a private investigator around Europe and the UK. Rogue Traders began in 2001 and has run for nine series on BBC One. Allwright and Penteado film and script much of the series themselves, resulting in an improvised, 'on the hoof' feel to the show. An occasional catchphrase used during the show is "We never give up."
Since 10 September 2009, a new one-hour revamp of the consumer-affairs programme Watchdog began airing, incorporating Rogue Traders as a segment of the show.