A
Writing
Alan Plater
Born April 15, 1935 · Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, England, UK
Died June 25, 2010 · aged 75
No biography available.
Known For
Juggernaut · 1974Juggernaut
★ 6.21974
MovieThrillerAction
A terrorist demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he has planted aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship. Inspired by real events.
Priest of Love · 1981Priest of Love
★ 5.01981
MovieDramaRomance
Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow," D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they return to England for a short time, then to Italy, where Lawrence writes "Lady Chatterley's Lover."
Feet Foremost · 1983Feet Foremost
★ 10.01983
MovieHorrorTV Movie
The new owners of a Manor House discover a legend that whoever is carried across the threshold shall unleash unknown forces...
Night People · 1978Night People
1978
MovieDramaTV Movie
A classical string quartet stop at a motorway cafe in early hours. Among the people they meet are a football supporter, a commercial traveller and an elderly couple on their way to Gretna Green to get married.
The Intercessor · 1983The Intercessor
1983
MovieHorrorTV Movie
A writer seeking seclusion takes rooms in a remote farmhouse. Soon his quiet is broken by sounds and then sightings of a small child...
Keep the Aspidistra Flying · 1997Keep the Aspidistra Flying
★ 6.11997
MovieComedyDrama
Gordon Comstock is a copywriter at an ad agency, and his girlfriend Rosemary is a designer. Gordon believes he is a genius, a marvelous poet and quits the ad agency, trying to live on his poems, but poverty soon comes to him.
Let There Be Light · 1970Let There Be Light
1970
Movie
What was it like to go to school 100 years ago?
Give Us a Kiss, Christabel · 1977Give Us a Kiss, Christabel
1977
MovieRomanceComedy
Casual labour appeals to Wilfred, and the street market is a friendly home until he meets the beautiful Christabel. Her haughty dismissal drives him to amazing feats. He'll do anything for a kiss.
Movies
Juggernaut · 1974Juggernaut
★ 6.21974
MovieThrillerAction
A terrorist demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he has planted aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship. Inspired by real events.
Priest of Love · 1981Priest of Love
★ 5.01981
MovieDramaRomance
Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow," D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they return to England for a short time, then to Italy, where Lawrence writes "Lady Chatterley's Lover."
Feet Foremost · 1983Feet Foremost
★ 10.01983
MovieHorrorTV Movie
The new owners of a Manor House discover a legend that whoever is carried across the threshold shall unleash unknown forces...
Night People · 1978Night People
1978
MovieDramaTV Movie
A classical string quartet stop at a motorway cafe in early hours. Among the people they meet are a football supporter, a commercial traveller and an elderly couple on their way to Gretna Green to get married.
The Intercessor · 1983The Intercessor
1983
MovieHorrorTV Movie
A writer seeking seclusion takes rooms in a remote farmhouse. Soon his quiet is broken by sounds and then sightings of a small child...
Keep the Aspidistra Flying · 1997Keep the Aspidistra Flying
★ 6.11997
MovieComedyDrama
Gordon Comstock is a copywriter at an ad agency, and his girlfriend Rosemary is a designer. Gordon believes he is a genius, a marvelous poet and quits the ad agency, trying to live on his poems, but poverty soon comes to him.
Let There Be Light · 1970Let There Be Light
1970
Movie
What was it like to go to school 100 years ago?
Give Us a Kiss, Christabel · 1977Give Us a Kiss, Christabel
1977
MovieRomanceComedy
Casual labour appeals to Wilfred, and the street market is a friendly home until he meets the beautiful Christabel. Her haughty dismissal drives him to amazing feats. He'll do anything for a kiss.
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells · 2000The Last of the Blonde Bombshells
★ 6.92000
MovieComedyMusic
After Elizabeth's husband dies, she begins to play her tenor saxophone again, and remembers when she was 15 and a member of the Blonde Bombshells, an all-girl (with one exception) swing band. Accompanied by the exception and urged on by her grand-daughter, Elizabeth hunts up all the old members of the band and urges them to perform, and in doing so, learns more than she knew about the band, its members, the roses on the drum set, and herself--the last of the Blonde Bombshells.
Jake on the Box · 2006Jake on the Box
2006
MovieMusicDocumentary
An appreciation and retrospective look at the songs and humour of Leeds folk singer/songwriter Jake Thackray, including performances of some of his songs.
Who Bombed Birmingham? · 1990Who Bombed Birmingham?
★ 8.51990
MovieDocumentaryDrama
Docudrama film exploring the efforts of World in Action researchers Ian MacBride and Chris Mullin in proving that the "Birmingham Six" only admitted to the bombing under extreme duress, and that the five IRA members were in fact responsible for the deadly attacks
Doggin' Around · 1994Doggin' Around
★ 6.51994
MovieDramaTV Movie
The past catches up with an ageing American jazz pianist when he returns to the clubs of Lancashire and Yorkshire that he last visited 10 years previously.
The Virgin and the Gypsy · 1970The Virgin and the Gypsy
★ 3.11970
MovieDramaRomance
Film adaptation from the novel by D.H. Lawrence, discovered after the celebrated author's death in 1930, a romantic love story tells of a prim young English girl who is sexually attracted to a seductively virile gypsy. The climatic dam burst is linked with the consummation of her desire.
It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet · 1976It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet
★ 8.01976
MovieDramaComedy
Based on James Herriot's books about life as a 1930s veterinarian in Yorkshire, John Alderson plays the kindly doctor who ministers to animals in this enjoyable family film. Sequel to the 1975 film All Creatures Great and Small.
The Inside Man · 1984The Inside Man
★ 3.91984
MovieThrillerAction
In 1981, after the successful test of a submarine tracker device developed by the Swedish scientist Paul Mandell and sponsored by the US government through his representative Miller, his industry is totally burned and the laser device is stolen. Stig Larsson from the Swedish Secret Agency suspects of an inside job and brings the Swedish Marine Thomas Kallin to investigate Paul undercover as his driver. The naive Kallin is double-crossed but continues his investigation while Larsson finds the truth about the heist.
Joe Maddison's War · 2010Joe Maddison's War
★ 4.22010
MovieWarDrama
Newcastle, 1939. Shipyard worker Joe feels emasculated and past his prime; too old to serve in the war, and he’s shocked when his wife leaves him for a younger naval officer. Needing a new challenge, Joe and his friend Harry reluctantly volunteer to join the Home Guard.
Belonging · 2004Belonging
★ 5.92004
MovieDramaRomance
After giving up her job as a librarian to care for her husband’s elderly family, Jess’ world falls apart when he leaves her for a younger woman.
Coming Through · 1985Coming Through
★ 4.71985
MovieRomanceDrama
While researching the work of author D.H. Lawrence (Kenneth Branagh), Kate (Alison Steadman) begins a romance with a fellow academic, and learns about Lawrence's love affair with the married aristocrat Frieda Von Richthofen (Helen Mirren) in this made-for-television drama. As Lawrence and Von Richthofen fall deeper into their forbidden relationship, Kate grows more familiar with Lawrence's work, such as the sensuous Lady Chatterly's Lover.
Bewitched · 1983Bewitched
1983
MovieDramaMystery
The story is set in a small English coastal town, around the turn of the century. A young woman, thought by many in the village to be a witch, dies suddenly one day. Not long after she's buried, the villagers begin to see her walking around the area and especially along the shoreline. The village minister begins to look into her life and her death, hoping to lay the spirit to rest.
Death Is Part of the Process · 1986Death Is Part of the Process
★ 8.01986
MovieDramaTV Movie
South Africa in the 60s. The campaign of sabotage is halted and the arrests continue. The Special Branch obviously have inside Information.
Land of Green Ginger · 1973Land of Green Ginger
★ 10.01973
MovieDramaTV Movie
Faced with the prospect of being sent to work abroad, Sally Brown returns home from London to Hull, to see if she still feels the same attachment for her home town - and for her old boyfriend Mike Thurlow. Will she decide to take the job abroad or return to live with Mike in Hull?
Practical Experience · 1976Practical Experience
1976
Movie
'I'm unusual. I really want to be an architect. Always have done. Always wanted to build fine buildings and fine cities where people can work and eat and sleep and be happy. But the rules of the game say before you can do that you've got to start a firm. Employ people. Turn it into a career. I like architecture. I hate careers. The minute you make it a career you build a ladder and people want to climb it. Sometimes they stand on your fingers. It's hard to draw with flattened fingers. Spoils your draughtsmanship.'
On Your Way, Riley! · 1985On Your Way, Riley!
★ 8.01985
MovieDramaTV Movie
Biopic of Arthur Lucan, who portrayed Old Mother Riley for over twenty years on stage and screen.
Misterioso · 1991Misterioso
1991
MovieDramaTV Movie
On the death of her mother, a young woman in northern England learns that her father is actually her step-father. She embarks on a search for her birth father, finds him running a jazz club in London, and learns a lot of happy and sad things about her family that she didn't know before. The title of the film is the classic jazz piece, "Misterioso," by Thelonious Monk, which features prominently in it.
TV Shows
Midsomer Murders · 1997Midsomer Murders
★ 7.51997
SeriesCrimeDrama
The peacefulness of the Midsomer community is shattered by violent crimes, suspects are placed under suspicion, and it is up to a veteran DCI and his young sergeant to calmly and diligently eliminate the innocent and ruthlessly pursue the guilty.
Play for Today · 1970Play for Today
★ 6.61970
SeriesDrama
Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.
Z-Cars · 1962Z-Cars
★ 7.31962
SeriesDrama
Z-Cars or Z Cars is a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown, based on Kirkby, Merseyside. Produced by the BBC, it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978.
Playhouse · 1974Playhouse
★ 7.01974
SeriesDrama
A one-hour anthology television series of one-off contemporary and classic dramas produced by the BBC.
Sherlock Holmes · 1984Sherlock Holmes
★ 8.21984
SeriesCrimeDrama
Sherlock Holmes uses his abilities to take on cases by private clients and those that the Scotland Yard are unable to solve, along with his friend Dr. Watson.
Softly, Softly · 1966Softly, Softly
★ 7.51966
SeriesDramaCrime
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern, supposedly in the Bristol area of England.
Theatre 625 · 1964Theatre 625
★ 7.21964
SeriesDrama
Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line format, which only BBC2 used at the time.
Lewis · 2007Lewis
★ 7.62007
SeriesCrimeDrama
Inspector Robert Lewis and Sergeant James Hathaway solve the tough cases that the learned inhabitants of Oxford throw at them.
Thirty-Minute Theatre · 1965Thirty-Minute Theatre
★ 4.21965
SeriesDrama
An anthology of short plays shown on BBC Television between 1965 and 1973, used in part at least as a training ground for new writers, on account of its short length, and which therefore attracted many writers who later became well known.
ITV Playhouse · 1967ITV Playhouse
★ 7.01967
SeriesDrama
ITV Playhouse is a British comedy-drama TV series that ran from 1967 to 1983, which featured contributions from playwrights such as Dennis Potter, Rhys Adrian and Alan Sharp. The series began in black and white, but was later shot in colour and was produced by various companies for the ITV network, a format that would inspire Dramarama. Actors appearing in the series included Leslie Anderson, Gwen Nelson, Ricky Alleyne, Pat Heywood, Michael Elphick, Ian Hendry, Edward Woodward, Margaret Lockwood, Jessie Matthews and Lloyd Peters.
The Wednesday Play · 1964The Wednesday Play
★ 5.21964
SeriesDrama
An anthology series of television plays which aired on BBC1 from October 1964 to May 1970. The plays were usually written for television, although adaptations from other sources also featured.
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries · 1987The Ruth Rendell Mysteries
★ 6.61987
SeriesDramaMystery
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.
Dalziel and Pascoe · 1996Dalziel and Pascoe
★ 6.41996
SeriesMysteryCrime
In the fictional Yorkshire town of Wetherton, the unlikely duo of politically incorrect elephant-in-a-China-shop-copper DS Andrew Dalziel (pronounced Dee-ell) and his more sensitive and university educated sidekick DS, later DI, Peter Pascoe is always on hand to solve the classic murder mystery, while maintaining down-to-Earth wit and humour.
BBC2 Play of the Week · 1977BBC2 Play of the Week
★ 7.01977
SeriesDramaComedy
An anthology of plays and novels adapted into feature length TV movies, broadcast on BBC2 from September 1977 to April 1979.
Legends · 2006Legends
★ 5.02006
SeriesDocumentary
The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.
Screen One · 1989Screen One
★ 7.21989
SeriesDrama
Anthology drama series.
Maigret · 1992Maigret
★ 7.61992
SeriesDramaCrime
Based on the novels by Georges Simenon, Michael Gambon plays the eponymous detective from the Sûreté in this 1992 revival of the 1960s BBC drama series. Maigret is an intuitutive detective, who investigates his cases by watching and listening, getting to know everyone on his list of suspects until someone makes a slip or breaks down and confesses.
The Play on One · 1988The Play on One
★ 6.01988
SeriesDrama
A series of television plays, some original, some based on pre-existing plays or novels.
The Afternoon Play · 2003The Afternoon Play
★ 6.52003
SeriesDramaComedy
The Afternoon Play is a British television anthology series of standalone contemporary dramas aired during the afternoons of 2003–07 on BBC One, featuring well-known actors in one-off stories. A daytime drama strand showcasing a variety of genres, from comedy to mystery, it was part of a long tradition of afternoon plays on BBC Radio 4, which would go on to influence the television version.
Campion · 1989Campion
★ 6.31989
SeriesMysteryDrama
Campion is a television show made by the BBC, adapting the Albert Campion mystery novels written by Margery Allingham. Two series were made, in 1989 and 1990, starring Peter Davison as Campion, Brian Glover as his manservant Magersfontein Lugg and Andrew Burt as his policeman friend Stanislaus Oates.
A total of eight novels were adapted, four in each series, each of which was originally broadcast as two separate hour-long episodes. Peter Davison sang the title music for the first series himself; in the second series, it was replaced with an instrumental version.
The Edwardians · 1972The Edwardians
★ 6.31972
SeriesDrama
The Edwardians is an eight-part miniseries broadcast in 1972–73. An anthology, each 90-minute episode explores influential figure(s) of the Edwardian era: Charles Rolls and Henry Royce; Horatio Bottomley; E. Nesbit; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; Robert Baden-Powell; Marie Lloyd; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; and David Lloyd George.
Cribb · 1980Cribb
★ 8.01980
SeriesMysteryCrime
Victorian England, the late 1800s: Detective Sergeant Daniel Cribb of the newly formed Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is determined to remove crime from the streets of London using the latest detection methods.
Trinity Tales · 1975Trinity Tales
1975
SeriesDramaComedy
On their way to London for the Rugby League final, a group of northerners start telling each other stories, in the manner of Chaucer's pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.
The Barchester Chronicles · 1982The Barchester Chronicles
★ 7.31982
SeriesDrama
The Barchester Chronicles is a 1982 BBC television serial produced by Jonathan Powell and dramatised by Alan Plater, based on Anthony Trollope's first two Chronicles of Barsetshire, The Warden (1855) and Barchester Towers (1857).
Against the sumptuous background of Peterborough Cathedral and its environs, one is carried into Trollope's world of the intriguing machinations of the clerical establishment of Barchester. Backed by the authenticity of the period detail, the portrayal of all the characters accurately conveys the whole range of human emotions within the stories.