Getting to Know You

Fatty Issues

The cloak and dagger antics of a girl alone at home on a diet - weighing raisins, fiddling the scales, changing the definition of 'fruit' and blaming it all on her boyfriend...

She’s My Best Friend (and I Hate Her)

Old friends Milly and June wait impatiently for each other outside a coffee shop. The longer they wait, the more annoyed they get, causing past hurts and old resentments to play on their minds.

Pond Life

Pond Life is a British animated television series that was written and directed by Candy Guard and follows the misadventures of its neurotic and self-obsessed protagonist, Dolly Pond. Two series were broadcast on Channel 4 in 1996 and 2000. A series of 13x15minute episodes was screened from 3 to 18 December 1996, mainly at 5.45pm, but two episodes exploring more adult themes were reserved for a double screening at 11.25pm. This series was repeated between March and June 1998. A second series of 7x30minute episodes followed between 19–30 September 2000 to tie-in with Channel 4's Animation Week of 23–29 September 2000. The series began life in 1992 with a pilot episode entitled I Want a Boyfriend ... Or Do I?, co-commissioned by Channel 4 and S4C. Pond Life was Guard's second breakthrough and was commissioned by Channel 4 in 1996. Scheduling problems marred the series' reception; it was originally intended for broadcast at 9.45pm, but was shown four hours earlier, which required edits to remove adult language. It was shown at the same time as Australian soap Neighbours, and was aimed at the same core audience as the soap. Despite these problems, Pond Life won several awards and received a Writer's Guild nomination for Best Sitcom. Guard was pleased because it was up against several live-action comedy series, including Only Fools and Horses. A second series was broadcast in 2000.

Alternative Fringe

Famous for combining extremely simple line drawings with biting humour she lays bare the frustrations encountered by ordinary women in their daily lives. Candy Guard once disarmingly described her job as "writing funny stories and then drawing pictures to go with them", which goes some way towards explaining her success as both an animator and newspaper cartoonist.

The Wrong Type

A temp with a typing speed of no words a minute finds herself way out of her depth when sent to work at a large corporation, by a rather desperate Temping Agency, 'SuperTemps'...

Moanologue

A girl decides that the problem with her relationship with her boyfriend is him - listing all the things he doesn't do - buy gifts, look happy to see her, give her compliments etc etc - when he finally storms off she has a change of heart...

Wishful Thinking

Two friends have high hopes for a party, arrive much too early, meet no-one but an awful lech, witness a suicide attempt by the hostess and find themselves as usual, mostly interested in the buffet...

The Anxious Person + Returning Something to the Shop

Millie buys some new boots at lunchtime and wears them back to the office - but they are too tight - and now she's worn them! Why did she buy them? her best friend June asks helpfully..... She nervously imagines what the assistant will say when she takes them back and how she will have an answer for everything ...

Ladies

Ladies in neighbouring toilet cubicles agonise over what their neighbour might be thinking about them.

Fantastic Person

A delusional woman plans out tomorrow after loafing around in her own apartment.

What About Me?

Two over-sensitive friends get together for a chat and a cup of tea to talk about their favourite subject – themselves…

A Little Something

An ironic examination of personal identity and social conventions, in this tale of a teenage girl who resolves her anxieties by wearing a paper bag on her head, permanently.

The Bag Lady

In Candy Guard's debut film, an overweight woman with a bag on her head sits down and swears at everyone she sees.

My Mom's New Boyfriend

After several years away, FBI agent Henry Durand returns to find his mother, Marty, a much different person: Having long mourned for Henry's father, she is now embracing single life. One day, while Marty, Henry and his new fiancée, Emily, are out for a walk, they meet Tommy, a mysterious stranger with whom Marty then becomes involved. However, through his FBI contacts, Henry learns that Tommy is suspected of being an art thief. As a young federal agent, Henry is given a difficult assignment: spy on his mother and her boyfriend who is suspected of leading a gang of art thieves.

The Cry of the Owl

Fleeing New York City, a failed marriage and a fragile mental history, artist Robert Forrester moves to small-town Pennsylvania. There he becomes fascinated with the simple domesticity of a beautiful neighbor, watching her through the windows of her home --- until she invites him in for coffee. He is drawn into a relationship with the young woman whose boyfriend goes missing; Robert becomes a murder suspect, gradually sensing he is the target of a larger plot.

Notting Hill

London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with famous actress Anna Scott sparks an unlikely romance challenged by their vastly different worlds.

Alice Adams

In the lower-middle-class Adams family, father and son are happy to work in a drugstore, but mother and daughter Alice try every possible social-climbing stratagem despite snubs and embarrassment. When Alice finally meets her dream man Arthur, mother nags father into a risky business venture and plans to impress Alice's beau with an "upscale" family dinner. Will the excruciating results drive Arthur away?