Dirty Work

One wartime Christmas the well-to-do Ferguson family extends a festive welcome to various strays, with comic results.

A group of guests come to stay with the Stoatt family in the seaside town of Eden Bay for Christmas. They soon become involved with an impoverished concert performer whose innocent presence in the house leads to a series of misunderstandings.

Geoffrey and his wife Anne are trapped in a stifling marriage, which neither feels able to leave. When Geoffrey's boyhood friend, Ernest, and his new wife, Elma, come for a long visit, it's soon apparent that their marriage is equally unhappy. As Ernest and Anne strike up a supposedly secret affair, Geoffrey and Elma do everything they can to encourage their spouses' infidelity, whilst also pretending to be blissfully unaware of it.

Pre-war intelligence man Tommy Blythe interrupts his honeymoon to investigate the discovery of vital Air Ministry blueprints on a woman killed in a London road accident. The trail leads to a boarding house in Notting Hill and its varied tenants.

Generational family struggles for control of a family business in 19th century Yorkshire, and to be the Master of Bankdam.

A husband tries to hide a runaway girl from his wife and mother-on-law.

Life in the normally tranquil high society home of Joshua Howard is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious footman in this sparkling British romantic comedy hit. Richard acts like anything but a servant. He has aristocratic airs and graces, an expert knowledge of fine art and can play classical music and boogie-woogie on a grand piano with equal aplomb. And is that an Old Etonian tie he's wearing? Judy, is determined to discover Richard's true identity and the reason he's posing as a lowly footman. Bored with the attentions of vain movie stars and eccentric minor nobility, she's captivated by his easy-going charm and ready to fall. But will his scandalous secret come between them and true happiness?

Sir Duncan Craggs retires from the Colonial Service and returns to London with his new French wife. The couple are devoted to each other, but continually flirt with other people. Sir Duncan is appointed to the board of clothing retail chain. On his tour of inspection, he encounters a successful store run by the efficient Mr. Bullock. By contrast, a neighbouring shop is filled with unhelpful staff overseen by an incompetent and lazy manager, Raymond Penny, who is more interested in horseracing than running his shop. Craggs is unimpressed by Penny and summons him to a meeting in London. Both Bullock and his domineering wife travel up to London as well, fearing that Penny will tell Craggs malicious stories about them.

A retired Scotland Yard detective, Patrick Fitzpatrick (Tom Walls) comes back to take one final case, tracking down a missing vase which has been stolen by a gang of thieves specialising in taking art treasures. His investigation takes him to the home of the innocent Mr Pye (Robertson Hare), whose house has been used by the crooks to hide their proceeds.

A debt-ridden inventor has to pretend to be his cousin to avoid his creditors.

Going under cover, P.C. Mahoney passes for a gentleman to get into the notorious Moonstone Club. There he meets Clifford Tope, a ne'er do well who is love with cabaret star Cora Mellish. She in turn has run up steep gambling debts and has paid off the Club's blackmailing owner with a stolen necklace. As things heat up Cora seeks help from the easy-going Tope.

In 1922, young pianist and composer Olwen Trevelyan, troubled and sleepless over her inability to finish the final notes of her composition, falls to her death from the cliffs of Cornwall. 25 years on, Olwen has gained posthumous fame as a result of her tragic death and her haunting uncompleted composition 'The Dream of Olwen'. Her reclusive sister Julia (Sonia Dresdel), who has never come to terms with Olwen's death, becomes convinced that Olwen has returned when she meets an amnesiac woman who looks like her.

The fisherman from a Cornish village have a friendly rivalry with the fishermen (and one formidable woman) from a French port. Then war comes and they must all rethink their petty differences.

After discovering that she has only a short time left to live, concert pianist Lissa travels to Cornwall for the final fling of her life. While there, she falls in love with young mineral prospector Kit, a man whose dark secret prevents him from fighting in the War. Unbeknownst to Lissa, however, Kit's affections are also much in demand from a rival of hers.

Penniless man-about-town Michael Gore-Brown is delighted to hear he has been left a high-class Mayfair fashion salon. His intention is to sell it as quickly as possible, but on meeting Ellen, chief designer and manager, he quickly changes his mind and turns his attention to courting her.

A man is cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case, but is cheerfully unashamed when he appears in court.