Jack May
Biography: Jack May was a mellifluous-voiced actor best known for playing butlers and establishment figures, often representing Britain's interests in far-flung corners of the empire. With regards the former, he memorably played William E. Simms, former music hall artise turned manservant to Gerald Harper's titular swashbuckling adventurer in '60s TV cult classic Adam Adamant Lives! as well as providing the voice of Igor, the long-suffering valet in Cosgrove Hall's 1980s animation Count Duckula. His film credits included the district commissioner in 1975's The Man Who Would Be King and the prosecuting naval attorney in the remake of The Bounty (1984). For many, May was Nelson Gabriel 'the most disreputable character in Ambridge' in BBC Radio 4's long-running soap The Archers. May took the role of the shady rogue, later antique dealer and wine bar owner, in 1952 and continued to play him right up until the year of his death, 1997. This 45 year stint made May, at the time, the fourth-longest serving soap opera star in the world. He died at the age of 75, on 19 September 1997, survived by his wife, the actress Petra Davies, his daughter Henrietta, and son David.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: April 23, 1922
Deathday: September 19, 1997
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Known For
The Man Who Would Be King
1975-12-03
The Man Who Would Be King
Overview: A robust adventure about two British adventurers who take over primitive Kafiristan as "godlike" rulers, meeting a tragic end through their desire for a native girl. Based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling.
Genres: Adventure Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-12-03
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The Doctor and the Devils
1985-10-04
The Doctor and the Devils
Overview: In Victorian England, two grave robbers supply a wealthy doctor with bodies to research anatomy on, but greed causes them to look for a more simple way to get the job done.
Genres: Horror History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-10-04
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Brief Encounter
1945-11-24
Brief Encounter
Overview: Returning home from a shopping trip to a nearby town, bored suburban housewife Laura Jesson is thrown by happenstance into an acquaintance with virtuous doctor Alec Harvey. Their casual friendship soon develops during their weekly visits into something more emotionally fulfilling than either expected, and they must wrestle with the potential havoc their deepening relationship would have on their lives and the lives of those they love.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-11-24
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The Bounty
1984-05-04
The Bounty
Overview: The familiar story of Lieutenant Bligh, whose cruelty leads to a mutiny on his ship. This version follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British retribution, and the epic voyage of Lieutenant Bligh to get his loyalists safely to East Timor in a tiny lifeboat.
Genres: Action Drama History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1984-05-04
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The Men of Sherwood Forest
1954-11-01
The Men of Sherwood Forest
Overview: Robin Hood is persuaded by two nobles whom he believes to be loyal to King Richard to recover secret plans attaining to the rescue of the king from captivity in Germany. Though disguised as a troubadour, Robin is betrayed and captured. Lady Alys and the merry men help him escape in time to foil an intended ambush on King Richard as he returns from the Crusades.
Genres: Adventure History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-11-01
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The Gentle Sex
1943-05-23
The Gentle Sex
Overview: During the War seven women from very different backgrounds find themselves together in the Auxiliary Territorial Services. They are soon drilling, driving lorries, and manning ack-ack batteries.
Genres: Comedy Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-05-23
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Emma's Time
1970-05-13
Emma's Time
Overview: After the death of novelist Robert Kelvin, his mistress Emma tries to adjust and reflects upon their relationship.
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-05-13
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The Professionals
1960-01-01
The Professionals
Overview: A renowned safecracker and his crew try to rob a bank by entering the vault through the sewer system.
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1960-01-01
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There Was a Crooked Man
1960-08-31
There Was a Crooked Man
Overview: When a law-abiding demolition expert is duped by a gang of criminals into helping them he is caught and jailed. When he is released he goes straight and then notices a leading citizen in his town is cheating his neighbours.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1960-08-31
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A Night to Remember
1958-07-03
A Night to Remember
Overview: The sinking of the Titanic is presented in a highly realistic fashion in this tense British drama. The disaster is portrayed largely from the perspective of the ocean liner's second officer, Charles Lightoller. Despite numerous warnings about ice, the ship sails on, with Capt. Edward John Smith keeping it going at a steady clip. When the doomed vessel finally hits an iceberg, the crew and passengers discover that they lack enough lifeboats, and tragedy follows.
Genres: Drama Action History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-07-03
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Night After Night After Night
1969-01-01
Night After Night After Night
Overview: There's a killer on the loose in London, and whilst our typically craggy copper DI Rowan investigates, Judge Lomax is busy in court, dishing out harsh sentences to everyone who comes before him.
Genres: Horror Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1969-01-01
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The Traitors
1962-05-01
The Traitors
Overview: The cat and mouse game between government agents and a spy ring that has taken secret documents from a plane crash in Germany, not far from an US military research centre.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1962-05-01
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The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
1981-02-09
The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
Overview: An Earth Man and his alien friend escape an exploding Earth, and set forth on an odd adventure across the universe with a known fugitive.
Genres: Adventure Comedy Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-02-09
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The Blue Lamp
1950-01-19
The Blue Lamp
Overview: P.C. George Dixon is a long-serving traditional copper who is due to retire shortly. He takes a new recruit under his aegis and introduces him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic ordinary hero but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of the 1950s.
Genres: Crime Thriller Action
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-01-19
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Pool of London
1951-02-20
Pool of London
Overview: Jewel thieves, murder, and a manhunt swirl around a sailor off a cargo ship in post-war London.
Genres: Crime Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-02-20
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Goodbye, Mr. Chips
1969-11-05
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Overview: Academy Award-honoree Peter O'Toole stars in this musical classic about a prim English schoolmaster who learns to show his compassion through the help of an outgoing showgirl. O'Toole, who received his fourth Oscar-nomination for this performance, is joined by '60s pop star Petula Clark and fellow Oscar-nominee Michael Redgrave.
Genres: Drama Music Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1969-11-05
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A Prize of Arms
1962-12-11
A Prize of Arms
Overview: A criminal gang sets out to pull off the heist of a large army payroll.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1962-12-11
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The Breaking of Colonel Keyser
1972-10-17
The Breaking of Colonel Keyser
Overview: Battalion Commander of the Third Wiltshire Light Infantry is Colonel Keyser. On recent evidence, he is either a psychopathic personality or something very close to it. He could turn out to be the best battalion commander in the division. As the Allies prepare for invasion in 1944, will his reputed psychopathic personality be a good or bad thing, when leading his men into D-Day?
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1972-10-17
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Friends and Other Lovers
1981-08-05
Friends and Other Lovers
Overview: Traces the history of Anna who leaves school and becomes a prostitute. Three years later she becomes involved with a lecturer at college in Oxford.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-08-05
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Trog
1970-10-24
Trog
Overview: Anthropologist Dr. Brockton unearths a primitive troglodyte -- an Ice Age "missing link": half-caveman, half-ape -- in a local cave. Through medical experimentation, she manages to communicate with him and domesticate him before he's let loose by an irate land developer and goes on a rampage, terrorizing the local citizenry.
Genres: Horror Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-10-24
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Stranger in the Family
1965-10-18
Stranger in the Family
Overview: A boy is skilled at telepathy and in mind control. He attracts the attention of the government.
Genres: TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1965-10-18
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Soap Opera in Stockwell
1973-09-11
Soap Opera in Stockwell
Overview: A baby is snatched from outside a launderette. The manageress and customers try to work out who was responsible.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-09-11
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Solo for Sparrow
1962-09-01
Solo for Sparrow
Overview: A group of crooks accidentally kill an elderly shop assistant while stealing the keys to the jewellery shop where she works. When his superiors think that the case is better handed over to Scotland Yard, the local detective inspector, Sparrow, decides to go solo to investigate the crime himself.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1962-09-01
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Cat Girl
1957-09-01
Cat Girl
Overview: A psychiatrist treats a woman who is convinced that she turns into a killer leopard because of a family curse.
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1957-09-01
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The Silent Enemy
1958-03-04
The Silent Enemy
Overview: The Mediterranean, 1941/42 - Axis forces are using frogmen and manned torpedoes to attack previously impregnable harbours. The Allied forces need to come up with something to answer this threat, which they find in the form of Lt. Lionel "Buster" Crabb.
Genres: History War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1958-03-04
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Whinfrey's Last Case
1979-10-10
Whinfrey's Last Case
Overview: In 1913 the British government, hearing that the Germans are planning World War I, ask top agent Whinfrey to intervene, but instead he decides to go on holiday to Cornish fishing village Torpoint. Here he believes he has stumbled upon a smuggling ring, but in fact they are Germans who are masquerading as locals in an advance invasion party. The British arrive and arrest them, believing that Whinfrey deliberately planned everything - though it is apparent that he did not.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-10-10
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The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
1976-10-24
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Overview: Concerned about his friend's cocaine use, Dr. Watson tricks Sherlock Holmes into travelling to Vienna, where Holmes enters the care of Sigmund Freud. Freud attempts to solve the mysteries of Holmes' subconscious, while Holmes devotes himself to solving a mystery involving the kidnapping of Lola Deveraux.
Genres: Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-10-24
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The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
1981-03-04
The Life and Times of David Lloyd George
Overview: The Life and Times of David Lloyd George charts the life of the controversial Liberal politician with Philip Madoc in the titular role. The title theme, Chi Mai, was by Ennio Morricone
Genres: Drama History TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-03-04
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Deadlock
1943-10-01
Deadlock
Overview: A murderous twin gets his comeuppance.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-10-01
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1966-10-16
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Overview: A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
Genres: Music Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1966-10-16
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Henry VIII
1979-02-25
Henry VIII
Overview: Henry is a proud monarch who flies in the face of the church in seeking to divorce Queen Katherine and marry Anne Bullen. As cardinal Wolsey, the powerful Lord Chancellor of England, attempts to bend Rome to the King's wishes, the court reverbates with political intrigue and accusations of treachery.
Genres: History Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-02-25
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This Happy Breed
1944-05-28
This Happy Breed
Overview: In 1919, Frank Gibbons returns home from army duty and moves into a middle-class row house, bringing with him wife Ethel, carping mother-in-law Mrs. Flint, sister-in-law Sylvia and three children. Years pass, with the daily routine of family infighting and reconciliation occasionally broken by a strike or a festival.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-05-28
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Millions Like Us
1943-06-01
Millions Like Us
Overview: When Celia Crowson is called up for war service, she hopes for a glamorous job in one of the services, but as a single girl, she is directed into a factory making aircraft parts. Here she meets other girls from all different walks of life and begins a relationship with a young airman.
Genres: Drama War Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-06-01
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Big Zapper
1973-07-05
Big Zapper
Overview: A female private detective, Harriet Zapper, is hired by a rich old man to find his missing children, and becomes involved in counterfeiting and murder.
Genres: Action Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-07-05
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How I Won the War
1967-10-18
How I Won the War
Overview: An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
Genres: Comedy War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-10-18
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The Shooting Party
1985-02-01
The Shooting Party
Overview: 1913, shortly before the outbreak of WWI. A group of aristocrats gathers at the estate of Sir Randolph Nettleby for a weekend shoot. As the terminal decrepitude of a dying class is reflected in the social interactions and hypocrisy of its members, only world weary Sir Randolph seems to realise that the sun is setting.
Genres: Drama Romance History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-02-01
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Johnny Frenchman
1945-10-29
Johnny Frenchman
Overview: 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.
Genres: Comedy Drama War Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-10-29
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The Return of the Soldier
1983-01-06
The Return of the Soldier
Overview: The horrors of World War I have robbed returning veteran Chris Baldry of his memory. The traumatized soldier doesn't even recognize his own wife, Kitty, or remember their years together. While Baldry attempts to cope with the unfamiliar surroundings of his own home, he seeks out the company of an old flame from his childhood, Margaret Grey. His amnesia also makes him a ready target for the affections of his older cousin, Jenny.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1983-01-06
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Hard Road
1988-01-01
Hard Road
Overview: When Kelly and Max, two 13-year olds from widely different social backgrounds, form an unlikely alliance and take off in Max's father's Ferrari for an illegal trip to Brighton. On the way they discover more about life and each other than they had bargained for.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-01-01
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Willie's War
1994-01-01
Willie's War
Overview: When 10-year-old Willie is evacuated from the East End of London, he is chosen by Zander, 13-year-old son of an army captain, to be his companion in a rambling country house.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-01-01
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A Swarm in May
1983-12-26
A Swarm in May
Overview: John Owen returns to the Choir School at the start of term to find that he is the youngest Singing Boy in the school. This means he must also be Beekeeper - a traditional role. One of the traditional duties of the Beekeeper is to sing a solo in the Cathedral. Owen hates and dreads the prospect, so he persuades the smallest boy in the school, Iddingley, to take his place. Then, while exploring one of the Cathedral towers without permission, Owen finds something which makes him change his mind, and solves a mystery which has been baffling people for hundreds of years...
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1983-12-26
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Doctor Who: The Space Pirates
1969-04-12
Doctor Who: The Space Pirates
Overview: The TARDIS materialises in Earth's future on a space beacon just before it is attacked by pirates. The travellers find themselves trapped in a sealed section of the beacon. It is blown apart and flown to where the pirates will plunder it of the precious mineral argonite. They witness a conflict between the pirates and the Interstellar Space Corps, led by General Hermack and Major Warne. The ISC are convinced that the pirates' mastermind is an innocent yet eccentric space mining pioneer named Milo Clancey, while their true leader is a man named Caven. Caven has a secret base on the planet Ta. He is assisted by Madeleine Issigri, daughter of Clancey's ex-partner Dom, who - unknown to her - is now his captive. When Madeleine discovers Caven's full treachery, she helps to bring him to justice. The time travellers are given a lift back to the TARDIS by Clancey in his rickety old ship, the LIZ 79.
Genres: Science Fiction Drama Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1969-04-12
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A Twist of Sand
1968-11-01
A Twist of Sand
Overview: A former British Naval Officer now makes his living by smuggling goods around the Mediterranean. After being forced to dump his cargo after nearly being caught by the authorities in Malta, he is eager to recoup his losses. When a former colleague appears and tells a wild story about smuggling diamonds out of South West Africa, he sees his chance to make a lot of money....
Genres: Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-11-01
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The Last Invasion
1966-08-24
The Last Invasion
Overview: A film following Harold II at the Battle of Hastings
Genres: History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1966-08-24
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The Gay Dog
1954-06-01
The Gay Dog
Overview: Jim Gay loves his racing greyhound but, out of town, he finds a dog with a better chance to win. His friends bet on his dog while he bets against.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1954-06-01
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Behind the Headlines
1953-10-09
Behind the Headlines
Overview:
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1953-10-09
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Saraband for Dead Lovers
1948-10-04
Saraband for Dead Lovers
Overview: Sophie Dorothea is a young woman forced into a loveless marriage with Prince George Louis of Hanover. George Louis is later crowned King George I of England. Despairing of ever experiencing true love, the depressed queen finds life at court no solace. Sophie then falls for a dashing Swedish soldier of fortune, Count Konigsmark.
Genres: Romance History Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-10-04
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