Bill Dean
Biography: Bill Dean was a British actor who was born in Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire. He was born Patrick Anthony Connolly, but took his stage name in honour of Everton football legend William 'Dixie' Dean. After a atring of jobs, it was his work as a Lancashire club comedian that saw him spotted by Ken Loach who gave him his breakthrough role in his TV play The Golden Vision. Famous for his flat but penetrating Scouse tones, Dean went on to star as miserable pensioner Harry Cross in the long running Channel 4 soap Brookside from its inception in 1983 to 1990. He briefly returned to the series in 1999 for three episodes, when his character re-appeared in Brookside Close suffering from Alzheimer's disease and wrongly believing that he still lived there. The same character was the inspiration behind the 1980s group 'Jegsy Dodd and the sons of Harry Cross' who hailed from the Wirral and Dean himself appeared in the video of the Liverpudlian band The Farm's Groovy Train as Cross, who was a former train driver. He did of a heart attack aged 78 in 2000.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: September 03, 1921
Deathday: April 20, 2000
Popularity:
Known For
Match of the Day
1974-03-18
Match of the Day
Overview: Chance has missed the match, but the girls at his sister's wedding might make up for it
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1974-03-18
Popularity:
Waiting at the Field Gate
1975-04-03
Waiting at the Field Gate
Overview: Lightning Gallat is the village slaughterer and a man of distinction. Where does he draw the line?
Genres: TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-04-03
Popularity:
In Sickness and in Health
1975-05-21
In Sickness and in Health
Overview: A hard-working doctor must also carry the burden of a turbulent home life, due to the expectations of his demanding wife. Part of Thames Televison's Armchair Cinema.
Genres: TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-05-21
Popularity:
Flame
1975-02-13
Flame
Overview: Light the Rock 'n Roll spark with a Flame in the guise of Dave, Noddy, Jim and Don and their showcase of the rise and demise of rock band Flame. Set in the hardships of North England's seventies working class society and music scene. This build-up from rags to riches is a parody of realism and grit, with double-dealings and harsh unforgiving dog eat dog mentalities, and the golden rule; if you play with matches then you're going to get burnt, in the flames of the music industry.
Genres: Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-02-13
Popularity:
Family Life
1971-11-17
Family Life
Overview: A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-11-17
Popularity:
Beasts: What Big Eyes
1976-11-13
Beasts: What Big Eyes
Overview: An RSPCA officer is horrified when he discovers a pet shop owner has been conducting experiments on a wolf, searching for proof of lycanthropy. Created as an episode of Nigel Kneale’s “Beasts” horror anthology miniseries.
Genres: Horror TV Movie Drama Mystery
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-11-13
Popularity:
Going Gently
1981-06-05
Going Gently
Overview: Play about two elderly cancer patients suffering in hospital.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-06-05
Popularity:
Brookside: Friday the 13th
1998-11-14
Brookside: Friday the 13th
Overview: There is trouble a-plenty in store for the Corkhill clan in this video-only special. Series creator Phil Redmond has returned to pen a dramatic script which follows on from a weekend special.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-11-14
Popularity:
Night Watch
1973-11-08
Night Watch
Overview: A woman recovering from a nervous breakdown tries to convince her husband and and the local London police that she has witnessed a murder in the abandoned house next door.
Genres: Mystery Thriller Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-11-08
Popularity:
Scum
1979-09-12
Scum
Overview: Powerful, uncompromising drama about two boys' struggle for survival in the nightmare world of Britain's notorious Borstal Reformatory.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1979-09-12
Popularity:
Priest
1995-03-24
Priest
Overview: The deeply held religious convictions of an idealistic young priest are challenged when he must face extraordinary events within his own congregation.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1995-03-24
Popularity:
Break In
1975-11-06
Break In
Overview: Written by Willy Russell, Break In tells the story of three boys who break in to their school during the holidays to retrieve a confiscated football.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-11-06
Popularity:
Night People
1978-12-06
Night People
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1978-12-06
Popularity:
The Rank and File
1971-05-20
The Rank and File
Overview: Wilkinsons glass-works dominates a Staffordshire town. After a small walkout over pay discrepancies, the workers of the factory vote to go on strike, but they are denied support by their trade union.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-05-20
Popularity:
The Golden Vision
1968-04-17
The Golden Vision
Overview: The obsessive supporters of Everton FC forsake wives, families and God to follow their beloved team. Meanwhile, the club and its players try to live up to their expectations.
Genres: Comedy TV Movie Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1968-04-17
Popularity:
Gumshoe
1971-12-01
Gumshoe
Overview: A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.
Genres: Drama Comedy Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-12-01
Popularity:
Speech Day
1973-03-26
Speech Day
Overview: Speech Day is a bit of a laugh if you are not one of nature's prize-winners. But now that they've finished with school and school with them, what comes next for Ronnie, Wally and Rob?
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-03-26
Popularity:
Kes
1970-04-03
Kes
Overview: Bullied at school and ignored and abused at home by his indifferent mother and older brother, Billy Casper, a 15-year-old working-class Yorkshire boy, tames and trains his pet kestrel falcon whom he names Kes. Helped and encouraged by his English teacher and his fellow students, Billy finally finds a positive purpose to his unhappy existence—until tragedy strikes.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-04-03
Popularity:
Slayground
1983-12-01
Slayground
Overview: Stone (Peter Coyote) hits an armored truck without his usual driver. The ensuing getaway leads to the death of an innocent. The payback is swift and brutal. The wronged father hires a twisted, sociopathic assassin to avenge his loss. One by one the offenders are punished through grisly executions. Stone uses his wits to find a reclusive friend Terry (Mel Smith) just in time for a psychedelic funhouse showdown with his stalker.
Genres: Action Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1983-12-01
Popularity:
The Big Flame
1969-02-19
The Big Flame
Overview: After a prolonged industrial dispute in the Liverpool Docks, the striking workers reject management demands of a return to work and decide instead to occupy the docks and run the operation themselves.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1969-02-19
Popularity:
Hillsborough
1996-09-11
Hillsborough
Overview: Drama based on the real life events of April 1989, when ninety-six Liverpool supporters were crushed to death during an F.A. Cup Semi-Final match against Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium. This movie follows three Liverpudlian families before the match, during the tragedy and at the ensuing court battles which tried to decide who was to blame and what went wrong.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-09-11
Popularity:
Let Him Have It
1991-10-04
Let Him Have It
Overview: In 1950s England, slow-witted Derek Bentley falls in with a group of petty criminals led by Chris Craig, a teenager with a fondness for American gangster films. Chris and Derek's friendship leads to their involvement in the true case which would forever shake England's belief in capital punishment.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-10-04
Popularity:
Rising Damp
1980-05-03
Rising Damp
Overview: Stingy landlord Rigsby manages to scam his lodgers John, an art student, and Philip, an African medical student, making both pay for a room they must share. However Rigsby's favorite lodger, Miss Jones, flirts with Philip rather than him, despite his pitiful attempts at seduction.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1980-05-03
Popularity:
The Mirror Crack'd
1980-09-19
The Mirror Crack'd
Overview: Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
Genres: Mystery Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1980-09-19
Popularity:
Skallagrigg
1994-03-09
Skallagrigg
Overview: Back in the 'bad old days' when the physically and mentally disabled were locked away in institutions a legend grew of someone who could stand up to the authorities and help them. This charming story is how a group of disabled people went to chase that legend. To assist them John is forced to come to terms with his daughter and her friends.
Genres: Drama TV Movie Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-03-09
Popularity:
Bag of Yeast
1976-02-22
Bag of Yeast
Overview: When teacher Tony Scannell decides he wants to be ordained as a Catholic Priest his decision has wide ranging effects on his family and loved ones.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1976-02-22
Popularity:
After a Lifetime
1971-07-18
After a Lifetime
Overview: Ken Loach's first production for ITV, shown under the 'Sunday Night Theatre' strand (originally broadcast 18th July 1971). After a Lifetime is something of a neglected, social realist masterpiece that focuses on two brothers, brought together by the death of their father, reflecting on his life of militancy and political activism. At the time critic Nancy Banks Smith called it ‘brilliantly funny, and moving with a sort of subterranean rage’. Smith himself plays the older brother with a brilliant, raw emotion.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1971-07-18
Popularity:
Roll On Four O'Clock
1970-12-19
Roll On Four O'Clock
Overview: Compelling drama from screenwriter Colin Welland set in a city comprehensive school of low expectations and ambitions. Pupil Latimer does not conform to the macho culture and is labeled a homosexual, leading to bullying by both the pupils and some of the teachers.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1970-12-19
Popularity:
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business
1973-02-01
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business
Overview: Capitalising on his remarkable success in On the Buses, Reg Varney took on the contrasting role of a third-rate holiday camp entertainer dreaming of stardom in this mid-seventies comedy feature. Also starring fellow sitcom favourite Diana Coupland and Lee Montague, The Best Pair of Legs in the Business was adapted from an individual ITV Playhouse drama and scripted by Emmerdale Farm creator Kevin Laffan. 'Sherry' Sheridan, a middle-aged compère and drag artiste currently stationed at a caravan site, is low on talent but high on ambition. Convinced he just needs one decent break to launch himself into the big time, he's relentlessly optimistic - but sadly unaware that his family life is crumbling around him. Can Sherry manage to secure both his job, and his marriage?
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1973-02-01
Popularity:
A Turn for the Worse
1981-04-28
A Turn for the Worse
Overview: Simon Simpson runs an entertainment agency in Liverpool. At one of his regular auditions in The Bootle Railway Club he sees an aggressive young man fresh from the dole queue who dreams of becoming a professional comedian. Simpson believes the boy has talent and starts to groom him for 'stardom'.
Genres: Comedy TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-04-28
Popularity:
Bank Holiday
1972-03-02
Bank Holiday
Overview: 18-year-old friends Todd and Towzer set off by motorbike to spend a Bank Holiday weekend in Scarborough. Their long hair, cut-off denim jackets, medals, badges and swastikas lead to hostility from everyone they meet, including the police
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1972-03-02
Popularity:
Freedom of the Dig
1978-10-23
Freedom of the Dig
Overview: After 15 years in HM Prisons, Emerson just wants to keep his nose clean and get out. Working on the Stone Age fort keeps him away from trouble, but there are other problems apart from the weather
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1978-10-23
Popularity: