Jack Davenport

A group of pirate-radio DJs duck the British government in this 1960s period comedy from romantic comedy guru Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary). Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rhys Ifans play competitive disc jockeys who work under Bill Nighy on a busted-down boat on the English Channel. Kenneth Branagh, Nick Frost, and January Jones co-star in the Universal Pictures release. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Director Gore Verbinski and the crew set sail once again for this, the third chapter in the swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is hopelessly trapped in Davy Jones's locker after a harrowing encounter with the dreaded Kracken, and now Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) must align themselves with the nefarious Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) if they hold out any hope of saving their old friend from a fate worse than death. The East India Trading Company and its fearsome leader Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander) have taken control of the ghostly Flying Dutchman and it's Captain Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), and now the baleful Admiral Norrington (Jack Davenport) has taken the helm in a relentless bid to destroy every pirate ship in his path and bring the Age of Piracy to a violent close. Meanwhile, Will, Elizabeth, and Captain Barbossa navigate treacherous waters and face bitter betrayal as they set sail to gather the only army that can stand up to Beckett -- The Nine Lords of the Brethren Court. But Captain Jack Sparrow is one of the Lords, and as long as he's stuck in Davy Jones's locker Beckett and his nefarious armada are sure to emerge victorious. There's still hope, however, if the heroic team that includes Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), Pintel (Lee Arenberg), and Ragetti (Mackenzie Crook) can reach exotic Singapore and convince vulpine pirate Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) to provide them with charts and a ship. But even the powerful Brethren Court may need a bit of help from volatile sea goddess Calypso in order to weather the coming storm. With the entire future of the pirate way at stake, everyone will be forced to choose sides while drifting precariously to the edge of the Earth for one final, spectacular battle. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A gal who needs a date for a family function gets the best man money can buy in this romantic comedy. Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) is a woman in her mid-thirties living in New York City and has had more than her share of romantic problems -- enough so that she's gotten word that her younger half-sister Amy (Amy Adams) is getting married, and that her mother Bunny (Holland Taylor) and father Victor (Peter Egan) want to fix her up with someone so she won't look alone and miserable for the big day. Adding insult to injury, Kat learns that the best man at the ceremony will be Jeffrey (Jeremy Sheffield), a former boyfriend who cruelly dumped her without warning two years before. Determined not to show up alone, Kat swallows her pride and hires Nick Mercer (Dermot Mulroney), a professional escort, who will pose as her boyfriend for a $6,000 fee. Kat and Nick fly to England for the wedding, and her family and friends are all struck by how charming, handsome, and personable Nick is -- and Kat begins wondering if their relationship has to be all business; however, as it turns out, Nick understands Kat far better than she expects. The Wedding Date was based on the novel Asking for Trouble by British author Elizabeth Young. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A man who lives for pleasure finds his hedonism betrays him in time in this film adaptation of the play by Stephen Jeffreys. The second Earl of Rochester, John Wilmot (Johnny Depp), was a notorious figure in 17th century Europe; well-respected as a poet and author, Wilmot also earned no small degree of gossip for his freewheeling sex life and appetite for decadence. Wilmot was close friends with Charles II (John Malkovich), the powerful and Machiavellian ruler of England, and enjoyed a passionate romance with Elizabeth Barry (Samantha Morton), an actress of note. But Wilmot's seemingly charmed life took a turn for the worse when he wrote a satirical play lampooning his friend Charles II; the monarch failed to see the humor, and exiled the author from Britain. Wilmot found little solace in his relationship with Barry, especially after he contracted syphilis and began drinking heavily as the disease tore away at his body and his mind. The Libertine was produced in part by John Malkovich, who played the role of John Wilmot in a production of Stephen Jeffreys' original play. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

British filmmaker Simon Cellan Jones directs the BBC drama Eroica, starring Ian Hart as Ludwig van Beethoven. Shot on digital video, this TV movie concerns the first performance of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 3" on June 9, 1804, in Vienna. Prince Lobkowitz (Jack Davenport) has invited all his friends to his palace to watch Beethoven perform his new piece with a full orchestra. Among the aristocratic attendees are Count Dietrichstein (Tim Pigott-Smith), Countess Brunsvik (Claire Skinner), and composer Josef Haydn (Frank Finlay). The actual musical score is performed by the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique, under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Rob Green makes his feature debut with this moody horror flick about war, paranoia, and unspeakable evil. As the Allies close in around the Nazis, pounding them with relentless air strikes, a band of Germans takes refuge from the onslaught in a concrete bunker deep in the Black Forest. Long-forgotten tunnels extend from the bunker, further into the wilderness. Shell-shocked and exhausted, the survivors argue about provisions and strategies during a lull in fighting. As they slip into sleep, the horrors, murders, and plagues that rocked Europe for centuries seep into their souls. When the next wave of attacks threatens to blow them to smithereens, the war-weary group ventures deeper and deeper into the tunnels as they combat fear and insanity. Jason Flemyng, Charley Boorman, and Andrew Lee Potts star in this film which was screened at the 2001 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

Although Americans know Coupling primarily in the form of NBC's failed U.S. remake, the original British series has been a hit since it first aired on BBC2 in May 2000. Written by Steven Moffat and produced by his wife, Sue Vertue, the raunchy comedy follows the sexual and romantic exploits of six young professionals in London as they hang out in a pub, hunt for conquests, and reluctantly settle down with one another. Despite the three-guys, three-girls setup, any similarities to the hit U.S. sitcom Friends are superficial. Coupling is far more concerned with frank sex talk and romantic Darwinism than sentimentality and soap opera plotlines. Early episodes focused almost entirely on conceptual "knob gags" -- long setups and payoffs of an unfailingly vulgar nature. From sex toys to lesbian chic to one character's closet full of homemade porn, Moffat's scripts take R-rated dialogue as a given. As the series has progressed, however, its characters have essayed more mature relationships while remaining fixated on the intricacies of sex.

The relationship between flustered everyman Steve (Jack Davenport) and his icy blond girlfriend, Susan (Sarah Alexander), provides the show's nominal through-line, even as the more extreme characters earn more of the laughs. Patrick (Ben Miles), a Tory womanizer, represents one male extreme. The other comes in the form of Jeff (Richard Coyle), a juvenile sex addict afflicted by both performance anxiety and verbal diarrhea. As for the ladies, Jane (Gina Bellman) is the over-confident, deliberately kooky man-trap, while Sally (Kate Isitt) is the self-help addict obsessed with halting the aging process. Although each character starts out as little more than a collection of tics, time has deepened the emotional resonance of the entire cast.

After three seasons on BBC2, Coupling underwent some changes in its fourth season. Richard Coyle abruptly quit, leaving Moffat to replace Jeff with Oliver (Richard Mylan), a similarly bumbling man-boy. The show also moved over to BBC3. In America, the series first aired on PBS before migrating to the BBC America cable network. Despite their various levels of television experience, most cast members were relative unknowns when the series began. Only Jack Davenport, with the BBC hit This Life and the film The Talented Mr. Ripley under his belt, had much of a profile; he has since appeared in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

This futuristic British miniseries began when the best friend of Det. Sgt. Michael Colefield (Jack Davenport) suddenly vanished from the altar at his own wedding. Though told not to investigate, Michael unearthed evidence that his pal had transformed into a vampire. This led the hero to a secret government organization, working in cahoots with the Catholic Church to rid the world of a vampiric scourge, using SWAT team tactics and state-of-the-art computer technology (those infected with vampirism could be detected with computer-generated ultraviolet light). Somewhat perversely, the modern-day bloodsuckers tried to maintain their respectable cover by actively supporting charities and worthwhile causes, thereby coming off somewhat more sympathetically than their relentless pursuers. One of the more intriguing aspects of this six-part series was the refusal by the authorites to make any direct reference to vampires; their quarry was always described as "Code 5" or "Leeches." A fascinating blend of traditional British cop drama with Dracula-style melodramatics, Ultraviolet made its Channel 4 debut on September 15, 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

British television's adaptation of Catherine Cookson's novel, The Moth was set during the Edwardian era. Jack Davenport starred as carpenter Robert Bradley, who found himself in the employ of the wealthy and aristocratic Thorman family. When Robert fell in love with the beautiful Sarah Thorman (Juliet Aubrey), he ran up against the stern opposition of the parents -- not only Sarah's mother and father, but also his own. The Moth was presented in three 50-minute segments by Tyne Tees television in 1997. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide