Adrian Bate Movies
Sarah Waters' 1999 novel of the same name serves as the inspiration for director Tim Fywell and screenwriter Andrew Davies' gothic period drama detailing the relationship between an upper class Victorian girl still mourning the death of her father and a once-successful medium imprisoned for assaulting a young girl. Margaret (Anna Madeley) may have all the wealth a woman cold want, but without her father around she just can't seem to enjoy it. In desperate need of a diversion and eager to experience life outside of her small protective bubble, Margaret makes arrangements to go to Millbank Prison as a "Lady Visitor." Once inside the stone and steel fortress, it doesn't take long for Margaret to forget about her responsibilities to the prisoners and form a strange fixation on an attractive young named convict Selina (Zoe Tapper). Before Selina was imprisoned, she had enjoyed celebrity status as a medium. That all changed once Selina was accused of assault, yet the closer Margaret gets to the charismatic inmate the more convinced she becomes that her story isn't as simple as the judge made it out to be. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Zoe Tapper
Benedict Cumberbatch, Max Beesley, and Anamaria Marinca headline this chilling "Masterpiece" production concerning a brilliant mathematician, who is inadvertently drawn into becoming the public face of a massive database designed to track and control the citizens of England. Stephen Ezard is working in China when he receives word that his brother Michael, a benevolent aid worker, has been killed in Afghanistan by a landmine. Returning to England to attend Michael's funeral, Stephen is deeply disturbed to discover just how much his home country has changed since he left to work abroad many years ago. Over the course of those years, Stephen and Michael grew apart, and now the discovery that London has become a police state causes the reclusive genius to wonder just what the world is coming to. After falling in love with his brother's widow Yasim, Stephen is recruited by the government to be the spokesperson for a massive super-database designed to help the government follow the actions and movements of every man, woman, and child in England. As the conspiracy winds ever deeper, and Stephen's paranoia swells, he begins to suspect that no one is who they seem to be. His ability to trust completely eroded, Stephen realizes that it's too late for turning back, and that personal freedom is little more than a distant memory. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Benedict Cumberbatch, Anamaria Marinca, (more)
- 2001
Irreverent British comedian Paul Kaye unexpectedly turned out to be a credible romantic leading man on the BBC1 comedy-drama series 2000 Acres of Sky. The setting was the Scottish island of Ronansay, which housed a bed-and-breakfast and a small school, but little else. When the authorities threatened to close the school because it was two students shy of the required quota, the locals advertised in the London papers for a married-with-children couple to move to Ronansay and take charge of the "B and B." Although Abby Wallace (Michelle Collins) had the necessary two kids, she was bereft of a husband. Still, she needed the income, thus Abby persuaded her friend Kenny Marsh (Paul Kaye) to pose as her hubby and move with her to Ronansay. The first of the series' six 50-minute episodes was telecast on January 1, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Collins, Paul Kaye, (more)
- 1998
Produced for the PBS TV series Masterpiece Theatre, this adaptation of Laurie Lee's autobiographical novel follows a young man's maturation in the country town of Gloucestershire near the end of World War I. As young Laurie (Dashiell Reece) comes of age under the protective eye of his mother (Juliet Stevenson), he learns to live with an eccentric collection of friends, neighbors, and relatives. As he enters his teenage years, Laurie (now played by Joe Roberts) discovers women, specifically Rosie Burdock (Lia Barrow). Veteran screenwriter John Mortimer adapted Lee's book, with Lee narrating. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Juliet Stevenson
- 1991
The title character in this freewheeling British sitcom was Peter Payne (Alex Langdon), a frustrated teenager living in cozy middle-class complacency with his Dad (series writer Daniel Peacock) and Mum (Tilly Vosburgh). As annoying as his home life may have been at times, it was sheer pleasure compared to school, where Peter was at the mercy of his clueless headmaster (Tony Robinson). The only person who made life worth living was Peter's beautiful classmate Amanda (Liza Walker) -- and she barely knew that he was alive. To blow off steam, Peter used a videocam to record his life, his loves, his triumphs, his travails, and especially his hormone-driven rants. The winner of the Royal Television Society award for Best Youth Program, Teenage Health Freak lasted for 12 half-hour episodes, which were shown on Britain's Channel 4 beginning May 21, 1991 and ending March 29, 1993 (there was an inexplicable year-long gap between the first season and the last). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
