Matthew Bird Movies
ER regular Alex Kingston stars as the title character in this British-produced biopic of first century A.D. "warrior queen" Boudica. After the death of her husband, King Prasutagus (Steven Waddington), the feisty Boudica becomes the leader of the Iceni, a Celtic tribe living in East Anglia. Though Boudica and her followers put up a valiant defense, their homeland is overrun by the Roman legions of the mad emperor Nero (Andrew Lee Potts), who has devised a hellish scheme to put the "ginger bitch" in her place. Beaten and bound by the conquering soldiers, Boudica is forced to watch as her daughters are brutally raped. Assuming that the Iceni queen has been humbled and no longer poses a threat to the Empire, Nero spares her life -- which turns out to be one of the emperor's biggest errors in judgment, as the vengeful Boudica and her army set about to prove in bloodthirsty fashion that she is, to paraphrase a much-later British monarch, a queen with "the heart and stomach of a king." In America, Warrior Queen proved to be an uncharacteristically violent Masterpiece Theatre offering when it was broadcast over PBS in the fall of 2003. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex Kingston, Hugo Speer, (more)
In 1978, America's PBS made the wise decision of running the ten-part 1977 British adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's tragic novel Anna Karenina. Twenty-two years later, the Boston-based public TV station WGBH entered into another felicitous partnership with the BBC, and the result was a shorter (four-part), but no less vivid adaptation of the oft-filmed Tolstoy work. Naturally, the main emphasis was on the triangular relationship between the titular Anna (Helen McCrory), her influential older husband, Karenin (Stephen Dillane), and the handsome, but faithless Count Vronsky (Kevin McKidd), culminating in disgrace, ostracization, and finally death for the hapless heroine. This time, however, scriptwriter (Allan Cubitt) also gave plenty of air space to the fascinating subplots involving the characters of Levin (Douglas Henshall), Kitty (Paloma Baeza), Oblonsky (Mark Strong), and Dolly (Amanda Root). Filmed largely on-location in Poland (with several prominent Polish actors in the supporting cast), Anna Karenina made its British television bow on May 9, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen McCrory, Kevin McKidd, (more)
- 1995
Like most British TV soap operas, the weekly, half-hour London Bridge enjoyed a loyal and vocal following when it originally aired from 1995 to 1998. This continuing saga of a multicultural group of Londoners was augmented by a special e-mail "magazine," sent out by Carlton Television to apprise fans of what their favorite characters were doing when they weren't appearing before the cameras. Ever so briefly, the series experienced a bit of a controversy when, in 1996, one of its 104 episodes got both Carlton and London Weekend Television in trouble for being "in contravention" of the strict British TV programming code. Unfortunately, the ensuing publicity was not enough to expand the series' viewership past its core audience, nor was a last-ditch effort by Carlton to saturate the market by adding an additional weekly London Bridge episode. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
This long-running, lighthearted British adventure series starred Dennis Waterman (who also sang the program's theme song) as Thomas Gynn, a cheeky ex-convict working in a Yorkshire neighborhood as a taxi driver. Hoping to mend a few fences, Gynn hooked up with his former girlfriend, Sally Hardcastle (Jan Francis), the owner of a local boat-rental service. Somehow or other, both Thomas and Sally managed to get mixed up in danger and intrigue on a weekly basis. The same situation held true after co-star Jan Francis left the series, obliging Thomas to team up with two other lovelies, museum curator Samantha (Susan George) and professional dancer Jo (Leslie Ash). Created by Geoff McQueen, Stay Lucky was seen over Yorkshire Television from 1990 to 1993, ringing in with 24 hour-long episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
