Guy Jenkin Movies
Guy Jenkin directs this straight-to-video romantic drama shot on-location in Malaysia. In the rainforests of Boreno in the 1930s, English officer John Truscott (Hugh Dancy) accepts a position to colonize the native population of Sarawak at the request of the British government. In following with the native tradition, he is given the services of a servant, Selima (Jessica Alba). A position that British officers refer to as a "sleeping dictionary," she is a concubine to share his bed and teach him the local language. The tradition forbids romantic entanglements, so the relationship is watched over by superior officer Henry Bullard (Bob Hoskins) and his wife, Aggie (Brenda Blethyn). When Selima and John fall madly in love, they enrage both the colonizers and the colonized. Also starring Emily Mortimer and Noah Taylor. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
- Starring:
- Hugh Dancy, Jessica Alba, (more)
- 1996
The British miniseries Sharman was an outgrowth of the one-off special The Turnaround (1995), about a family wiped out by paid assassins. The man assigned to solve the case, tough private detective Nick Sharman, proved popular enough with viewers to warrant a show all his own. Clive Owen was seen as Nick Sharman in the subsequent series' four 90-minute episodes. Sharman was seen in Britain courtesy of ITV in 1996. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1995
Created by John Cleese of Monty Python fame, the twice-weekly TV series Look at the State We're In was a hilariously satirical spin on the British judicial and legislative system. Cleese was joined by a stellar cast of British comic talents in the series' six 25-minute episodes, which skewered such topics as bureaucracy, "good old boy" favoritism, the fallacy of open public debate, and the dirty little secrets locked up within governmental walls. The series was shown by BBC2 from May 20 to June 4, 1995, with an additional 45-minute "special" telecast on June 5. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1987
This sarcastically titled British anthology series consisted of six hour-long comedies about the trials and tribulations of "normal" life. The first playlet, "Keeping Score," starred Martyn Hesford, Tessa Peake-Jones, and Charles Gray in the story of an aristocratic young lady who entered into a romance with a neurotic punker. "The Way, the Truth, and the Video," with Peter Firsh, Ian Bannen, and Annette Crosbie, concerned an evangelist who tried to foment a Puritan revival. "Checkpoint Cheswick," with Hywel Bennett, Gil Brailey, and Simon Nash, was all about a paranoid family who converted their home into a bunker as protection against a supposed anarchistic rebellion. In "Pastoral Care," Tony Robinson played a vicar who was scrutinized by the Government after an innocent visit to a missile base. "Incident on the Line" starred Warren Mitchell and Alexandra Pigg in the saga of a would-be suicide who was rescued by a really strange young lady. And finally, "Everyone a Winner" featured Jonathan Pryce as a clergyman whose life was set on its ear by his financially savvy youngsters. Tickets for the Titanic was telecast by Britain's Channel 4 from March 4, 1987 to March 9, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1979
Created by Peter Tilbury, the British sitcom Shelley starred Hywel Bennett as the title character, a brilliant but habitually unemployed college dropout. Living with his girlfriend Fran (Brenda Sinclair) in a flat managed by the garrulous Mrs. Hawkins (Josephine Hewson), Shelley spent his waking hours expounding on the state of humanity, usually by recording his thoughts for posterity on a dictating machine. But the hero could not be bothered to go out and look for work, not even after wedding Fran and becoming the father of a bouncing baby girl. The first 39 half-hour episodes of Shelley were broadcast by Thames Television from July 12, 1979 to January 12, 1984. The series resurfaced on October 11, 1988, appropriately retitled The Return of Shelley. The premise: Having returned from a five-year teaching stint in the United States, Shelley fully expected to resume sponging off his hardworking wife Fran. Instead, she booted him out of their flat, forcing Shelley to fend for himself, which he did for an additional 32 episodes, the last of which aired on September 1, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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