T.P. McKenna Movies

A commoner has an unusual run-in with the King of England in this offbeat historical drama. In 1547, Thorn (James Coombes) is employed as a servant and caretaker by a wealthy British landowner who has put Thorn in charge of his mansion while he's away for the winter. One night, Thorn is terrified to hear what he imagines are armed bandits breaking into the mansion, and he hides in fear of his life. However, Thorn soon discovers he has a very different breed of unexpected guests. With political unrest sweeping England, King Henry VIII (T.P. McKenna) is travelling incognito while trying to bring stability back to his domain, but his coach has been attacked by thieves and the wounded king needs a place to rest. Henry isn't so sure that the ambush was a simple robbery, however -- he thinks it could have been a cleverly disguised assassination attempt, and one of the advisors travelling with the king agrees. As Thorn observes the political intrigue that has suddenly appeared on his doorstep, he also has to deal with the randy goings-on of Henry VIII's assistants, who are openly and flamboyantly gay. Monarch was the first dramatic feature from documentary filmmaker John Walsh. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Although the story of 19th century Irish statesman and patriot Charles Steward Parnell resulted in a disastrous movie vehicle for Clark Gable in 1937, the results were more satisfying when the same story was adapted as a four-episode British TV miniseries in 1990. Trevor Eve headed the cast as Parnell, prime advocate for Irish home rule at a time when such a position was tantamount to treason. For all his good works, Parnell was doomed to infamy as the result of his clandestine romance with Katharine O'Shea (Francesca Annis), the wife of a British Member of Parliament. Parnell and the Englishwoman was written for television by celebrated Irish playwright Hugh Leonard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dolph Lundgren stars in this controversial action film directed by Joseph Zito (Missing in Action). The beefy Swede plays Soviet KGB agent Lt. Nikolai, who is sent to Africa with orders to eliminate a black rebel. Eventually, Nikolai begins to side with the locals, has a red scorpion tattooed on his chest by a shaman, and helps fight against the Cubans and the Soviets. Horror fans should note Tom Savini's expert gore effects during a torture scene, while others will be pleased with a fine supporting cast including M. Emmet Walsh, Carmen Argenziano, and Brion James. The film was originally commissioned by Warner Bros., which dropped it after controversy over its South African genesis, but they might as well have dropped it for its endless desert treks and uninvolving screenplay. An unrelated Canadian sequel followed five years later. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

The year is 1908; after centuries of unchecked power, the Ottoman empire is rapidly crumbling. As a result, Turkey's secret agents--those that haven't already been eliminated by downsizing or death--operate in a vacuum, their superiors knowing little and caring less about their activities. One such spy is Ben Kingsley, a minor bureaucrat of no ambition. When ordered to help disreputable English citizens Charles Dance and Helen Mirren in the theft of a precious Greek artifact, Kingsley goes along without question. He is even prepared to follow orders and double-cross Dance the moment the robbery is pulled off. But as the film progresses, Kingsley becomes less and less of a by-the-book government functionary and more and more of an enigma--to Dance, to Mirren, to his country, to himself. More than your usual "caper" film, Pascali's Island has more layers than an artichoke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third episode of the four-part story "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy," the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) are trapped in the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax, where a triumvirate of evil demigods from Ragnarok have demanded that the two time-travelers entertain them -- or suffer a violent demise. Facing such perils as killer-robot clowns and ancient spirits, the Doctor and Ace are also in danger of being literally bored to death. Written by Stephen Wyatt, "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Episode 3" first aired on December 28, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A movie version of the stage play The Doctor and the Devils, written in the 1950s by Welsh poet/playwright Dylan Thomas, had been planned and shelved by several filmmakers before producer Mel Brooks and director Freddie Francis finally brought the project to fruition in 1985. Essentially, the story is the old one about grave robbers Burke and Hare and Scottish surgeon Dr. Robert Knox (which also yielded the 1945 Val Lewton classic The Body Snatcher). Timothy Dalton plays 18th century doctor Thomas Rock, who must rely upon the disreputable Robert Fallon (Jonathan Pryce) and Timothy Broom (Stephen Rea) to provide fresh cadavers for Dr. Rock's teaching hospital. When they can't dig up corpses fast enough to suit Dr. Rock, Fallon and Broom decide to streamline their methods via murder. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1985 television production faithfully adapts Charles Dickens' Bleak House, an indictment of Victorian England's corrupt legal and class systems that prey on the weak and the innocent. Esther Summerson (Suzanne Burden), a kind and level-headed young woman introduced as an orphan, is the link who knits several storylines together as a witness to injustice. She and two other young people -- the naïve and vulnerable Richard Carstone (Philip Franks) and Ada Clare (Lucy Hornack) -- are wards in an estate case before the High Court of Chancery. They stay at the home of John Jarndyce (Denholm Elliott), a relative. Like so many other lawsuits, the case drags on indefinitely, depleting the estate while garnishing lawyers' bank accounts. Richard and Ada fall in love and marry in secret, but his health declines as legal fees and delays consume his expected fortune. Eventually, he dies. Meanwhile, in the upper reaches of society, Lady Dedlock (Diana Rigg) harbors a secret that would ruin her and her doting husband if it became known. Years before, while in love with a Captain Rawdon, she gave birth to his child after she received news that Rawdon had been lost at sea. Upon discovering that the report was false, she attempts to track him down with the help of a guttersnipe named Jo, a friendless little boy who later dies, and finds him -- buried in a pauper's field. Lady Dedlock's attorney, the grasping and devious Tulkinghorn (Peter Vaughan), learns of Lady Dedlock's secret and threatens to disclose it, but a mysterious intruder murders him before he can do so. Miss Summerson, who has been a good friend to Richard and Ada, attracts the attentions of her benevolent but much older host John Jarndyce, and he proposes to her. However, she has already fallen in love with Dr. Allan Woodcourt (Brian Deacon), who was with little Jo when he died. As the various storylines merge, Esther Summerson discovers that she is Lady Dedlock's daughter, Lady Dedlock's husband learns his wife's secret, and Lady Dedlock runs off in deep despair. The conclusion reveals the fate of Lady Dedlock, the murderer of Tulkinghorn, and the future of Esther Summerson. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Gregory Peck had made scattered television appearances before, but the 3-hour Scarlet and the Black was his first starring assignment in a made-for-TV movie. Peck plays Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a real-life cleric who, during World War II, rescued thousands of escaped POWs from the Gestapo. Christopher Plummer co-stars as the Rome-based SS official who tries to catch O'Flaherty in the act. The film won several industry and religious awards, and earned three Emmy nominations. Based on J. P. Gallagher's book The Scarlet Pimpernel in the Vatican, The Scarlet and the Black premiered on February 2, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Like the Virginia Woolf novel which it interprets, this 1983 BBC production has three parts: "The Window," "Time Passes," and "The Lighthouse." The first focuses on one day in the life of the Ramsay family -- the father and mother, their eight children, and four guests -- while they vacation on the Cornwall peninsula in remote southwestern England. In conversations in the summer house, at the beach, during strolls, and at cricket and wrestling matches, the characters reveal their beliefs, their prejudices, and their longings in an era when old traditions are dying and new traditions are quickening. James, six -- a brat to his father but a dear to his mother -- repeatedly asserts his wish to visit a lighthouse on an island within easy rowing distance. His father Michael Gough refuses to go (and, thus, no one goes) because the weather isn't right. In a moment of dramatic irony, the self-centered father scolds the boy for always thinking only of himself. Self-effacing Mrs. Ramsay (Rosemary Harris) comforts the child. She also sees to the needs of other family members and guests, who have lighthouses of their own -- metaphorical ones -- to preoccupy them. Her daughter, Prue, for example, anticipates her coming marriage while visitor Lily Briscoe looks forward to her career as a painter. In defiance of social convention, Briscoe chooses to remain unmarried. The film depicts the second part of the novel, "Time Passes," with transitional scenes showing changes of season over ten years. During this period, Mrs. Ramsey dies, and Mr. Ramsey laments her death in a weeping spell, saying she never really understood that he loved her. In the final part, "The Lighthouse," James finally gets his wish when he, his father, and other members of the family row out to the towering beacon. On the shore, meanwhile, Lily Briscoe finishes a painting of Mrs. Ramsey. ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide

Producer/director Joseph Strick continues his long cinematic love affair with the works of Irish author James Joyce in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Bosco Hogan plays Joyce's alter-ego Stephen Daedelus, an irrepressible boy at eternal odds with the strictures of his Catholic home and family. As in his earlier adaptation of Joyce's Ulysses, Strick manages to successfully convey the liquidity and ideology of Joyce's challenging literary style. Also like Ulysses, however, the director is stronger with monologues than with visuals. Joseph Strick's own son Terence plays the artist as an even younger man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Blake (Gareth Thomas) and Cally (Jan Chappell) try to win the support of President Sarkoff (T.P. McKenna), exiled leader of Lindor, a planet dearly coveted by the Federation. In exchange, the two rebels promise to help Sarkoff return to power -- a promise that might have tricky long-range consequences. Meanwhile, Jenna's (Sally Knyvette) criminal past comes back to haunt her when her old cronies demand that she betray her current friends. "Bounty" was originally telecast on March 13, 1978. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this thriller, a wheelchair bound beauty must escape the unwanted attentions of a homicidal maniac. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Low-brow British humor abounds in this farcical account of Edwin Anthony, the first man to receive a successful penis transplant. Anthony becomes quite attached to his new appendage and even gives it the title name. The alleged humor comes in when Anthony and Percy set out to investigate the life of the latter's former owner. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide