Garfield Morgan Movies

A proud Welsh community finds their civic pride and sense of community threatened by a team of surveyors in this charmingly eccentric comedy. Reginald Anson (Hugh Grant) and George Garrard (Ian McNeice) are a pair of British cartographers with Her Majesty's Ordnance Survey Office, who arrive in the small Welsh town of Ffynnon Garw, where, thanks to a linguistic quirk stemming from the British domination of Wales, many of the citizens in this town lack proper surnames and instead are identified by occupations or personal characteristics, such as Ivor the Grocer (Robert Blythe) or Johnny Shellshocked (Ian Hart). The town's greatest pride and most prominent landmark is a mountain (named, like the town, Ffynnon Garw), which they claim is the first mountain in Wales, and which helped protect the village from any number of Romans, Saxons, Norsemen, and other foreign invaders over the centuries. However, Reginald and George have some bad news for the townsfolk: under British law, a land mass must be at least 1,000 feet tall to qualify as a mountain, and according to their measurements, Ffynnon Garw comes in at only 930 feet, making it just a big hill. The citizens are shocked, insulted, and angry, and after much debate and careful measuring, Anson and Garrard conclude that they did shortchange Ffynnon Garw, but the most generous estimate still puts it at only 984 feet. Convinced that the town's honor and reputation is at stake thanks to these meddling Englishmen, the good people of Ffynnon Garw hatch a plan by which they will add fifteen feet to their "hill;" meanwhile, the easily befuddled Anson finds himself falling under the romantic spell of a beautiful but firm-willed local woman, Betty of Cardiff (Tara Fitzgerald). Believe it or not, this seemingly fanciful comedy was actually based on a true story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Veteran comedian and comedy writer Tim Brooke-Taylor played the title role in this British sitcom. The story concerned the various misadventures of Tom and Alice Hammond (Brooke-Taylor and Diane Keen), who had been comfortably married for 20 years. Long the breadwinner of the family, Tom found his status diminished when wife Alice, an aspiring writer, managed to publish a best-selling novel. The humor arose from the sudden fame thrust upon Alice and the equally sudden subordinate position that Tom ended up assuming in the household -- and in the eyes of the reading public. The 13 episodes of You Must Be the Husband were beamed out to British viewers in two "series," from September 8 to October 20, 1987, and from February 29 to April 4, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Sweeney was a groundbreaking British police show of the 1970s that turned John Thaw into a major television star. Created by Ian Kennedy Martin, the series told of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad (roughly the equivalent of the Major Case Squad in New York and other major American cities), nicknamed "The Sweeney" in rhyming slang (Flying Squad/Sweeney Todd) -- the focus of the series was the squad's senior field officer, Detective Inspector Jack Regan, portrayed by John Thaw. A bull of a man who has been known to bend the rules when necessary (or when it suits him), Regan disparages his desk-bound superiors and prefers to stay in the field, often working neck-deep among England's professional and habitual criminals, who are every bit as violent as their American counterparts. Tolerated by his superiors because he gets results, Regan is in a constant struggle to keep his squad ahead of the criminals and free of interference from higher command, the press, or politicians -- with his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter (Dennis Waterman), Regan and his squad are as tough and ruthless when they have to be as the criminals they pursue.

The series was considered revolutionary in its time on British television for introducing levels of violence and cynicism -- though defenders would call it realism -- that had previously only been seen in American-produced series and movies; the language, the action, the cutting, and the shooting all exuded a gritty, no-nonsense approach to crime-story narrative that was spellbinding. The series started life as part of a series of made-for-television movies produced by Euston Films for its parent company, Thames Television. Regan introduced the character of Jack Regan, and its success got it pegged as the source for a 13-episode series, ultimately titled The Sweeney, starring Thaw and Waterman. That season and the one that followed were immensely popular and yielded a pair of feature-film releases, The Sweeney (1977) and Sweeney 2 (1978). The series shut down after its fourth season, but it is still one of the most talked about series in England a quarter century later. In 2003, the complete series was released on DVD in England, with a brace of bonus materials including commentary tracks, interviews, and special introductions by various guest stars. Seen today, it still comes off as very gritty and violent, and, in many ways, a distant antecedent to the American made-for-cable series The Shield. ~ All Movie Guide

The exploits of the title sheepdog provide the basis of this family-oriented comedy fantasy. Digby started out as an ordinary puppy but then one day got in to a bowl full of Project X, a special formula meant to grow larger vegetables. As he galumphs along in the countryside causing all kinds of trouble, the Army decides to blow the big woofer to kingdom come. Fortunately for Digby, his devoted owner is frantically searching for the serum that will save him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Dick Clement directed this late-in-the-game spy thriller, starring Kirk Douglas. Douglas plays Andrej, a drone that smuggles books out of communist countries. Unfortunately for Andrej, he is mistaken for a spy and gets into a series of convoluted situations. Fabienne (Marlene Jobert), who lives with Sir Trevor Dawson (Trevor Howard), a randy British minister, is the slinky sex-bomb who finagles Andrej into the heart-thumping predicaments. Also on hand is Tom Courtenay as Baxter Clarke, an inept counter-espionage agent, who manages to make Andrej's already bad situation worse. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Steed pays a visit to some friends at their country estate, only to discover that the house has been taken over by enemy agents, and the homeowners are being held prisoner. It soon develops that an important peace conference is scheduled to be held next door. Despite the villains' heavy aritillery, Steed plans to prevent them from sabotaging the conference. One of the series' few "serious" entries, "Take-Over" was written by Terry Nation; the episode debuted in America on April 14, 1969, and was shown in England nine days later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dirk Bogarde is a no-good rotter who returns to his family after several years' absence. Only his seven children are present to greet Bogarde as he enters his shabby London home, and they're somewhat vague as to the whereabouts of the mother. What Bogarde doesn't know is that his wife had died some time ago. The kids (including future stars Pamela Franklin and Mark Lester) decided amongst themselves that they didn't want to be broken up and sent to orphanages; thus, they secretly buried their mother and went on about their business, pretending that mom was still alive. Money-hungry Bogarde threatens this cozy set-up, leaving the children little recourse but to prepare a second grave. Our Mother's House was based on a novel by Julian Gloag; one of the screenwriters was Haya Harareet, who eight years earlier had been Charlton Heston's leading lady in Ben-Hur (59). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The gap between the British and American telecast of the individual Avengers episodes narrowed considerably during the series' fifth season; this episode appeared on American television a scant six days after its British TV debut. Steed and Peel investigate the mysterious deaths of several top figures in the ceramics business. It turns out that all of the victims were literally frightened to death. . .and guess which leather-clad female secret agent is next on the villains' "scare" list. Written by Philip Levene, "The Fear Merchants" features a choice performance by Patrick Cargill, best known to American viewers for his work in the Beatles' theatrical film Help! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide