Daniel Peacock Movies

This teen-oriented British comedy series was created by Daniel Peacock, who'd been turning out this sort of fare since the 1980s. Harry Capehorn and Coshti Dowden played title characters Harry and Cosh, a pair of London youths experiencing growing pains while dealing with high school, dating, and other traumatic experiences. Many of the laughs were provided by Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty as Harry's girlfriend, Lucinda, who, on each episode, managed to get offended and outraged at the slightest provocation (or sometimes none at all). The ten half-hour episodes of Harry and Cosh were telecast over Britain's Channel 5 from October 30, 1999 to January 1, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

In the second episode of the four-part story "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy," the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Ace (Sophie Aldred) are attacked by a "killer clown" while attending the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax. As it turns out, the two time travelers are remarkably fortunate: most of the Circus' previous "customers" were summarily executed by a trio of evil demigods from Ragnarok. But why? Written by Stephen Wyatt, "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, Episode 2" first aired on December 21, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The "Bloody" in Bloody Kids is meant in both its scatological in literal sense. Two restless teens (Derrick O'Connor and Gary Holton) from the South End of London go on a Saturday-night spree. When girls and booze lose their appeal, the boys add murder to their itinerary. A surreal, high-energy film about life and death on the streets, the film has some intelligent social criticism, but its ultra-violent subject matter and unusual visual style caused controversy. The most noteworthy aspect of Bloody Kids may well be its treatment upon release. Considered too bloody for British theatrical exposure, the film went directly to television -- an intriguing reversal of the American procedure. Bloody Kids was director Stephen Frears' second feature, foreshadowing his later highly acclaimed The Grifters which also featured grim subject matter but with classic film-noir grace and sensibility, a sensibility lacking in Bloody Kids. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Doing Time is the American title for the British-made Porridge. Based on a popular TV sitcom, the film stars Ronnie Barker as the unofficial leader of a group of cut-up inmates in Slade Prison. These lovable lawbreakers engineer the escape of a timorous first offender who has been railroaded into a long sentence. Barker accidentally winds up "outside" with the escapee--and spends the rest of the film struggling to break back into jail. British fans of Porridge weren't happy with this film version, citing attenuated material and repetition as its chief shortcomings. For the record, Porridge was the basis for a brief American sitcom titled On the Rocks, which ran (not without resistance from the National Association for Justice) from September 1975 to May 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this romantic comedy that wobbles along on a shaky plot -- the first full-length feature of a Brit TV show -- Dennis (Adrian Edmondson) is on vacation with his mother when he invents a tall tale of his involvement with a drug cartel in order to impress a woman he likes. Sure enough, his story accidentally tallies with what the police already know, and before he can cry "wolf," Dennis is sent off to the coast with two undercover cops. One cop is a woman (Jennifer Saunders) and the other her former boyfriend (Harvey Duncan) -- but the woman has to pretend to be Dennis' lover. Then along comes a string of several unique policemen and a few real drug smugglers, one in drag, adding their eccentricity to the growing group of comic characters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This film is a '90s version of the classic Robin Hood story, with Kevin Costner starring as the good-guy thief. Costner is joined in his efforts against the murdering Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman) by Morgan Freeman who plays a philosophizing Moor, and by Nick Brimble, who plays Little John (anything but little). After Robin barely survives a watery skirmish with Little John, the two become allies and Robin joins forces with Little John's band of robber thieves to overcome the evils of the dastardly Nottingham sheriff. ~ All Movie Guide

It was Richard Attenborough's lifelong dream to bring the life story of Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi to the screen. When it finally reached fruition in 1982, the 188-minute, Oscar-winning Gandhi was one of the most exhaustively thorough biopics ever made. The film begins in the early part of the 20th century, when Mohandas K. Gandhi (Ben Kingsley), a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of "passive resistance," endeavoring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed. In the horrendous "slaughter" sequence, more extras appear on screen than in any previous historical epic. The supporting cast includes Candice Bergen as photographer Margaret Bourke-White, Athol Fugard as General Smuts, John Gielgud as Lord Irwin, John Mills as the viceroy, Martin Sheen as Walker, Trevor Howard as Judge Broomfield, and, in a tiny part as a street bully, star-to-be Daniel Day-Lewis. Gandhi won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide