Waris Hussein Movies

Arriving in Seattle to attend the birthday party of her best friend Mandy Roberts (Bess Armstrong), the recently widowed Jane Thornton (Cheryl Ladd) is shocked to learn that Mandy plans to divorce her husband Will (William R. Moses). Having recently lost a loved one herself, Jane feels the Roberts' pain, and endeavors to bring Jane and Will back together again. But things don't go quite as planned when, while helping Will alleviate his new-found loneliness, Jane realizes that she is attracted to the man. Although the premise smacks of contrivance, the development and the outcome are touchingly realistic -- and all too human. Filmed in Toronto, the made-for-cable Her Best Friend's Husband premiered March 11, 2002 on the Lifetime Network. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The weekly, hour-long British cop drama Supply and Demand was an outgrowth of a one-off, two-hour special, which aired over ITV in 1997. In the original, cowritten by Lynda LaPlante, streetwise cop Jake Brown (Eamonn Walker) and desk-bound, by-the-book officer Harrington (Ade Sapara) found themselves reluctant partners in an undercover drug bust. When the series proper premiered one year later, Jake and Harrington were still in attendance, but now the lead character was lesbian police officer Edna Colley (Miriam Margolyes), the head of the experimental undercover unit that had been introduced in the 1997 "pilot." The series version of Supply and Demand ran for six hour-long episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Disabled activist Firdaus Kanga scripted this autobiographical British drama by adapting his novel, Trying to Grow. Born in 1962 with brittle bone disease, Brit Kotwal (Kanga) grows up with the support of his middle-class Bombay family, but adulthood brings a series of suicides, accidents, and other disappointments. Kanga played the role of the central autobiographical character at various ages, beginning at age eight. Shown at the 1997 Mill Valley and London film festivals. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Another "based on an actual event!" TV movie, Murder Between Friends is set in 1980s New Orleans. Two friends become involved in murder when the wife of one of them begins cheating on her spouse. Constructed along the lines of "Rashomon", the script offers two entirely different accounts of the homicide and the events leading up to it. Timothy Busfield heads the cast as the hardworking prosecutor who wants to cut through the bull. When first telecast on January 10, 1994, Murder Between Friends was accompanied by a "viewer discretion" disclaimer; smart move. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Martin Sherman adapted Alice Thomas Ellis' novel for this comedy about a suburban Englishwoman who's about to settle on marriage with her mother-dominated next door neighbor until everyone's comfortable life is disrupted by a visit from her exotic and flamboyant friend Lili (Jeanne Moreau, in a scene-stealing performance). ~ Nicole Gagne, Rovi

Surprisingly good soap opera in which the suspense and thrills are genuinely good revolves around a wealthy woman who awakens from a fourteen-month coma after an attempt is made on her life and now must remember who tried to kill her in order to prevent it from happening again. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi

The two-part, four-hour TV movie Switched at Birth is based on an actual event which began unfolding in Wauchula, Florida in 1978. Brian Kerwin and Judith Hoag play the new parents of a baby girl; a few days later, another couple, played by John M. Jackson and Bonnie Bedelia, have a baby at the same hospital. Kerwin and Hoag's baby is healthy; Jackson and Bedelia's baby has a heart defect. Switched at Birth traces the lives of the two girls over a period of eight years--up to the point of a tragedy which opens the possibility that the girls may not have been given over to the correct parents at the hospital. The four parents involved find themselves in court, battling over custody of the surviving child. This intensely personal problem is bloated into a cause celebre by the press and by parents' rights pressure groups. Edward Asner and Caroline McWilliams appear as the opposing attorneys. Those who'd been following the two-part Switched at Birth during its first telecast in April of 1991 may have found themselves in family conflicts of their own, inasmuch as Part Two was shown opposite the network TV premiere of Die Hard. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The made-for-TV The Shell Seekers was based on the best-selling novel by Rosamunde Pincher. Heading the cast is Angela Lansbury as Penelope Keeling, a reclusive British matron of comfortable means who suffers a near-fatal heart attack. While recovering, Penelope determines that her attack was a sign of sorts, urging her to get her life in order. As she prepares to break down the barriers she has built between herself and her three children, Penelope muses on her experiences during World War II, a time in which she solidified her outlook on life. Filmed in England and Spain, The Shell Seekers was the 162nd Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation; it debuted on December 3, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The ordeal of young husband Scott Grimes (Gary Cole) begins when his wife Sue (Mary Page Keller) unexpectedly dies in childbirth. Unprepared to be a single parent, Scott seeks out help from his mother-in-law (Colleen Dewhurst) and from professional caregivers. Still, he is overwhelmed by the responsibility, so much so that he seriously considers putting his infant daughter up for adoption. An unabashed "weepie", the made-for-TV Those She Left Behind also stars Joanna Kerns and George Coe. The film debuted March 6, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The elaborate British miniseries Shoulder to Shoulder was an anecdotal dramatization of the women's suffrage movement in England. Covering the period from the 1890s to the end of WWI, the series focused on the movement's most vocal proponent, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst (Sian Phillips). As Emmeline's militancy increased, her fervor spilled over to her daughters, Christabel (Patricia Quinn) and Sylvia (Angela Down), much to the delight of her husband, pioneering feminist barrister Richard Pankhurst. With the founding of the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903, Mrs. Pankhurst and her chief lieutenant Lady Constance Lytton (Judy Parfitt) shifted into full gear, despite the efforts of patronizing politicians and surprising brutal police officials to stifle the pro-vote movement. The series was unsparing in its accuracy, with its stark portrayal of the bitter rift between sisters Sylvia and Christabel over the latter's disenchantment with the increasingly violent activities of the W.S.P.U., its disturbing depiction of the force-feeding methods used by the police to quell a hunger strike, and its gruesome reenactment of activist Emily Davison's suicidal act of bravado during a horse race (a tragedy recorded by newsreel photographers of the period). Originally telecast by the BBC in 1974, the six-part Shoulder to Shoulder premiered in the United States on October 5, 1975, as part of the PBS Masterpiece Theatre anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Down payment on Murder is a fact-based TV movie starring Connie Sellecca as a battered wife. For ten years she has been the punching bag of her real-estate agent husband, played with brilliant repugnance by Ben Gazzara. When Connie moves out, Gazzara is convinced that it's because of another man; his twisted ego suffers a further blow when she is given custody of the children and police protection. With the help of a security guard with mob connections, Gazzara hires a hit man (G.W.Bailey) to kill his estranged wife. Down payment on Murder is drawn out far too long to sustain its suspense, but its neat surprise ending compensates for the duller passages. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jonathan Kellerman's Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning novel When the Bough Breaks was evocatively adapted for the TV screen in 1986. Ted Danson plays a clinical psychologist, brought in to tend to an emotionally withdrawn little girl (Rachel Ticotin). There's a possibility that the child may have witnessed an unsolved double murder. As Danson and the girl draw closer, he becomes enmeshed in a homicidal conspiracy sparked by a clique of wealthy, well-connected men. Ted Danson also coproduced When the Bough Breaks. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Erich Maria Remarque's novel Arch of Triumph was originally adapted to film in 1948 with stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman under the direction of Lewis Milestone. This TV-movie remake aired May 29, 1985. Anthony Hopkins and Lesley-Anne Down play the star-crossed lovers whose prewar romance in Paris is endangered by intrigue and revenge. Hopkins, a doctor recently escaped from a concentration camp, rescues Down, the mistress of a dissipated playboy, from committing suicide. Their chance for happiness is sabotaged by Hopkins' desire to wreak vengeance on SS officer Donald Pleasence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi