Christopher Ryan Movies

The war on drugs has been lost, and when a reluctant undercover cop is ordered to spy on those he is closest to, the toll that the mission takes on his sanity is too great to comprehend in director Richard Linklater's rotoscoped take on Philip K. Dick's classic novel. With stratospheric concern over national security prompting paranoid government officials to begin spying on citizens, trust is a luxury and everyone is a suspected criminal until proven otherwise. Bob Arctor (Keanu Reeves) is a narcotics officer who is issued an order to spy on his friends and report back to headquarters. In addition to being a cop, though, Arctor is also an addict. His drug of choice is a ubiquitous street drug called Substance D, a drug known well for producing split personalities in its users. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

During a drug binge, Edina (Jennifer Saunders) commiserates with Patsy (Joanna Lumley) about her lack of fame. Soon, though, notoriety comes knocking in the form of Saffy's debut as a playwright: "Self-Raising Flower," an autobiographical drama about the girl's troubled relationship with her mother. Eddy argues savagely with Saffy (Julia Sawalha), who recalls, in flashback, her neglected childhood. Back at rehearsals, Saffy's lead actress seems to have a bit of a crush on her writer/director. Meanwhile, members of the family begin arriving, including Bo (Mo Gaffney) and Marshall (Christopher Ryan), who have converted to Judaism in order to become kabbalah-studying Hollywood insiders. Eddy tries to launch a PR campaign against Saffy's play, but the offensive fails to get off the ground because opening night is nigh. Soon, the budding auteur is off to the theater with Gran (June Whitfield), Bubble (Jane Horrocks), Sarah (Naoko Mori), Bo, Marshall, and Justin (Christopher Malcolm). Edina and Patsy, of course, can't stay away, but they're shocked at the accuracy of Saffy's portrayal of their lives. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on September 28, 2001, Absolutely Fabulous: Small Opening marked series four, episode five of this popular Britcom. The scenes -- and even the costumes -- in "Self-Raising Flower" are all lifted more or less directly from earlier episodes of "AbFab." Gaffney, Malcolm, and Ryan all make their Absolutely Fabulous series four bows with this episode. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

During a bout of writer's block, Gabrielle (Renee O'Connor) tells Aphrodite (Alexandra Tydings) about her "little" adventure. Specifically, she recalls how she and her horse Argo were shrunken to bite-size by the depressed -- and very short -- Lachrymose (Jon Gadsby), the God of Despair. Meanwhile, the pregnant Xena (Lucy Lawless) whose mood swings have reached the red-alert level, tries to get through an entire day without blowing her top. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Life continues apace for Edina (Jennifer Saunders), Patsy (Joanna Lumley), and Saffron (Julia Sawalha). Eddy has adopted a dolphin as both house pet and PR client; Pats has moved out of Odd Bins to make room for a new liquor aisle; and Saffy has finally found a boyfriend -- the wealthy, condescending Paolo Carlo (Tom Hollander). Mother (June Whitfield), meanwhile, has taken up with a cadre of in-your-face, elderly "snowbirds," while Bubble (Jane Horrocks) is out of the picture, busy with her new job at French Vogue. Pats and Eddy decide to vacation in Val d'sere, which, as with their earlier vacations in Absolutely Fabulous: France and Absolutely Fabulous: Morocco, turns out to be less welcoming than they'd hoped. While Pats takes up with a hunky ski instructor, Eddy has a near-death experience out on the slopes in which God appears to her in the form of Marianne Faithfull. Convinced she has been spared for some larger purpose, Eddy returns home to find that her mother's new friends have taken up residence in their camper van in the front drive. A more pressing concern arrives in the form of Saffy's engagement to Paolo; a meeting between the Monsoon clan and the mega-rich Carlo family goes poorly at first, but when Patsy realizes that Paolo's mother, Kalishia (Carmen Du Sautoy), is actually a former B-movie bimbo, the fearful society matron finds herself de-fanged. Soon life is a blur of wedding preparations, from fittings at Christian Lacroix's designer boutique to involuntary depilatory sessions forced on the hapless bride-to-be. The action climaxes at the ceremony itself, where the guests include a who's who of previous "AbFab" guest stars. Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout was originally broadcast as a two-part TV movie on BBC 1 in 1996, a year after the end of the third "AbFab" series. It would be the last installment until series four began in 2001. Former Shakespear's Sister member Marcella Detroit appears as God's angelic sidekick; the singer also contributed several songs to the soundtrack, including a new rendition of the show's unmistakable theme music, "This Wheel's on Fire." Nickey Clarke, Suzy Menkes, Bruce Oldfield, Christopher Biggins, and Lacroix appear as themselves. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

While Saffy Monsoon (Julia Sawalha) mourns the death of her grandfather, her mother, Edina (Jennifer Saunders), is too busy mourning the failure of her latest weight-loss program: a bizarre scheme in which she is slathered in mud and then mummified for several hours. Gran (June Whitfield) handles her husband's death with typical aplomb, but Eddy goes way over the edge as soon as she has time to ponder her own mortality. Filled with self-centered dread, she goes on an art shopping spree at a snooty gallery and then bristles as the guests at her father's wake mistake an expensive mobile for what it is: a set of coat hangers. Ex-husband Marshall (Christopher Ryan) and his new grief-counselor girlfriend, Sondra (Gwen Humble), try to cheer the family up, but when Sondra realizes there's a corpse in the house she completely freaks out. Eddy and Patsy (Joanna Lumley) freak out, too, getting rip-roaringly drunk as the rest of the funeral party proceeds to the cemetary. Waxing sentimental, Patsy begs Eddy to give her the house when she's gone, and Eddy agrees -- as long as Pats will accompany her to the graveyard. Unfortunately, neither woman is in any shape to navigate the rough boneyard terrain, and Mr. Monsoon's funeral ends much like any other family event: grotesquely. Originally broadcast on BBC 1 on February 3, 1994, Absolutely Fabulous: Death marked series two, episode two of this popular Brit-com. Llewella Gideon reprises her role as the wise-cracking West Indian nurse who originally appeared in the previous episode, Absolutely Fabulous: Hospital. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In this satirical British sitcom, which became a cult hit on American cable, a grotesquely self-centered fashion victim chain-smokes, swills champagne, abuses drugs, munches caviar, terrorizes her daughter, and tries in vain to mingle with the beautiful people -- all in the company of her sleek, slutty, boozed-up best friend. Edina Monsoon (Jennifer Saunders) and Patsy Stone (Joanna Lumley) (aka Pats and Eddy) are '60s survivors and fashion-world wannabes; Pats works for magazines, while Eddy owns a PR firm whose biggest client is '60s has-been Lulu, of "To Sir With Love" fame. These women live in a cloud of self-delusion about the supposed glamour of their London lifestyle, forever attempting to claw their way past the velvet rope. Pats inhabits the attic of a liquor-store franchise, while Eddy lives in a well-to-do flat thanks to the double alimony from her two ex-husbands, a gay antiques dealer and a recovering alcoholic. When she's not being horrible to her dowdy, unflappable teenaged daughter, Saffron (Julia Sawalha), and her oblivious, tongue-in-cheek mother (June Whitfield), Eddy stages fashion shows, jets off to photo shoots, pays charlatans to put her in touch with her inner child, and tries every weight-loss cure known to man -- except curbing her decadent lifestyle. Thanks to its shrill satire, over-the-top costumes, outrageous excess, and all-around camp appeal, Absolutely Fabulous became a pop-culture phenomenon that spawned two Sesame Street characters, a slew of slang expressions ("Sweetie darling, I'm chanting as we speak"), and even a Pet Shop Boys charity single. The actual theme song, sung by Julie Driscoll and Adrian Edmondson, is a cover of "This Wheel's on Fire," a '60s obscurity written by Bob Dylan and the Band's Rick Danko.

"AbFab," as it's known, began its life as a sketch called "Modern Mother and Daughter" on the BBC comedy show French & Saunders. Although frequent Saunders collaborator Dawn French played the daughter part in the original sketch, she bowed out in favor of half-Jordanian, half-British actress Sawalha, a Press Gang vet who was closer to the character's age. Patsy -- played like a coked-up Dynasty caricature by former Bond girl and New Avengers star Lumley -- wasn't a part of the original sketch but quickly became a favorite of drag queens everywhere. In addition to cameos from celebrities such as Helena Bonham Carter and Naomi Campbell, AbFab includes frequent appearances by Little Voice star Jane Horrocks (as Eddy's airhead assistant, Bubble) and Nil by Mouth star Kathy Burke (as straight-talking magazine editor Magda). Although one BBC development executive's reaction to the pilot was, "I don't think women being drunk is funny," a beeb secretary handed out tapes in secret to her friends, and soon the buzz about the show became deafening. The first series premiered on BBC1 on November 12, 1992, but didn't make its American bow until July 1994, when Comedy Central began airing perpetual reruns of the show. Three six-episode series were broadcast in the U.K. in 1992, 1994, and 1995, followed by a two-part TV movie, Absolutely Fabulous: The Last Shout, in November 1996. In 2000, as Saunders was working on a new program called Mirrorball that reunited much of the AbFab cast, she decided to switch gears and revisit her best-known characters in a fourth AbFab series, which began airing on August 31, 2001. Co-funded by Comedy Central, the new series began its U.S. run a few months later, on November 12, 2001. Although Roseanne purchased the rights to develop an American version of the show in 1994, the first international adaptation of the program to see the light of day was the 2001 French film Absolument Fabuleux. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In the eighth episode of the season-long continuity "The Trial of the Time Lord," the Doctor (Colin Baker) refutes videotaped evidence of his "treachery" on the planet Thoros Beta. It doesn't look good for the Doctor, however, since the tapes suggest that he willingly served up a reluctant Peri (Nicola Bryant) as a body donor in a brain-transplant experiment performed by scientist Crozier (Patrick Ryecart) on the planet's leader Kiv (Christopher Ryan). The outraged Time Lords, ignoring the Doctor's insistence that the evidence is entirely misleading, are forced to take drastic measures. This episode served as the series swan song for co-star Nicola Bryant. Written by Philip Martin and originally telecast on October 24, 1986, Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord, Episode 8 is actually the concluding chapter of the four-part story arc "Mindwarp." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In the sixth episode of the season-long continuity "The Trial of a Time Lord," the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) continues to prosecute the Doctor (Colin Baker) for violating the Laws of Time. Videotaped evidence shows the Doctor and Peri (Nicola Bryant) travelling to the planet Thoros Beta, apparently to commisserate with intergalactic outlaw Sil (Nabil Shaban). But the Doctor contends that his mission to Thoros Beta was meant to be beneficial, citing the fact that scientist Crozier (Patrick Ryecart) intended to alleviate the suffering of the planet's leader, Kiv (Christopher Ryan), by using the Doctor's body as the temporary home for Kiv's brain. Will the Doctor be able to prove his point -- or will his erratic behavior, caught on video, condemn him to death? Written by Philip Martin and originally telecast on October 11, 1986, "Mindwarp, Episode 2" is listed in most sources as Doctor Who: The Trial of a Time Lord, Episode 6. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After introducing how Santa and Mrs. Claus came to the North Pole and began their work delivering toys at Christmas time, this routine children's film segues into a story about an evil corporate magnate (John Lithgow). One of Santa's elves (Dudley Moore) goes to work for the nasty tycoon and invents a wild array of far-out toys. Then there is a little boy who does not believe in Santa Claus and a girl who finds out about the toymaker's plans to defraud his company. Santa's reindeer are a little under the weather, not to mention Santa himself. This labyrinth of subplots quickly draws attention away from the story, wherever it is. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The boys move to a new house, which looks surprisingly like their previous house. After some squabbling over bedrooms and a minor bed fire, they settle in. Strangely, Buddy Holly hangs suspended from Mike's (Christopher Ryan) ceiling, but not for long. Thanks to a genie, Neil (Nigel Planer) temporarily acquires six pairs of hands. Runny-bottom Rick (Rik Mayal) is restrained by a bouncer (Robbie Coltrane) after Mike establishes a roller-disco in Rick's room. Laundry-maven Neil and Rick face oppression from Mike and Vyvyan (Adrian Edmondson), after oil is "discovered" in the basement. Vyvyan is mildly disturbed when a pickaxe becomes lodged in his skull. Rick stages a benefit concert, which sees Alexei Sayle singing a song about Dr. Marten's boots. ~ Tim DiGravina, Rovi