Talking Pictures TV www.talkingpicturestv.co.uk Highlights for week beginning SKY 328 | FREEVIEW 81 Mon 23rd December 2019 FREESAT 306 | VIRGIN 445
The Amazing Mr Blunden on Talking Pictures TV Written and directed by Lionel Jeffries, two years after he made The Railway Children, this film has been a family favourite in Britain since its release in 1972. The cast includes: Laurence Naismith, Lynne Frederick, Rosalyn Landor, Garry Miller, David Lodge, Marc Granger, Graham Crowden, Diana Dors, James Villiers, Dorothy Alison, Benjamin Smith, Deddie Davies, Madeline Smith, Erik Chitty, Paddy Ward, Paul Eddington and Aimée Delamain. It’s Christmas in 1917 and a bereaved family receive a visit from a smartly dressed old man, a solicitor looking for a reliable caretaker for a remote house. Strangely, he asks the two children if they are afraid of ghosts, but then reassures them. The almost penniless family accept his offer, and he leaves, saying: “We three Kings of Orient are, my dears”. The family move to the cottage, in the grounds of a derelict but once grand house, where the children meet the ghostly previous occupants, another pair of children, who perished in a fire one hundred years ago. This charming film makes wonderful family viewing, with the perfect mix of suspense, nostalgia and adventure. Airs: Christmas Day at 7pm.
Mon 23rd Dec 11:30 Tues 24th Dec 15:00 IWM: Next of Kin (1942) and Sun 29th 09:20 An Ealing Studios production, directed The Christmas Tree (1966) by Thorold Dickinson, on “careless talk” Family film, directed by Jim Clark. during wartime, with Mervyn Johns, Stars: Brian Blessed, William Burleigh, Jack Hawkins, Basil Radford, Naunton Anthony Honour and Kate Nicholls. Wayne and Nova Pilbeam. Gary plans to get a tree for children who will be in hospital for Christmas. Mon 23rd Dec 13:40 Cash on Demand (1961) Tues 24th Dec 22:00 Drama, directed by Quentin Lawrence. The Lovers! (1973) Stars: Peter Cushing, Andre Morell & Comedy directed by Herbert Wise. Richard Vernon. A crook abducts the wife Starring: Richard Beckinsale, Paula and child of a bank manager and then Wilcox. The ups-and-downs of a schemes to rob the institution. young couple’s relationship. Mon 23rd Dec 19:20 Wed 25th Dec13:25 The Holly and the Ivy (1952) Flight of the Doves (1971) Drama, directed by: Drama, directed by Ralph Nelson. George More O’Ferrall. Stars: Ron Moody, Jack Wild, Dorothy Stars Ralph Richardson & Celia Johnson. Heart-warming tale of a minister and his McGuire & Stanley Holloway. Two family reunited at Christmas. orphans are pursued by their uncle. Wed 25th Dec 17:15 Mon 23rd Dec 22:00 and Sun 29th 11:45 Station Six Sahara (1963) Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (1951) Drama, directed by Seth Holt. Drama, directed by Brian Desmond Stars: Carroll Baker, Ian Bannen, Hurst. Stars: Alastair Sim, Jack Warner, Denholm Elliott, Peter Van Eyck, Kathleen Harrison and Sir Michael Jorg Felmy, Mario Adorf. The lives of Hordern. Alastair Sim plays the lives of five lonely men on an isolat- definitive Ebenezer Scrooge. ed oil station are interrupted when a young woman crashes her car nearby. Wed 25th Dec 19:00 The Amazing Mr Blunden (1972) Tues 24th Dec 11:30 Family film, written and directed and Fri 27th Dec 07:20 by Lionel Jeffries. Stars: Laurence Scrooge (1935) Naismith, Lynne Frederick, Rosalyn Family film directed by Henry Edwards. Landor, Garry Miller, David Lodge. Stars: Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop. A bereaved family move to a Film version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, the haunted house, where they classic Dickens tale. encounter two ghostly children. Talking Pictures TV Highlights for week beginning www.talkingpicturestv.co.uk SKY 328 | FREEVIEW 81 Mon 23rd December 2019 continued FREESAT 306 | VIRGIN 445
Wed 25th Dec 21:00 Fri 27th Dec 14:45 Public Eye Christmas Special: Crooks Anonymous (1962) Horse and Carriage (1972) Comedy, directed by Ken Annakin. Mystery Drama directed by Bill Bain. Stars Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter Stars: Alfred Burke, Pat Heywood and and Wilfrid Hyde-White. Petty thief Tony Melody. Marker finds the season Dandy Forsdyke joins an unofficial of goodwill difficult when a husband organisation for reforming criminals. hires him to investigate his wife. Fri 27th Dec 22:00 Wed 25th Dec 22:05 Are You Being Served? (1977) Lady Godiva Rides Again (1952) Comedy, directed by Bob Kellett. Comedy, directed by Frank Launder. Stars: John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Stars: Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway, Frank Thornton, Trevor Bannister, Sidney James, Dora Bryan, Diana Dors, Wendy Richard, Arthur Brough, Pauline Stroud. A provincial waitress Arthur English. Film based on the is surprised when she wins a beauty popular British sitcom. The staff of contest to ride as Lady Godiva in the Grace Brothers department store take town pageant. off for a holiday on the Costa Plonka. Sat 28th Dec 07:40 Thurs 26th Dec 11:30 IWM: The True Glory (1945) The Flying Deuces (1939) Oscar winning documentary on Comedy, directed by A. Edward the Allied invasion of Europe. Sutherland. Stars: Stan Laurel, Directed by Carol Reed and Garson Oliver Hardy, Jean Parker, Reginald Kanin, using soldiers’ commentary, Gardiner, Charles Middleton, spoken by Peter Ustinov, John Laurie, Jean Del Val, Crane Whitley, Jimmy Hanley & Richard Attenborough. James Finlayson. Christmas wouldn’t Wed 25th Dec 15:30 be complete without Stan and Ollie. and Sat 28th Dec 16:00 The world’s favourite comedy duo bring nostalgic laughter Genevieve (1953) to our screens in this light-hearted film. Oliver has his heart Comedy, directed by Henry Cornelius. broken by a girl and joins the Foreign Legion to forget her, Stars: Kenneth More, Dinah Sheridan taking Stanley with him. Their bumbling puts them in front of and Kay Kendall. Two friends want to a firing squad, but they escape in a stolen plane! win the London to Brighton rally. Thurs 26th Dec 14:30 Sat 28th Dec 19:35 Hobson’s Choice (1954) The Mirror Crack’d (1981) Drama, directed by David Lean. Stars: Crime Drama, directed by: Charles Laughton, John Mills & Brenda Guy Hamilton. Stars: Rock Hudson, de Banzie. Henry Hobson’s daughters Angela Lansbury, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Tony Curtis, Geraldine want to marry, but he refuses to give Chaplin, Edward Fox. Film stars arrive them settlements. The eldest marries in Miss Marple’s sleepy village to Hobson’s master boot-maker and work on a film about Elizabeth I. together they set up a rival shop. Sat 28th Dec 21:40 Thurs 26th Dec 18:50 and Sun 29th 18:50 Peeping Tom (1960) The Magic Box (1952) Crime drama, directed by: Michael Historical Drama, directed by Powell. Stars: Karl Heinz Böhm, Moira John Boulting. Stars: Robert Donat, Shearer, Anna Massey. A cameraman Laurence Olivier, Maria Schell. kills women while using a camera to The story of William Friese-Greene, a record their dying expressions. pioneer in the field of motion pictures. Sun 29th Dec 21:00 Fri 27th Dec 11:45 Mystery and Imagination Pool of London (1951) Episode 4: The Suicide Club (1970) Crime thriller, directed by Drama, directed by: Mike Vardy. Basil Dearden. Stars: Earl Cameron, Stars: Alan Dobie, Bernard Archard Susan Shaw, Bonar Colleano. and Hildegard Neil. Adapted from Two sailors are caught up in smuggling. the Robert Louis Stevenson story by One of them also falls in love – with a Robert Muller. The ‘Suicide Club’ is white girl. a sinister and exclusive club whose members gamble for their lives.