Saturday 26 October 2013

Unknown Drama #3


From another mystery clip.  Neither the title of the programme nor the name of the actress are known here. 

Dialogue
(A man and blonde woman walking through a computer centre)
Man: ... You didn't program THAT through one of your computers.
Woman: Program what, Jack, I don't know what you're talking about.
(Clip jump)
The same man is standing looking at a naked brunette woman leaning against a pillar. The picture then fades into them making love together on a bed with the woman seen topless.  A French speaking woman's voice is heard talking over the scene - maybe it's meant to be the brunette woman's thoughts?
At the end it fades into a close up of a woman's face - she may be the brunette woman or possibly someone else.

The man's character name of "Jack" is used.  From the brief dialogue heard, Jack sounds like he could be American (or maybe putting on an American accent) , the blonde computer room woman sounds English.

It is probably something from the 1980s.  An assumption is 1987 since other known clips posted at the same time as this one were from that year.  I assume it's a TV show although there's a chance it could be a film.  It may turn out that the topless woman is a French actress and not a candidate for inclusion on the site but it would be nice to solve it anyway so that can be established.

The key to solving it is probably the identification of the man and from there hopefully finding something in which he played a character called "Jack". And then seeing who else was in it.



UPDATE - May 2014
A further collage of the scene added ...

 
 
UPDATE - April 2017
This drama has been identified as Man on the Screen from June 1987.
http://toplessreview.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/query-solved-unknown-drama-3-man-on.html


 
 

Sunday 20 October 2013

Unidentified Actress in 1983 Drama STUDIO


Another unsolved identification from a retained early-1980s TV clip.  This one came with a clue that it was about a music studio in a big house.

This was enough to unearth a possibility called "Studio" which the BFI Database entry describes as a "drama series set in a residential music recording studio built on a peninsula which attracts a diverse group of musicians and others".  It was a 7-part ITV series from 1983, co-written by Anthony Minghella.

The short clip features a young man and young woman laying down on a matress in some kind of conservatory.  Conveniently they mention each others names as "Liz" and "Danny".

Dialogue
Liz
: .... love from their own daughter.
Danny: Love, Liz?
Liz: I Love you Danny
Danny: Why?
Liz: I've always loved you
Danny: But you've been going out with Vinn and Jenkinson since junior two
Liz: But I was repressed weren't I? That prefab of ours was just a seething pit of repression, me dad torturing the budgie and me mum knitting prayer mats.
Danny: But Liz, I love Maureen.
Liz: But I've left home! She'll never leave home.
Danny: Yeah, but I might go back.
Liz: Get Owt! Nobody ever went back to Little Binley! Not alive anyway.  You don't know how lucky you are, Danny, not only have you managed to break away, but you've also attracted a person of similar strength and .... (clip ends)

The Kaleidoscope TV Guide gives the character names of the regular cast and one of them is "Danny" played by Graham Fellows. Online pictures of him appear to match the actor seen in the clip so that seems good enough to confirm it as being from this series.  BTW. Graham Fellows was also known as the late 1970s pop act "Jilted John".

Liz/Elizabeth was not one of the main cast listed and so was probably in just one of two episodes.  The Kaleidoscope Guide lists each episode's additional cast but does not show any character names for them.  The BFI database only shows character names for the episode 1 cast (none of which are Liz), and IMDB hardly has any cast coverage for this series at all.

So "Liz" must have been one of the additional names listed for episodes 2-7

These are: (per episode)
   2: Tracy Dixon, Brenda Castle, Diane Whitley, Paula Kitt.
   3: Margo Random, Josefina Cupido, Michele Copsey, Caroline Dennis, Jean Munroe-Martyn.
   4: Paula Kitt, Susannah Self, Diane Whitley
   5: Dinah May, Georgina Goold, Suzanne Blewett
   6: None
   7: None

Tracy Dixon: She was presumably the Page 3 girl with that name and if so it is not her
Brenda Castle: IMDB: a few small TV roles from 1980-1984 & 1990
Diane Whitley: IMDB: 3 small TV roles and 2 film roles (1983-1993)
Paula Kitt: IMDB: 4 small TV roles
Margo Random: IMDB: An American actress and musician - unlikely to be her
Josefina Cupido: There is a singer with this name
Michele Copsey: IMDB: 5 TV roles 1978-2003 and 2 film roles.  She had a topless scene in Reilly Ace Of Spies, but available screenshots from that scene aren't clear enough to be able to tell if it's her or not.
Caroline Dennis: IMDB: 9 TV roles 1983-1999
Jean Munroe-Martyn: (no info found)
Susannah Self: There is an opera singer called Susannah Self, but unclear whether she was active in 1983.
Dinah May: She was Miss GB in 1976, and pictures of her don't look like "Liz"
Georgina Goold: (no info found)
Suzanne Blewett: (no info found)

Conclusion: A better credits source, or original episodes needed to establish which actress was playing "Liz".


Liz and Danny

Part of another scene on clip shows Graham Fellows (in blue shirt).
The girl standing does not appear to be Liz.

Sunday 13 October 2013

Not The Nine O'clock News - Baby On The Bus Sketch


There is a Not The Nine O'clock News sketch which features a woman who comes home laden with gift-wrapped presents as she greets her husband (Rowan Atkinson) who looks at her quizzically because her left breast is hanging out of her blouse and she doesn't seem to realise.  She looks down and exclaims with alarm that she has left the baby on the bus and rushes back out of the front door.  The woman is not Pamela Stephenson who usually played the female roles and the identity of this actress is unknown.

Referring to an episode guide site informs me that this "Baby on the Bus" sketch appeared in series 1, episode 5 which was broadcast on 13/11/1979.  Since she speaks it seems possible she might have been credited.  However no reference sources checked show any additional cast for that episode.

Regular visitors to the main site might have noticed the name "Darkman" appearing as a contributor.  From the early 1970s to early 1980s Darkman kept written notes on female nudity seen on TV including the programme name, actress name and the broadcast date.  He shared his notes with me and while they didn't actually describe the scenes beyond the type of nudity seen (e.g. "topless") they have proved an invaluable resource with his identifications and observations, made live without the benefit of being able to re-watch a video recording, nearly always proving correct whenever one of the programmes he listed becomes available for viewing by some means.  Most of his information appears on the site already when a named actress's involvement in a stated programme can be confirmed.  But a few have been omitted where that has not proved possible.

One of these unused entries was one he made for Not The Nine O'clock News, in which his notes state that an actress called Robina Gange was seen topless in an episode shown on 13-Nov-79.

This happens to match the date of the episode featuring the "Baby On The Bus" sketch.  Her name must therefore have appeared on the end credits.  Of course, without seeing the full original episode, it is not possible to be 100% certain whether or not there were any other sketches featuring a miscellaneous woman that might have alternatively accounted for that credit, or whether the baby on the bus woman was the only possible additional female performer it could have been.

Unfortunately that's where the trail to adding a site entry ends because no credits reference sources checked have any mention of a Robina Gange ever working on anything meaning her likeness cannot be compared to another appearance in order to see if it's her.  So either this Not The Nine O'clock episode was the only thing she ever did, or it was a pseudonym that was not used again.

From "Baby on the Bus" sketch

UPDATE
See the post Not The Nine O'Clock News - Baby on the Bus - The Verdict for an resolving update about this sketch.




Sunday 6 October 2013

Pagan Queen Misidentification


The Pagan Queen (2009) is another film that was subject to a mistaken identification when clips were first seen - and a quick websearch shows that this misidentification still seems to perpetuate.

In this case it's a scene that was said to be Vera Filatova, who has most recently been seen as a regular in the BBC1 sitcom "Me and Mrs Jones"

The scene in question involves a young woman lying on her back on some rocks to lure an enemy male soldier into approaching - and when he does she sits up and stabs him to signal the start of an ambush attack by the warrior women led by Vlasta (Lea Mornar).

This woman has no speaking part and is not named or credited.  A good view of her face is seen earlier in the film while she is travelling in a wagon with Libuse (Winter Ave Zoli) - but she does not speak here either.

Vera Filatova (whose character was of a different tribe to Vlasta and was not involved in the battle scene at all), was one of the main characters in the film and did not have any nudity.



Above two: From the scene

The same uncredited extra sitting with Winter Ave Zoli

This is Vera Filatova as she appears in The Pagan Queen