News

British actor Kenneth Cope, a popular TV and film star in the 1960s and ’70s thanks to leading appearances in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and Coronation Street, has died. He was 93.

Cope’s former agent Sandra Chalmers, of The Artists Partnership, announced that he died at his home in the northern seaside town of Southport in Sefton, Liverpool, the area where he was born in 1931.

Renny Lister, Cope’s wife of 63 years, and family members, including actor daughter Martha Cope, were by his side. He is also survived by children Nick and Mark.

Chalmers said Cope was an “incredible icon of British TV & film.” Cope and Lister met in 1961 when they both joined the cast of long-running ITV soap Coronation Street. He played petty crook Jed Stone as a semi-regular through the early and mid-1960s. He later returned to the role after an absence of 42 years.

He honed his...

Margaret Nolan, an actress and artist known as the gold-painted model in the title sequence for the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger,” died Oct. 5, her son, Oscar Deeks, confirmed to Variety. She was 76.

Director Edgar Wright first announced the news of Nolan’s death on Twitter. In a touching tribute, Wright wrote: “She was the middle of Venn diagram of everything cool in the 60’s; having appeared with the Beatles, been beyond iconic in Bond and been part of the ‘Carry On’ cast too.”

She was the gold painted model in the iconic Goldfinger title sequence and poster (she also played Dink in the movie), she appeared in the classic A Hard Day's Night, Carry On Girls, No Sex Please We're British & many others, frequently sending up her own glamourpuss image. 2/4 pic.twitter.com/RyUs7fS6P7

— edgarwright (@edgarwright) October 11, 2020

Nolan was born on Oct. 29, 1943 in Somerset, England and grew up in London.

Hammer and Horror Film Day!

Saturday November the 9th ( 10am – 5pm )

Central Hall Westminster.

Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9Nh

UK’s longest running film fair and convention.

Now in it’s 40th year!

The Convention presents dealers from all over the UK, Europe, Us ,

Canada and South America.

Specialising in rare original film memorabilia and collectables.

Taking place six times a year these are truly unique events for anyone with an interest in films!

With actors and director’s signings, illustrated talks, retrospectives and film screenings taking place through out the day.

Items covering the history of cinema can be found. From the silents to the present.

From rare items of the 1920’s to new releases and the latest heart throb.

Among the many different field of cinema covered at the show is – Classic Hollywood, horror films, sci-fi, the best of British and European cinema as we as cult tv!

Pop starlets Christina Aguilera and Robyn have unveiled their newest incarnations: fembots with attitude. But who is the ultimate pop culture robot?

Round One

Looks like a Dyson category

Noo Noo v The Daleks

Noo Noo is the Teletubbies' uptight, underpaid robot servant, cleaning up after space-heads like Laa-Laa and Dipsy. Constrained by his one, botox-fixed expression (surprised!) he'd never make it in an intergalactic warfare situation, unlike his automaton brothers the Daleks.

The Daleks win

Identity crisis category

C-3P0 v Marvin

The Paranoid Android Forget wandering about the wilds of Tatooine, C3PO's natural calling was clearly as a fruity doctor on Carry On Matron. Similarly, Hitchhikers' ridiculously over-achieving, depressive Marvin was wasted in space. The fact that Radiohead named a song after him suggests that he would've been happier spending his time making Chris Martin feel small and insignificant through critically-lauded, oblique, prog-rock music.

Marvin the Paranoid...

We're seeing more and more comic books and graphic novels being adapted for the big screen and, even with varied results at the box office, the trend shows no sign of stopping.

This is largely because established titles come with a devoted fanbase while newer publications are akin to film storyboards that give studios a clear visual idea of the project.

Only recently I have twice reported on a number of comics that are being picked up by film bosses, and you can see those round-ups here and here.

I talked about the craze to comic book writer and artist Al Davison, who runs The Astral Gypsy graphic novels shop and art studio in the Canal Basin here in Coventry.

Al's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years. He is working on the Doctor Who comic (as seen in the image pictured right), which was launched in July, and recently...

We're seeing more and more comic books and graphic novels being adapted for the big screen and, even with varied results at the box office, the trend shows no sign of stopping.

This is largely because established titles come with a devoted fanbase while newer publications are akin to film storyboards that give studios a clear visual idea of the project.

Only recently I have twice reported on a number of comics that are being picked up by film bosses, and you can see those round-ups here and here.

I talked about the craze to comic book writer and artist Al Davison, who runs The Astral Gypsy graphic novels shop and art studio in the Canal Basin here in Coventry.

Al's been writing and drawing comics for 25 years. He is working on the Doctor Who comic (as seen in the image pictured right), which was launched in July, and recently...

Legendary British actor Jack Douglas has died of pneumonia at the age of 81.

Douglas was best known for his role in eight movies in the bawdy Carry On comedy film franchise, including the classics Carry On Abroad and Carry On Matron.

He was also a revered theatre actor and pantomime star, and appeared in several British TV comedies including The Goodies and The Benny Hill Show.

Douglas had suffered ill health for a number of years, and died at his home on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, on Thursday.

His agent Phil Dale says, "Jack was one of those lovely people who came from the world of comedy and understood comedy timing in the sense of the old British tradition of farce".

Douglas leaves a partner, Vivien Howell.

Beloved British TV actress Wendy Richard has revealed she has been diagnosed with terminal cancer - but will marry for a fourth time before she dies.

The Are You Being Served? star - famed for playing Pauline Fowler in hit U.K. soap opera Eastenders for more than two decades - has beaten breast cancer twice before, but the disease has now attacked her kidney and spread to her bones.

In an exclusive interview with British newspaper the Sunday Express, she says "It has come as a terrible shock and you just get so fed up. You think, 'Oh, crikey, here we go again', but you just have to buck your ideas up and get on with these things."

Richard, 65, says her dying wish is to wed her long-term partner John Burns, 45.

The couple plan to exchange vows on Friday before starting chemotherapy next week.

She says, "We were going to get married anyway but when we got the diagnosis we decided to push ahead and get married now. There was no rush before.

"I've looked at it from both sides of the coin. If I get better, which hopefully I will, all well and good, but, worse case scenario and I do pass away, John is secure because I have made my will and drawn up what arrangements I would like for my funeral and what music I would like played, so I've tried to think of everything."

Richard has also appeared in two Carry On films, playing a cameo role in Carry On Matron and a supporting part in Carry On Girls.