Bill Nighy

Bill Nighy

Birthday: 1949-12-12

Place of Birth: Caterham, Surrey, England, UK

Biography: William Francis Nighy (born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Known for his work on screen and stage, he has received numerous awards, including two BAFTA Awards, a Golden Globe Award and nominations for an Academy Award and a Tony Award. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with The Illuminatus! in 1977. There he gained acclaim for his roles in David Hare's Pravda in 1985, Harold Pinter's Betrayal in 1991, Tom Stoppard's Arcadia in 1993, and Anton Chekov's The Seagull in 1994. He received a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor nomination for his performance in Blue/Orange in 2001. He made his Broadway debut in Hare's The Vertical Hour in 2006, and returned in the 2015 revival of Hare's Skylight earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. Early film roles include in the comedies Still Crazy (1998), and Blow Dry (1999) before his breakout role in Love Actually (2003) which earned him a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. He soon gained recognition portraying Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2006-2007), and Viktor in the Underworld film series (2003-2009). Other films include Shaun of the Dead (2004), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), The Constant Gardener (2005), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Hot Fuzz (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012), About Time (2013), Emma (2020), and Living (2022), the last of these earning him his first career Academy Award nomination. Nighy has gained acclaim for his roles in television earning a British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for his performance in BBC One series State of Play (2003), and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for the BBC film Gideon's Daughter (2007). He's also known for his roles in HBO's The Girl in the Café (2006) and PBS's Page Eight (2012).

Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Captain Jack Sparrow races to recover the heart of Davy Jones to avoid enslaving his soul to Jones' ...

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Underworld
Underworld

Vampires and werewolves have waged a nocturnal war against each other for centuries. But all bets ar...

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Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann join forces with the revived Captain Barbossa to free Jack Sparrow f...

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Love Actually
Love Actually

Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all se...

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Notes on a Scandal
Notes on a Scandal

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of h...

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Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates
Below Deck: An Interactive History Of Pirates

...

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Still Crazy
Still Crazy

In the 1970s, Strange Fruit were it. They lived the rock lifestyle to the max, groupies, drugs, inte...

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Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead

Shaun lives a supremely uneventful life, which revolves around his girlfriend, his mother, and, abov...

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Valkyrie
Valkyrie

Wounded in Africa during World War II, Nazi Col. Claus von Stauffenberg returns to his native German...

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Underworld: Evolution
Underworld: Evolution

As the war between the vampires and the Lycans rages on, Selene, a former member of the Death Dealer...

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10 Lives
10 Lives

A pampered cat takes for granted the lucky hand he has been dealt after he is rescued and loved by R...

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The Constant Gardener
The Constant Gardener

Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not c...

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Guest House Paradiso
Guest House Paradiso

Richie and Eddie are in charge of the worst hotel in the UK, Guest House Paradiso, neighbouring a nu...

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Hot Fuzz
Hot Fuzz

Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the slee...

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Thirteen at Dinner
Thirteen at Dinner

Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce, but her husband, Lord Edgware, refuses. She convinces Hercul...

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swep...

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Flushed Away
Flushed Away

London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for ...

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The Little Drummer Girl
The Little Drummer Girl

An American Actress with a penchant for lying is forceably recruited by Mosad, the Israeli intellige...

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Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

A prequel to the first two Underworld films, this fantasy explains the origins of the feud between t...

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Harry, Ron and Hermione walk away from their last year at Hogwarts to find and destroy the remaining...

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Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener
Anatomy of a Global Thriller: Behind the Scenes of The Constant Gardener

The Constant Gardener featurette....

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Enduring Love
Enduring Love

Two strangers become dangerously close after witnessing a deadly accident. On a beautiful cloudless...

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Stormbreaker
Stormbreaker

Alex Rider thinks he is a normal school boy, until his uncle is killed. He discovers that his uncle ...

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The Girl in the Café
The Girl in the Café

Lawrence, an aging, lonely civil servant falls for Gina, an enigmatic young woman. When he takes her...

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Glorious 39
Glorious 39

A mysterious tale set around a traditional British family on the eve of World War Two. Oblivious to ...

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Lucky Break
Lucky Break

Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lu...

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FairyTale: A True Story
FairyTale: A True Story

In 1917, two children take a photograph, which is soon believed by some to be the first scientific e...

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Wild Target
Wild Target

Victor Maynard is a middle-aged, solitary assassin who lives to please his formidable mother, despit...

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Rango
Rango

When Rango, a lost family pet, accidentally winds up in the gritty, gun-slinging town of Dirt, the l...

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The Magic Roundabout
The Magic Roundabout

A shaggy, candy-loving puppy named Dougal along with a group of friends embarks on a dangerous journ...

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Astro Boy
Astro Boy

Set in the futuristic Metro City, Astro Boy (Atom) is a young robot with incredible powers created b...

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Total Recall
Total Recall

Factory worker Doug Quaid takes a virtual mind-trip vacation with the Rekall company, opting for imp...

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Blow Dry
Blow Dry

The annual British Hairdressing Championship comes to Keighley, a town where Phil and son Brian run ...

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I Capture the Castle
I Capture the Castle

In 1930s England, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and her eccentric family struggle to survive in a d...

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True Blue
True Blue

The story of the year the Oxford and Cambridge boat race changed from a gentleman's race to one wher...

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The Boat That Rocked
The Boat That Rocked

When a group of rebellious deejays decides to defy the ban on government-censored music, they take t...

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Longitude
Longitude

Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20...

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Arthur Christmas
Arthur Christmas

For hundreds of years, the Claus family has delegated the title "Santa" to a chosen few of its membe...

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Real Creatures of Dirt
Real Creatures of Dirt

In this fun and educational piece, animal experts talk about the real creatures that inspired the ch...

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G-Force
G-Force

A team of trained secret agent animals, guinea pigs Darwin, Hurley, Juarez, Blaster, mole Speckles, ...

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Mack the Knife
Mack the Knife

In 19th century London, a young girl falls for a womanizing criminal and they decide to wed. Her fam...

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Jack the Giant Slayer
Jack the Giant Slayer

The story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway betw...

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Page Eight
Page Eight

Johnny is a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss dies suddenly, leaving behind an inexplicable file wh...

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The Young Visiters
The Young Visiters

The Young Visiters, written in twelve days by nine-year-old Daisy Ashford in 1890, is a surreal blen...

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Unnatural Causes
Unnatural Causes

Roy Marsden returns as author P.D. James's indefatigable gumshoe, Inspector Adam Dalgliesh. This tim...

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The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

British retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel...

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Wrath of the Titans
Wrath of the Titans

Perseus tries to live a quieter life as a village fisherman while – dangerously weakened by humanity...

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Chalet Girl
Chalet Girl

While working a job at an exclusive ski resort to support her Dad, Kim learns to snowboard and is so...

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Lawless Heart
Lawless Heart

In a British seaside resort, several lives intertwine following the funeral of a gay restaurant owne...

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Gideon's Daughter
Gideon's Daughter

Bill Nighy and Miranda Richardson star in a story of grief and celebrity, set in the intense spring ...

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The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera

An aspiring opera singer finds herself transported back to Victorian-era London -- and into the arms...

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Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil
Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil

The two-part TV movie Hitler's SS: Portrait in Evil crystallizes that evil by concentrating on two B...

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I, Frankenstein
I, Frankenstein

200 years after his shocking creation, Dr. Frankenstein's creature, Adam, still walks the earth. But...

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The World's End
The World's End

Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly...

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About Time
About Time

The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father tells his son that the men in ...

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The First Omen
The First Omen

When a young American woman is sent to Rome to begin a life of service to the church, she encounters...

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Alive and Kicking
Alive and Kicking

A passionately committed young dancer is forced to re-examine his career and life when faced with de...

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Pride
Pride

In 1984, a group of LGBT activists decide to raise money to support the National Union of Mineworker...

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Joy
Joy

A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, stat...

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Little Lord Fauntleroy
Little Lord Fauntleroy

Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death ...

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Turks & Caicos
Turks & Caicos

The second movie in David Hare's Johnny Worricker trilogy. Loose-limbed spy Johnny Worricker, last s...

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Salting the Battlefield
Salting the Battlefield

David Hare concludes his trilogy of films about MI5 renegade Johnny Worricker with another fugue on ...

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Easter 2016
Easter 2016

Set in 2016 prior to the centennial of the Easter Rising at Northern Ireland's only integrated teach...

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The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

As the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining vacancy - posing a rooming predicament...

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Role Play
Role Play

Emma has a wonderful husband and two kids in the suburbs of New Jersey – she also has a secret life ...

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Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue
Gracie & Pedro: Pets to the Rescue

Family frenemies, Gracie and Pedro, must put their differences aside, embarking on a thrilling quest...

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National Theatre Live: Skylight
National Theatre Live: Skylight

On a bitterly cold London evening, schoolteacher Kyra Hollis receives an unexpected visit from her f...

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Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens
Christmas Magic at Kew Gardens

Follows Christmas celebrations at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as staff prepare for one of their b...

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The Maitlands
The Maitlands

There is a strained atmosphere in the Maitland household which has fallen on hard times....

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Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz
Conclusive: We Made Hot Fuzz

A documentary about the making of Hot Fuzz....

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Curse of the Pink Panther
Curse of the Pink Panther

Inspector Clouseau disappears, and the Surete wants the world's second best detective to look for hi...

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Darkling
Darkling

The wanderer of Roger Hyams' films Sunday and Grand Union steps out into the night....

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The Wild Robot
The Wild Robot

After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive ...

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500 Miles
500 Miles

A broken family is forced to come together when 16 year old Finn and his livewire younger brother Ch...

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Norm of the North
Norm of the North

Polar bear Norm and his three Arctic lemming buddies are forced out into the world once their icy ho...

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Their Finest
Their Finest

During the Blitz of World War II, a female screenwriter works on a film celebrating England's resili...

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The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special

ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer marks the 20th anniversary of the making of the holiday classic movie “...

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Being Human
Being Human

One man must learn the meaning of courage across four lifetimes centuries apart....

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Dad's Army
Dad's Army

A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon de...

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Slapper
Slapper

A young boy watches a fight in a crowded bar: a masked man versus the people’s champ. But rather tha...

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Spectre of the Bear
Spectre of the Bear

One man's obsession with crisps becomes unhealthy - and not because he's eating them. Tom's quest fo...

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That Christmas
That Christmas

It's an unforgettable Christmas for the townsfolk of Wellington-on-Sea when the worst snowstorm in h...

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Bloody Fury
Bloody Fury

In the Far West, the fur trade is booming. Bloody Furry, one of the last red wolves still alive, dec...

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Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher
Life Beyond the Box: Norman Stanley Fletcher

Spoof documentary looking at the life of Normal Stanley Fletcher, the star of 1970s sitcom Porridge ...

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Ready When You Are, Mr McGill
Ready When You Are, Mr McGill

Remake of the 1976 TV drama by Jack Rosenthal. An extra in a TV drama is finally given a line to say...

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Burst
Burst

A short film about fictional actor Maxwell McCourtney, featuring the cast and crew of 'Enduring Love...

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A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman
A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman

Julie Walters tells the story of how Morph, Shaun the Sheep and that cheese-loving man Wallace and h...

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Don't Leave Me This Way
Don't Leave Me This Way

British academics Loretta and Bridget run into Sandra, an old school friend at a book launch. Althou...

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Absolute Hell
Absolute Hell

Black comedy set in Soho, London, right after World War II. Half of the fun is seeing a slew of very...

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& Sons
& Sons

A world-renowned but reclusive novelist, believing he is about to die, summons his estranged sons to...

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A Masculine Ending
A Masculine Ending

While English professor Loretta Lawson is attending a conference in Paris, she stays the night in th...

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Astonish Me
Astonish Me

When a young boy gets locked in the Natural History Museum after closing, a mysterious guard gives h...

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Fox
Fox

The thirteen-part series recounted the lives of the titular Fox family, who lived in Clapham in Sout...

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The Limehouse Golem
The Limehouse Golem

A series of murders has shaken the community to the point where people believe that only a legendary...

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London: The Modern Babylon
London: The Modern Babylon

London: The Modern Babylon is legendary director Julien Temple's epic time-traveling voyage to the h...

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Dreams of Leaving
Dreams of Leaving

William came to work in Fleet Street in 1971. London meant girls, as many girls as he could find. Th...

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The Bookshop
The Bookshop

Set in a small English town in 1959, a woman decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, ...

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Red Nose Day Actually
Red Nose Day Actually

Fourteen years after the events of the first film, a series of encounters between people in Britain ...

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We Love Cigarettes
We Love Cigarettes

A day in the life of the cigarette. A love of nicotine unites all peoples across the globe, regardle...

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Antonia and Jane
Antonia and Jane

Plain Jane Hartman hates her life. She's goofy, boring and only has sex if she reads Iris Murdoch no...

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Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Inside 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'

Documentary charting the rise of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from its original guise as a r...

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Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Pokémon Detective Pikachu

In a world where people collect pocket-size monsters (Pokémon) to do battle, a boy comes across an i...

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The Kindness of Strangers
The Kindness of Strangers

Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to s...

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Hope Gap
Hope Gap

Grace lives an idyllic life in a British seaside town, but her world soon comes crashing down when h...

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Great White Shark
Great White Shark

Misrepresented, maligned and on the verge of extinction, the great white shark is an iconic predator...

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Sometimes Always Never
Sometimes Always Never

Alan is a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly f...

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Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene
Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene

The documentary uses Graham Greene's own words from his books and recordings, as well as photographs...

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Emma.
Emma.

In 1800s England, a well-meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends....

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Minamata
Minamata

War photographer W. Eugene Smith travels back to Japan where he documents the devastating effect of ...

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StarDog and TurboCat
StarDog and TurboCat

When vigilante cat, Felix, and loyal canine, Buddy, set out to find Buddy’s lost owner, they discove...

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The Hungry Corpse
The Hungry Corpse

In London's bustling, yet desolate Trafalgar Square, an ancient corpse meets a pigeon with a broken ...

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Eye of the Needle
Eye of the Needle

Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber th...

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Death Watch
Death Watch

In a future world where the disease has been finally defeated and everything can be sold, even the c...

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Soldiers Talking, Cleanly
Soldiers Talking, Cleanly

One man's view of the British Army in Germany - the social life, discipline, drink, women and, occas...

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Living
Living

London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucra...

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Under the Skin
Under the Skin

"When you get to a man in the case, they're like as a row of pins - For the colonel's lady an' Judy ...

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Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular
Katherine Jenkins Christmas Spectacular

Classical music superstar Katherine Jenkins OBE returns to the iconic Royal Albert Hall, her all-tim...

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AKA
AKA

In 1970s Britain, 18-year old Dean feels hampered by his working-class background and his family. In...

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Buckley's Chance
Buckley's Chance

A fish-out-of-water story of a young boy Ridley who becomes lost in the harsh Australian outback wit...

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Occupy!
Occupy!

Bill Nighy, Pete Postlewaite and (briefly) Julie Walters, then all of the Everyman Theatre Company, ...

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Lotus: A New Dawn
Lotus: A New Dawn

This short documentary follows the fortunes of iconic car manufacturer Lotus. Once famous for its ch...

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The Beautiful Game
The Beautiful Game

A group of advocates to end homelessness organize an annual tournament for homeless people to compet...

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Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'

An in-depth examination of the complete production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)....

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Deasey (Desperate)
Deasey (Desperate)

Deasey is a dreamer - torn between earning his precarious living as reporter on the London end of a ...

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Standing in for Henry
Standing in for Henry

At an advertising agency in Nottingham, young graphic designer Graham is recruited as a temporary re...

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The Bass Player
The Bass Player

In the 1800s, a bass player's attempts to woo a young woman lead to both parties being trapped in an...

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Shelter
Shelter

Mason lives in recluse at a remote setting by the sea. When he chooses to rescue a young girl from d...

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Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews
Peter Ustinov: The Parkinson Interviews

A selection of highlights from Sir Peter Ustinov's appearances on Parkinson. A look back at a multit...

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Welcome to Paradise
Welcome to Paradise

A woman finds herself in a strange, magical carnival with no memory of anything but her own name. Ti...

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Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness

Based on Joseph Conrad's novel, Marlow captains a leaky steamboat up the River Congo in search of a ...

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Pink Sky at Night
Pink Sky at Night

'Pink Sky at Night' follows brother and sister Finn and Ruby over an unforgettable Cornish midsummer...

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This Is the Beginning
This Is the Beginning

A father and daughter attempt to find their way through grief together....

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Bulk
Bulk

When an over zealous scientist pushes his experiments with string theory too far - his brane explode...

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The Turning Door
The Turning Door

Young Ariadlyn is sent to bed as a party rages downstairs. Escaping her bedtime, she slips into her ...

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Bottom Mindless Violence
Bottom Mindless Violence

The only word to describe the amazing duo of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edminson is genius. For the past ...

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The Man with the Stolen Heart
The Man with the Stolen Heart

A surreal tale about a Man who wakes up one day only to discover his heart has left. This forces him...

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