Victor Maddern

Compilation of classic clips, featuring the best performances from across the much-loved comedian's long BBC career, including examples of Emery's best-known slapstick routines and catchphrases. All the greatest clips from Dick Emery's long-running BBC career - a chance for fans both old and new to see what a huge contribution Emery made to contemporary slapstick comedy. All the classic characters appear: the father and son skinheads (with Roy Kinnear), "Oooh! You Are Awful", and a plethora of slapstick Lords, little old ladies, vicars and schoolmasters.

A youth abandoned by his family joins a group of homeless people.

An American football coach takes over the running of a no-hope English soccer team.

The beautiful and sex-starved Emmannuelle Prevert just cannot inflame her husband's ardour. In frustration she seduces a string of VIPs, including the Prime Minister and the American Ambassador. A jealous lover gives a list of all her conquests to the national press and a scandal ensues. But will she ever manage to get her own husband into bed?

Albert Steptoe and his son Harold are rag-and-bone men, complete with horse and cart to tour the neighbourhood. They also live together at the junk yard. Harold, who likes the bright lights in the West End of London, meets a stripper, marries her and takes her home. Albert is furious and tries every trick he knows to drive the new bride from his household.

Three workmen assigned to dig a hole in a road for an electrical cable run into problems with local officials who believe the hole is being dug in the wrong place and should be closer to the home of a prissy fashion designer.

A hapless inventor finally finds success with a flying car, which a dictator from a foreign government sets out to take for himself.

An eclectic group of characters set sail on Captain Lansen’s leaky cargo ship in an attempt to escape their various troubles. When a violent storm strikes, the ship is swept into the Sargasso Sea and the passengers find themselves trapped on an island populated by man-eating seaweed, giant crabs and Spanish conquistadors who believe it’s still the 16th century.

When the TARDIS lands in the sea off the eastern coast of England, the Second Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria investigate a nearby beach, which seems to have an improbably large amount of sea foam as well as a major gas pipe marked “Euro Sea Gas” What is really happening at "Euro Sea Gas." Can the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria survive "The Fury from the Deep"!

Infelicitous Stephen Wallace falls in love with beautiful Wendy, who spurns his affections. He proceeds to make a pact with Satan to be able to marry the woman of his dreams, but he gets more than he bargained for.

The theft of a fortune in diamonds and the attempt by soldier of fortune Johnny Dent to outwit his pursuers who would stop at nothing to get their hands on the treasure forms the story-line. The chase reaches across the continent as Dent eludes the diamond syndicate police, a ruthless gangster, and a scheming girl in his attempt to escape.

Freddie and the Dreamers play part of a Scout troupe that get caught up in a series of misadventures on their way to camp.

Two salesmen travel to a small South American Country to peddle their wares. However the country is in the middle of a major conflict between the Government led by Diaz and the rebels led by Torez. When Torez is accidentally killed the rebels mistaken pick up one of the salesmen, Eric, as he looks like Torez. Eric and Ernie are promised millions to carry on the charade once the rebels take charge. However once Eric takes charge he finds himself back in danger as scheming general Carillo plans to remove the impostor from his role.

A circus becomes the location for stolen loot and murder.

A woman reports that her young daughter is missing, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever existed.

Rogues Jelly Knight, Scapa Flood, and Lennie the Dip leave prison expecting boss The Duke to have their stash ready to share out. Instead, Duke's girl Sara gives them the news Duke is dead and the money gone on nursing care. They soon discover that Duke is actually running Hope Springs Nature Clinic with the help of most of the local villains. Very strange - and the nearby army camp and Sara's encouragement of Lieutenant Vine would seem to be no coincidence either. Written by Jeremy Perkins

Two Brits—inventor Hengist Pod, and Horse, a brave and cunning fighter—are captured and enslaved by invading Romans and taken to Rome. One of their first encounters in Rome leaves Hengist being mistaken for a fighter, and gets drafted into the Royal Guard to protect Cleopatra.

Carry On favourite Barbara Windsor makes her debut in this outrageous send-up of the James Bond movies. Fearless agent Desmond Simpkins and Charlie Bind, aided and abetted by the comely Agent Honeybutt and Agent Crump, battle against the evil powers of international bad guys STENCH and their three cronies.

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.

Undistinguished British farce (in Technicolor and CinemaScope). Stoker Charlie (the diminutive Drake) helps 150 Wrens under Superintendent Maxine Audley, who've hijacked a frigate, HMS 'Huntress', to prove they're the equal of their male counterparts. Hardly a feminist masterpiece, but fans will relish the nightmare court-martial in which Drake plays all the parts

Tricked into joining the RAF by a wily judge, wide boy Horace Pope sets his sights on the main chance, teams with slow-witted, good-hearted gypsy Pedlar Pascoe, and works up a lucrative racket in conning both his colleagues and the RAF. By means of various devious schemes Pope and Pascoe manage to avoid the front lines until they are sent to France - where they find themselves making unexpected and uncomfortably close contact with the enemy.

'Carry On' director Gerald Thomas helms this comedy caper featuring early appearances by James Robertson Justice, Sid James, Leslie Phillips, Kenneth Williams, Liz Fraser and Eric Barker. The film follows the hi-jinks of a group of music students who move into a shared flat in order to cut costs and have somewhere to practice their instruments. Things get tricky when Mervyn Hughes (Phillips) accidentally sells one of his compositions to an advertising agency and risks losing his scholarship. Can he and his friends find a way to raise the money to buy back the song rights?

Based on Leon Uris' novel, this historical epic provides a dramatic backstory to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948, in the aftermath of World War II. Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.

Crossroads to Crime is about the investigations of a police constable (Anthony Oliver) who, working undercover without support from his colleagues, confronts and brings down a gang of vehicle hi-jackers.

When the details of a secret torpedo are destroyed by an incompetent seaman, the crew of the ship rally round, when the Admiral needs the plans to show to a visiting scientist.

Lewis Gilbert's classic comedy drama portrays the antics of a British Army Searchlight Squad during World War II. Lieutenant Ogleby (Ian Carmichael) has his work cut out to keep his "legionnaires" at their post and not rampaging through the local countryside. The McGaffey brothers (Benny Hill and Tommy Steele) create havoc with their light-fingers and light-loving with the local girls, whilst Smithy (Johnny Briggs) pines for his sweetheart.

A medical student who is thrown out of his university, ends up working in a laundry and rebuilds his confidence with a relationship with a fashion model.

The story of the breakout of the German battleship Bismarck—accompanied by the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen—during the early days of World War II. The Bismarck and her sister ship, Tirpitz, were the most powerful battleships in the European theater of World War II. The British Navy must find and destroy Bismarck before it can escape into the convoy lanes to inflict severe damage on the cargo shipping which was the lifeblood of the British Isles. With eight 15 inch guns, it was capable of destroying every ship in a convoy while remaining beyond the range of all Royal Navy warships.

The orderly suburban life of a 1950's English town is turned on its head when the teenaged daughter of one of the residents writes a steamy bestseller featuring characters obviously based on the local population.

Naive Stanley Windrush returns from the war, his mind set on a successful career in business. Much to his own dismay, he soon finds he has to start from the bottom and work his way up, and also that the management as well as the trade union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

An escaped prisoner is trying to clear his name.

The incredible but true story of how an impersonator was recruited to impersonate General Montgomery to mislead the German's about his intentions before the North Africa campaign.

A man and wife are terrorized by Mad Scientist Dr. Callistratus who was executed but has returned to life with a heart transplant. Along with his crippled assistant Carl, the 'anemic' Mad Scientist, believed to be a vampire, conducts blood deficiency research on the inmates of a prison hospital for the criminally insane to sustain his return to life.

A GI deserter frames a girl for killing a blackmailer, and holds her captive while seeking gems.

A British Corporal in France finds himself responsible for the lives of his men when their officer is killed. He has to get them back to Britain somehow. Meanwhile, British civilians are being dragged into the war with Operation Dynamo, the scheme to get the French and British forces back from the Dunkirk beaches. Some come forward to help, others were less willing.

Safe cracker, Colley Dawson, is recruited to steal a list of Nazi agents from a safe in a Nazi occupied chateau in Belgium.

A seasick sea captain commands an amusement pier despite local opposition. Released in the U.S. as 'All at Sea'

A fateful Stranger's Meeting leads to a maelstrom of crime, deception and murder in this 64-minute British programmer. The beautiful Delphi Lawrence heads a stellar cast, including such reliables as Victor Maddern, Norman Rossington, Conrad Phillips and Reginald Hearne. The plot centers around acrobat Peter Arne, falsely accused of murder. Escaping from the authorities, Arne hides out in a rustic inn, allowing first-time director (and former cinematographer) Robert Day ample opportunity for dark, menacing shadows and sinister underlighting. The genuine murderer is revealed just seconds before the culprit's death. Stranger's Meeting was held back from release until Robert Day's "official" directorial debut, The Green Man, had made the rounds.

Young Joan of Arc comes to the palace in France to make The Dauphin King of France and is appointed to head the French Army. After winning many battles she is not needed any longer and soon she is thought of as a witch.

After a massive luxury liner sinks into the ocean, the ship's officer must command a rickety lifeboat, built for only nine, that is stuffed with over twenty desperate and injured passengers. As a hurricane approaches and the many wounded passengers struggle for life, difficult decisions must be made about who will remain on the boat and who must be cast to the sea in order to give others the chance to survive.

The efforts of test pilot John Mitchell to make a better life for his wife Mary and their two children seem doomed to failure and he blames himself. At the Conway Aero-Manufacturing Company of Wolverhampton, Mitchell is to take the company's new rocket-propulsion transport plane up for tests, fully loaded and carrying two important passengers - Ministry official Crabtree and buyer's representative Ashmore. Mitchell learns from his boss, Reg Conway, that if Ashmore does not recommend the plane, the company will be out of business and Mitchell out of a job, since the plane is not even insured as the firm's entire capital is tied up in the plane. Aloft, an engine catches fire and the passengers and other crew bail out, but Mitchell refuses to obey orders to jettison the plane in the Irish Sea.

Based on real events, A Hill in Korea charts the fortunes of a small group of British soldiers serving in the Korean War. Out on a routine patrol, the soldiers find that Chinese troop movements have cut them off from their own lines. They try to fight their way back to safety but with the enemy surrounding them on all sides, the prospects look bleak. Facing almost insurmountable odds, they decide to stand a fight.

A lonely child must stay with her uncaring aunt and uncle after her mother is hospitalized. Her estranged father is a fugitive. For love and companionship, the eleven-year old girl becomes friends with the housemaid. When at long last, she meets her dad, she must vow to never reveal his location to the police.

A man is tried for the murder of his neurotic wife by means of a sedative overdose.

Stanley Windrush has to interrupt his university education when he is called up towards the end of the war. He quickly proves himself not to be officer material, but befriends wily Private Percival Cox who knows exactly how all the scams work in the confused world of the British Army. And Stanley's brigadier War Office uncle seems to be up to something more than a bit shady too - and they are both soon working for him, behind the enemy lines.

During WW2, German ships are "safely" docked upriver at Bordeaux, but the British send a team of kayakers to attack them.

The trouble with Josephine is that her ever-loving and over-sympathetic nature leads her to switch from needful men to even more needful men...

At a fashionable dinner party in Hong Kong a Royal Navy officer is coaxed into revealing details of a dream in which eight persons take off from Bangkok in a Dakota bound for Tokyo and crash in the Japanese mountains. Amongst those listening is Air Marshal Hardie who is due to fly to Tokyo the next day. Hardie initially dismisses the dream because he is scheduled to fly out in a Liberator, but as Hardie arrives at the airport he discovers that the Liberator has developed mechanical problems and has been replaced by a Dakota. When, just before the flight is due to depart, two soldiers board the plane making a complement of eight, Hardie fears that the dream may be coming true and he is destined to die.

Big screen spin off from the BBC TV series The Grove Family, ostensibly the first British soap opera. Bob Grove, a builder has problems with the council, over building supplies that he needs to complete a job on a local housing estate. Under pressure to finish the job, his son gets them from a local crook. When the council find out, they call in the police, so the Grove family get together, to clear themselves, in time for the grand opening.

Major Charles Carrington (David Niven), is arrested for taking £125 from the base safe, he also face two other charges that could finish his distinguished service career. He decides to act on his own defence at his court martial hearing, his argument being that he is owed a lot of money from the army for his various postings that have cost him out of his own pocket. To further complicate the proceedings, Carrington alleges he told his superior, the very disliked Colonel Henniker, that he was taking the money from the safe. A mans career, his marriage, and quite a few reputations, all hang in the balance.

A young employee of the British State Department falls in love with the daughter of a top Russian diplomat, much to the panic of their respective countries' officials, who suspect espionage. The cast includes David Knight, Odile Versois, Theodore Bikel and David Kossoff.

During autumn of 1944, an RAF Hudson carrying a VIP passenger in possession of highly secret information is shot down and ditches in the North Sea. Fighting the elements and trying to keep up morale, the occupants of the aircraft's dinghy talk about their lives awaiting the rescue they hope will come. The film's title reflects the motto of the RAF's Air Sea Rescue Service, one of whose high speed launches battles against its own mechanical problems, enemy action, time and the weather to locate and rescue the downed crew and the vital secret papers they carry.

A saloon owner falls in love with the abused wife of a heavy gambler. He is snared into a web of intrigue when an ex-girlfriend is found murdered in his apartment.

After their honeymoon, Johnny Lipton and his wife Kit move into their small apartment. Kit runs the flat on a tight budget, for she hopes that one day with her support her husband will eventually run his own business. A lack of understanding of each other s character and aspirations, however, leads to many problems before Johnny and Kit are able to attempt a 'good beginning' to their marriage.

A British naval officer has a brief affair with a woman in England and never knows that she bears him a son. 20 years later the boy is on a ship under his command when he is tracking a German Raider. When the boy is captured after his ship is sunk, he finds a way to slow the German's progress while a lethal hunt for him goes on.

In 1942 Britain was clinging to the island of Malta since it was critical to keeping Allied supply lines open. The Axis also wanted it for their own supply lines. Plenty of realistic reenactments and archival combat footage as the British are beseiged and try to fight off the Luftwaffe. Against this background, a RAF reconnaissance photographer's romance with a local girl is endangered as he tries to plot enemy movements.

When a saboteur places an explosive device on a train full of sea mines, the authorities call for bomb expert Peter Lyncort to diffuse the situation, unaware that he has explosive problems of his own.

The wife of a rubber plantation owner must put her marriage problems on hold when her family is forced to defend themselves during a native uprising.

A British Sanitary Engineer, goes on holiday with a set of plans for a new secret weapon which he has mistaken for his new plumbing invention. Everyone is hunting for him, including the Russians. The Russians find him and offer him a job in the Kremlin doing research (on plumbing he believes). He accepts, arrives in Russia and falls in love with Tania, a secret agent. And then discovers the true nature of the plans he is carrying...

The year is 1940 and Pilot Officer T.B. Baird arrives straight out of flight school to join a front line RAF squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain. After an unfortunate start and a drumming down from his commanding officer, Baird must balance the struggle to impress his Group Captain, regain his pride, fit in with his fellow pilots, and survive one of the most intense air battles in history.

A trade union official becomes governor of a British island colony

An English country lawyer weighs the case of a schoolgirl who claims she was kidnapped by two women.

The crew of a submarine is trapped on the sea floor when it sinks. How can they be rescued before they run out of air?