Penelope Keith

The cosy sitcom had storylines tackling mid-life crises, drunken wife-swapping and more.

What was it really like behind the scenes of The Good Life? With contributions from Richard Briers, Penelope Keith, Monty Don, Brian Sewell and John O'Farrell.

When wealthy, recently-widowed suburban housewife, Margery (PENELOPE KEITH), and her ‘rough diamond’ of a cleaner, Gladys (JUNE BROWN), disturb a house burglar, they knock him unconscious, panic and leave him for dead, fleeing in the cleaner’s wrecked old car. What follows is a comedy of misunderstandings in which these two very different, mature ladies are led on an unfortunate series of incidents which snowballs into a crime spree. They prove to be more than a match for the unlikely pair of policemen, DI Woolley (Roger Lloyd Pack) and DS Stringer (Martin Freeman), who are left to solve the ladies disappearance and puzzling string of crimes which follow. As the police net tightens around them, the two very different, mature ladies are propelled on a shared voyage of self-discovery as skeletons fall from the closets forcing both women to reflect on their past lives.

A young man's life is turned around with the help of a genie inside a lamp.

As a merchant sets off for market, he asks his three lovely daughters what they would like as a present upon his return. His youngest daughter, who he adoringly calls Beauty, replied. "All I'd like is a rose you've picked specially for me." Remembering his promise to Beauty he plucks a rose, enraging the owner of the rosebush, a fearsome boarlike beast who inhabits the nearby castle. The Beast agrees to spare his life, but on one condition, that he brings him the daughter for which he plucked the rose.

Set in a British country house in the 1920s, Hay Fever follows the outlandish bevaiour of the Bliss family when they each invite a guest to spend the weekend. Best described as a cross between high farce and a comedy of manners, Hay Fever is one of Coward's most popular plays.

Clarissa, the wife of a Foreign Office diplomat, is given to daydreaming. 'Supposing I were to come down one morning and find a dead body in the library, what should I do?' she muses. Clarissa has her chance to find out when she discovers a body in the drawing-room of her house in Kent.

Adaptation of the play by Frederick Lonsdale

Following the banning and burning of his novel, "The Rainbow," D.H. Lawrence and his wife, Frieda, move to the United States, and then to Mexico. When Lawrence contracts tuberculosis, they return to England for a short time, then to Italy, where Lawrence writes "Lady Chatterley's Lover."

Michael Frayn's play about a college reunion.

Director Paul Morrissey applies a hefty dose of humor to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective story in this interpretation of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Comedian Peter Cook takes on the role of brilliant detective Sherlock Holmes, who's not so gifted here as he relegates much of the investigation of demonic dogs to his bumbling sidekick, Watson (Dudley Moore), while he spends time with his mother and searches for an assistant.

Divorced couple Amanda and Elyot have both recently remarried. On their honeymoons, however, they discover that they have accidentally booked adjoining suites at the same hotel. Containing some of Coward's best dialogue, the play revolves around the agonising realisation that despite their ferocious incompatibility, they are still drawn to each other.

While investigating a murder case, a detective stumbles upon a rare-stamp swindle involving the victim's twin sister.

Several old college friends converge at a mansion, ostensibly for a pleasant reunion. Larry Dann, the most easygoing of the bunch, comes to the conclusion that all is not well in the old dark house. For one thing, he's run across several people whom he's never met. For another, they all seem to be of a different time and place.

Armitage runs a chemical company that is on the verge of producing a gas that causes temporary disability. Clearly the military want it but it is also sought by a group of Japanese. Both Armitage and Madam Greenfly hire different people in the same detective agency to guard the gas and steal it respectively... confusion, double crosses and hilarity ensue...

Young Jenny heads to the South of England to start a new career as a school teacher. Even before she has had a chance to settle in she meets Patrick, one of the local "lads". Within a short time she has her hands full when a number of the local boys take a liking to her. But who will be the lucky one who wins her affections?

Teddy works for a large advertising company. Given the seemingly impossible task of selling frozen porridge, he decides to produce commercials that make the product seem sexy. This leads him to confrontation with the "Keep Television Clean" movement, of which his wife is a senior member.