Still a tourist attraction then?... mad dog?

I wonder when the "MeToo" brigade are going to have Ellis deified and retrospectively pardoned.  Like they did "Sally" Challen.  She travelled to premeditatively kill her husband with a hammer but was deemed to be under "co-ersive control"!

As good as it was .....very hard to watch Secret Army now without doing impressions from Allo Allo.

For those who haven't seen it a very popular film from 1970 "Spring and Port Wine" is shown at 7pm on the channel tonight.


A tyrannically strict Lancashire father brings about the downfall of his family by forcing his daughter to eat a meal against her will. Drama, starring James Mason, Diana Coupland, Susan George and Rodney Bewes.

Cracking film of family life in Bolton in the 60s, rather different now I expect, gorgeous Susan George as well!

Tonight at 9pm on the Talking Pictures Channel........Mona Lisa.


Mona Lisa is a 1986 British neo-noir crime drama film about an ex-convict who becomes entangled in the dangerous life of a high-class call girl. The film was written by Neil Jordan and David Leland, and directed by Jordan. It was produced by HandMade Films and stars Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, and Michael Caine.
The film was nominated for multiple awards, and Bob Hoskins was nominated for several awards for his performance (including the Academy Award for Best Actor), winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

12.55 today, grand national night, followed by a great  film, the boys.

For those who enjoy a bit of horror its the 1974 version of Dracula starring Jack Palance at 9.05pm tonight.

Horror starring Jack Palance, Simon Ward and Nigel Davenport. Count Dracula takes an interest in buying a house in England and invites solicitor Jonathan Harker to visit his home in Transylvania. However, unknown to Harker, his host is also a centuries-old vampire, who has nefarious plans to complete.

One of the best British films ever,cast content superb,MaggieSmith Liz Smith magnificent,a film for all those who wish to return to a better England.Alan Bennet a comedy genius.I could watch it time and time again.

on now again,

Talking Pictures channel 328 

7.45 (soon) Look at life jumping to Aintree (1959)



A look at the Grand National at Aintree where we see the winning horse, jockey and trainer.

Still time sparrow

Good film on the channel tonight at 9pm.


The Hustler(1961]


Small-time pool hustler Fast Eddie Felson travels cross-country with his partner Charlie to challenge the legendary player Minnesota Fats. Arriving at Fats' home pool hall, Eddie declares he will win $10,000 that night. Fats arrives and he and Eddie agree to play straight pool for $200 a game. After initially falling behind, Eddie surges back to being $1,000 ahead and suggests raising the bet to $1,000 a game; Fats agrees. He sends out a runner, Preacher, to Johnny's Bar, ostensibly for whiskey, but really to get professional gambler Bert Gordon to the hall. Eddie gets ahead $11,000 and Charlie tries to convince him to quit, but Eddie insists the game will end only when Fats says it is over. Fats agrees to continue after Bert labels Eddie a "loser". After 25 hours and an entire bottle of bourbon, Eddie is ahead over $18,000, but loses it all along with all but $200 of his original stake. At their hotel later, Eddie leaves half of the remaining stake with a sleeping Charlie and leaves.

Eddie stashes his belongings in locker at a bus terminal, where he meets Sarah Packard, an alcoholic who is supported by her father, attends college part-time, and walks with a limp. He meets her again at a bar. They go back to her place but she hesitates at letting him in, saying he is "too hungry". She asks "Why me?", and he gives up, leaving her with the bottle he'd brought. Eddie moves into a rooming house and starts hustling for small stakes. He finds Sarah at the bus terminal again and this time she takes him in, but with reservations. Charlie finds Eddie at Sarah's and tries to persuade him to go back out on the road. Eddie refuses and Charlie realizes he plans to challenge Fats again. Eddie learns that Charlie held out his (Charlie's) percentage and becomes enraged, believing that with that money he could have rebounded to beat Fats. Eddie dismisses Charlie as a scared old man and tells him to "go lie down and die" by himself.

At Johnny's Bar, Eddie joins a poker game where Bert is playing and loses $20. Afterward, Bert tells Eddie that he has talent as a pool player but no character. He figures that Eddie will need at least $3,000 to challenge Fats again. Bert calls him a "born loser" but nevertheless offers to stake him in return for 75% of his winnings; Eddie refuses.

Eddie humiliates a local pool shark, exposing himself as a hustler, and the other players punish him by breaking his thumbs. As he heals, Sarah cares for him and tells him she loves him, but he cannot say the words in return. When Eddie is ready to play, he agrees to Bert's terms, deciding that a "25% slice of something big is better than a 100% slice of nothing".

Bert, Eddie, and Sarah travel to the Kentucky Derby, where Bert arranges a match for Eddie against a wealthy local socialite named Findley. The game turns out to be three-cushion billiards, not pool. When Eddie loses badly, Bert refuses to keep staking him. Sarah pleads with Eddie to leave with her, saying that the world he is living in and its inhabitants are "perverted, twisted, and crippled"; he refuses. Seeing Eddie's anger, Bert agrees to let the match continue at $1,000 a game. Eddie comes back to win $12,000. He collects his $3,000 share and decides to walk back to the hotel. Bert arrives first and subjects Sarah to a humiliating sexual encounter. Afterwards, she scrawls "PERVERTED", "TWISTED", and "CRIPPLED" in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. Eddie arrives back at the hotel to learn that she has killed herself.

Eddie returns to challenge Fats again, putting up his entire $3,000 stake on a single game. He wins game after game, beating Fats so badly that Fats is forced to quit. Bert demands half of Eddie's winnings and threatens to have him beaten unless he pays. Eddie says he'll come back to kill Bert if he survives, shaming Bert into giving up his claim by invoking Sarah's memory. Instead, Bert orders Eddie never to walk into a big-time pool hall again. Eddie and Fats compliment each other as players, and Eddie walks out.



Paul Newman as Eddie Felson
Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats
Piper Laurie as Sarah Packard
George C. Scott as Bert Gordon
Myron McCormick as Charlie
Murray Hamilton as Findley
Michael Constantine as Big John
Stefan Gierasch as Preacher
Clifford Pellow as Turk
Jake LaMotta as bartender
Vincent Gardenia as bartender
Charles Dierkop as poolroom hood

Wrong film - sorry. 

I was sparrow. 

Great old film that it was smart punter, I don't think theres anyone on here who hasn't seen it let alone "beat it"

* Above should have read BBC2 at 10pm.

Been on the channel a few times stewarty, but not seen it myself.

Nice looking young lady in it though, named Jaqueline Ellis, she's 87 now!

Rita, Sue & Bob too   @ 9pm


Very funny film!


Saw the stage version about 20 years ago with Jack Duckworths son as Bob.