Cleo Laine

Critics and the public say Karen Stone is too old -- as she approaches 50 -- for her role in a play she is about to take to Broadway. Her businessman husband, 20 years her senior, has been the angel for the play and gives her a way out: They are off to a holiday in Rome for his health. He suffers a fatal heart attack on the plane. Mrs. Stone stays in Rome. She leases a magnificent apartment with a view of the seven hills from the terrace. Then the contessa comes calling to introduce a young man named Paolo to her. The contessa knows many presentable young men and lonely American widows.

Cleo Laine and Johnny Dankworth perform jazz live on stage, chat about married life together, and recall lengthy musical careers.

A concert performance of Leonard Bernstein's "On the Town" performed at the Barbican Centre in London in 1993, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and hosted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

A spin-off from the BBC television show. At the suggestion of her girlfriend, a young singer decides to try and make her name in London. Catching the overnight '6.5 Special' the two find the train full of 1950's British pop stars only too ready to burst into song. As the presenters of the show are also on board, our heroine is assured of a spot on the following Saturday's 'Six Five Special'.

With an introduction from his widow Dame Cleo Laine, this programme pays tribute to Sir John Dankworth, jazz musician, big band leader and composer for TV and film. Featuring a wide variety of performances from the BBC archive, it includes John playing saxophone in the company of his hero Duke Ellington from Monitor 1958, an appearance with his orchestra at the Royal Variety Performance 1962, classic tracks from the series Jazz 625 including John's band accompanying Cleo Laine, and Cleo and John's 2007 performance on Later with Jools Holland. Information captions give background details about the tunes played and John's illustrious career. John, who died in February 2010, was a pioneer of modern British jazz and an ambassador for all genres of British music.

After Elizabeth's husband dies, she begins to play her tenor saxophone again, and remembers when she was 15 and a member of the Blonde Bombshells, an all-girl (with one exception) swing band. Accompanied by the exception and urged on by her grand-daughter, Elizabeth hunts up all the old members of the band and urges them to perform, and in doing so, learns more than she knew about the band, its members, the roses on the drum set, and herself--the last of the Blonde Bombshells.

When a beautiful young woman suddenly offers inebriated Casey Morrow a lot of money for a quick and easy job, he doesn't ask too many questions. But when the girl's father is found murdered the following day and Morrow's coat is soaked with blood, he must unravel the mystery to clear his name. An intriguing story of deception, greed and immorality.

When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.

One of many tributes following the death of Spike Milligan. Comedians, actors and musicians join forces to present a live tribute featuring a selection of comic highlights from Spike's life. From recreations of his most famous sketches to readings of Milligan's own poems and extracts from his controversial wartime memoirs, these are all interspersed with archive film clips of the great man himself, showcasing his inimitable comic genius.

A composer (Laurence Payne) is stuck in a middle-class marriage and finds that his affair with his wife's half-sister (Jane Griffiths) has resulted in a pregnancy. When his wife refuses to give him a divorce he hatches a murder scheme that is too clever by half.

Gonzo the Great talks about the Muppets creator Jim Henson and what he did before the television show was made in 1976.

Commemorating the centennial of Mercer's birth, this documentary is part biography, part archive, and part recontextualization, taking Mercer's tunes and putting them in the hands of modern singers like Jamie Cullum and Dr. John to show they are still relevant today. Host Clint Eastwood also interviews artists who collaborated with Mercer or performed his songs, including composer John Williams, Blake Edwards, Andre Previn, Tony Bennett, and Julie Andrews. (DVD Talk)

Follows Francis Essex as he puts together a variety special for television.

BBC TV Special from 1988.

Go behind the curtains as Kermit the Frog and his muppet friends struggle to put on a weekly variety show.

Pebble Mill was a re-launched version of the 1970s daily chat show Pebble Mill (also known as Pebble Mill At One for a while) which aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on October 14, 1991. The show was a mixture of celebrity guests and music. Alan Titchmarsh was a presenter on the show throughout it's complete run. Other presenters included Judi Spiers, Gloria Hunniford and Ross King.

Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life is a BBC-TV satire programme produced by Ned Sherrin, which aired during the winter of 1964–1965, in an attempt to continue and improve on the successful formula of his That Was The Week That Was, which had been taken off by the BBC because of the coming General Election. It too featured David Frost as compère, with two others, William Rushton and the poet P. J. Kavanagh joining him in the role. In addition to Saturdays, there were also editions on Fridays and Sundays. It saw the first appearances on television of John Bird, Eleanor Bron, Roy Hudd, Patrick Campbell and John Fortune. Michael Crawford also featured as 'Byron'. Whereas TWTWTW had had a dark nightclub atmosphere, the new programme used predominantly white sets. The programme lacked the impact of TW3 and lasted only one season before being replaced by the Robert Robinson-fronted BBC-3.

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The story of the big names that have shaped the musical genres, plus an occasional stopgap for the new rock 'n' roll - comedy.

The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.

Dinah's show premiered 9 September 1974 and continued through to 4 September 1981. She started out the 70's with Dinah's Place which usually featured one guest and was more of a home oriented show about cooking, crafts and occasionally music. This format lasted until May of 1974. When the show came back in October of 1974 the format had changed drastically to a variety talk show which was called Dinah. and went on until 1981. This show was also known as "Dinah and Friends" during the summer of 1976.