Emma Thompson
Dame Emma Thompson (born April 15, 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and her accolades include two Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2018, she was made a dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to drama.
Born to actors Eric Thompson and Phyllida Law, Thompson was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she became a member of the Footlights troupe and appeared in the comedy sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984). In 1985, she starred in the West End revival of the musical Me and My Girl, which was a breakthrough in her career. In 1987, she became famous for her performances in two BBC series, Tutti Frutti and Fortunes of War, winning the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her work on both series. In the early 1990s, she often collaborated with then-husband, actor and director Kenneth Branagh in films such as Henry V (1989), Dead Again (1991), and Much Ado About Nothing (1993).
Thompson won the BAFTA Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the Merchant-Ivory period drama Howards End (1992). In 1993, she received two Academy Award nominations—Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress—for the respective roles of the housekeeper of a grand household in The Remains of the Day and a lawyer in In the Name of the Father, becoming one of the few actors to achieve this feat. Thompson wrote and starred in Sense and Sensibility (1995), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay—making her the only person in history to win Oscars for both acting and writing—and once again won the BAFTA. Further critical acclaim came for her roles in Primary Colors (1998), Love Actually (2003), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Late Night (2019), and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022).
Other notable film credits include the Harry Potter series (2004–2011), Nanny McPhee (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), An Education (2009), Men in Black 3 (2012) and the spin-off Men in Black: International (2019), Brave (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Cruella (2021), and Matilda the Musical (2022). Her television credits include Wit (2001), Angels in America (2003), The Song of Lunch (2010), King Lear (2018) and Years and Years (2019). She portrayed Mrs. Lovett in a Lincoln Center production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in 2014. Authorised by the publishers of Beatrix Potter, Thompson has also written three Peter Rabbit children's books.
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 3.9688 |
| Birthday | 1959-04-15 |
| Place of Birth | Paddington, London, England, UK |
| Also Known As | Dame Emma Thompson, |
2003
Love Actually
7.1/7545
Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in Londo...
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Love Actually
1993
The Remains of the Day
7.4/1550
A rule-bound head butler's world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with...
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The Remains of the Day
2006
Stranger Than Fiction
7.293/2623
Harold Crick is a lonely IRS agent whose mundane existence is transformed when he hears a mysterious voice narrating his life.
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Stranger Than Fiction
2004
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8.011/23616
Harry Potter's life is in danger once more as dangerous wizard Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban Prison and is heading to Hogwarts.
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2007
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7.673/21204
When a new professor's methods leave Hogwarts unprepared to fight the rising tide of evil, Harry teaches students how to defend against the dark arts.
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
1989
Henry V
7.095/420
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
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Henry V
1995
Sense and Sensibility
7.4/1886
The Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne, learn that their prospects of marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of for...
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Sense and Sensibility
2007
I Am Legend
7.2/17290
Robert Neville is a scientist who was unable to stop the spread of the terrible virus that was incurable and man-made. Immune, Neville is now the last...
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I Am Legend
2005
Nanny McPhee
6.688/3278
Widower Cedric Brown hires Nanny McPhee to care for his seven rambunctious children, who have chased away all previous nannies. Taunted by Simon and h...
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Nanny McPhee
1989
The Tall Guy
5.717/83
An American actor in England tries to find love and work.
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The Tall Guy
1992
Peter's Friends
6.6/223
After inheriting a large country estate from his late father, Peter invites his friends from college: married couple Roger and Mary, the lonely Maggie...
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Peter's Friends
1994
Junior
5.198/1701
A research scientist becomes the world's first pregnant man in order to test a drug he and a colleague have designed for expectant women. To carry out...
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Junior
1993
In the Name of the Father
7.887/2042
A small-time Belfast thief, Gerry Conlon, is wrongly convicted of an IRA bombing in London, along with his father and friends, and spends 15 years in...
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In the Name of the Father
1991
Dead Again
6.434/439
In 1949, composer Roman Strauss is executed for the murder of his wife. In 1990s Los Angeles, a detective comes across a mute amnesiac woman who is so...
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Dead Again
2009
An Education
6.934/1462
Despite her sheltered upbringing, Jenny is a teen with a bright future; she's smart, pretty, and has aspirations of attending Oxford University. When...
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An Education
1993
Much Ado About Nothing
6.953/836
In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to...
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Much Ado About Nothing
1992
Howards End
7/609
A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, al...
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Howards End
2002
Treasure Planet
7.6/4723
When space galleon cabin boy Jim Hawkins discovers a map to an intergalactic "loot of a thousand worlds," a cyborg cook named John Silver teaches him...
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Treasure Planet
1998
Primary Colors
6.253/356
In this adaptation of the best-selling roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, the young and gifted Henry Burton is tapped to...
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Primary Colors
2008
Brideshead Revisited
6.3/170
Befriended by aristocrat Sebastian Flyte, Oxford student Charles Ryder finds that the power and privilege experienced by the family is seductive. On a...
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Brideshead Revisited
2011
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
8.081/22419
Harry, Ron and Hermione continue their quest to vanquish the evil Voldemort once and for all. Just as things begin to look hopeless for the young wiza...
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
2001
Wit
7.288/132
A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.
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Wit
2003
Imagining Argentina
5.7/57
Set during the unsettling disappearances in Buenos Aires during the dictatorship of the 1970s, the film involves theater director Carlos Rueda and his...
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Imagining Argentina
1997
The Winter Guest
6.472/53
It's winter in a small Scottish village near the sea, and multiple lives intersect in a day. Frances has just lost her husband to an early death, so h...
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The Winter Guest
2010
Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
6.33/1994
Nanny McPhee appears at the door of a harried young mother who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war. But once she’s arriv...
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Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang
2012
Men in Black 3
6.547/11190
Agents J and K are back...in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes...
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Men in Black 3
2021
An Audience with Adele
8.42/44
Joining multi-Grammy Award winning and one of the biggest UK artists of all time, Adele, for a unique and special night at the legendary London Pallad...
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An Audience with Adele
2014
The Real Mary Poppins
4/3
Explore the fascinating relationship between author P. L. Travers and her much-loved character, Mary Poppins. This is the story of a complex woman who...
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The Real Mary Poppins
1998
Judas Kiss
5.701/67
The shooting of a U.S. senator's wife raises the stakes for kidnappers seeking a hefty ransom for a computer magnate.
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Judas Kiss
2012
Brave
7.035/14427
In the mystical Scottish Highlands, Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus and Queen Elinor. An unruly daughter and an accomplished...
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Brave
2008
Last Chance Harvey
6.296/314
In London for his daughter's wedding, a struggling jingle-writer, Harvey Shine, misses his plane to New York, and thus loses his job. While drowning h...
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Last Chance Harvey
1995
Carrington
6.174/72
Painter Dora Carrington develops an intimate but extremely complex bond with writer Lytton Strachey. Though Lytton is a homosexual, he is enchanted by...
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Carrington
2009
The Boat That Rocked
7.223/2346
When a group of rebellious deejays decides to defy the ban on government-censored music, they take to the seas to broadcast music and mayhem to millio...
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The Boat That Rocked
2010
The Song of Lunch
6.564/39
A dramatisation of Christopher Reid's narrative poem that tells the story of an unnamed book editor who, fifteen years after their break-up, is meetin...
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The Song of Lunch
How to Stop a Nuclear War
0/0
Follows Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg’s efforts to raise an alarm about the threat of a devastating nuclear war and his concerns about the Un...
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How to Stop a Nuclear War
2013
Saving Mr. Banks
7.335/3563
Author P.L. Travers looks back on her childhood while reluctantly meeting with Walt Disney, who seeks to adapt her Mary Poppins books for the big scre...
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Saving Mr. Banks
2018
Greenpeace: There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom
0/0
Greenpeace brings the rampant destruction of rainforest habitat in Indonesia to grow palm oil into the spotlight.
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Greenpeace: There's a Rang-Tan in My Bedroom
2013
Beautiful Creatures
6.049/2975
Ethan Wate just wants to get to know Lena Duchannes better, but unbeknownst to him, Lena has strange powers. As Lena's 16th birthday approaches she m...
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Beautiful Creatures
2024
Merchant Ivory
7.7/3
The first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James...
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Merchant Ivory
2014
Effie Gray
5.982/198
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
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Effie Gray
1982
The Cellar Tapes
7/5
A TV version of the Cambridge Footlights Revue. Starring Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Emma Thompson, Tony Slattery, Paul Shearer, and Penny Dwyer.
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The Cellar Tapes
2015
Sainsbury's: Mog's Christmas Calamity
9/3
Christmas 2015 saw Judith Kerr's family favourite literary character, Mog, reimagined in her first-ever animated foray.
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Sainsbury's: Mog's Christmas Calamity
2014
The Love Punch
6/477
Retirement at last! Middle-aged and divorced, company owner Richard Jones is looking forward to a worry-free existence as he arrives at his office on...
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The Love Punch
2021
Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
4.714/28
Hopkins’ career has spanned several decades, which is why we will also use many interviews that he gave throughout his life, allowing us to put him ba...
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Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony
1989
Look Back in Anger
9.3/3
Look Back in Anger is a love triangle involving the brilliant-but-disaffected young Jimmy Porter, his upper-middle-class, impassive wife Alison Porter...
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Look Back in Anger
2014
Men, Women & Children
6.5/998
Follows the story of a group of high school teenagers and their parents as they attempt to navigate the many ways the internet has changed their relat...
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Men, Women & Children
2019
Hollywood's Dark Secret
0/0
After decades of secrecy and cover-ups, Hollywood's Dark Secret was revealed to the world- on the wings of inspiring bravery. Voices that had long bee...
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Hollywood's Dark Secret
2015
A Walk in the Woods
6.116/794
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the U.S., where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appa...
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A Walk in the Woods
2015
The Legend of Barney Thomson
6.092/211
Barney Thomson, awkward, diffident, Glasgow barber, lives a life of desperate mediocrity and his uninteresting life is about to go from 0 to 60 in fiv...
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The Legend of Barney Thomson
2005
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
10/1
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A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
2022
The Fringe, Fame and Me
0/0
The Fringe, Fame and Me is the story of how a small Scottish arts festival that began 75 years ago this year became a national institution – a crucibl...
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The Fringe, Fame and Me
1984
Slags
2/1
Teen-age gang leaders Passion and Little Sister are released from prison, only to find that their gang the Slags has disbanded due to a rival gang, th...
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Slags
2014
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – In Concert with the New York Philharmonic
8.1/7
In 1846, Anthony Hope sails into London with the mysterious Sweeney Todd, a once-naive barber whose life and marriage was uprooted by a corrupt justic...
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – In Concert with the New York Philharmonic
2012
Walking the Dogs
0/0
A Buckingham Palace guard attending to Queen Elizabeth's room takes her dogs for a walk and while he's away an intruder breaks in for a chat with the...
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Walking the Dogs
1994
My Father the Hero
5.352/223
A teenage girl on vacation in the Bahamas with her divorced father tries to impress a potential boyfriend by saying that her father is actually her lo...
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My Father the Hero
2025
Dead of Winter
6.391/448
A widowed fisherwoman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town...
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Dead of Winter
2007
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
8/1
Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out was a one-off, one-hour documentary/biography about Stephen Fry released in 2007 by the BBC, celebrating Stephen Fry's fiftiet...
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Stephen Fry: 50 Not Out
2016
Alone in Berlin
6.714/411
Berlin in June of 1940. While Nazi propaganda celebrates the regime’s victory over France, a kitchen-cum-living room in Prenzlauer Berg is filled with...
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Alone in Berlin
2017
Beauty and the Beast
6.967/16155
A live-action adaptation of Disney's version of the classic tale of a cursed prince and a beautiful young woman who helps him break the spell.
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Beauty and the Beast
2015
Burnt
6.525/3630
Adam Jones is a Chef who destroyed his career with drugs and diva behavior. He cleans up and returns to London, determined to redeem himself by spearh...
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Burnt
2005
Nos Bastidores de Hollywood
10/1
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Nos Bastidores de Hollywood
2011
When Harry Left Hogwarts
7.2/10
BAFTA award-winning filmmaker Morgan Matthews was given unprecedented access to the behind-the-scenes of the final days of the final two Harry Potter...
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When Harry Left Hogwarts
2019
Extinction
0/0
A political satire about climate change. Focused on the protest group Extinction Rebellion.
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Extinction
2022
The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
7/2
ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer marks the 20th anniversary of the making of the holiday classic movie “Love Actually” in this primetime special. Featurin...
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The Laughter & Secrets of Love Actually: 20 Years Later – A Diane Sawyer Special
James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty
0/0
The documentary will feature such frequent Ivory collaborators Emma Thompson , Helena Bonham Carter and Hugh Grant, as well as director Wes Anderson....
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James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty
1994
The Blue Boy
6.2/4
Marie is an insecure housewife whose husband, Joe, is having an affair. The two of them take a holiday to rural Scotland, but by sheer bad luck, end u...
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The Blue Boy
2025
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
6.363/572
Bridget Jones navigates life as a widow and single mum with the help of her family, friends, and former lover, Daniel. Back to work and on the apps, s...
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Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
1991
Impromptu
6.1/68
In 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.
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Impromptu
2026
The Sheep Detectives
7.939/1635
George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious...
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The Sheep Detectives
2017
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
6.462/1299
An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.
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The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
1998
Junket Whore
5.5/4
A documentary film that explores the relationship between publicists and journalists in Hollywood.
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Junket Whore
2016
Bridget Jones's Baby
6.407/3122
After breaking up, Bridget Jones' happily-ever-after hasn't quite gone according to plan. Fortysomething and single again, she decides to focus on her...
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Bridget Jones's Baby
1989
The Winslow Boy
8/2
In pre-WWI England, a youngster is expelled from a naval academy over a petty theft, but his parents raise a political furor by demanding a trial.
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The Winslow Boy
2016
To the Ends of the Earth
7/1
This compassionate doc follows concerned citizens living at the frontiers of extreme oil and gas extraction; as they denounce the rise of extreme ener...
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To the Ends of the Earth
2001
Love & Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day'
6.5/2
The filmmakers and lead actors of The Remains of the Day (1993) discuss how they came to make the film, and the subtle power of its execution.
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Love & Loyalty: The Making of 'The Remains of the Day'
1997
Hospital!
6/2
Comedy about a brilliant young brain surgeon set in an unorthodox hospital. A "Naked Gun" type comedy from Britain, this one-off special was made spe...
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Hospital!
2000
Maybe Baby
5.453/106
Sam and Lucie Bell are a married couple who seem to have it all: good looks, successful careers, matching motorbikes, and an enthusiastic love life. T...
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Maybe Baby
2017
Sea Sorrow
5.3/7
A very personal and dynamic meditation on the current global refugee crisis through the eyes and voices of campaigners, specially children, where past...
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Sea Sorrow
2010
Fry and Laurie Reunited
6.8/6
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie reunite for a TV special to mark the 30th anniversary of their partnership.
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Fry and Laurie Reunited
2018
The Children Act
6.6/659
In the midst of a marital crisis, a High Court judge must decide if she should order a life-saving blood transfusion for a teen with cancer despite hi...
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The Children Act
2018
King Lear
6.069/108
An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.
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King Lear
2018
Johnny English Strikes Again
6.287/2840
Disaster strikes when a criminal mastermind reveals the identities of all active undercover agents in Britain. The secret service can now rely on only...
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Johnny English Strikes Again
2019
Late Night
6.387/900
A legendary late-night talk show host's world is turned upside down when she hires her only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over di...
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Late Night
2019
Missing Link
6.895/957
The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost considers himself to be the world's foremost investigator of myths and monsters. Trouble is, none of his small-minded...
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Missing Link
2019
Last Christmas
7.189/2681
Kate is a young woman who has a habit of making bad decisions, and her last date with disaster occurs after she accepts work as Santa's elf for a depa...
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Last Christmas
2020
How to Build a Girl
5.754/69
The journey of Midlands teenager Johanna Morrigan, who reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde: fast-talking, lady sex-adventurer, moves to London, and gets...
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How to Build a Girl
2019
Men in Black: International
5.891/5495
The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest, most global threat t...
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Men in Black: International
2021
Cruella
7.966/10292
In 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriend...
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Cruella
2018
Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
5.438/16
Examine the rise and fall of Hollywood media mogul Harvey Weinstein following the scandal in 2017. Learn from exclusive interviews with those who knew...
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Beyond Boundaries: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal
2016
Die vielen Gesichter der Emma Thompson
0/1
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Die vielen Gesichter der Emma Thompson
2020
Dolittle
6.571/3949
After losing his wife seven years earlier, the eccentric Dr. John Dolittle, famed doctor and veterinarian of Queen Victoria’s England, hermits himself...
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Dolittle
2022
Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
6.999/717
Nancy Stokes, a retired schoolteacher, is pretty sure she has never had good sex. Now that her husband has died, she is determined to take a tour of s...
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Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
2022
Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
6.797/841
An extraordinary young girl discovers her superpower and summons the remarkable courage, against all odds, to help others change their stories, whilst...
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Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
2001
Blind Loyalty, Hollow Honor: England's Fatal Flaw
7/3
Historical context for The Remains of the Day.
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Blind Loyalty, Hollow Honor: England's Fatal Flaw
2001
The Remains of the Day: The Filmmaker's Journey
6.5/2
A documentary about making The Remains of the Day.
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The Remains of the Day: The Filmmaker's Journey
2023
What's Love Got to Do with It?
6.085/247
Two childhood friends now in their thirties must decide whether to follow their heads or their hearts once the man decides to follow his parents' advi...
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What's Love Got to Do with It?
1991
Rabbit Ears - The White Cat
0/0
Based on an 18th century French fairy tale, this is a magically romantic story about a young prince who befriends an enchanted cat-queen. She provides...
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Rabbit Ears - The White Cat
Hear Me Roar
0/0
Elizabeth Bellinger became one of the few transgender people in Britain to get married in the 1980s. She kept this ceremony secret from almost everyon...
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Hear Me Roar
2016
The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science
0/0
Narrated by two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson, this documentary exposes how two of America's richest citizens, Charles and David Koch, built a vast...
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The Doubt Machine: Inside the Koch Brothers' War on Climate Science
1990
Tin Fish
0/0
Drama set against the backdrop of the American submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland.
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Tin Fish
1984
Royal Variety Performance 1984
0/0
In the presence of HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother accompanied by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Wales. From the stage of the V...
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Royal Variety Performance 1984
2009
A Sense of Character
0/0
Documentary on the characters and themes of the 1995 film 'Sense and Sensibility'.
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A Sense of Character
2009
A Very Quiet Man
0/0
Documentary on Ang Lee and his direction of the 1995 film 'Sense and Sensibility'.
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A Very Quiet Man
2009
Locating the World of Sense & Sensibility
0/0
Documentary on the locations of the 1995 film 'Sense and Sensibility'.
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Locating the World of Sense & Sensibility
2009
Elegance & Simplicity: The Wardrobe of Sense & Sensibility
0/0
Documentary on the costuming and wardrobe of the 1995 film 'Sense and Sensibility'.
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Elegance & Simplicity: The Wardrobe of Sense & Sensibility
2026
Everybody to Kenmure Street
8.4/7
In May 2021, a UK Home Office dawn raid triggers one of the most spontaneous and successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory. In Pollokshield...
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Everybody to Kenmure Street
1989
Colleagues From Hell
0/0
John Cleese corporate training video series
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