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Dead Poets
Season 9, Episode 7
Sandra and the team unearth the 10-year-old case of a poet from Belfast whose burnt body was found in the scrapyard of a known gangster. Gerry becomes convinced the victim's links with the criminal fraternity led to his demise, but Brian has a different theory, believing the secret of his murder lies in his verse. Amanda Redman, Dennis Waterman and Alun Armstrong star
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subtitles
16x9
audio-description
Detective/Thriller
Movie/Drama
Cast & Crew
Alun Armstrong
(Actor)
.. Brian Lane
Amanda Redman
(Actor)
.. Sandra Pullman
Dennis Waterman
(Actor)
.. Gerry Standing
Denis Lawson
(Actor)
.. Steve McAndrew
Susan Jameson
(Actor)
.. Esther Lane
Tanya Franks
(Actor)
.. Roxanne Guthrie
Bronagh Gallagher
(Actor)
.. Mara Donaldson
Simone Lahbib
(Actor)
.. Sarah Powell
James Murray
(Actor)
.. Luke Oswald
Philip Arditti
(Actor)
.. Mehtin Topal
Cian Barry
(Actor)
.. Sean Doherty
Patrick O'Kane
(Actor)
.. Eoin Donaldson
Sarah Campbell
(Actor)
.. Young poet
Rachel Lumberg
(Actor)
.. Alice
Philip John
(Director)
Tom Mullens
(Producer)
Marston Bloom
(Writer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Alun Armstrong
(Actor)
.. Brian Lane
Born:
July 17, 1946
in
Annfield Plain, near Stanley, Co Durham
Best Known For:
New Tricks.
Early-life:
Alun Armstrong was born in Annfield Plain, near Stanley, Co Durham, on July 17, 1946. His father was from Cumberland and his mother was from Co Durham. He attended Consett Grammar School before going to Newcastle University. Unhappy in academia, he took a job as a gravedigger, where a colleague managed to get him an interview for a behind-the-scenes job with a theatre company. That in turn led to acting work.
Career:
Armstrong's screen debut came in the classic Michael Caine gangster movie Get Carter in 1971. Other early roles included parts in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, Softly, Softly and The Sweeney. His many other TV roles include Austin Donaghue in Our Friends in the North, Detective Chief Inspector Frank Jefferson in In the Red, and George Mole in Adrian Mole: The Cappucino Years, alongside Alison Steadman. Film credits include The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Krull (1983), American Friends (1991), Patriot Games (1992) and Braveheart (1995). He has won countless accolades for his classic stage roles. He is currently best known for playing the role of Brian Lane in popular BBC series New Tricks, a part he played for 10 series.
Quote:
'I'm more concerned about losing my marbles than losing parts - especially when it comes to learning lines!'
Trivia:
Armstrong originated the role of Thénardier in the London production of Les Misérables and won an Olivier Award for playing the title role in Sweeney Todd.
Amanda Redman
(Actor)
.. Sandra Pullman
Born:
August 12, 1957
in
Brighton
Best Known For:
At Home with the Braithwaites and New Tricks.
Early-life:
Amanda Jacqueline Redman was born in Brighton on August 12, 1957, the eldest of two children. She poured a saucepan of boiling soup over her torso and left arm when she was 18 months old and needed regular skin grafts until she was five. She studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. She was shattered after her father died suddenly when she was 20.
Career:
Redman first attracted attention in 1981 with her steamy film debut in Richard's Things. Roles proved sporadic in that decade, but her career took off in 1991 when she played Roberta in Spender, and Sally in The Men's Room. Bigger roles followed, such as Dr Joanna Stevens in Dangerfield in 1995. She hit the headlines in 1998, first with Close Relations which featured a ménage à trois, then as Diana Dors for glossy drama The Blonde Bombshell. Her small-screen success was consolidated with roles as a teacher in Hope and Glory and as lottery winner Alison in At Home with the Braithwaites - but she has also appeared in the films Sexy Beast (2000) and Mike Bassett: England Manager (2005). She starred in popular BBC drama New Tricks between 2003 and 2013. More recently, she starred in TV movie Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This.
Quote:
'If you're seen as a strong woman, men think you don't need protecting. Yet, underneath it all, I'm quite vulnerable.'
Trivia:
Redman received an MBE in 2012.
Dennis Waterman
(Actor)
.. Gerry Standing
Born:
February 24, 1948
in
Clapham
Best Known For:
The Sweeney, Minder, and New Tricks.
Early-life:
Born February 24, 1948, in Clapham, south London, the youngest of nine children, the son of a British Rail ticket collector. As a child he attended the Corona Theatre School and began his professional career with a role in Snowball, a 1960 Children's Film Foundation production. The same year he made Night Train to Inverness, and was asked to join the Royal Shakespeare Company. Playing William in a TV series based on the Just William books made him a star. He then tried to break into Hollywood.
Career:
At 16, Waterman returned to Britain and concentrated on stage work until an acclaimed performance in 1968's Up the Junction led to more film roles. Low-budget movies (such as Scars of Dracula) and TV shows (including Colditz) followed until, in 1974, he co-starred with John Thaw in Regan, the pilot episode of iconic series The Sweeney, which became a major TV hit. A 10-year stint in comedy drama Minder followed. Other projects include TV shows On the Up, Stay Lucky, and Circles of Deceit. He's also worked on the stage, most notably in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, and My Fair Lady. As Gerry Standing, in BBC drama New Tricks, he has introduced himself to a new generation of fans.
Quote:
'If I am not such a hell-raiser any more, it isn't because I've given up. It's just that my energy levels have fallen. I haven't stopped looking at women. I'm not blind.'
Trivia:
He has made several records, including, famously, the theme tunes of several of his TV shows.
Denis Lawson
(Actor)
.. Steve McAndrew
Born:
September 27, 1947
in
Perthshire, Scotland
Best Known For:
Being Ewan McGregor's uncle.
Early-life:
Denis Stamper Lawson was born on September 27, 1947, in Perthshire, Scotland. His sister, Carol, is the mother of actor Ewan McGregor. Their parents hailed from Glasgow, but moved to Crieff to escape the poverty-stricken city. They later owned a watchmaker and jeweller's store. He remains very close to his family, and inspired Ewan to become an actor. Lawson left Crieff in the early 1970s to pursue his career in London.
Career:
Lawson's first big success was in West End musical Pal Joey. He also appeared in such memorable TV productions as The Merchant of Venice, Rock Follies and The Man in the Iron Mask. He had a small role in the original Star Wars trilogy, was in the acclaimed Local Hero in 1983, and took the lead in sitcom The Kit Curran Radio Show. He has rarely been out of work since, whether it's on stage, film or TV. Among his other projects are The Ambassador, Bob Martin, Hornblower, Holby City, Bleak House, Robin Hood, Enid, Just William, Marchlands and New Tricks. He's also a director and has worked with his nephew on the theatre production Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs, and short film Solid Geometry.
Quote:
'The Star Wars films were one of the least important jobs I've ever done.'
Trivia:
He voiced a character in the video game Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.
Susan Jameson
(Actor)
.. Esther Lane
Tanya Franks
(Actor)
.. Roxanne Guthrie
Bronagh Gallagher
(Actor)
.. Mara Donaldson
Born:
April 26, 1972
in
Derry, Northern Ireland
Best Known For:
Playing Mrs Nickleby in The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby.
Early-life:
Born on April 26, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland. Bronagh got involved in drama and music school activities as a teenager and joined amateur dramatics group the Oakgrove Theatre Company. She was a backing singer in a local band called The Listener for a while.
Career:
Gallagher got her big break in acting when she played Bernie in The Commitments (1991). She then went on to land parts in Pulp Fiction (1994) and Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Since then, she has appeared in such films as Tristan & Isolde (2006), Last Chance Harvey (2008) and Sherlock Holmes (2009). She released her first album, Precious Soul, in 2004. Gallagher has had a number of TV roles, including in BBC Three comedy series Pramface, BBC drama The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby and comedy You, Me and the Apocalypse. She has also made some high profile stage appearances, including in the National Theatre production of War Horse and in a Theatre de Complicite touring production of The Street of Crocodiles.
Quote:
'I was lucky to have attended schools that took music and drama very seriously and the teachers were just brilliant.'
Trivia:
She collaborated with Brian Eno on her first album and also wrote most of the music herself, played the drums and sang lead vocals.
Simone Lahbib
(Actor)
.. Sarah Powell
Born:
February 06, 1965
in
Stirling
Best Known For:
Playing Helen in the first three series of Bad Girls.
Early-life:
Born Simone Nicole Jean Lahbib Ould Cheikl on February 6, 1965, in Stirling, Scotland. She spent some of her younger years in Edinburgh. Her mother is Scottish, her father Algerian. Despite being a tomboy who loved climbing trees, she studied ballet before turning to drama. She claims one of the highlights of her time at acting school was appearing as Cathy in a production of Wuthering Heights. 'That was amazing to do,' she reveals. She also sang with band Svelte Seduction.
Career:
Lahbib made her film debut in 1986's The Girl in the Picture, but had to wait six years before appearing on TV in a 1992 edition of Taggart. In between, she worked extensively on stage in various productions. Another Taggart case followed in 1994, before regional soap London Bridge introduced her to a wider audience a year later. In 1998, she made both Thief Takers and The Young Person's Guide to Becoming a Rock Star, but it was Bad Girls in 1999 which marked her out as a talent to watch. She's since starred in Long Haul, Family, Monarch of the Glen, Wire in the Blood and Single Handed.
Quote:
'In stories about me, I get all the S words now: Stunning Scots actress Simone Lahbib or sensational, sultry, stunning Scot Simone. I suppose I should be grateful they haven't opted for slapper Simone!'
James Murray
(Actor)
.. Luke Oswald
Philip Arditti
(Actor)
.. Mehtin Topal
Cian Barry
(Actor)
.. Sean Doherty
Patrick O'Kane
(Actor)
.. Eoin Donaldson
Sarah Campbell
(Actor)
.. Young poet
Rachel Lumberg
(Actor)
.. Alice
Philip John
(Director)
Tom Mullens
(Producer)
Marston Bloom
(Writer)
