The Alan Bennett Collection featuring An Englishman Abroad

The humor and absurdity of modern life entertain you in superb film versions of nine plays by Britain's popular playwright and filmmaker, Alan Bennett. In the BAFTA® Award-winning An Englishman Abroad, actress Coral Browne stars in the real-life story of her Moscow adventure with spy Guy Burgess. Enjoy, too, A Day Out, Sunset Across the Bay, Our Winnie, A Woman of No Importance, A Visit from Miss Prothero, The Insurance Man, Dinner at Noon, 102 Boulevard Haussmann and A Question of Attribution. Glittering stars include Sir Alan Bates,Patricia Routledge, Geoffrey Palmer, Prunella Scales and Daniel Day Lewis. Extras: Playwright interview and more.

An Englishman Abroad - Actress Coral Browne travels to Moscow, and meets a mysterious Englishman. Turns out he's the notorious spy, Guy Burgess. Based on a true story, with Ms. Browne playing herself.

A Day Out - In 1911, a Halifax cycling club has a day trip to the ruins of Fountains Abbey, on the way discussing their lives and concerns, blithely unaware of what will happen to them and their country over the next few years.

Sunset Across the Bay - An elderly couple leave their native Leeds to spend their retirement in Morecambe, only to find that it fails to measure up to their expectations - or their memories.

A Visit from Miss Prothero - Arthur Dodsworth has recently retired. He lives alone except for his budgie and memories of his late wife Winnie. One afternoon his nap is interrupted by the doorbell; his former secretary, Peggy Prothero, has come to visit. A brash, charmless woman who seems to take no pleasure in anything but putting people down, Miss Prothero wants to fill her old boss in on all the changes that have taken place at work since he left. Dodsworth isn't very curious, and as the visit wears on it puts a little strain on his politeness and patience. Miss Prothero doesn't enjoy it much either, but lingers on as there's a bombshell she wants to drop. The docketing system Dodsworth introduced thirty years earlier, which revolutionised the firm, has been scrapped by her adored new boss Mr Skinner. The crowning achievement of Dodsworth's career has just become obsolete, and she wants to tell him all about it.

Our Winnie - Winnie is a mentally handicapped woman who lives with her elderly mother (Cora) and aunt (Ida). They visit the cemetery where Winnie's father is buried. Also in the cemetery are two art students, one of whom (Liz) asks if she can take a photograph of the three women. She takes it while they are not prepared, making them look ridiculous (Cora is putting her make-up on, Winnie is staring at the camera with her mouth open). Cora is angry, and Liz takes another of them properly posed. But she enters the first photograph for a competition, where it wins a prize.

A Woman of No Importance - Miss Peggy Schofield considers herself to be the lynch-pin of the office she works in, and over the years has developed a complex, meticulously-timed series of routines that ensure that everything is done to schedule and that she gets to the canteen in the all-important five-minute window before the avalanche. Her table is the envy of the building, full of laughter and gossip.
But one day, Mr Slattery asks her to run off a mass photocopy before lunch. She initially refuses, but is persuaded when told that it's on behalf of her boss, Mr Skidmore, whom she idolises. The photocopying incident makes her late for lunch, and she ends up with the last of the steak bits, which turn out to be mainly gristle. She borrows the salt-cellar from the management's table and has a brief chat with Mr Skidmore, who denies all knowledge of the photocopying. Miss Schofield realises that Mr Slattery has deceived her. That afternoon, she falls ill.
Dr Copeland jokes that if he saw his other patients as seldom as he sees her, he would be out of business. He interrogates her as to the steak incident and asks if there's anything else wrong with her life. Her mother is dead and her father is in a home, but she feels he deserves it for being unfaithful. After kneading her stomach, she recommends a consultant, Mr Penry-Jones, who says he'd like to admit her to hospital for some tests. He thinks there's nothing to worry about
In hospital, she has her hair done and develops new routines to replace her old office ones - delivering newspapers, running errands for less mobile patients, acting as intermediary between them and the nurses. They tell her that they don't know how they managed before she came and call her their star patient. Mr Penry-Jones asks his students to guess what's wrong with her. He's preparing to operate on her stomach. Mrs Boothman nearby can't move or speak and communicates with her eyes. Miss Schofield shows off her get well soon cards.
Life continues in the hospital. Mr Skidmore visits to chat about work. Her job is still open for her whenever she feels up to it, even if the office is revamped. The nurses gossip about her "gentleman friend" and say that she's been there the longest of any patient who didn't need resuscitation. Mr Penry-Jones brings his students every week to show them her scar. A porter calls her his sweetheart.
Her strength and her mind start to fail her. Medical updates, visitors, reported work anecdotes and long-buried memories intermingle freely. She makes friends with a fly.
Her bed is stripped in readiness for the next patient.

The Insurance Man - A dye worker, dismissed from his job because of a suspicious rash, finds himself caught up in the nightmarish bureaucracy of an insurance company, one of whose employees is Franz Kafka.

Dinner at Noon - Alan Bennett observes the activities of staff and guests at the Crown Hotel in Harrogate while reminiscing about his Yorkshire childhood.

102 Boulevard Haussmann - In 1916 author Marcel Proust is leading a reclusive life in Paris. He hires a quartet of musicians and befriends one of them, a wounded serviceman.

A Question of Attribution - After being told that his treatment for cancer has been a success, Sir Anthony Blunt goes to inspect some paintings. One of them, a Triple Portrait previously misattributed to Titian, shows Titian himself and a Venetian Senator. It soon becomes clear that the portrait contains a third figure which has been painted out. Blunt is called away by a phone call from Arthur Chubb, the new MI5 man assigned by his superior Donleavy to debrief him. While the third man is uncovered in the painting, Blunt visits Chubb and is asked to identify the subjects of various photographs. The photos relate to Blunt's past as a KGB spy.
Chubb has begun to take an interest in art, so Blunt takes him to the National Gallery where he provides insight into the meaning of the symbols in Titian's An Allegory of Prudence. Blunt asks Chubb how many people are aware of the fact that he used to be a spy. Chubb tells him that a small number of people do know, and warns him that unless he starts to provide more solid information about other spies, he may be exposed. He was only offered immunity from prosecution, not anonymity.
Blunt arrives at Buckingham Palace to retrieve the Triple Portrait to analyse it further. He is surprised by the arrival of Her Majesty the Queen, whose trip to open a swimming pool has been unexpectedly postponed. She is initially unhappy that he wishes to take the painting away, but eventually acquiesces. She asks if she has many fakes in her collection, but Blunt suggests that they are not fakes as such, merely cases of mistaken attribution. She remarks that in cases where the pedigree of a work is of unimpeachable origin it is highly unlikely that it would ever be openly declared a fake.
Donleavy is actually a secret friend of Blunt and warns him that he will have to be exposed as too many people are becoming suspicious. Chubb goes to see Blunt in the hope of finding out who the 'fifth man' in the Cambridge spy ring was. Blunt counters by telling him that X-rays have revealed that in the Triple Portrait there are traces of a fourth and even a fifth man, but that they are unlikely ever to come to light. Blunt is exposed to the world as a traitor, forced to leave his job and left alone to face the press.

Portrait or Bust - Alan Bennett's personal view of art in general and Leeds City Art Gallery in particular.

An Englishman Abroad

Directed by John Schlesinger
Written by Alan Bennett

A Day Out

Directed by Stephen Frears
Written by Alan Bennett

Sunset Across the Bay

Directed by Stephen Frears
Written by Alan Bennett
A Visit from Miss Prothero

Directed by Stephen Frears
Written by Alan Bennett

Our Winnie

Directed by Malcolm Mowbray
Written by Alan Bennett

A Woman of No Importance

Directed by Giles Foster
Written by Alan Bennett

The Insurance Man

Directed by Richard Eyre
Written byAlan Bennett

Dinner at Noon

Directed by Stuart Burge
Written by Alan Bennett
102 Boulevard Haussmann

Directed by Udayan Prasad
Written by Alan Bennett
Produced by

A Question of Attribution

Directed by John Schlesinger
Written by Alan Bennett

Portrait or Bust
Presenter: Alan Bennett
Director Jonathan Stedall
Production Company Scorer Associates
Producer Jonathan Stedall
Script Alan Bennett
Photography Mike Fox, Tania Hoser
Music Ian Butcher