In 1985, against the backdrop of Thatcherism, Brian Jackson enrolls in the University of Bristol, a scholarship boy from seaside Essex with a love of knowledge for its own sake and a childhood spent watching University Challenge, a college quiz show. At Bristol he tries out for the Challenge team and falls under the spell of Alice, a lovely blond with an extensive sexual past.
09-13-2006
1h 32m
THIS
HELLA
Doesn't have an image right now... sorry!has no image... sorry!
Main Cast
Movie Details
Production Info
Director:
Tom Vaughan
Production:
Scion Films, BBC Film, HBO Films, Neal Street Productions, Playtone, Scamp Film and Theatre Ltd.
Key Crew
Novel:
David Nicholls
Screenplay:
David Nicholls
Editor:
Jon Harris
Art Direction:
Nick Gottschalk
Producer:
Tom Hanks
Locations and Languages
Country:
US; GB
Filming:
GB; US
Languages:
en
Main Cast
James McAvoy
James McAvoy (born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor. He made his acting debut as a teen in The Near Room (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his feature film career began. His notable television work includes the thriller State of Play, science fiction miniseries Frank Herbert's Children of Dune and the channel 4s BAFTA award-winning series Shameless (British TV series)
He has performed in several West End productions and has received four nominations for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, and has also done voice work for animated films including Gnomeo & Juliet, its sequel Sherlock Gnomes, and Arthur Christmas.
In 2003, McAvoy appeared in a lead role in Bollywood Queen, then in another lead role as Rory in Inside I'm Dancing in 2004. This was followed by a supporting role, as the faun Mr. Tumnus, in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005). His performance in Kevin Macdonald's drama The Last King of Scotland (2006) garnered him several award nominations, including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor. The critically acclaimed romantic drama war film Atonement (2007) earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination and his second BAFTA nomination. He later appeared as a newly trained assassin in the action thriller Wanted (2008).
In 2011, McAvoy portrayed Professor Charles Xavier in the superhero film X-Men: First Class, a role he reprised in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Deadpool 2 (2018), and Dark Phoenix (2019). McAvoy starred in the crime comedy-drama film Filth (2013), for which he won Best Actor in the British Independent Film Awards. In 2016, he portrayed Kevin Wendell Crumb, a man with 23 alternate personalities, in M. Night Shyamalan's Split, for which he received critical acclaim, and later reprised the role for the sequel Glass (2019). Since 2019, he has portrayed Lord Asriel Belacqua in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials.
Alice Sophia Eve (born February 6, 1982) is a British-American actress, she began her career with supporting roles in the films Hawking and Stage Beauty (both 2004). On television, she has had played recurring roles on HBO's Entourage (2011), Marvel's Iron Fist (2018) and Amazon Prime's The Power (2023).
Eve is the daughter of British actors Trevor Eve and Sharon Maughan. During her gap year, she studied at the Beverly Hills Playhouse and then read English at St Catherine's College, Oxford. At Oxford, she appeared in student productions of The Importance of Being Earnest, Animal Crackers (which toured to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe) and Scenes from an Execution.
Rebecca Maria Hall (born May 3, 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of The Camomile Lawn, directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional stage debut came in her father's 2002 production of Mrs. Warren's Profession, which earned her the Ian Charleson Award.
In 2006, following her film debut in Starter for 10, Hall got her breakthrough role in Christopher Nolan's thriller film The Prestige. In 2008, she starred as Vicky in Woody Allen's romantic comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. Hall then appeared in a wide array of films, including Ron Howard's historical drama Frost/Nixon (2008), Ben Affleck's crime drama The Town (2010), the horror thriller The Awakening (2011), the superhero film Iron Man 3 (2013), the science fiction film Transcendence (2014), the psychological thriller The Gift (2015), the live-action/CGI fantasy adventure film The BFG (2016), the biographical drama Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017) and the monster film Godzilla vs. Kong (2021). In 2016, Hall was praised by critics for her portrayal of news reporter Christine Chubbuck in the biographical drama Christine. She made her directorial debut with Passing (2021), receiving critical acclaim.
Hall has also made several notable appearances on British television. She won the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 2009 Channel 4 miniseries Red Riding: 1974. In 2013, she was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress for her performance in BBC Two's Parade's End.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Rebecca Hall, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Catherine Jane Ford (born 5 December 1969), known professionally as Catherine Tate, is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has won numerous awards for her work on the BBC sketch comedy series The Catherine Tate Show (2004–2007), as well as being nominated for an International Emmy Award and seven BAFTAs. Tate played Donna Noble in the 2006 Christmas special of Doctor Who, and later reprised her role for the fourth series in 2008, and 60th anniversary episodes in 2023.
Dominic Edward Cooper (born 2 June 1978) is an English actor. He first worked in television and film before making his stage debut in Mother Clap's Molly House at the National Theatre in 2001. He was also involved in Alan Bennett's play The History Boys, as the character Dakin. He has had notable roles in the Royal National Theatre's adaptation of the His Dark Materials trilogy, where he played the lead character, Will Parry, the TV series Down To Earth (2004) and Sense & Sensibility (2008).
In 2008, he appeared as Sky in Mamma Mia!, in which he also sang several songs. The same year, he appeared in The Duchess as Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. He starred in films An Education and Freefall in 2009 and also played Hippolytus in Phèdre at the National Theatre. In 2010, he played rock drummer Ben in the film Tamara Drewe, and in 2011 played the leading roles in The Devil's Double, which was critically acclaimed but criticized. In 2011, he first appeared as Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Initially appearing in the film Captain America: The First Avenger, he reprised his role in the Marvel One-Shot Agent Carter two years later, and in the television series of the same name in 2015 and 2016.
In 2012, he appeared as vampire Henry Sturges in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Around this time, he was cast in the lead role in the unproduced Albert Hughes project Motor City. In 2014, he portrayed the main antagonist in two films: Dino Brewster in Need for Speed and Mehmed in Dracula Untold. He depicted author Ian Fleming in the television mini-series Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond in 2014. The next year, he appeared in two films, Miss You Already and The Lady in the Van. He played Jesse Custer, the lead role in AMC's Preacher (2016). He co-starred in the Warcraft film adaptation, which was released in June 2016. In late 2016, he starred in a well-received West End revival of Stephen Jeffreys' 1994 play, The Libertine at the Haymarket Theatre; he played John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, the role originated on stage by John Malkovich and played by Johnny Depp in the 2004 film. He reprised his role of Sky in 2018's sequel film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
Description above is from the Wikipedia article Dominic Cooper, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. Known for his roles on the screen and stage, he has received various accolades throughout his career, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a British Academy Television Award, and a Laurence Olivier Award. Cumberbatch won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Frankenstein and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Sherlock. His performances in the dramas The Imitation Game (2014) and The Power of the Dog (2021) earned him nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award, all for Best Actor in a Leading Role. For playing the title role in five-part drama miniseries Patrick Melrose, he won a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
In 2014 Time magazine included him in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in 2015 he was appointed a CBE by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2015 Birthday Honours for services to the performing arts and to charity. A graduate of the Victoria University of Manchester, Cumberbatch continued his training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, obtaining a Master of Arts in Classical Acting. He first performed at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in Shakespearean productions and made his West End debut in Richard Eyre's revival of Hedda Gabler in 2005. Since then, he has starred in the Royal National Theatre productions After the Dance (2010) and Frankenstein (2011). In 2015, he played the title role in Hamlet at the Barbican Theatre.
Cumberbatch's television work includes his performance as Stephen Hawking in the television film Hawking in 2004. He gained worldwide recognition for his performance as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock from 2010 to 2017. He has also headlined Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Parade's End (2012), The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses (2016), Patrick Melrose (2018), and Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019). In films, Cumberbatch has starred in Amazing Grace (2006) as William Pitt the Younger, Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) as Khan, 12 Years a Slave (2013) as William Prince Ford, The Fifth Estate (2013) as Julian Assange, and The Imitation Game (2014) as Alan Turing. He also acted in the historical dramas The Current War (2017), 1917 (2019) and The Courier (2020), and received critical acclaim for his performance in Jane Campion's Western drama The Power of the Dog (2021). From 2012 to 2014, through voice and motion capture, he played the characters of Smaug and Sauron in The Hobbit film series. Cumberbatch portrays Dr. Stephen Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with Doctor Strange (2016), and also voiced the character in the animated series What If...? (2021).
English comedian, writer, actor, producer and TV personality. He is co-creator and star of BBC comedy shows Gavin & Stacey and Horne & Corden, and hosted The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter and novelist. He is known as a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen alongside Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and co-writer Jeremy Dyson, and has both written for and acted in the TV series Doctor Who and Sherlock, the latter of which he also co-created.
Guy Henry (born 17 October 1960) is a British stage and screen actor, best known for his roles in Rome and John Adams. He appeared in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and from October 2010 he joined the cast of hospital drama Holby City as the new joint Director of Surgery Mr Henrik Hanssen.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Guy Henry, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
John Henshaw (born 1951, Ancoats, Manchester) is a British actor famed for his roles as Ken the landlord in Early Doors, Wilf Bradshaw in Born and Bred and PC Roy Bramwell in The Cops.
Henshaw was born one of 12 children. He grew up in Ancoats, Manchester's "Little Italy" community. He was a refuse collector for ten years before deciding to become an actor at the age of 40.
His first big break in acting was as a minder to Robert Lindsay's character Michael Murray in the acclaimed Channel 4 series, G.B.H. Other TV credits include The Royle Family, The Visit, Life on Mars, whilst film credits include the Steve Coogan comedy The Parole Officer, the Bert Trautmann biopic The Keeper, and the Ken Loach films Looking For Eric and The Angels' Share. Henshaw is chairman of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, an annual festival of new writing for theatre based in Manchester.
Description above from the Wikipedia article John Henshaw, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Simon Woods is a British actor. After attending Eton College, he read English at Magdalen College, Oxford. He has been in a relationship with Burberry Chief Executive Christopher Bailey since 2009 and the pair were married in 2012.
Walter Charles Dance OBE (born October 10, 1946 in Redditch, Worcestershire) is an English actor, screenwriter, and director. He typically plays strict, authoritarian characters or villains. He is best known for his roles as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones, Kitchener in The King's Man, Martin Benson in Amazon Prime's The Widow, Lord Mountbatten in Netflix's The Crown (for which he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series), Thomas in Underworld: Awakening and Underworld: Blood Wars, Harold Fillmore in Ghostbusters (2016), Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Frankenstein in Victor Frankenstein, Master Vampire in Dracula Untold, Conrad Knox in the Cinemax series Strike Back, Raymond Stockbridge in Gosford Park, one-eyed hitman Benedict in Last Action Hero, Clemens in Alien³, Sardo Numpsa in The Golden Child, and Guy Perron in The Jewel in the Crown.
He started his career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) before appearing in film and television. For his services to drama, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2006.
He made his directorial film debut with the drama film Ladies in Lavender (2004), which he also wrote and executive produced.
Lindsay Vere Duncan, CBE (born November 7, 1950) is a Scottish stage and television actress, and winner of a Tony Award for Private Lives.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Nicholas Gleaves is an English actor and playwright.
Originally from the Halliwell area of Bolton, Lancashire, England he attended Sharples School from 1980-85. After completing his schooling his mother made him attend a play and this sparked his interest in acting. He is a fan of the Smiths and long time supporter of Bolton Wanderers. He is married to Lesley Sharp. They have two sons and reside in London.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Nicholas Gleaves, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Benjamin Thomas Willbond (born 18 January 1973) is an English actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his numerous roles in a children’s program Horrible Histories (2009–2013), as well as Yonderland (2013–2016), where he also played various different roles, and Ghosts (2019–) where he played The Captain. He is also known for appearing in movies such as St. Trinian's (2007), Bill (2015), and Bridget Jones's Baby (2016).
He was part of the comedy duo "Ben & Arn", for which he won Perrier Award for "Best Newcomer" in 1999, and formed the self-proclaimed "thinking man's French pop duo" Priorité à Gauche. He then went on to perform his solo character shows at several Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.
He is best known for his regular role in CBBC's Horrible Histories, in which he played a wide variety of historical figures, most memorably recurring roles as Henry VIII and Alexander the Great. He is also the co-creator, -writer and -star of Yonderland, a family fantasy comedy series that premiered on SkyOne on 10 November 2013. In addition, he is the co-writer of Bill, a BBC-produced comedy film based loosely around the early life of William Shakespeare. Other notable television work includes the recurring roles of Steve Warwick in the BBC comedy Rev, Adam Kenyon in BBC Four's The Thick of It and as a television director in the movie-length final episode of the Ricky Gervais comedy Extras (BBC Two). He has also appeared in Katy Brand's Big Ass Show for ITV2 and Mayo for BBC One.
His 2010 short film Tooty's Wedding, which he co-wrote with Solon, won numerous international comedy awards and was screened as part of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Other notable film work includes the movie Starter for 10 (2006). In 2007, and he had a short appearance in St Trinian's as a nervous school inspector.
Description above is from the Wikipedia article Ben Willbond, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Su Elliott (born 18 December 1950) is a British actress. She was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England. Her film roles include Alice in The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984), a nurse in The Girl in a Swing (1988), Marthe in Giorgino (1994), Mrs Brabin in Purely Belter (2000), a pub customer in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), a Ministry of Magic witch in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), and Hannah in Jane Eyre (2011). Elliott has appeared in numerous British television productions, including The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Travelling Man, Hi-de-Hi!, The Bill, This Life, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Black Books, Coronation Street, King Leek and EastEnders. She also appeared in Central Independent Television's Halloween special The Worst Witch as Agatha's assistant, Delilah. It is said on the DVD commentary for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that Garth Jennings, the director, only found out that Elliott had played Trillian in a stage adaptation of the same production after filming had finished.
