Unknown Drama #2

Here's another puzzling one for which neither the actress nor the programme title are known. It is probably from the late 1980s or early 1990s.

The suggestion has been made that the Man in the clip looks a bit like Paul McGann.

The actress that needs to be identified is the one with frizzy flame-red hair.

In the clip the following things are seen and heard:-

• The Redhead and Man are lying in bed together, the sound of wind and a tolling bell can be heard. The Redhead sits up topless in bed and looks around in a panic calling out "Daddy" several times as if fearful of something (she is not talking to the Man here, but someone else she thinks might be in the room).
• (another scene or later in same scene) The Redhead is lying on her front in bed beside the same sleeping man and the sound of a tolling bell is heard outside as she laments to herself "We're accused of murder!"

Then there is sequence of images:-

• A different actress (with dark hair) is seen dead on the ground and the Man cries out her name "Julia!" (Maybe she's the person they are accused of murdering?)
• The Man is seen banging furiously on a door
• Someone in a rowing boat in the middle of a lake is shot dead
• The Man is seen dancing with the Dark Haired girl - and calls her "Julia" again
• A hanging jacket is seen in flames
• "Julia" is seen dead laying on her back impaled by a stake
• The Redhead and a man (not sure if the same one) are seen kissing passionately in a train compartment
• The Man and the Redhead are seen making love in bed while an echoing male voiceover says "Will you take this man, will you take this woman - I Will, I Will."

Very little can be gleaned from the confusing clip other than there being a character whose name sounds a lot like "Julia" and a man in it who looks a bit like Paul McGann.

Nothing currently listed on Paul McGann's credits seems to fit the bill. The man certainly has a resemblance to Paul McGann but it might well be someone else.

Does anyone know if Paul McGann was ever in something like this, or can suggest an alternate identification for the actor seen?

Here are some images from it - leave a comment if you recognise anyone or have any suggestions of what the programme title might be.

The Redhead - to be identified

The Paul McGann-like Man

"Julia"

Some other images seen

UPDATE - May 2014
This query has now been identified as being Hilary Trott in Zastrozzi: A Romance.

See the comments section and the blog post Clip Identified: Zastrozzi, A Romance for fuller details and a full collage.

Killing Bono (2011) ID Emendation

Q: Why haven't I added a site entry for that Joni Kamen scene in "Killing Bono"?

A: Mainly because I'm pretty sure it's not her. The clip in question, which involves a topless girl having sex on a bed astride Neil McCormick (Ben Barnes), was identified from the outset as being Joni Kamen by various websites and probably still is (I just checked the public pages of the Mr Skin site and that still attributes the scene to Joni Kamen). There seems to be no basis for making this ID as being her that I can replicate, and it therefore appears to be little more than a hopeful guess.

It's unfortunate that the film's end credits are shown in a particularly unhelpful way. The cast are presented in alphabetical order meaning the main stars are merged in with small bit parts with no differentiation. This means nothing can be inferred from a credit's position or prominence. All the credited parts are given character names yet some of these names are never mentioned in the dialogue. The name of the girl in the sex scene is one of those not mentioned.

Just prior to the sex scene Neil and his brother Ivan McCormick (Robert Sheehan) are in a dance club where they meet and go off in separate pairings with two girls they meet. Robert Sheehan talks to a girl in a blue dress with straight hair, and Ben Barnes dances with a girl in a red dress with permed hair. It is Ben Barnes and the red dress girl who end up in the sex scene that immediately follows. So the Joni Kamen ID completely falls apart here because it is clear from publicity photos of her that she is the girl in the blue dress with Ivan and not the girl in the red dress. And so the girl in the red dress who ends up in the sex scene with Neil must inevitably be someone else.

In case there's any lingering doubt here is a "map" of the two girls as they progress through the scene.

Joni Kamen is given a character name in the credits ("Joss") yet she doesn't speak and has a next-to-nothing role. You'd think therefore that the sex scene girl, who has a similar level of role, and was Joni Kamen's friend in the club, would also be credited and given an unused character name.

After carefully going through the whole film and noting down which female characters' names are used in the dialogue, I am left with only two possibilities: - Joni Kamen as "Joss", and Lisa McAllister as "Erika". Neither of these names are used anywhere in the film. Since I know the girl is not Joni Kamen I am left with the name of Lisa McAllister.

But Lisa McAllister is an established actress who has high-profile roles in some other earlier films and so I wouldn't really have expected her to be in a small topless bit-part. However there are no big roles in the film that could be her that I didn't account for.  Elsewhere in the film there are a pair of non-speaking dressed massage girls one of whom might be Lisa McAllister - but this would have been an even smaller role for her - and why credit one massage girl and not the other and even give her a character name that's not used in the dialogue? That being said one of the massage girls does have a skin blemish on her upper left arm similarly placed to one seen on Lisa McAllister in a 2005 film. So this cameo could be where she makes her appearance. And if so that would account for her credit.

Note similar arm blemish

　
If that's the case then it can only mean the sex scene girl was uncredited. Even though her friend, who did less in the film (Joni Kamen), was credited.

Following that line I have found some other credits on casting websites for uncredited parts in "Killing Bono".  How possible any of these names are I cannot say.

• Female Fan: Carla Bryson
• Hot teenage girl: April McGrory
• Party girl: Emma Reid

Briefly back to Lisa McAllister. If she is not the massage girl and that skin blemish is a coincidental red herring, then it must be said there is a degree of resemblance between her and the sex scene girl. Unfortunately the girl's face is only really seen from a low angle. But I found a moment in "The Number One Girl" when Lisa McAllister is pulling a similar facial expression for comparison purposes.

It might have been hoped that a DVD release would have had deleted scenes or a commentary track that might explain why there were at least two credited actresses given character names who had little more than non-speaking bit parts. Perhaps they filmed for bigger roles that were cut in the final edit. Unfortunately the DVD has no extras.
　
So in conclusion, I know that the purported ID is incorrect, however I cannot say with any certainty who she actually is.

Unknown Actress in The Detective (BBC1/1985)

This query is for an unidentified actress who appeared in two nude scenes in the 1985 BBC1 Drama serial "The Detective" which starred Tom Bell and also featured an early role for Hugh Grant.

The source of this lead comes from two retained clips posted on a forum.  The name of the programme was relatively easy to work out from the actors involved, but the name of the actress seen in the clip has proved harder to determine.

There are two different scenes both situated by a heated indoor swimming pool in the Home Secretary's mansion.

• In the first scene the mystery actress is seen swimming in the pool while her boyfriend Andrew (Hugh Grant) is standing by the side talking to Detective Ken Croker (Tom Bell) who has arrived to talk to Andrew's father the Home Secretary - at the end of the scene the actress gets out of the pool with rear nudity and some side breast seen - she doesn't speak in this scene
• In the second scene, on another day, the girl is sitting topless at the edge of the pool in the water with Andrew when Croker returns and they tease him until he agrees to take a dip.  She is then seen naked from behind as she climbs out just as Croker jumps in after changing into some spare trunks.  Later in the clip she is seen topless standing on the side drying herself with a towel as Andrew allows Croker to see (offscreen) his hereditary birthmark located on a particularly private part of his body - this is a plot point that Croker had come to surreptitiously check up on - in this scene she speaks several lines although her character name is not used in the clip.

Since she speaks there seems a good chance she would be credited.

I have located and read the book by Paul Ferris from which the series was adapted.

Here is where the clipped scenes occur in the book which runs to 237 pages.

• Page 134: Crocker makes his first visit to the pool and briefly meets Andrew - at this point there are two girls swimming (unnamed).  Dialogue matches clip.
• Page 147: Crocker returns to the pool and has a longer conversation as he tries to get a look at Andrew's birthmark.  In the book Andrew is naked too, although in the clip Hugh Grant wears trunks.  The naked girl is named here as "Celia" and most of the dialogue is similar to the clip.

So if she was credited it seems quite likely she would be called the same name as in the book "Celia".

Unfortunately the credits available on both IMDB and the BFI database are incomplete. The Kaleidoscope Drama Research Guide has a fuller (possibly complete) cast list broken down by episode but it does not show character names for the lesser players.

Hugh Grant (as Andrew) was in episodes 3, 4, & 5.  The relative position in the book for Andrew's first appearance (which is the first clip) tends to suggest that scene could be in episode 3.  The second scene could be later in the same episode or maybe in episode 4.

Clearly she appears in one or more of the same episodes as Hugh Grant.  The unknown actresses listed on the Kaleidoscope entry for those three episodes whose character names are not known are:-

• ep3: Julia Stockwell, Shelley Wiggins
• ep4: Julia Stockwell
• ep5: None

Since the two scenes more likely span two episodes, then clearly the name that seems to best fit the facts is Julia Stockwell.  However this seems to be the only thing she has been in so her likeness cannot be compared against appearances in other things.  Similarly for Shelley Wiggins if it were to be her - her name does not crop up in anything else either.

You may think I've pretty  much solved my own query with that name of Julia Stockwell as the most likely identification, but there is still doubt with that other name of Shelley Wiggins also being a possibility - and in order to add an entry to the site I have to be really sure.  It might, for example, turn out that she was uncredited and Julia Stockwell was someone else in it.

It would seem that the only way to solve this query is from the original end credits of the programme itself where hopefully there will be someone listed called "Celia".  Or alternatively maybe there is another non-nude scene featuring her in which her character name (if different) is mentioned.

So if anyone knows anything more about Julia Stockwell and/or Shelley Wiggins, or knows of a better credits source, or has kept a recording of the series that can be directly checked, please let me know.

"Celia"

with Hugh Grant

UPDATE - May 2014
Added full collage of the scenes ...

UPDATE - Aug 2014
See blog entry Query Solved: The Detective (BBC1/1985) for an update

Some Recent Discoveries

ITEM: You may have thought that former "Spooks" and "Vexed" actress Miranda Raison had never done any nudity.  But I have recently been informed about the discovery of an early topless appearance she made in a Dutch TVM from 1999 called "Suzy Q" starring Carice van Houten (who now appears in Game of Thrones), Miranda Raison plays Marianne Faithfull and there is a scene in which she is seen topless from the side with the full side of her left breast seen while standing in a shower talking to Suzy.

ITEM: Amanda Hale (most recently seen in "The White Queen") has a rear nude scene in a recent UK short called "Scrubber" (2012) directed by actress Romola Garai.  In the scene Amanda Hale is seen in a full length shot standing in a bath under a running shower, without moving as she contemplates matters.  To be fair her face is mostly turned away and only the side edge is seen as she looks to her side, but from what can be seen it appears to be her doing it and there is no strong reason to suspect otherwise.

This short can be found on the DVD "The Joy of Six" which is a collection of six recent British shorts, although none of the others contain any nudity.

ITEM: You may also be interested to know that British actress Amber Rose Revah, who has just been seen starring in the BBC1 crime whodunit "What Remains", had a topless scene in series 1 of French TV's "Borgia" series.  Not the American Showtime series "The Borgias" starring Jeremy Irons, this is instead French TV's take on the same set of characters.

Descriptions of these scenes will eventually make it to the main site.

UPDATE - MAY 2014

Now available - collages from these three items.

Suzy Q

Scrubber

Borgia

Mystery Maryam d'Abo film

Here is another mystery clip and perhaps surprisingly so, because it is an unknown topless scene featuring Maryam D'abo.  The scene does not correspond with any of the films she is currently known for appearing topless in.

The scene was clipped in 1994 (either from TV or a video).  The dialogue is in English but it may have been dubbed, so it could be a French film originally.

In the scene she is topless as she sits down next to a man after taking off her top with her right breast briefly seen and then topless while sitting talking to him.  They are in part of a church or somewhere with stained-glass windows.

Dialogue
Maryam D'abo (MD): Everything will be as it was before and yet nothing will be the same
MAN: What are you talking about
MD: I'm going to spend this night with you, but it will never happen again
MAN: Never, but why? Afraid of your husband is that it?
MD: Why no I'm not frightened, we talked about you
MAN: What did you talk about?
MD: We talked about you and I
MAN: And he knows that we're here together?
MD: But of course, he agrees too
MAN: He agrees that you sleep with another .. (clip jump) And you then, you agree with him as well?  Go on I'm listening
MD: I've already told you
MAN: It makes it bearable with the old fogey
MD: Niseem(?). That's enough
MAN: That's right! Get dressed, I don't want you anymore

The name "Niseem" is a spelling guess, but in the context it is used it sounds like she is saying his name.  However none of the pre-1995 films she is listed for on IMDB have a character name listed similar to that.

Has anyone seen this scene identified before, or know the name of the actor, possibly a French actor?



Maryam d'Abo



Unknown Actor

UPDATE - MAY 2014
Added full collage of the scene along with new research ...

Further research has uncovered a couple of possibilities which fit the date criteria.

A credits list on her agents website shows two French-made TV movies that don't appear on IMDB.  And her direct Spotlight link (given on the agent's site) also shows the same two films with a bit more information (her character names)
(It should be pointed out that neither credit list represents her complete filmography.  Nether, for example, mention "Xtro".)

In summary the two newly uncovered credits are:-

Title: Coup De Loeur - The Consul's Wife
Character: The Consul's Wife
Year: 1985
Television Channel: Antenne 2 (France)
Director: Pierre Lary

Title: The Scarecrow
Character: The Daughter
Year: 1984
Television Channel: Antenne 2 (France)
Director: Maroun Bagdadi

No further information can be found on either of these productions which don't seem to be mentioned anywhere else, not even in connection with the directors' credits.  If the clip is from one of them then the seeming obscurity might explain why the scene is not already widely known about.

It may be neither of these but if it were to be then possibly The Consul's Wife has better resonance since the credit shows she was playing "the consul's wife" and in the clip her husband is mentioned as if he was possibly an important man.

Unknown Drama #1

To start things off here is a query that needs solving.

The source is a short clip that was posted on an internet forum.  One of many posted by a diligent enthusiast who kept clips on tape in the early 1980s and retained them to the current day.

Unfortunately a record of the actresses' names and the programmes they come from were not kept and a number of clips remain mysteries.  Some have been identified using reference sources by means of character names and/or by recognising other actors in the clip.

Here is one that remains unsolved. 

A 13 second clip. It is a British drama, probably from the early 80s and seems to be about spies or espionage.  A woman is in a bath and a man who has probably come in uninvited, is sitting in the room talking to her.

(Dialogue heard)
Man: (clip starts midway in sentence)  ... Edmond(?) is going to expose the whole thing.  I impersonated him in London, it is Bernard who has been doing the forging, he wants to ... (clip ends).

As the man is talking he looks out of the window and another man is seen looking up as if he is keeping surveillance on them.

The character names mentioned have not helped pinpoint it.
So if anyone recognises the woman or either of the two actors that might provide the vital lead that will solve this one.



The Woman



The Man

The Man Outside

UPDATE - May 2014
Added full collage of the scene ...

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