Britannia Hospital
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Britannia Hospital

Year:
Duration:
116 min | USA:111 min
Genres:
Comedy
IMDB rate:
6.3
Director:
Lindsay Anderson
Awards:
1 win & 3 nominations
Details
Country: UK
Release Date: 1982-05-27
Filming Locations: Friern Barnet Hospital, Friern Barnet Road, Friern Barnet, London, England, UK
Cast
Actor
Character
Brian Pettifer
Brian Pettifer
Britannia Hospital
Leonard Rossiter
Vincent Potter
John Moffatt
Greville Figg
Vivian Pickles
Matron
Barbara Hicks
Miss Tinker
Graham Crowden
Professor Millar
Jill Bennett
Dr. MacMillan
Peter Jeffrey
Sir Geoffrey
Marsha A. Hunt
Nurse Amanda Persil (as Marsha Hunt)
Catherine Willmer
Dr. Houston
Mary MacLeod
Casualty Sister
Joan Plowright
Phyllis Grimshaw
Robin Askwith
Ben Keating
Dave Atkins
Sharkey
Malcolm McDowell
Mick Travis
Mark Hamill
Red
Frank Grimes
Sammy / Voice of Genesis
Peter Machin
Peter Mancini
Marcus Powell
Sir Anthony Mount
John Bett
Lady Felicity
Gladys Crosbie
Queen Mother
Rufus Collins
Odingu
Ram John Holder
Aide
Jim Findley
Aide (as Jim Findlay)
Pauline Melville
Clarissa
Kevin Lloyd
Picket
Robert Pugh
Picket
Robbie Coltrane
Picket
Dandy Nichols
Florrie
Glenn Williams
Whooley (as Glen Williams)
Brian Glover
Painter
Mike Grady
Painter
Tony Haygarth
Fraser
Jagdish Kumar
Sen
Patrick Durkin
Blodgett
Paddy Joyce
Feeney
Richard Griffiths
Cheerful Bernie
Dave Hill
Jeff
Charmian May
Miss Diamond
Valentine Dyall
Mr. Rochester
Roland Culver
General Wetherby
Betty Marsden
Hermione
Adele Strong
Old Lady
Ted Burnett
Taxi Driver
Gabrielle Lloyd
Private Nurse
Barbara Flynn
Private Nurse
Val Pringle
President Ngami
Robert Lee
Mr. Banzai
Errol Shaker
Captain Mbwami
Alan Penn
Padre
Liz Smith
Maisie
Robin Davies
Adrian
John Gordon Sinclair
Gregory (as Gordon John Sinclair)
Bob Hornery
BBC Cameraman
Paul McCleary
Assistant
Paul Kember
Sound Recordist
Jane Stonehouse
P.A.
Rosemary Martin
Casualty Nurse
Robert Owen
Ambulanceman
Ellis Dale
Man in Wheelchair
Maggie Ollerenshaw
Miss Rowntree
Elizabeth Bennett
Nurse / Demonstrator
Patsy Byrne
Nurse
Brenda Cavendish
Nurse
David Daker
Guest Workman
Edward Peel
Guest Workman
Alan Bates
Macready
Arthur Lowe
Guest Patient
T.P. McKenna
Theatre Surgeon
Michael Medwin
Theatre Surgeon
Edward Hibbert
Theatre Surgeon
Peter Holmes
Theatre Surgeon
Salmaan Peerzada
Theatre Surgeon (as Salmaan Peer)
Janette Foggo
Theatre Nurse
Cora Kinnaird
Theatre Nurse
Joshua Bancel
Demonstrator
Burt Caesar
Demonstrator
Jo Cameron Brown
Demonstrator (as Joe Cameron-Brown)
Ginnette Clarke
Demonstrator
Paul Cooper
Demonstrator
Jo Crawford
Demonstrator
Ronny Cush
Demonstrator
Derek Hollis
Demonstrator
Di Langford
Demonstrator
Roy Macready
Demonstrator
Roger Martin
Demonstrator
Verity Anne Meldrum
Demonstrator
Marsha Miller
Demonstrator
Yasmin Pettigrew
Demonstrator
Martin Ransley
Demonstrator
George Savvides
Demonstrator
James A. Stephens
Demonstrator (as James Stephens)
David Telfer
Demonstrator
Helen Webb
Demonstrator
Major Wiley
Demonstrator
Eilian Wyn
Demonstrator
Derek Lyons
Patient (uncredited)
Fred Wood
Hospital Casualty - On Trolley (uncredited)
Did you know?
Trivia
The member of the Royal Family that was visiting Britannia Hospital is only ever referred to in the film as "H.R.H." and is billed in the closing credits as "H.R.H.". The character resembled and was unofficially meant to be the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, the wife of King George VI and mother of Queen Elizabeth II.
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David Sherwin wrote the script in 1979 and it was originally set to be produced that year by Twentieth-Century Fox. There was a shake-up at Fox and the new head of the studio cancelled the project after reading the script. Funding was then secured through EMI, who would eventually withdraw the film from cinemas a month after release.
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The film's interior scenes were filmed at studios in Wembley, London. The exterior shots - of which there were many - were filmed at Barnet Frier Hospital, New Southgate, north of London. The hospital continued to operate normally throughout the filming in September 1981, although some disruption was inevitable: the hospital's green fields were covered with marquees, providing dressing rooms, toilets and wardrobe facilities, and a kitchen to feed the 500 cast and 200 crew was installed in the grounds. Near the entrance, a pair of gatehouses and two tall wrought-iron gates were erected, to be knocked down by the stampede of protesters at the end of the film. The hospital itself was chosen because of its impressive Victorian architecture - albeit not quite Britannia's 500 years old - and it received a payment of £5,000 for its involvement.
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Goofs
The nurse removes the gauze from HRH twice.
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At 48:09, the cameraman goes from looking at the officials at the table to looking at Millar between shots.
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At 02:40, the nurse puts her cape on twice.
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Quotes
Professor Millar: Friends! Fellow Members of the Human Race! We are gathered here for a purpose. Let us look together at Mankind. What do we see? We see Mastery. What wonders Mankind can perform. He can cross the oceans and continents today, as easily as our grandfathers crossed the street. Tomorrow he will as easily cross the vast territories of space. He can make deserts FERTILE and plant cabbages on the Moon. And what does man CHOOSE? Alone among the creatures of this world, the Human Race CHOOSES to ANNIHILATE itself. Since the last world conflict ended, there has not been one day in which Human Beings have not been SLAUGHTERING or wounding one another, in 200 and 30 different wars. And man BREEDS as recklessly as he lays waste. By the end of the century, the population of the world will have TRIPLED. 2/3rds of our plant species will have been DESTROYED. 55% of the Animal Kingdom. and 70% of our mineral resources. Out of every hundred Human Beings now living, 80 will DIE without ever KNOWING what it FEELS like to be fully nourished... While a tiny minority INDULGE themselves in ABSURD and EXTRAVAGANT luxuries. A motion picture entertainer of North America will receive as much money in a MONTH as would feed a starving South American tribe for a hundred YEARS! We WASTE! We DESTROY! AND, we cling like SAVAGES to our SUPERSTITIONS. We give POWER to LEADERS of State and Church as prejudiced and small-minded as ourselves, who SQUANDER our resources on instruments of destruction... While Millions continue to SUFFER and go hungry, condemned FOREVER to lives of IGNORANCE and DEPRIVATION. And why is this? It is because mankind has denied Intelligence, the unique glory of our species - the Human Brain. Man is entering an era of INFINITE possibility, still imprisoned in a FEEBLE, inefficient body... Still manacled by primitive notions of morality, which have NO PLACE in an Age of Science... Still powered by a brain that has HARDLY developed since the species emerged from the caves. Only a NEW intelligence can save Mankind! Only a new Human Being of PURE BRAIN can lead man forward into the new era. I do not speak of DREAMS. Such a being exists already. I have created it! It is HERE. NOW. Prepare yourselves to meet the Human of the Future. Neither Man nor Woman. Greater than either. I have given it a name. Genesis. Birth. A New Birth. A New Beginning for Mankind. People of Today, Behold Your Future!
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Photos from cast
Fulton Mackay Brian Pettifer Patricia Healey
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