British Comedy Guide
Simon And Laura. Image shows from L to R: Laura Foster (Kay Kendall), Simon Foster (Peter Finch), Janet Honeyman (Muriel Pavlow)
Simon And Laura

Simon And Laura

  • 1955 film

Comedy about husband-and-wife actors who agree to have their daily lives dramatised for a new television serial. Stars Peter Finch, Kay Kendall, Muriel Pavlow, Hubert Gregg, Maurice Denham and more.

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Simon And Laura. Image shows from L to R: Laura Foster (Kay Kendall), Timothy (Clive Parritt), Simon Foster (Peter Finch), Barney (Terence Longdon)

Key details

Genre
Film
Released
1955
Stars
Peter Finch, Kay Kendall, Muriel Pavlow, Hubert Gregg, Maurice Denham, Ian Carmichael, Richard Wattis, Thora Hird and more
Writers
Alan Melville and Peter Blackmore
Director
Muriel Box
Producers
Teddy Baird and Earl St. John
Company

To their adoring public, married actors Simon and Laura Foster appear to be the perfect couple but in private their relationship is far from ideal. Constantly bickering with each other and smashing an increasing number of household objects in the process, they are in fact seriously considering breaking up for good - until a BBC television producer arrives at their door with a proposal for a new programme. Dubbed 'Simon and Laura', the daily serial will see the couple play out a dramatised version of their own (apparently real) lives for viewers across the land.

Each with debts and commitments that must be kept, they are in little place to turn down the work and so - for the public's benefit - on go the adoring smiles once more. As far as the audience is concerned there has never been a happier marital partnership. What's more, working together in such close quarters does eventually prove to bring the husband and wife team back together again: although not before they've almost blown the studio apart!

It's not an easy route to wedded bliss though, as the pair contend with a boisterous, trouble-making child star foisted upon them by senior BBC executives; their producer, the show's creator, David; scriptwriter Janet; plotlines; TV critics; nosey friends; on-set romances; their butler and maid; and fresh hordes of adoring - and sometimes critical - fans. Simon and Laura quickly learn that television can turn you into a star overnight, but it can also break you!

Additional details

UK certificate
A
Duration
91 minutes
UK release
December 1955
Distributors

The Rank Organisation

J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors

Production
Studio
Camera set-up
Single camera
Picture
Colour

Website links

Broadcast details

Most recent repeats
  • Friday 26th November 2021 at 1:05pm on TPTV
  • Thursday 14th October 2021 at 2:25pm on TPTV
  • Friday 30th July 2021 at 8:20am on TPTV

Recording details

  • Pinewood Studios

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