Trapped DVD

Three trapped tales and their character's moments of truth

Playwright Tim Firth (Calendar Girls) had a unique idea: find two other writers (Simon Nye - Men Behaving Badly, Jonathan Harvey - Beautiful Thing, Gimme Gimme Gimme). Each chooses their own production company to film a separate comedy independently of one another. There was to be only one joining factor: all three plays were to be on the theme of being trapped.
Three of the screen's best & most popular comic actors: Martin Clunes (Doc Martin, Men Behaving Badly), Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave) and Caroline Quentin (Jonathan Creek, Men Behaving Badly) bring to life the three trapped tales and their character's moments of truth.
Synopsis - Beauty (2004) Beauty by Simon Nye, writer of Men Behaving Badly and How Do You Want Me, stars Martin Clunes (Doc Martin, Men Behaving Badly) as Tom FitzHernry, an ugly reclusive aristocrat who lives on his gorgeous, slightly decaying country estate. Distressed by his unconventional appearance, caused by generations of inbreeding, he keeps his involvement with the local village down to a minimum. His home is his sanctuary, but also his prison and the sole aim of his crumbling but trusty domestic staff is to find him the love of a good woman.
Things change when Tom meets Cathy, a quirky, vivacious barmaid from the council estate in the village and also daughter of the local plumber. Vying for her attention is the brash yet handsome Ryan, who pursues her constantly despite her dismissals. When Tom is forced to hire a plumber for an urgent job, Cathy completes the plumbing work in place of her sick father. Things don't get off to a good start as Cathy's blunt honesty is hard for Tom to swallow.
Gradually love blossoms between the pair, as Tom learns that it is only when he behaves badly that Cathy sees him as ugly.
Cathy flees the Manor and returns to the village when Tom reverts to being a snobbish recluse. He misses her desperately and realises that if he is to win Cathy back, he is going to have to break the habit of a lifetime?
Synopsis - King of Fridges (2004) King of Fridges by Tim Firth follows Alan, assistant manager of electrical superstore, Rocket, who gets the chance to be store manager on a busy bank holiday whilst his boss is off work.
However, it seems his boss has laid a trap for Alan in the shape of Frank, played by Richard Wilson (One Foot in the Grave), a mid-sixties man on a re-training scheme for the redundant. Alan is faced with overseeing a man who knows nothing about electrical goods on the busiest day of the year.
The staff become convinced Frank is a spy sent from Head Office and Alan becomes paranoid that this bumbling idiot is in fact a skillful operator in disguise, assessing Alan's management potential. But events prove that Alan is in fact, tragically, just a bumbling idiot when he sets the store on fire. In this most extreme of situations, ultimately trapped in the letter "O" of "Rocket" on the shop roof, the two grow to embody different attitudes towards ambition and happiness in life.
Synopsis - Von Trapped (2004) Von Trapped! By Jonathan Harvey stars Caroline Quentin (Life Begins, Jonathan Creek, Men Behaving Badly) as Maria Moogan, a mobile hairdresser from Manchester, who is obsessed with The Sound of Music having watched it the night she was jilted at the alter, pregnant and emotionally wrought.
Now, 18 years later she lives with her man-hating mother Kath, played by Una Stubbs (In Sickness and in Health, Til Death Us Do Part), and only child Lee, a moody teenager with all sorts of hormonal problems. It's a pretty claustrophobic existence.
When Maria's best friend Connie wins the lottery, using Maria's lucky number 7, she gives Maria £10,000 of her winnings - with the stipulation that she must go to Salzburg to get The Sound of Music out of her system. While there, she bumps into Lee's father, now a successful but unhappy TV presenter. What results is a surprising, magical process of release and understanding that puts The Sound of Music to shame.