22 definitions by p. redeckis

EastEnders is a popular BBC television soap opera, first broadcast on 19 February 1985. It has been running ever since, generating strong viewing figures for much of that time, and has been the UK's highest rating programme on numerous occasions.

Despite the strong criticism of the show by critics in 2004 and 2005, EastEnders won the prestigious National Television Award for "most popular Serial Drama" (an award it has won several times in the past ten years) in October 2005, was inducted into the Rose d'Or Hall of Fame in April 2006, and in May 2006 won the BAFTA for "Best Continuing Drama". It also won seven British Soap Awards in May 2006, including the award for "Best British Soap".

John Edward Thaw CBE (3 January 1942 – 21 February 2002) was a British actor who achieved his first starring role in the military police television drama Redcap (1964 – 1966), and subsequently appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles.

Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Longsight, Manchester to parents John and Dorothy. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he was a contemporary of Tom Courtenay.

On leaving RADA, Thaw was awarded a contract with the Liverpool Playhouse. His first film role was a bit part in the 1962 adaptation of The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner starring Tom Courtenay; and he also guested in an early episode of The Avengers.

Thaw will perhaps be best remembered for two roles: the hard-bitten Flying Squad detective Jack Regan in the television series (and two films) The Sweeney (1975 – 1978), which established him as a major star in the United Kingdom, and as the quietly-spoken, introspective and bitter detective Inspector Morse (1987 – 2001), with specials in 1995 – 1998 and 2000.

He won two BAFTA awards for Inspector Morse.

He subsequently played liberal barrister James Kavanagh in Kavanagh QC (1995 – 1999), with a special in 2001. Thaw also tried his hand at comedy with his own sitcom called Home to Roost (1985 – 1988).

His only screen projects not considered a popular success were the BBC series A Year in Provence and the LWT series Mitch, in which he played a journalist..

Thaw appeared in a number of films, including Cry Freedom, for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Chaplin for director Richard Attenborough.

In 1964 Thaw married Sally Alexander, but they divorced four years later. He married actress Sheila Hancock in 1973 and remained with her until his death from cancer in 2002, aged 60.

Thaw had two daughters: Abigail Thaw from his first marriage, and Joanna Thaw from his second.

In her 2004 autobiography Sheila Hancock revealed the extent of Thaw's alcoholism that had started in the late 1970s and caused problems in their marriage and the gaps in Thaw's career in the early 1980s and later 1990s. Thaw was eventually able to get his alcoholism under control a year before his death.

Thaw was awarded the CBE in 1994.

Martin Sacks born 16th October 1959, Sydney) is a well-known Australian actor, chiefly known for his 11-year role on Blue Heelers from 1994 to 2005.

Sacks first got into acting after a bit part in an episode of The Love Boat when it was filming in the Pacific. His first role came about in the series The Restless Years in the late 1970s, which started him on the television circuit in Australia. He emigrated to Hollywood in the 1980s, guest starring in series such as thirtysomething, but preferred Australia, and so he returned there after a few years. Also had guest appearances in;Love in Limbo, Encounters, Irresistible Force, Fields of Fire III, All the Way, Touch the Sun: Princess Kate, Slate, Wyn & Me, Tricheuse, La, Emoh Ruo, Stock Squad and The City's Edge.

Against his first instinct, Sacks took the role of Detective P.J. Hasham in the 1994 series Blue Heelers. The show rocketed him to fame, most notably his 7-year "will-they-or-won't-they" relationship with Constable Maggie Doyle (Lisa McCune) which ended with her death in a seventh-season episode.

During the time he starred on the show, Sacks married Kate and had two children, Jack and Ned and had leading roles in two major Australian miniseries: Do or Die and My Husband My Killer (both 2001).

After playing P.J. for eleven years, and being one of only three original cast still on the show in the twelfth season, Sacks left Blue Heelers to spend time with his growing family. His last episode aired on August 10, 2005. Sacks expressly asked the producers not to kill his character, so that he could return for a guest spot in the future. He did not get the chance, however: the show was cancelled in early 2006.

Sacks is also a director, having directed episodes of Blue Heelers, and a short film called Crushed.

John Wood (born July 14, 1946 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian actor, best known for his role as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in the Seven Network's long running police drama Blue Heelers.

Wood is one of only two actors - the other being Julie Nihill - to star in Blue Heelers from its beginning in 1994 to its end in 2006.

John Wood also starred in the Australian television series Rafferty's Rules as Magistrate - Michael Rafferty. Rafferty's daughter was played by Australalian actress Rebecca Rigg.

He appeared in the 2005 edition of the Australian Dancing with the Stars but didn't win

He is a supporter of the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Awards
He has been nominated for the Gold Logie for most popular personality on Australian television every year from 1997 to 2006. After ten consecutive Gold Logie nominations without a win, Wood won the prize in 2006.

A Brilliant TV Series Cancelled by UPN in the USA in 2002, Network Ten in Australia bought rights to Haunted and broadcast the program in 2005. Starred Matthew Fox as Private Eye Frank Taylor.

Lisa McCune (b. February 19, 1971) is an Australian actress well-known for her television roles.

McCune shot to fame in January 1994 when, at just 22 she was cast as Constable Maggie Doyle in Blue Heelers. She played the role until the seventh season, during which time she won the Gold Logie Award For Most Popular Television Personality four times. When her character was killed in 2000, the "Who Shot Maggie Doyle?" story arc was the most watched in the series history, and her departure is attributed as one of the major factors in the ratings slump that followed.

McCune followed up her television stint playing Mary Abacus in a telemovie adaptation of Bryce Courtenay's The Potato Factory (2000). Her next project, a "comeback" role in 2002, was the television series Marshall Law with Alison Whyte and former Blue Heelers cast member William McInnes. The series was critically panned, and ratings dropped significantly to ensure that it was cancelled after one season.

In 2004, McCune slowly began to return to television - first becoming the advertising face of Coles supermarkets, then hosting Seven Network shows such as The World Around Us and Forensic Investigators. McCune also starred alongside Matt Day in the ABC telemovie Hell Has Harbour Views.

In September 2005, McCune guest starred in a four-episode storyline on MDA alongside her former Blue Heelers co-star Paul Bishop. Also In 2005 she has narrated a second season of Forensic Investigators and was the Australian film Little Fish starring alongside Cate Blanchett and Sam Neill

McCune studied musical theatre at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at Edith Cowan University, and has appeared in a number of musicals and other stage productions around Australia, notably as Sally Bowles in Cabaret and Maria in The Sound of Music.

She is married to Tim Disney, once part of the Blue Heelers crew, and has three young children, Archer, Oliver and Remy.

Urban Dictionary is an online dictionary whose definitions are contributed by users. Most words featured on Urban Dictionary are slang, particularly ambiguous slang. A paper version of the dictionary has been published in 2005.