Heist (2008 comedy)
| Heist | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Peter Harness |
| Directed by | Justin Hardy |
| Starring | Kris Marshall |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 1 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lucy Bassnett-McGuire (line producer) Susan Horth |
| Cinematography | Douglas Hartington |
| Editor(s) | Michael Harrowes |
| Running time | 70 mins |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Four |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original release | 23 April 2008 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Heist is a one-off 2008 television comedy-drama, written by Peter Harness and directed by Justin Hardy. It was completed at the end of 2006 and first broadcast on 23 April 2008 on BBC Four as part of its Medieval season. Loosely based on real events surrounding Richard of Pudlicott, it is a parody of and/or homage to heist films, set in medieval England, using several of that genre's conventions (such as the raid being "one last job", and the use of an unintelligent but physically strong figure), and trailed under the same tagline as the 2003 remake of The Italian Job ("Get in, get out, get even"). As per the medieval setting, the film dialogue contains several Middle English and pseudo-Middle English expressions and insults (some of which are translations of modern-English insults or rhyming slang - "mother-" instead of "motherfucker", or "it's all gone a bit church gong" instead of "it's all gone a bit Pete Tong", for example). Marshall as lead character narrates several parts of the backstory to the audience during the film.
In 1303, the innkeeper and would-be wool-merchant Dick Puddlecote is arrested and imprisoned in Flanders after travelling there from England to trade wool. Before he could receive the money, he was imprisoned, as punishment for the English monarch Edward I having defaulted on a loan from Flanders.
On his release, Dick returns to England, where he finds Edward has taken over his inn and forced his girlfriend Joanna the Concubine into prostitution. Dick vows revenge on the King for all this, and begins to gather his friends to attempt an audacious robbery on the king's treasury beneath Westminster Abbey.
...
Wikipedia