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After Hours

In ‘An Accidental Studio’, a Beatle’s movie magic is undone by money

The late George Harrison co-founded HandMade Films and produced 'Monty Python's Life of Brian' and 'Withnail & I' before imploding

Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson in Neil Jordan's 1986 film, Mona Lisa
Bob Hoskins and Cathy Tyson in Neil Jordan's 1986 film, Mona Lisa

HandMade Films, the independent movie production company founded by late Beatles guitarist George Harrison, “saved” the British film industry.

That was how two national newspapers described HandMade’s colourful existence between 1978 and 1991, in stories about new documentary An Accidental Studio. It is a wild exaggeration. While the company produced original and subversive gems including The Long Good Friday and Withnail & I, only one of their movies is in the top 10 highest-grossing British films of the 1980s.

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