Fruit Machine (1988)

Hear! Hear! But, Miles, it was in fact directed by Philip Saville, whose brilliant Fellow Traveller is also mysteriously unavailable on DVD. And to add to your info on the cast, the film also featured Paula Ann Bland, whom older Grange Hill fans may remember as Claire Scott (1981-1985). Of course, in The Fruit Machine (a.k.a. Wonderland) an enthusiastic dolphin helped her to bare her breasts, in the name of 'family entertainment'. Disappointlingly for some - perhaps less so for others - it's also one of only two downloadable clips from the film I could find. The second is the encounter on Brighton Beach between Eddie (Emile Charles) and Hazel (Julie Graham):

http://www.tvtotty.net/tottyvids18/id42.htm

http://www.tvtotty.net/tottyvids18/id33.htm

Stills from the dolphinarium scene are available here (yes, you guessed it - topless shots of Bland):

http://www.robbscelebs.co.uk/noops722/paula1.jpg

http://www.robbscelebs.co.uk/noops722/paula_ann_bland-02.jpg

It seems Paula was keen to cultivate this look in 1988, appearing as she did in Vol. 23, Issue 3 of soft-porn magazine, Mayfair: http://usedmagazines.com/titles/Mayfair/Volume23/. Whatever, I'm just dead keen to see the film again, which like so many other unsung 'small' British films of the period often fed into my developing enthusiasm for engaging in the social and political issues of the period, not least in relation to race, gay rights and the role of the British working class on (and off) screen - but absolutely NOT 'animal rights'!.

There are twelve other high quality (but small) stills from the film here, featuring all of the major characters:

http://www.cinema.de/film_aktuell/filmdetail?sendungs_id=&film_id= 33358&imgno=1&interface=slide

Here's a larger still of Eddie and Michael (Tony Forsyth):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/TFM-1.jpg

And lastly, a massive still of Forsyth:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tony_Forsythe.jpg

Both of these pictures are featured in Wikipedia's excellent entry on the film:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fruit_Machine_(film)

The lion and the calf shall lie down together, but the calf won't get much sleep.