Mary Millington was a pretty English girl-next-door who personified the word ‘glamour’. Her meteoric rise to the top was scandalous and controversial. She became the most famous pin-up of the decade and her racy reputation could shift a million newspapers and sell the longest-running British movie of all-time. Mary’s fame brought her a lavish lifestyle and an affair with a serving Prime Minister. Her sexuality was accessible and her personality addictive, but her sexual bravado hid a darker side. Persecuted by the authorities, Mary was tortured by self-doubt and she sadly died at the height of her fame in August 1979, aged 33. Filmed on location in London and at Pinewood Studios, Simon Sheridan’s documentary reveals the truth behind an icon. Starring Dexter Fletcher, David Sullivan, Linzi Drew, Jess Conrad, Dudley Sutton, Colin Wills and Pat Astley. Come Play with Me original 1977 trailer plus the British theatrical trailer for Come Play with Me, unseen for nearly 40 years. Kelley Curran Blames Turner's Penchant for "Self-Sabotage" for Her Soup Scheme Fiasco in 'The Gilded Age' Season 2 Episode 5 Confessions from the Dave Sullivan Affair (10 mins) – Dave talks about Come Play with Me, which he funded. Mr Sullivan comes across very well and also as having a good sense of humour. Additionally, he also comes across as someone who actually really did care about Mary and says he couldn’t bear going to the funeral.

Sheridan, Simon (2011). Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema (fourthed.). Titan Publishing. ISBN 9780857682796. Keep It Up, Sue! In Conversation with Sue Longhurst. Mary Millington’s co-star Sue Longhurst talks about her career in saucy British sex comedies and recalls the making of Come Play with Me. Mary was a glamour model-turned-porn-star who became the most famous and notorious character of the dirty mac brigade in the seventies. She was reviled in public, but beloved in private, and by some of the most powerful figures in the country. Respectable covers all aspects of the star’s life, from her humble upbringing to her rise to sex superstardom and rather unorthodox business practices. In her later years, she faced depression and pressure from frequent police raids on her sex shop. After a downward spiral of drug addiction, shoplifting and debt, she died at home of an overdose of medicine and vodka, aged 33.

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A feature-length documentary chronicling Millington's life, entitled Respectable – The Mary Millington Story, [31] [32] [33] was partly shot and produced at Pinewood Studios in 2015. Offending "the Establishment" has never been a free ride, and although by the 1970s attitudes to matters sexual had become more liberal than in the early 1960s when the likes of Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies and Stephen Ward were prosecuted (one might say persecuted), with the well publicised efforts of Mary Whitehouse, Lord Longford and Malcolm Muggeridge, Mary's exploits were unlikely to go unremarked. And judging from the notes she left at the time of her death she clearly felt "they" - the police and the tax man in particular - were out to get her.

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Sutton is just one of a number of stalwarts who grace The Playbirds with their aspect, and with scenes propped up with the likes of Windsor Davies ( It Ain’t Half Hot Mum), Glynn Edwards ( Minder), Kenny Lynch ( Dr Terror’s House of Horrors) and Ballard Berkeley ( Fawlty Towers), there’s something reassuring about these dependable figures propping up this bizarre, and largely successful, mix of sexploitation, crime caper and light-hearted comedy.

Whilst 'Respectable: The Mary Millington Story' is not always a happy tale, there is much to enjoy, and digest, - there are carefully- judged moments of joy and laughter (actor Dudley Sutton is especially funny) mixed with heartbreaking and poignant tales told by several ex- lovers and friends. I found it utterly enthralling from beginning to end, and I couldn't stop thinking about it even days later. How did Mary really die? Who was ultimately responsible? And why was she considered such a thorn in the side of the Metropolitan Police?Millington has been described as one of the "two hottest British sex film stars of the seventies", the other being Fiona Richmond. [3] Early life [ edit ] Along the way, we hear from those who knew her, loved her, and worked with her. A key figure in Mary’s rise was David Sullivan, who made an empire out of ‘filth’ is open and emphatic about Mary, even letting his usual bravado slip on occasion. Despite the perception of her famous British films being pure porn, they were merely slightly more risqué Carry On movies; populated as much by familiar faces from TV and film as naked ladies. As such, we hear from characters such as Dudley Sutton (best known from TV’s Lovejoy) about how well they got on with Mary and were disgusted at the way the establishment treated her. Françoise Pascal ( Mind Your Language) recounts working with her on Keep it Up Downstairs, and writer/director Michael Armstrong ( Mark of the Devil) and the legendary Stanley Long (who passed away not long after his interview was filmed) have nothing but good memories of Mary. McGillivray, David (2017). Doing rude things: the history of the British sex film, 1957-1981 (2nded.). Wolfbait. ISBN 978-1999744151. Simply Media are distributing Respectable – The Mary Millington Story on DVD. Extras on the disc include:

The longest run in UK cinema history was an utterly worthless softcore effort called 'Come Play With Me' that had one saving grace. A cover girl whose picture was selling a million magazines a month, helped further by the UK's banning of blue films, which remained the irresistible forbidden fruit. Millington was a member of the National Campaign for the Reform of the Obscene Publications Acts (NCROPA) [19] [20] and encouraged her readers to demand the abolition of the Acts. [12] After her death, NCROPA founder David Webb wrote: "Mary was a dear, kind person and we much admired her courage in standing up to the bigotry and repression which still so pervades the establishment of this country. She obviously had tremendous pressures put on her as a result and there is no doubt in my mind that these must have contributed to this tragedy." [21] Taika Waititi Says Donald Trump Submitted A "List Of Demands" While Filming A 2012 Super Bowl Commercial, Including A Particular Camera Angle To “Make Him Look A Little Thinner” I was born respectable, but I soon decided I wasn’t going to let that spoil my life.” – Mary MillingtonHaving been born in 1993, I was unfamiliar with the life, and tragic demise, of Seventies' porn starlet Mary Millington. Simon Sheridan's engrossing documentary remind everybody of my generation how porn was not as ubiquitous as it is today. 40 years ago hardcore material was illegal in Great Britain and those who made it, distributed it or starred in it were crucified in the press and persecuted by the authorities. NEW Ten Million Dirty Words – a brand new featurette about Harry Knights, the Nottingham-based porn writer who helped create Mary’s image. Sheridan, Simon (18 March 2016). "Come Play with Mary on DVD". Mary Millington . Retrieved 12 January 2021. Jenna Bush Hager Reveals To Hoda Kotb That Her Daughter Asked Her Husband Why He Was "Lying" When He Said She "Never Looked Better" Birth name cited at "Millington, Mary". BFI Film & TV Database. Archived from the original on 26 January 2009.