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jono, I agree cluing for 27 is redundant, but I think it could be considered a clever way of stressing which of 2 alternate spellings is to be used. I (in USA) see the "disqualified" spelling far more often.

jono - it's a less usual spelling of the second hidden version. To sum up, the theme is 18 11 (in film). 13d 6 directed him as 20 and in five other films. On TV he was 4 in 22d, 2 14 ... (6). Most famously, to his regret, he was in 1,24 and several other sequels. 13 Tutin played his wife in Cromwell. And the other 2d played opposite him in The Comedians. As for 10,23 - he lived in St Peter's Square, Hammersmith - which was split in half by the A4 extension ...

Thanks Prospero, that's a wonderful summation 👍

Must admit I only got the theme near the end. Helped me get 22 d but not really sure how it parses. This was quite easy for a Brendan prize I thought. I would never normally be finished this early. It felt more like an Everyman to me with a lot of anagrams.

22d - def fiddle. last letters of violin clerk in a word used in crosswords as synonym for row or bank.

2d: Homophone of surname of one half of a famous husband/wife partnership who starred together in several films, including a 1967 Graham Greene adaptation (although he did in this instance write the screenplay himself)

Thanks Prospero for the summary; these were all the 18 11 I was thinking of to explain the theme, apart from 13 Tutin which I did not know.

2d Should have added the actress was born in England, but to American parents, and was in fact of dual British-US nationality. We Brits of course claim her as on of our own.

Thanks for the welcome, Brendan. I have posted occasionally here but am usually a lurker. I find the forum very enjoyable and hope to contribute more actively in the future

This was fun and most of it fell into place quite quickly - amazingly I didn't spot the theme until almost finished. However completely stuck on 3d - I can think of three or four possible answers but none seem to make sense.