Malcolm Fancey

Malcolm Fancey was effectively born into the film business. His father was Edwin J. Fancey (1902-1980) one of the oldest and longest running of Britain's exploitation film producer/distributors. Fancey senior distributed hundreds of films (mostly second features) through numerous companies including New Realm, D.U.K., S.F. and E.J. Fancey Ltd, produced Down among the Z-Men starring The Goons and gave Michael Winner his earliest breaks in showbiz. Malcolm joined the family business in the late 1950s, and when E.J. retired in the seventies, took over the running of the New Realm Company with his sister Adrienne Scott. Malcolm and Adrienne made a great amount of money through New Realm over the years, especially by acquiring the British rights to Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle (1974), as well as producing many home-grown softcore films. Not long after E.J. Fancey's death, Malcolm quit New Realm and became a 'silent partner' in April Electronics, a company run by fellow sex film mogul David Grant. Many of Fancey's productions such as I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1976), Girls Come First (1975) and The World Is Full of Married Men (1979) were issued on tape by World of Video 2000, the video arm of April Electronics. For the release of a horror film called "Nightmares in a Damaged Brain" (Nightmare (1981)) on tape, David Grant dreamed up a publicity stunt that would ultimately backfire. In May 1982 several World of Video 2000 employees were dispatched to a hospital in Surrey where they unveiled a brain in a jar. Sick patients were then asked to 'guess the weight of the real damaged brain' in exchange for a prize. Horrified hospital staff promptly phoned the police who quickly confiscated Grant's 'Brain' (actually nothing more than a horror movie prop). Not long after World of Video 2000's offices were raided by the police, and Grant, Fancey and another man were sent to trial on obscenity charges relating to the release of "Nightmares in a Damaged Brain". Most of the prosecution's case rested on the fact that the version released on tape by World of Video 2000 was 60 seconds longer than the version passed by the British censor for cinema release. All three men were found guilty of distributing material 'likely to deprave or corrupt' in 1984. While Grant spent 18 months in jail, Fancey received a suspended sentence and had to pay a fine. Having 'officially' quit the film business in 1981, Fancey then completely retired from showbiz and today lives quietly on the south coast of England.