Bernard and the Genie

Bernard and the Genie is a seventyminute British TV film coproduced by Attaboy and Talkback for BBC Television. It was first shown on BBC1 onNovember 1991. Written by comedy writer Richard Curtis, this comic fantasy takes its inspiration from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights and follows Alan Cumming as art dealer Bernard Bottle who is not having a good day.

Two thousand years later, Bernard Bottle Alan Cumming, an art dealer for a prestigious firm in London, scores a huge sale and earns his company fifty million pounds. His boss, Charles Pinkworth Rowan Atkinson, congratulates him on the sale, but when Bernard reveals that he gave half of the money back to the original owners of the paintings, Pinkworth fires him. Bernard returns dejectedly to his flat and seeks comfort, but discovers that his girlfriend has been sleeping with his best friend. She then clears Bernards flat of nearly everything, leaving behind only a small amount of furniture and an ornate antique lamp. He attempts to clean the lamp, causing an explosion that sends him to the hospital.When Bernard returns to his flat, he encounters a man Lenny Henry who tries to kill him. During the fight, Bernard wishes that the man could speak English, at which point he does. When the man states Your wish is my command, Bernard wishes for the fight to stop, which it does. Bernard learns that the man, named Josephus, is a genie who had been trapped inside the lamp for two thousand years, and that he can grant almost any wish. The two forge a friendship in which Bernard introduces Josephus to modern food, music and entertainment, as well as using wishes to furnish his flat with expensive furniture and even the authentic Mona Lisa, which is subsequently reported missing from the Louvre. ........

Source: Wikipedia