All 11 feature length Cracker adventures in one box set! Robbie Coltrane leads an all-star cast in Jimmy McGovern's groundbreaking gritty drama as the uncompromising idiosyncratic Fitz a man whose psychological insight extends to everyone but himself. Episodes Comprise: 1. The Mad Woman In The Attic 2. To Say I Love You 3. One Day A Lemming Will Fly 4. To Be A Somebody 5. The Big Crunch 6. Men Should Weep 7. Brotherly Love 8. Best Boys 9. True Romance 10. White Ghost 11. Cracker
The Beiderbecke Collection is a charming mix of comedy and drama that has all the hallmarks of a classic detective thriller. Follow the exploits of jazz fan Trevor and his long-suffering girlfriend Jill as they find themselves embroiled in various mysteries which follow them to Amsterdam and Edinburgh and include dodgy businessmen black economies refugees and much much more.... 'The Beiderbecke Affair' (1984) - Follow the exploits of Jazz nut Trevor Chaplin (James Bolam) and his long-suffering girlfriend Jill Swinburne (Barbara Flynn). Whilst trying to track down a set of missing records they encounter a mystery platinum blonde who weaves a complex web of intrigue that soon escalates to dealing with dodgy businessmen 'black economies' and council corruption. 'The Beiderbecke Tapes' (1987) - Feature length mystery with Trevor and Jill as they continue to embroil themselves in all sorts of clandestine meetings and intrigue. Nuclear waste in the Yorkshire Dales sinister conversations and a missing barman take Trevor and Jill on a whirlwind mystery from the Dales to Amsterdam and Edinburgh. 'The Beiderbecke Connection' (1988) - Trevor and Jill are now parents to a baby boy however their old pals Big Al and Little Norm prevail upon them to give sanctuary to a homeless refugee. It is not long however before they are again caught up in a complex deception of a musical kind featuring the music of jazz supremo Frank Ricotti.
After years spent as a widower, village doctor Mr Gibson has decided to remarry; something for which his rather naive daughter, Molly, is wholly unprepared. Molly's world is soon overturned by the arrival of an unwanted stepmother and a bewitching, beautiful stepsister, Cynthia. In spite of the circumstances of their acquiantance and of being so entirely different from one another, the two girls instantly form a close relationship. But it is a friendship that is put to the test when they look set to become rivals in love. Matters are further complicated when a dangerous secret emerges from Cynthia's past in which she entangles Molly, with serious consequences for them both...
Lowlands University is a swamp of fear and loathing. A showpiece Sixties campus looking increasingly anachronistic in the paranoid, profit-driven Eighties, it is staffed by angst-ridden academics desperate to hang onto their privileged status amid swingeing cutbacks. It also houses what may well be the worst medical practice in the British Isles.Stephen Daker sees his new job at the Medical Centre as a chance to pursue excellence among a dedicated team and he's somewhat shaken when his colleagues turn out to be a wildly unpredictable dipsomaniac, a public school-educated fascist and an uber-feminist who sees illness as something men do to women. Dark secrets, sinister experiments, demented academics, STD epidemics, the Yankee Dollar, a desperate Creative with writer's block and a couple of nuns all conspire to make life on campus a hair-raising experience for Stephen!Andrew Davies' surreal, searingly funny look at sexual politics, medical malpractice and academic rivalry at the height of the Thatcher era won huge acclaim and a BAFTA nomination for Best Drama Series. This set comprises both series and A Very Polish Practice, the 1992 sequel film which finds Stephen coping with life in post-Communism Warsaw.
Helen Mirren stars as the 'Virgin Queen' Elizabeth I in this Channel 4 drama penned by acclaimed novelist Nigel Williams. Elizabeth I daughter of Henry VIII reunited a nation divided by religious strife faced down the Spanish Armada and after an unprecedented forty-five year reign died one of England's best-loved monarchs. During her time as Queen poets and playwrights wrote about her artists painted her composers dedicated their work to her all contributing to the legen
This collection features three of Anthony Trollope's highly regarded works brilliantly adapted for the small screen. With over 15 hours of timeless film from one of the nineteenth-century's greatest writers visit the fascinating world of Victorian England as the prolific and respected novelist illustrates the penetrating conflicts of the day. He Knew He Was Right: Louis Trevelyan's refusal to believe in his wife Emily's fidelity destroys a perfect marriage and drives him literally insane. Suspicious beyond reason that she is having an affair with Colonel Osbourne a man of dubious reputation he forces his wife out of their house hires the seedy private detective Bozzle to spy on her and organises the kidnapping of their son with devastating consequences. Throughout Emily's protestation of her innocence and the couple's enduring love for each other despite their estrangement render the story moving and tragic. The Way We Live Now: Set in the railway boom of the 1870s Anthony Trollope's epic tale of Victorian power and corruption captures the turmoil as the old order is swept aside by the brash new forces of business and finance. It is packed with the trials and tribulations of young love the enduring values of honourable men the raw energy of one of the most powerful cities in the world and the greed and corruption that lay below its glittering surface. The Barchester Chronicles: The acclaimed 1982 BBC adaptation of Anthony Trollope's novels. The community of Barchester is shaken from its cosy complacency when a newspaper's crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires. Overnight Rev. Harding (Donald Pleasence) becomes a pawn in a battle between his younger daughter's beau John Bold (David Gwillim) and his older daughter's husband. Little do they realise that the worst is yet to come until a regime change delivers Barchester into the hands of a most unholy trinity: the weak-willed Bishop Proudie (Clive Swift) the domineering Mrs. Proudie (Geraldine McEwan) and the insufferable Rev. Obadiah Slope (Alan Rickman).
For the best part of a millennium Windsor Castle has been at the heart of the national story; the awesome fortress; family home; treasure chest; and burial ground for the Royal dynasty who went on to take its name. But there is another unseen side to the Castle which the tourists never see... It is the real Windsor - home workplace playground and paradise. The Queen's Castle explore this hidden world in all its glory. This year for the first time ever Windsor ha
The Forsyte Saga is an immense drama of sex power and money. It chronicles the lives of three generations of a powerful Victorian family. Superior arrogant and confident on the surface beneath the imposing veneer lies a festering core of unhappy and brutal relationships riddled with jealousies and tensions. At the heart of the Saga is Soames Forsyte (Damian Lewis) a rich and successful partner in the family law firm and a staunch upholder of the old moral code. But his fiery tormented relationship with his beautiful wife Irene (Gina McKee) upsets his complacency and as Irene embarks on a passionate affair the Forsyte Family is cruelly ripped apart in a bitter feud. A classic of English literature The Forsyte Saga paints a fascinating picture of early twentieth century London life charting the progress of a great dynasty from the height of the Victorian era through the turbulent transition into the modern age. The Forsyte Saga is a compelling drama of love adultery obsession and deceit providing an enticing glimpse into a passionate and flamboyant existence.
The first two episodes of this BBC miniseries only hint at the delights to come. A lawsuit aimed at church reform in the town of Barchester forces a decent middle-aged clergyman (Donald Pleasence) into a moral crisis and a conflict with his son-in-law, a pompous archdeacon (Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George). The gracefully written and acted narrative shows glimpses of dry wit--but in episode 3, the arrival of a new bishop (Clive Swift, Keeping Up Appearances), his imperious wife (Geraldine McEwan, The Magdalene Sisters), and his devious chaplain (Alan Rickman, Truly Madly Deeply, the Harry Potter movies) launches The Barchester Chronicles into a satirical power struggle all the more mesmerizing because of the smallness of the territory. The scheming of the citizens and clergy of this British town is both Byzantine and wonderfully comic as the tempestuous personalities claw and dig at each other. Rickman, in one of his first film or television roles, turns in a tour de force of oily ambition. McEwan's ferocious machinations are downright terrifying, while the sputtering Hawthorne seems constantly in danger of bursting a vein. At the center of it all is Pleasence. Making goodness compelling has always been difficult, since wickedness is always more dramatic; but Pleasence brings a deep and stirring passion to his role that proves as engaging as all the back-biting that surrounds him. And these are just the more familiar faces; a host of lesser-known actors give equally superb performances. The final episode (of seven) will have you on pins and needles. The Barchester Chronicles, adapted from two novels by Anthony Trollope, is one of those marvels of British television, a skillful production that proves intelligent fare can be hugely entertaining. --Bret Fetzer
Andrew Davies' 1999 adaptation of Mrs Gaskell's Wives and Daughters was hailed as the rediscovery of a "forgotten" classic novel and found the BBC on the crest of a wave with costume dramas--led by Pride and Prejudice. Handsome and beautifully filmed, if anything, it surpassed the quality of even that highly praised landmark production. "We should all look pretty strange under a microscope," botanist Robert Hamley tells our heroine Molly Gibson and of course Mrs Gaskell places all her characters under intense scrutiny, with affection but without judgement. Davies' screenplay peals back the layers, giving full vent to the comedy, tragedy and satire that drive this tale of provincial life to its highly satisfactory conclusion. Justine Waddell imbues Molly with an increasingly exasperated but remarkably forbearing intelligence, while Francesca Annis, as the outrageously self-absorbed step-mother Hyacinth, paints a wonderful portrait of affectation without ever totally alienating our sympathy. Michael Gambon's immensely touching Squire Hamley won him a Best Actor BAFTA, but all the performances are uniformly excellent, contributing immeasurably to five hours of television drama of the highest calibre. On the DVD: Presented in 16:9 format with a Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack, this two-disc presentation retains all the hallmarks of the original BBC viewing experience. The picture quality is lush--the production lighting is excellent--and the sound quality sharp. The only gripe is with the extras: the Omnibus documentary "Who the Dickens is Mrs Gaskell?" is brutally truncated, cutting off talking heads like novelists Fay Weldon and Margaret Drabble in their prime and giving limited insight into how the production was made. As an audio bonus, there is also 30 minutes of John Keane's music.--Piers Ford
A passionate love story charting the young John Ridd's search for revenge in seventeenth century rural England. John's father is killed by the feared Doones, who weave an evil spell of murder and theft over the Devon countryside, and he determines to avenge his father's death. John falls desparately in love with Lorna, the daughter of the head of the Doone clan, and he rescues her from them when it transpires that she was stolen as a child. Lorna's true lineage is revealed to be that of a noblewoman and John's lowly status closes his mind to the possibility of marriage. Eventually John proves himself invaluable to both the King and a kinsman of Lorna's, thus removing all obstacles between them and allowing a happy ending. Based on the novel by R.D. Blackmore.
Trevor Chaplin and Jill Swinborne the reluctant heroes from the TV series 'The Beiderbecke Affair' return in this feature length mystery. Trevor is given some jazz tapes from a fellow Bix Beiderbecke fan the barman at the local pub but he receives far more than music compilations. One of the tapes turns out to be a recording of a sinister conversation about dumping nuclear waste in the Yorkshire Dales. When Trevor and Jill go to the pub to confront the barman they discover he has gone missing and a mystery ensues....
A passionate love story charting the young John Ridd's search for revenge in seventeenth century rural England. John's father is killed by the feared Doones who weave an evil spell of murder and theft over the Devon countryside and he determines to avenge his father's death. John falls desparately in love with Lorna the daughter of the head of the Doone clan and he rescues her from them when it transpires that she was stolen as a child. Lorna's true lineage is revealed to be that
A satirical, surreal and acutely observed comedy-drama from the mid-1980s, A Very Peculiar Practice stars Peter Davison, who, following turns as a vet in All Creatures Great and Small and the Doctor in Doctor Who, here plays naïve Dr Stephen Daker, a profoundly nervous new addition to Lowlands University's medical practice. The distinctly eclectic team he meets is headed by the compassionate, incompetent, alcoholic and suicidal "Jock" McCannon (the gloriously theatrical Graham Crowden). Barbara Flynn is marvellous as the manipulative bisexual Dr Rose Marie, and David Troughton as Dr Bob Buzzard personifies the "greed-is-good" ethos of the era. The seven 50-minute episodes here form an overall arc following Daker from sheer terror through romance with behavioural psychologist Lyn Turtle (Amanda Hillwood), to ethical conflict with the sociopathic vice-chancellor (played with relish by John Bird). Increasingly surreal (from strange nuns to stranger dream sequences--the second, even better series was more bizarre still), the series launches an acidic assault on the Thatcherite asset-stripping mentality that was then laying waste not just British universities, but the entire nation. Written with an acute irony by Andrew Davies, whose move into more mainstream adaptations such as Pride and Prejudice (1995) was contemporary TV drama's greatest loss, A Very Peculiar Practice is a television landmark that, alongside The Singing Detective and Edge of Darkness, marks 1986 as one of the finest years in the history of the medium. --Gary S Dalkin
This box set features the entire first series of the classic British Television drama Inspector Morse. Episodes comprise: 1. The Dead of Jericho: Morse who never quite finds romance thinks that at last things will turn out differently when he meets beautiful Anne Stavely (Gemma Jones). But it is a love destined not to be when Anne is found hanging from a beam in mysterious circumstances. Morse suspects murder and sets out to discover the truth. Joining him is Serg
First screened in 1993, Jimmy McGovern's Cracker was at once a variation on a familiar theme and a daring new departure from the run-of-the-mill cop show. Robbie Coltrane's Fitz is an independent criminal psychologist called in by the police to help them crack intractable cases, usually involving grisly serial murders. But like its Granada TV stablemate Prime Suspect, Cracker also delves deep into the main characters' personal lives, revealing a chaos of emotional entanglements that become increasingly inseparable from their professional duties. Robbie Coltrane's charismatic presence dominates: the contrast between Fitz's professionalism and his complete inability to diagnose his own psychological failings provides much of the show's dramatic impetus. His frequent interrogations of murder suspects are tour de force demonstrations of coolly analytical method shot through with biting humour. But his drunken, intemperate behaviour towards his wife and everyone else is a telling contrast of extremes, and one that creates dangerous resentment among his colleagues. Coltrane is supported by a strong cast that includes Barbara Flynn, Geraldine Somerville, Lorcan Cranitch (as the terrifyingly unstable DS Jimmy Beck), Christopher Eccleston, and a pre-Royle Family Ricky Tomlinson. McGovern's screenplays balance gritty, Manchester-based realism with splendidly mordant wit, making Cracker simply riveting viewing. On the DVD: This complete Cracker 10-disc box set contains all three series that ran from 1993-95. The feature-length episodes are: "The Mad Woman in the Attic", "Say I Love You", "One Day a Lemming Will Fly" (Series 1); "Be a Somebody", "The Big Crunch", "Men Should Weep" (Series 2); "Brotherly Love", "Best Boys", "True Romance" (Series 3); "White Ghost" (1996 special). --Mark Walker
When Dee Chandler Tate (Barbara Flynn, Miss Potter, Hornblower) and her former sister-in-law Elly (Catherine Russell, Inspector Lynley, Holby City) set up a private detective agency, they had no idea what a dramatic turn their lives would take. The detective who discovered Elly’s ex-husband’s infidelity soon joins the team, and when he’s not helping to crack the case, Larry (Oscar winner Peter Capaldi, Doctor Who, The Thick of It) is shaking his head at their technological failures. The sexual tension between Elly and Larry crackles as she sets to work solving cases of runaway daughters and cheating spouses. The independent lady takes down misogyny on the way as she reprimands cheating husbands and humiliates clients who dare to assume that she’s the company secretary. Written by Paula Milne, known for her work on Endgame and Small Island and produced by Ann Skinner (Birdsong).
Adapted from the acclaimed 1997 production by the Royal National Theatre Ian Holm stars as the tragic monarch King Lear; wise headstrong but blind to his weaknesses. Proposing to divide his kingdom between his three daughters Gonreil Regan and Cornelia Lear devises a test for his offspring to convince him of their suitability and compassion for rule. As the scheme unfolds Gonreil and Regan's true colours emerge uncovering a vast conspiracy of greed lust for power and cruelty
The Beiderbecke Collection' is a charming mix of comedy and drama that has all the hallmarks of a classic detective thriller. Follow the exploits of jazz fan Trevor and his long-suffering girlfriend Jill as they find themselves embroiled in various mysteries which follow them to Amsterdam and Edinburgh and include dodgy businessmen black economies refugees and much much more.... This box set contains the following titles: 'The Beiderbecke Affair' 'The Beiderbecke Tapes' and 'The Beiderbecke Connection'.
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