Simply Media are delighted to announce the release of BBC's Ivanhoe: The Complete Series. Originally shown on BBC One in 1970 as ten episodes, the complete series is now available on DVD for the first time 18th September 2017. Remembered fondly by those who used to watch the Sunday tea-time series, BBC's Ivanhoe is a faithful and captivating adaptation of the classic novel by Sir Walter Scott. Set in the romanticised world of Medieval Britain, filled with knights, chivalry, grand tournaments and sieges, where dispossessed Saxons are pitted against their Norman overlords. Scott's novel became a celebrated influence on modern-day popular perceptions of iconic British characters such as Richard the Lionheart, King John and Robin Hood. Adapted by acclaimed author and screenwriter Alexander Baron (City from the Plough) and directed by renowned BBC sci-fi director/producer David Maloney (Doctor Who / Blake's 7) the series proved to be a firm family favourite, and an easily accessible venture into Scott's intricate novel. Ivanhoe, a noble 12th century knight, returns home after being banished to the Holy Land by his Father for wanting to marry against his wishes. He comes back England after fighting alongside Richard the Lionheart in the crusades, only to find his country under the domination of corrupt King John, the true King's tyrannical brother. Ivanhoe must fight not only against King John, but also to keep his beloved Lady Rowena safe from the clutches of his arch nemesis, Brian de Bois Gilbert. The series stars actor and singer Eric Flynn (Empire of the Sun) in the title role as Ivanhoe. Flynn is also backed-up by a fantastic supporting cast, including his alluring and forbidden love interest Rowena played by Clare Jenkins (Doctor Who), the formidable Sir Brian de Bois Guilbert played by Anthony Bate (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979)), and an appearance from Peter Dyneley, the voice of Jeff Tracy in Thunderbirds.
Michael Caine stars in this 60s classic as the leader of a team of thieves who plan to use minis to help them perform the heist of the century.
The Little Prince adapted from the poetic touching and much-loved allegory by the French pilot and explorer Antoine de Saint-Exupery is a feature-length tale of a pilot who crashes in the Sahara Desert and meets an enchanting young boy who comes from an Asteroid somewhere in outer-space. This ultimately sad but touching observation on life features some beautiful desert landscapes intergalactic flashbacks and great cameos from Gene Wilder and Bob Fosse.
Based on the series of novels written by Dorothy L Sayers in the 1920s and 30s, Lord Peter Wimsey was dramatised for TV by the BBC between 1972-5. Ian Carmichael, veteran of British film comedy, played the genial, aristocratic sleuth; Glyn Houston was his manservant Bunter. The pair are similar to PG Wodehouse's Jeeves and Bertie Wooster (whom Carmichael played in an earlier TV adaptation) though here the duo are equal in intelligence, breezing about the country together in Wimsey's Bentley and stumbling with morbid regularity upon baffling murder mysteries to test their wits. Those for whom this series forms hazy memories of childhood might be surprised at its somewhat stagy, lingering interior shots, the spartan paucity of music, the miserly attitude towards locations, especially foreign ones, and the rather genteel, leisurely pace of these programmes, besides which Inspector Morse seems like Quentin Tarantino in comparison. It seems that initially the BBC was reluctant to commission the series and ventured on production with a wary eye on the budget. The Britain depicted by Sayers is, by and large, populated by either the upper classes or heavily accented, rum-do-and-no-mistake lower orders, which some might find consoling. However, the acting is generally excellent and the murder mysteries are sophisticated parlour games, the televisual equivalent of a good, absorbing jigsaw puzzle. There were five feature-length adaptations in all. "Five Red Herrings" is the last and perhaps the least of the series, involving a trout fishing holiday interrupted by the death of a local artist. --David Stubbs
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