This hard-hitting anthology series continued the single-play format that had proved so successful with ITV's legendary Armchair Theatre, presenting six contemporary plays by writers at relatively early stages in their careers. The keynote is a provocative realism: Stephen Poliakoff's Hitting Town is an intense portrayal of siblings who find refuge from their bleak lives in one incestuous night; Roger McGough's The Life Swappers is a darkly comic take on the theme of exchanged identities; Howa...
The Chain is linked by a series of moves. As one couple moves out of their current residence to live in posher quarters another moves in and so it goes all the way up to the lavish mansioned owned by self-made millionaire Leo McKern. The cycle starts all over again when McKern wishing to be closer to his roots returns to the working-class neighborhood whence he came. Each move is wryly commented upon by the team of professional movers headed by Warren Mitchell.
Long before The Full Monty there was this lovely fish-out-of-water comedy by deft Scots writer-director Bill Forsyth (Gregory's Girl). Set in the 1980s during a period of controversy over North Sea oil drilling, Local Hero follows a likeable, woolly American junior executive (Peter Riegert) dispatched from Texas by his blustering boss (a high-spirited Burt Lancaster) to a small fishing village on the coast of Scotland for the purpose of swindling the presumably simple-minded locals out of their drilling rights. The surprise isn't that the villagers turn the tables on the American schemers, but that they do so without displaying a hint of malice. They get a kick out of flummoxing the city slickers. Even Lancaster's greed-head Felix Happer eventually has a change of heart. In outline, this may sound more ordinary than it feels as you're watching it. The fine young British actor Denis Lawson, who had a tiny role as one of the fighter pilots in Star Wars plays Riegert's UK contact, Gordon Urquhart, a sad sack with a noble soul. --David Chute
Disc jockey, flyboy, con-man, compulsive fibber... Kit Curran is all of these and worse! A perfect storm of self-obsession and general apathy, Kit reigns as the undisputed king of small-time Radio Newtown; but sparks start to fly when a new boss arrives and Kit finds that his days of egocentric scheming may soon be numbered! A creative force in comedy for four decades, BAFTA-winning writer/director/novelist/comedian Andy Hamilton has scored numerous successes in television, radio and film in shows such as Drop the Dead Donkey, Shelley, Old Harry's Game and What We Did On Our Holiday. Following his work on Shelley and Smith & Jones in the early 1980s, Hamilton crafted one of television all-time-great likeable rogue characters in Kit Curran an inventively delusional narcissist, played to perfection by BAFTA-nominee Denis Lawson. This set contains all twelve episodes from both series.
Harriet Smith is the newly appointed British Ambassador to Ireland, and she has the unenviable task of quelling the mounting tensions between the two countries. Each heart-pounding episode from the award-winning, BAFTA-nominated Russell Lewis (Inspector Morse) will leave you dying to know what happens next Ambassador Harriet Smith (Pauline Collins, Upstairs, Downstairs), a sharp-witted, confident woman, holds one of Britain's most coveted and powerful Embassy posts. Recently widowed, Harriet must perform a delicate balancing act between raising her two teenage sons and the demands of her career. John Stone (Denis Lawson, Star Wars) is Harriet's determined commercial attaché and main aide. But the ever-crafty Stone also works for another master MI6. As the UK's Ambassador to Ireland during a turbulent time for the two countries, Harriet finds herself in a sinister and dangerous world far removed from the cocktail parties of Downing Street. Entangled in a complicated web of half-truths and withheld information rife both in and outside of the Embassy walls Harriet is up against a host of people who would love nothing more than to see her fail. Harriet's personal life unavoidably spills over into her work, she faces seemingly insurmountable problems. As a mother, she's having difficulty relating to her children and while she cares deeply about them, as the Ambassador, Britain must always come first... Created by BAFTA nominee Russell Lewis, winner of the 1993 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award (Inspector Morse / Murphy's Law) Stars Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner Pauline Collins OBE (Shirley Valentine) and Primetime Emmy nominee Denis Lawson (Bleak House / Star Wars / New Tricks).
Based freely on the classic novels by CS Forester, Hornblower is a series of TV films following the progress of a young officer through the ranks of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The series greatest asset is the handsome and charismatic Ioan Gruffudd in the lead role, surely a major star in the making. For television films the production values are very good, though as Titanic, Waterworld and The Perfect Storm demonstrated, filming an aquatic adventure is a very expensive business, and it is clear that the Hornblower dramas simply make the best of comparatively small budgets. No more faithful to Forester's books than the 1951 Gregory Peck classic Captain Horatio Hornblower, the real inspiration seems to have come from the success of Sharpe, starring Sean Bean, which likewise featured a British hero in the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, while rather more easy going than the real British navy of the time, the Hornblower saga delivers an entertaining adventure, greatly enhanced by the presence of such guest stars as Denis Lawson, Cheri Lunghi, Ronald Pickup and Anthony Sher. Firmly settled on HMS Indefatigable and mentored by Captain Pellew (an excellent Robert Lindsay), "The Examination for Lieutenant" finds Spain entering the war in an adventure involving both the Black Death and a lethal fireship.--Gary S Dalkin
This is the story of convent-educated Vanessa Ratcliffe the rebellious seventeen-year-old daughter of a wealthy middle-class family and Angus Cotton an ambitious charge-hand at her father's engineering works in Newcastle. A sequence of unexpected and dramatic events draws the unlikely couple close together but not before Vanessa destroys the tranquillity of the Ratcliffe family by becoming pregnant...
Sensitive Skin looks at life through the eyes of a successful couple living in metropolitan London. Along with their friends Al and Davina Jackson struggle with sexual temptation and professional jealousy and try to cope with their fear of the future.
The second series of the BBC's landmark drama Criminal Justice.
The complete collection of Horatio Hornblower's (Ioan Gruffudd) hi-jinks on the high seas!
Gripping drama series directed by BAFTA winner Norman Stone. As a partner in a successful law firm, Dominic Rossi handles the high-profile criminal work in flamboyant style. But when he finds a link in a series of seemingly unconnected crimes, there's more than just his lifestyle on the line. Having made a major success of his career in America, criminal lawyer Dominic Rossi returns home to his Glasgow roots, investigating both an elderly man killed at a bus stop and defending a man accused of murder sees Rossi discovering the shady hand of big business involved, digging further he realises that Tim Forsythe is behind things, Forsythe will stop at nothing to make sure Rossi doesn't reveal too much.
This compelling five-part series tells the story of design from the Industrial Revolution through 20s modernism the impact of war and freedoms of a post-war world the swinging 60s the designer 80s and up to the present day. 1 - Ghosts in the Machine: The Industrial Revolution saw a wealth of anonymous creators developing objects for life and work yet it also gave birth to a new generation of designers from Wedgwood to William Morris. Includes interviews with Dieter Rams and J Mays Ford Motors' global head of design. 2 - Designs for Living: In the 1920s and 30s did the future lie in the radical vision of the Bauhaus or the British love affair with mock-Tudor? Throughout Europe open-plan living the fitted kitchen and tubular steel furniture entered the mainstream while in the US designers explored the dreams of the American consumer. Featuring Niels Diffrient and Tom Dyckhoff. 3 - Blueprints for War: When nations go to war designers are in the front-line. From the Sten gun made by British toy-makers to the all-wood Mosquito fighter-plane the stories reveal how 'good design' shifts dramatically when survival is at stake. Featuring Desert War veteran Peter Gudgin and designer Michael Graves. 4 - Better Living Through Chemistry: The post-war 50s and 60s offered a world of opportunity with the possibilities of plastic married to liberating lifestyle choices from seamless plastic chairs to a bed with built-in stereo and cigarette lighter. In Japan radio came pocket-sized leading to the revolutionary Walkman. Featuring Sony master designer Teiyu Goto Alberto Alessi and Stephen Bayley. 5 - Objects of Desire: From the 70s to 90s designers set the tone for many lives and lifestyles. But as the threat of global warming redefines how we make or break the world they prove they have a vital role to play. Featuring Philippe Starck Marc Newson Jonathan Ive and Stephen Fry.
These are as far as we know the same versions of the Original Star Wars Trilogy that were released last September but this set is without the 4th extra features disc. This is meant as a basic set for people who just want to see the films and dont want any extra features, this is shown in the reduced price compared to the 4 disc Boxset.
No Holds Bard
Alexandre Dumas' classic tale of fraternal squabbling makes a more than satisfactory transition to celluloid with this 1976 made-for-television swashbuckler. Viewers familiar with the more recent Leonardo DiCaprio version may be stymied at first by the non-MTV pace and the rather unhip presence of Richard Chamberlain in the lead role(s). This well-lensed action film overcomes a somewhat poky first half to emerge as a terrific adventure, complete with plenty of derring-do, some sharply pointed dialogue, and a wonderful performance by the incomparably malevolent Patrick McGoohan. Rousing fun for burgeoning rapscallions of all ages. Director Mike Newell would later find success in a different genre with Four Weddings and a Funeral. Ian Holm, Louis Jordan, and Ralph Richardson round out the embarrassingly rich supporting cast. --Andrew Wright
Cold Feet is the fast and funny ITV comedy drama about a group of friends which has gripped the nation. Immersing us in the lives of 3 couples who are coping with life love careers marriage friendship infidelity and of course sex. It gets to the heart of 30-something relationships like no other programme of its kind. Pilot Episode: Pete and Jenny are trying desperately to have a baby. As they have had little success Jenny begins to plot their lives around her ovulation
Based freely on the classic novels by CS Forester, Hornblower is a series of TV films following the progress of a young officer through the ranks of the British navy during the Napoleonic Wars. The series' greatest asset is the handsome and charismatic Ioan Gruffudd in the lead role, surely a major star in the making. For television films the production values are very good, though as Titanic, Waterworld and The Perfect Storm demonstrated, filming an aquatic adventure is a very expensive business, and it is clear that the Hornblower dramas simply make the best of comparatively small budgets. No more faithful to Forester's books than the 1951 Gregory Peck classic Captain Horatio Hornblower, the real inspiration seems to have come from the success of Sharpe, starring Sean Bean, which likewise featured a British hero in the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, while rather more easygoing than the real British navy of the time, the Hornblower saga delivers an entertaining adventure, greatly enhanced by the presence of such guest stars as Denis Lawson, Cheri Lunghi, Ronald Pickup and Anthony Sher. --Gary S Dalkin
Advertising executive Andrew Fell (Bob Peck) discovers on Christmas Eve that his ex-lover has committed suicide. His growing obsession with the circumstances of her death leads him to the first link in a cover-up of food double-dealings and into danger for himself and his wife (Sharon Duce). During his investigations the disturbing and mysterious Jo Scott tempts Andrew with information about the people behind Beth's death but then subjects him to public harassment. When Andrew
Breaking The Mould: The Story of Penicillin
With memorable and unsettling opening credits and exceptional performances and direction Armchair Thriller became a massive hit for Thames Television in the late 1970s and early 1980s. With its trademark ghoulish razor-sharp cliff hangers and iconic theme tune (by Roxy Music's Andy Mackay) this haunting anthology series was an immediate success its eerie disturbing and downright scary tales regularly attracting over 15 million viewers. Each of its ten stories is a gripping exercise in compelling television showing ordinary people plunged into extraordinary situations. For many this series remains a high-watermark of dramatic television and its many frightening and spooky moments are remembered by viewers nearly thirty years after its original transmission. In The Girl Who Walked Quickly a man is kidnapped and brainwashed by political extremists.
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